My Experience With Pavel Tsatsouline

Back in the day Pavel Tsatsouline and his books were the bomb. They still are to be honest. I found about him when I was reading the blog of a fitness girl who got really strong at pull-ups and dips using "his" programs. Anyway I will admit that I downloaded one of his books from the Internet through the use of torrents. I am not proud but not ashamed either. Why? Because I am not a millionaire and like Barry Bonds says:  "You all have dirt, too. All of you."

Anyway after reading Power To The People, Beyond Bodybuilding and Beyond Stretching I learnt a lot of things but at the same time I got mind fucked really hard by the "Russian ultra-secret bad ass beyond hardcore secrets." In other words - good information but all over the place. For example some chapters in Beyond Bodyduilding repeat a few times and many books have a lot of pages containing advertisement to other books.

So hardcore ! Marketing....

As far as strength is concerned I like to believe that Pavel really has good info but his size programs are beyond funny. For example the so called Bear Protocol which basically makes you do shitload of deadlifts sets is a disaster waiting to happen. The deadlift is one of those exercise you cannot fuck with and you have to respect - doing 20-30 sets as recommended by Pavel is like putting sugar in your car - stupid. The spine will get fatigued really fast and you will get hurt. Not to mention that the deadlift builds mass only in the back while the legs are not as involved - most deadlifters have skinny legs unless they perform other exercises with larger range of motion. In other words it would be wise to use that so-called Bear Protocol with exercise like rows, pull-ups, squat...etc.

Another thing that Pavel never talks about are steroids. He never even touches the subject. Want to get big? Just do more sets and eat more. That's what the Russians did. Maybe I would believe that 10 years ago but not today Pavel. Truth be told as a natural it does not matter what you do for muscle mass - every road will bring you to your genetic potential as long as you put a little effort. In some cases faster in some cases longer but in the end of the day you will not be satisfied by the way you look naturally since your mind has been brainwashed by bodybuilders and athletes on steroids. No, there are no secret Soviet training methods that will make you a swollen motherfucker. Well, there are but they are not exactly training methods.

Of course while I was educating myself reading copies of Pavel's hard work I wanted to try some kettlebells. At that point kettlebells were non-existent where I lived. None. Ok, maybe, there was 1 in the town. This problem was not so hard to overcome as I quickly realized you can do the same shit with dumbbells. Yes, the mechanics are different and kettlebells are really good for presses, front squats but in the end of the day they remain overpriced and not very practical since you cannot change the weight.

I have learnt a lot from Pavel and that's why I bough one of his books - the Naked Warrior. To be honest the book sucked because the images were too big and the main riff (tension) was repeating for the whole concert. Truth be told Pavel has caused quite a lot of paralysis by analysis due to creating fake expectations in books like Beyond Bodybuilding. Why would you want to learn about bodybuilding from someone who is not big? Seriously. People say that IFBB Pros know nothing but reality is if you want to get as big as them you will have to learn their drug protocols in order to achieve that and guys like Pavel don't know it. Want to be IFBB Pro - don't ask me how to get there ! Ask an IFBB Pro.

A lot of the information in the books of Pavel is misleading people into buying kettlebells. Want to get big? Buy kettlebells. Want to get small? Buy kettlebells. Want to get ripped? Buy kettlebells. Want to get strong ? Buy kettlebells. 

Well, no thanks.

Pavel has some really impressive collections of training knowledge coming  from other people but in the end of the day he is a marketer first, trainer second. Be careful. Comrade !

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Unrealistic Expectations

Pretty much 90% of the training articles out there are presenting unrealistic expectations. Natural wannabes thinking they are different are constantly reading articles coming from people like Louie Simmons, T-Nation, Mark Rippetoe, Marty Gallagher, Pavel Tsatouline...etc. While all of those people are obviously 100% dedicated to their "craft" similar articles create bad habits and never reveal the real secret.

The truth is that whether your goal is to get strong or big and reach the lifts and muscular development of the people presented in the articles you have to do much more than "eat big and lift big." You have to use gear and taking anabolics is not a game. In most countries it's hard to find good steroids without prescription and going to the black market is like going to the black market - you are getting closer to the criminal world and the guy selling testosterone shots and "real" anavar or trenbolone may be selling cocaine and other fancy stuff. Let's put that away and say that you have found a good dealer selling quality steroids at the "right" price. What's next? What should you buy and how much should you take? That's usually not included in the articles.

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It's funny how authors like to throw numbers such as 500 pounds bench press, 600 pounds squat and 800 pounds dealift in their articles but never mention how you actually get there. What takes you there is consistent training, dedication, nutrition and a lot of drugs. How much drugs? Well, you have to think in grams here. I know a guy who had the following training history - he trained for 10 years naturally and was able to bench press 365 pounds. I don't remember his bodyweight. He started using anabolics and at some point he was injecting 2 grams of compound steroids a week. He was benching 405 pounds on the decline for 13 reps and claimed 565 bench press max on the decline bench press.

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Did reality hit you? Yes, this guy was far above average. Most people including me have never benched 365 pounds. He did so naturally and still needed 2 grams of consistent steroid usage (he did not go off even when he wanted to have a second child and just took some other drug, I forgot the name of, and got his wife pregnant) to bench 565 pounds.  Pretty sad story to the people who though that 405 bench press was just around the corner using Rippetoe's programming. Maybe if you bulk to 280-300lbs it's possible. Sorry I am not sorry, Mr. Rippetoe. 

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Mr. Rippetoe himself is a good example - he never even benched 405 at a bodyweight of 220 and 5'9 height. He was also on anabolics during his powerlifting career. His best bench (396 lbs) while impressive is nothing compared to his huge claims. How much gear was he using? I have absolutely no idea but it was not 200 mg.

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300 mg of testosterone is considered a small steroid dose. Some people would even laugh at it. Hell, there are some rich grand daddies using that for HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy). But let me tell you, 300mg of testosterone a week equals about 10 times more than the natural testosterone production of an average not so old male. Sounds like a big deal to me. Anyway I knew a guy with some decent training history who was benching 175 lbs for 10-12 reps on the decline press. He started injecting 300 mg of testosterone a week and in 12 weeks added 20 pounds of bodyweight and his bench went up to 250lbs for 10-12 reps on the. This person gained 20 pounds of LBM by getting 10 times more testosterone in his body than the average male - I bet now people who claim gaining 50 pounds of muscle doing Rippetoe's magic routine look pretty funny. I would even say that most people would never ever gain 50 pounds of real muscle in a lifetime naturally.

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But who do you ask about drugs? Well, you either go to some underground steroid forum where you meet shady people or you simply ask shady strong guys in the gym - 11 times out of 10 all of them are on steroids unless they weight 300lbs. Usually the basic scheme goes like this - you find a good dealer and you start using small doses. Slowly you bump up the dose over the years until you are rolling with the big boys. During that period of time you will experience a lot of trouble with side effects, running out of money, addiction, family issues....etc. Once you are on steroids for a long time you will never go off unless you end up in prison or broke. Never. When you have been abusing steroids for years you simply do not have testosterone in your balls and without testosterone in your balls you feel like somebody has stolen your man pride - you feel like a woman and chances are you will start to look like one. Bodybuilders and powerlifters at some point start to see steroids as food - no life without them.

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So, wannabes are welcome to come at me. Tell me how you benched 405 lbs at 15-17% BF when in reality you are 22% BF and on low doses of test. There are a lot of liars in this sport, a lot. I would say that 90% of  the "impressive" people on famous web-sites such as Bodybuilding.com are on steroids but very few are willing to admit it. 

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What is reality?

Reality is sad. Imagine that you were a little baby and your mom was telling you stories about being able to fly. Well, you can probably believe those stories as a kid but when you grow up you know that as a human being you can only fly using something like this:

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Disclaimer: IronGangsta.com does not support the usage of illegal steroids.

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Why Mike Mentzer Got It All Wrong

Mike Mentzer was one of the most popular bodybuilders during the Golden Era of the sport. He was famous for his thick physique and constant fights with Arnold. Mike is also the person who made High Intensity Training (H.I.T.) protocols famous through his Heavy Duty books. Please keep in mind that the main principles were originally presented by the creator of the training equipment Nautilus - Arthur Jones. While there are some good ideas behind H.I.T. it usually fails miserably when followed as prescribed by Mentzer unless you are using steroids on regular basis.

The main principle behind H.I.T. is that you should perform just one working set to complete muscle failure on a few exercises and call it a day. This blows if you are a natural bodybuilder because one set even taken beyond failure is simply not hard enough on the body to cause growth while being extremely stressful on the mind and Central Nervous System (CNS). Everybody who has ever trained the H.I.T. way knows the feeling before starting a set - your mind is troubled and already crushed because you cannot stop a single rep before failure. This gets brutally hard as time goes by.

While science had advanced tremendously people still argue to this day what causes muscular hypertrophy. I don't have a definitive answer to that either but less work sure as hell does not cause more hypertrophy unless you are on hormones or dreaming. The body always responds to stimulus and the more the better as long as you can recover for your next training session. This brings me to the next idea presented by the H.I.T. bro scientists - you should train once every 7-10 days. This is quite wrong and I advise you to try the following example - train one day and for the next 10 days do not train at all. You will be sore. On the 11th day repeat your workout. You will be sore again. After 10 more days repeat again - you will be sore. Why? Because your adaptation to training is slowly fading away during those 10 days of rest.

The fact that you are sore after every workout means one thing - your body has more than enough time to recover and the adaptation process is interrupted by the extra rest days. In other words your body is slowly going out of "beast mode" and slowly switching to "weak sauce mode."

Try playing a piano song every day for 10 weeks - you will get better at playing it. Now play it once every 10 days - you will barely maintain your skill level. Even professional musicians need to practice when working on a song which is not part of their usual repertoire.

Try training each body part twice a week or every 5-6 days. Most likely you will not be sore after your workouts except for the first week. Why? Because of adaptation. When training more often  and with more volume the body adapts and recovers faster. 

High intensity training to failureis not practical on exercises like bench press, squat, deadlift, good mornings...etc. If you go to complete failure when doing deadlifts for example you are only risking injury while accomplishing nothing. It's better to do a simple "tight" set of 6-7 reps with good form. That's the reason why you see so many wannabes doing H.I.T. workouts using machines - there is less risk and you can go really slow and feel the burn. How many gyms have all that unnecessary equipment? Who likes to train like a 90 y.o. grandpa using mainly machines? 

If you read Heavy Duty 2 (Mike Mentzer's version of H.I.T.), there's a routine called The Consolidation Routine, which consists of the following:

Workout A

One set Squats
One set Close-grip, Palms-Up Pulldowns

rest 5-7 days

Workout B

One set Regular Deadlifts
One set Dips

rest 5-7 days

Repeat

I am sorry to bring it to you but this routine is only good for maintaining some muscle mass and will not build strength nor size due to the extremely small amount of weight (overall tonnage) lifted despite the "high intensity". Mentzer himself never used similar routines and many people have said that he never actually trained the way he preached to others. But even if he did he was also abusing high doses of steroids - Casey Viator said in a interview that Mentzer was taking up to 2.5 grams of Deca on weekly basis. 

I still believe that some of the ideas behind H.I.T such as pre-exhaustion, and more rest for recovery are really good but natural bodybuilders simply need to do more work and cannot afford to rely on synthetic hormones.

P.S. Arnold's way of training was rightfully criticized by Mentzer but his alternative was extreme.

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Kiyoshi Moody - Fake Natural Bodybuilder

I just finished reading an interview with "natural bodybuilder" Kiyoshi Moody. He claims natural status but of course he is full of it. He competes at 5'10 and his bodyweight is 195 lbs. While the weight may not seem like a lot, especially if you have a background in permabulking a.k.a being 20% BF and thinking you are 10% BF, it actually is given the quality of the mass.

People deserve to know that you don't need compete at 250 lbs to be a steroid abuser. There are many little Asian lifters who weight 170 lbs at heights such as 5'5 to 5'9 and still use a lot of anabolics and look great. Never forget that Frank Zane was Mr. Olympia at 185 pounds.

The quality, the hardness, the thickness and the overall density of the muscle mass presented by this fake natural at this level of conditioning (4% BF) is unreachable naturally.

The funniest thing about this dude is the fact that in the off season he actually weights 175 lbs - 180lbs. In other words prior to a competition this "freak of nature" gains 20 lbs of muscle and loses fat. Of course this means only one thing - he starts juicing more intensely before a show. Mr. Natural also has a supplement store and promotes bodybuilding supplements. God only knows how many poor kids were screwed thinking they will get as huge as this guy by buying crap from his store.

The natural weight of this "freak of anabolics" at 6% BF is about 170lbs with much less thickness.

Kiyoshi Moody - you cannot lie to Irongangsta.com.

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Best Alternatives To Barbell Rows?

This is an e-mail I received once upon a time:

Strained my lower back last winter playing sports, and it'salmost recovered. I have recceived permission from my doctor to lift again. 

With that said, barbell rows are giving me problems. There's no pain, but my lower back is usually fatigued or tired from doing legs the day before. My upper day is: 

Incline 4x8 

Lat pulldowns (might switch to underhand grip) 4x8DB Flat Bench 3x8-10BB

Rows 3x8-10CGBP 2x12

Lateral raises 2x10DB 

Curls 2x12

What would be the best thing for replacing rows? i'm thinking either pull ups or DB rows.

First, add one day of rest between your leg and back day !

You can substitue barbell rows with the following exercises:

Chest supported T-bar rows

Hammer Strength Rows

Seated Cable Rows

One Arm Dumbbell Row

Sternum Pull-ups

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Is Matt Ogus Natural

Matt Ogus is claiming lifetime natural status as a bodybuilder. The truth is he has been a drug addict for many years and is far from a natural.

Matt Ogus is no stranger to anabolic steroids. He is only 5'6 tall (if that) and weights about 155-160 shredded. He also has that steroid thickness to his look. His weight naturally is probably 140 pounds (top) and much less thicker.

Ogus is risking a lot of problems if he admits steroid use on youtube - his account my be terminated and he will lose a lot of money. Truth be told to he is simply another talentless drone uploading talentless videos while having a life based on lies.

I have one question for his fans: What did you actually learn from his pointless clips? 

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Why You Should Not Train Like Serge Nubret

Serge Nubret is a legendary bodybuilder known for his aesthetic physique and flawless conditioning. However, as all professional bodybuilders he was delusional and not honest with the "little kids". Truth be told Serge Nubret's training had very little to do with the way he looked. He was famous for doing high reps and insane amount of sets per body part - training pretty much the whole day since he also liked to do sit-ups for 2 hours each day as cardio. He also liked to boast about how he only ate horse meat which to me is a complete disrespect to an animal such as the horse but this is a different story. You should only follow his schedule if you want to fail as a bodybuilder, waist enormous amount of time and money. 

Nobody grows from pumping light weights. The real secret of Serge Nubret is called negma parabolin which was a powerful anabolic steroid no longer produced in its original form. Serge Nubret loved this drug since it was one of the most effective "supplements" out there. He even imported it in the USA since all bodybuilders liked to share their magic elixirs. Here is a little post coming from a supposed training partner of Serge Nubret:

 "Yep, its true, for the most part, surge and i use to do sit ups for hours non stop, he did 1600 of them one time and made his ass raw from it, he dieted very hard, was always hungry, we use to use izameride, a really clean meth, thyroid, and about 3 different anabolics, triacana, some of his stories about what he used and the amounts he used them in freaked me out, and i told him wow its a wonder you're alive, he just giggled, he was very committed and serious." 

So, while I cannot stand behind the above quote 100% there is no doubt in my mind that pumping gets you nowhere. Every bodybuilder out there likes to think of himself as something special, some kind of unseen before specimen who should do everything different. However when it boils down to the true essence that represents the difference between an average fitness maniac and IFBB pro from the past or today it's not training, diet, supplements...etc. It is drug protocols and response to anabolics that make the difference.

Serge Nubret had way beyond average genetics when it comes to upper body and this made him one of the bodybuilders with the most unique physiques out there. There are a lot of people who believe there is a secret, mysterious way to train and once they see a new secret coming from guys like Serge they always buy it and start following the next moronic bodybuilding program presented by just another delusional narcissistic pathological lair which is pretty much every professional bodybuilder. 

No, you will not grow naturally if you start following Serge's program - the only thing you will achieve is damage your personal life and get you further away from your true purposes in life due to spending too much time in the gym hoping for those miracle muscles to pop. 

I've been there many times. I've done those mistakes many times and I am telling you - it only ends one way.

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Is Hannibal For King Natural?

A few months ago somebody asked me in an e-mail whether Hannibal For King is natural and my answer was: "I don't know". 

Some people probably could achieve a body like Hannibal's naturally. All you need is very good genetics, diet and training. However it is absolutely possible that Hannibal himself is not clean.

In some pics he looks like he had gynecomastia removal surgery. Gynecomastia (most common side effect of steroid usage) is basically growth of breast tissue due to hormonal imbalances in favor of the female hormone estrogen. It's common after abuse of steroids because when you end a steroid cycle your natural testosterone production is really low and it needs time to get back to normal. That's why for a certain period the estrogen levels are higher and you grow "bitch tits". People usually take some sort of estrogen inhibitor in order to avoid similar problems. However, it still happens even when using steroids like anavar which are supposed to be "gynecomastia free."

In this picture Hannibal's chest looks like it has undergone gynecomastia removal surgery - once you have gynecomastia you nipples are never the same. Of course you can have gynecomastia without ever using steroids but not at that age and the chances are really slim.

With that being said without knowing more details about Hannibal I cannot tell 100% whether he is clean or not. I do believe his level of development is achievable naturally for some but I will not be surprised if he has used anabolics. 

Remember - famous people want you to see what they want you to see. A lot of times the "good genetics" of Mr. Beach Body are actually not so good.

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Layne Norton And Steroids - Life Built On Lies

Recently I received a message which was quite similar to a death threat because I said Layne Norton was not a natural bodybuilder. Of course, it was all a joke but it gave me a good topic to write about today - Layne Norton - the natural liar.

Layne Norton is not natural since he is exactly 26 pounds over his natural bodyweight at contest shape. Yes, exactly - Layne Norton would be 170 pounds at most if he was natural. Since he is not natural and is using anabolic steroids Layne Norton gets to be 196 lbs at 5'10 on stage and 230lbs 10% BF during the off-season. Unheard numbers for a natural. To give you a simple point of reference Serge Nubret was 200 at 6' and the was far from natural. Only an ignorant person would fall for the scientific storm shit produced by Layne Norton regarding his natural status and way of training. 

One of the reasons why Layne Norton claims he is natural is the need to make money out of it - by selling pipe dreams and pushing products to ignorant people. Layne Norton is not only not natural but his genetics are even below average when it comes to building muscles - one of the reasons he is so bitter. His body structure is awful and been even on juice cannot hide the fact. Another reason why he claims natural status.

196lbs 4% BF 5'10

Layne Norton - Natural Liar

AAS User 

Frank Zane, well known bodybuilder and abuser of steroids, competed at 185 lbs/5'9/4-5% BF and looks much better due to having better structure and response to drugs

185 lbs, 5'9

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Was the Rock On Steroids For Pain And Gain?

The new movie Pain & Gain is being accepted quite well by the people who actually know what's going on behind the scenes of the fitness industry. One of the biggest drama around the movie is whether the star Dwayne Johnson a.k.a the Rock has been on steroids for that specific role. The truth is that the Rock has been on steroids for most of his life - since the very beginning of his career in football. Pretty much 90% of the even remotely serious football players in the USA are on steroids. There is not question about it. 

The size of Dwayne Johnson simply cannot be achieved naturally. The Rock has been training with weights since the very beginning and he has reached his natural potential pretty much 20 plus years ago. Therefor it's absolutely impossible for him to put on so much lean body mass.

As you can see in the picture the traps of the Rock have exploded - while it's not always the case usually when you go on a cycle the traps and shoulders "explode" because of the large number of androgen receptors in the area.

As always people would like to believe that "anything can be achieved" and one day after a lot of years working out you will look like the Rock. Nothing could be further from the truth and you've been lied to my friend. 

The only way to get as big as the Rock is to start using steroids on regular basis. While he may not abusing as much as a professional bodybuilders you would still need some pretty heavy doses and consistency to achieve his status in Pain & Gain. 

You wanted the truth - I give it to you.

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The Ectomorph

As you know people like to divide bodytypes into three groups - ectomorphs, mesomorphs and endomorphs. Today I will present you the ectomorph.

The ectormorph bodytype has the following characteristics:

- small/slim and long bones;

- usually tall but not always;

- pencil neck;

- not very wide shoulders;

- long torso;

- average or fast metabolism;

- usually has hard time doing lifts like bench presses but rocks at dealifts;

- good runner;

There are many other characteristics but those are the main that come to mind. 

FAQ:

Q: Should ectomorphs train differently?

A: No, being an ectromorph does not mean that you are ill. It just means that you have more fragile, elegant bone structure. You should train "normally". There are no magic routines for ectomorphs and anybody claiming otherwise is wrong and usually wants to sell you some over hyped bullshit program. 

The muscle mechanics of an ectomorph are the same one observed in the other bodytypes. One special quality of the ectomorphs is that usually they are torso dominated people or in other words they have strong back/chest and weaker arms/legs. That's due to the fact that having smaller bones equals less muscle mass. On the other hand ectomorphs usually have better lines and like I said look more elegant, aesthetic.

Just train.

Q: Should ectomorphs eat 12 times a day?

A: How much you eat depends on your metabolism and goals. The fact that you are an ectomorph does not mean that you have fast metabolism. Many ectomorphs have average metabolism and are prone to gaining fat. Usually they are the skinny fat type. I recommend that you don't follow the advice of people telling you to eat until you puke. Eat as much times as you want, just make sure you match your calories according to plan.

Simple guideline :

Cutting colories = Bodyweight in pounds x 8-10 (at bodyweight of 180 you will consume around 1400-1800  minimum  calories a day a when trying to lose fat)

Bulking (gaining weight) = Bodyweight in pounds x 17 (at bodyweight of 160 that's about 2700 calories a day)

Note: This is just a guideline. The numbers are not set in stone.

Q: Will ectomorphs ever be big?

A: Yes and no. Ectomrophs just have that elegant look and unless loaded with steroids you won't be huge but that's true for all other bodytypes as well. Ectomorphs can achieve absolutely sick bodies and many of the most aesthetic bodybuilders out there such as Flex Wheeler, Vince Taylor and Serge Nubret were ectomorphs. 

Q: Why do ectomorphs suck at bench pressing?

A: People with small bones have harder time benching due to small wrists and usually long arms. Long arms make benching more difficult because of hte increased range of motion. Having bigger bones really helps and is one of the factors determing weight classes - lifters with thicker bones are usually in heavier weight classes. 

Q: Why ectomorphs are fine deadlifters?

A: Long arms help tremendously in the dealift by reducing the range of motion - smaller range of motion means more weight on the bar. Also the deadlift is less dependant on bodyweight than the squat and the bench press.

Q: Why do ectomorphs have such sick abs?

A: Ectomorphs usually have the best abs due to their long torso. Simple as that.

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