Shrinkage

[casualbb]

So, I was skinnydipping in the ice lake, and ...

I mean, er, anyway
Due to some unforseen events, I had to take 6 weeks off between HST cycles instead of the normal 2. When I finally got back into the gym, I stepped on the scale and... HAD LOST 10 pounds.

Then during that workout, my buddy walks up and he goes, "Good to see you back in the gym!... Holy sh**, you shrank!"

For a second I thought about dropping my SLDL bar on his foot.

But seriously, that was the saddest I've been in recent memory. guess I just wanted to rant. Oh well, back to the buffet.

 

[gmanlax7]

eat huge and you can get it back quick

 

[RusPA81]

I take it harder when someone tells me I shrank then most girls do if you tell them they are fat.

 

[Mike_Rojas]

Muscle memory will get you back to size.

 

[spatts]

You lost that much in 6 weeks?!? Did you diet change too?

 

[casualbb]

yeah that's the problem... my housing was supposed to include meals and due to some royal screwup we didn't get them. So I was basically eating out all the time, and the first 3 weeks of school I partied just a LITTLE too much. Learned my lesson on that one.

 

[spatts]

Bummer. Hopefully you are primed for uptake now.

 

[Mike_Rojas]

I may be way off base here, but if someone trains with a lot of high reps is it likely to go away faster then someone that trains for strength? I remember hearing about "permanent thickness" that strength training gives a person, while the muscles built with high reps tend to atropy faster. I don't know if that's a gym myth or not. Kind of curious what your thoughts are on that.

 

[WalkingBeast]

I hate when someone tells me I shrunk. Ruins my whole day =( But on the bright side, it comes back quicker then you think. In a week or less with some major stuffing youll be back!! I tend to fluctuate myself

 

[Zander1983]

Since I've been lifting I've never shrunk, very thankfully. I'm already seriously scared about having to lose some chub in the near future...

Muscle memory should do the job and kick you back quite a few pounds, so I wouldn't be too concerned yet. Either way, you know what you have to do and you'll be doing the same thing regardless, so there's not much point stressing now.

 

[Ish]

That's kind of the way I understood it too.

I may be way off base here, but if someone trains with a lot of high reps is it likely to go away faster then someone that trains for strength? I remember hearing about "permanent thickness" that strength training gives a person, while the muscles built with high reps tend to atropy faster. I don't know if that's a gym myth or not. Kind of curious what your thoughts are on that.

 

[Lord_Suston]

Damn Playa, to get big play you gotta eat big playa!!!

CasualBB, just relax and work back into it, the weight will come back real quick, don't worry about it just eat well and lift hard

 

[FatRat]

Yup, it will come back quickly now you are back into it. You have taken a step back but with your body ready to grow you will soon be taking two forward.

 

[Backlash]

Yeah, it seems like it's hard to hit xxx weight the first time, but then you can get back to it easier once you've already been there.

 

[Nonerz]

I take it harder when someone tells me I shrank then most girls do if you tell them they are fat.

Usually girls aren't told they are fat...they know it. We chicks usually put ourselves down more than anyone else does...sad but true.

 

[RusPA81]

Usually girls aren't told they are fat...they know it. We chicks usually put ourselves down more than anyone else does...sad but true.

I meant of more in a joking way as a lot of guys tell me i shrunk just because they know it gets me. At least I hope that they are kidding.

 

[Griz1]

CasualBB,

You have my sympathies! Over the last 15 months I've gone from a fat tub of shit (228-230lbs? Who knows how much BF) who did nothing for 6 years except lift his dick to whack off, down to 195 @ 13% BF and now I'm at the same BF and up to 207 lbs with abs starting to show through.

Last time I was this BF level I weighed about 180 lbs.

So what do I get at work? The only 2 people who have said ANYTHING to me has been along the lines of "Holy cow! Did you ever get thin! and "It's like you've lost a whole 'nother person!"

Fuck them all! Man I've packed on the LBM over the last 15 months and no one says shit except how f'in thin I am. Hey! What about my shoulders? What about my chest? See these guns? How bout you give em a squeeze pencil-neck!

I wouldn't worry about it Casual. It's like Spatts said "...you're primed for uptake now!" Or FatRat, "it will come back quickly now you are back into it. You have taken a step back but with your body ready to grow you will soon be taking two forward".

Screw em! You into this for yourself, right? Not those guys!

 

[Two Traps]

He is right muscles have memory and they come back very quickly, depending on how hard you train. At one point on my frame of 5'7" and 190 lbs (no fat), I took 5 months off of weight lifting because of a serious injury I had to endure. Then I got back on a hard training routine, where I was working 3 hours a day, twice a day. But since I was working out for so long I had to expand my break intervals from 30 seconds to 2-3 minutes inbetween sets. From there I put on 10 lbs. of solid muscle, and actually surpassed what i had been before. ALso note, I am not a newbie, I have been at this game for about 4 years.

Thanks, I hope that helps.

 

[sigweed]

whatever man, thats nothing

this summer i was working a fair bit, probably only eating 4 meals a day (as big as possible) with lots of snacks, but i could only consistently hit the gym 3 times a week, sometimes 4 but never more... anyways, i lost 30 fucking pounds over the 4 months

now that im back at school, EVERYONE is telling me how skinny i am, and it sucks so much!!

 

[Nonerz]

The average person thinks that "losing weight" is a good thing...I think the better way to say it is "losing fat." LBM is a precious thing for us...it adds weight to our frame...but that's a GOOD thing!

It's called compound ignorance...they don't know what they don't know.

 

[Becoming]

Caual-
That is one of the worst things I have ever heard of anyone saying dude. I have to admit I laughed cause your post said it in a funny way, but you have my sympathies man...Use it to motivate in the right direction and comeback bigger than before...

 

[casualbb]

I may be way off base here, but if someone trains with a lot of high reps is it likely to go away faster then someone that trains for strength? I remember hearing about "permanent thickness" that strength training gives a person, while the muscles built with high reps tend to atropy faster. I don't know if that's a gym myth or not. Kind of curious what your thoughts are on that.

I'm pretty sure that's a myth... muscle is muscle, whether built by high or low reps. As I've discussed before, it doesn't really matter how many reps a set has; it's just a factor of weight used and total reps over a session. Higher reps does tend to promote sarcoplasmic hypertrophy (the not useful kind), but it never gets wildly out of control -- the body always likes to lean towards myofibrillar hypertrophy, so it won't LET more than slight amounts of sacroplasmic stuff happen by itself.

I think I know where that myth came from though -- who tends to train with high reps? Bodybuilders. I could be completely wrong on this but I feel like they would use more steroids than strength athletes (although feel free to correct me). When they come off their ridiculous doses, they shrink, thus promoting the idea that high reps doesn't build lasting muscle. The "hardness" thing is probably a factor of the different builds of powerlifters and the really thick trunks that powerlifting promotes.

That second paragraph is all my opinion though

 

[Mike_Rojas]

Interesting, interesting. Thanks for answering my question casual. So all this talk about muscle "density" and "thickness" and "hardness" is just so much BS?

I'm sure they'll be other opinions.

 

[magman1]

yeah that's the problem... my housing was supposed to include meals and due to some royal screwup we didn't get them. So I was basically eating out all the time, and the first 3 weeks of school I partied just a LITTLE too much. Learned my lesson on that one.

i hear that bro...i just started up at penn state, and its the same over here!

 

[casualbb]

At the gym today I weighed +4 pounds. Back on track.

 

[rjl296]

i thought this thread was gonna be about cold showers

 

[collegiateLifter]

I'm pretty sure that's a myth... muscle is muscle, whether built by high or low reps. As I've discussed before, it doesn't really matter how many reps a set has; it's just a factor of weight used and total reps over a session. Higher reps does tend to promote sarcoplasmic hypertrophy (the not useful kind), but it never gets wildly out of control -- the body always likes to lean towards myofibrillar hypertrophy, so it won't LET more than slight amounts of sacroplasmic stuff happen by itself.

Theres a lot of anecdotal reports out there that say otherwise. A lot of em by respectable sources. Although the argument might be slightly construed to really heavy and less heavy weights, theres an undeniable lot of guys who talk of how much denser their athletes muscles were than bodybuilders (i recal charlie francis comparing arnold's and ben johnson's backs, as well as DC mentioning density on powerlifters....).

 

[coolcolj]

Well i figure it must be the sacroplasm

that stuff shrinks real fast.


easy come, easy go, the faster the gains come, the faster they go. If you pile on the strnegth and size slowly, over a long period of time, they will stick around much longer.

I don't believe muscle is muscle. There is definitely a visual difference in look depending on how your train.

 

[casualbb]

Hell, sure. I was just offering an explanation based on my knowledge of the matter. I'd be interested to see why that's the case, that strength training would make one more dense (if it does).

 

[Devastation]

Fuck them all! Man I've packed on the LBM over the last 15 months and no one says shit except how f'in thin I am. Hey! What about my shoulders? What about my chest? See these guns? How bout you give em a squeeze pencil-neck!

Screw em! You into this for yourself, right? Not those guys!

 

[theoak01]

I take it harder when someone tells me I shrank then most girls do if you tell them they are fat.

damn right bro

thankfully people I havent saw in a month see me getting bigger so positive things are coming.



just get back into it hard bro and you will be fine

 

[Mike_Rojas]

Hey Casual - Take a 6 month sabbatical from your style of training and do a hardcore strength training routine and see what happens. You'll probably change your mind then when you look at your new thicker muscles.

 

[casualbb]

Mike -- that's the plan... but not immediately. After I add another 15 pounds I'm gonna do a modified WSB-style routine to see how strong I can get.

 

[Mike_Rojas]

Mike -- that's the plan... but not immediately. After I add another 15 pounds I'm gonna do a modified WSB-style routine to see how strong I can get.

That's great! It's addictive to do heavy sets. You can always do higher reps on your assistance moves. Not sure why you want to add 15 pnds first, but I'm glad your going to give it a try.