Ah, bodybuilding. Why is it so fascinating? Why do we put ourselves through enormous pain day after day, year after year? What is it that makes us strive to improve our physical appearance, eating certain foods at certain times, hit the weights when our bodies are screaming to take a break, or drink protein shakes because we need the extra food, but we just can’t swallow it?
Hi, I’m Mike Haydon. I used to be 65 kilos in high school. That’s not too bad, until you realize that I’m 6 foot 5 (195cm)! I knew I was underweight and so did everyone else. I was self-conscious, used to wear size XL clothes because they were baggy enough to hide my scrawny frame and would wear shorts AND a t-shirt when I went to the beach (IN AUSTRALIA!)
After trying all the workouts in all the books I could get my hands on, I was still no heavier or muscular. I put on maybe 5 kilos tops. That was until it hit me – Bodybuilding isn’t just about working out… There are three components… working out, eating right and getting enough sleep. The last two were all off for me.
I started paying much closer attention to my eating and I realized that I was basically starving myself. No wonder I couldn’t grow! Once I got my eating in order and made sure I was getting at least 7 hours sleep a night, the magic happened. Only a year later and I’ve just hit 100kg. I know what you’re thinking… it’s all fat. Well there has been some fat gain – it’s impossible to gain that much weight WITHOUT gaining some fat. But at 18% body fat (i was at 10% body fat when I was 65kg, so 8% extra isn’t too bad), I think I’m doing ok, given that my focus is on muscle gain at the moment. I’ll increase my cardio later to drop the fat.
I play indoor soccer among other sports. Unfortunately, I’ve had a lot more than my fair share of injuries… left knee has been operated on, right knee almost (healed thanks to the physio at SportsMed), dislocated shoulders, etc etc. That’s hindered my progress, but not stopped it. Why do I tell you this? If I can increase my weight 150% in these circumstances, pretty much anyone can.
You may have heard of the different body types out there. Because it was so hard for me to gain weight, I believed for a long time that I was an ectomorph. Turns out there is a way of measuring body parts like shoulders, height, hips etc that will tell you what body type you are most like. Turns out I’m a mesomorph! Who’d have thought? I’ll write more about body types and measurements in a later post. It’s vitally important to know, because then you can structure your training to get the most out of your body.
Til next time…
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