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Old Forum "Big Man's" Syndrome

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fdmroz

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Well, that what I call it at least.  I am 6 3 and 275.  I have been training with weights for over 20 years.  Yes, I am considered overweight but I am not fat.I am strong, and have alot of muscle.   Over the last couple years, I have picked up Kettlebell training and body weright routines.  I REALLY love doing ETK and really want to complete it. My issue is I still have that syndrome where i like being "Jacked" but I know at my age, that it really isnt helathy to be at this weight and to be honest I just hate going to the gym. When i start getting into other training, my ind tricks me that my stature should be "jacked" and I end up going back to weight training.  Has anyone else had this problem and how did you deal with training your mind to get lean and strong?
 
frank imo you just have to trust in yourself and do what you want to do.  if you really love to be huge just stay huge.  if top quality health is what you think about a lot and you have fun doing kettlebells, and that is what you want to do, just do kettlebells and accept the consequences!

i dunno, not sure if that is helpful? but i don't think your training will get very far if you are not true to yourself.  disclaimer, i am small and have no experience with big man issues.  :)
 
Thank you for your reply.  It does help.  At my age , 39, I should be thinking health more than aesthetics at this point.   I guess it would help to hear from some that completed the ROP, and what their over results were.  I do love ETK, but I have read that it doesn't really hit the legs ( from another forum) I always believed that your legs are your foundation and should never be left out.  I know it does work the legs with the swing and the C and Ps but just again my mind messin with me.

 
 
Youll steadily appreciate that its better to be strong than to be big. Your sick of the gym and you enjoy ETk and that program will get you and keep you very, very strong. Size doesnt matter its just male ego garbage.

Get strong, get conditioned, you enjoy ETK so stick with it. Do what you enjoy, lifes to short.

 
 
Frank,

I'm not anywhere near your size but I used to have a similar mindset. "Holy s***! I'm losing weight! Better hit the gym and eat ice cream after every meal..."  That was me but probably because I was always skinny growing up and when I put some weight on in high school, I got more of the things I wanted: girls, playing time, respect, girls ( worth enough to mention twice). But now I'm 40, married with two young kids and I finally asked myself, "what is being big going to get me that I don't already have?" and "what am I worried about happening if I am not as big?"  It's like a light bulb went on and it was easy for me to lose over 30 lbs.  And I only started at 220, not 275 like you. But I'll tell you what, Frank.  I'm moving better and looking better than I have since my twenties. I can still lift a couch if I need to and I spent some coin buying smaller waisted pants, but it was worth it. You can still train legs with kb front squats and get an amazing leg workout. Split squats, lunges. They all are kb friendly. And you can find plenty of heavy kbs to keep you progressing. Again, what's going to happen if you get "small"?
 
Not a big man, but I have completed the ROP, and can say your legs won't be small. Tons of posterior chain work! I finally got a butt from doing ROP. =)

Supplement with front squats as Joe mentioned (or even pistols), and your legs will be just fine.

 
 
Frank, although I've never been a big guy I can understand where you're coming from. When I started training with kettlebells the hardest thing for me to do was to shift my mindset. I came from a typical gym background (although no where near as long you have trained for) and every workout had to be "to the wall", you had to train your arms and your core and oh yeah, the squat is king.

Sometimes it takes a leap of faith to believe that 1 simple ball of iron with a handle on top can do all that and that it's okay to not push it to the limit every time, but that's the genius of the ROP. Done properly the one arm C & P ladders (with full body tension) are excellent at getting your upper body strong, and the swings and snatches work wonders for your legs and conditioning. If memory serves there's a section in 'Enter The Kettlebell' where Pavel talks about swings and legs.

As has already been mentioned, you can work some squats into your variety days.

I'm 39 (40 in 5 weeks *gulp*) and can honestly say that since I started with kettlebells my bodyfat is at the lowest it's been since, well since for ever, I'm stronger than I've ever been and I move better and have improved my posture (I sit at a desk all day so before hand it was pretty terrible). An all round win over being a general gym rat with no direction.

If you haven't read it yet, I'd recommend Dan Johns book "Intervention". It's about taking a long term view of training and honestly assessing where we are and how we should train. It's really helped me change my mind set.

Hope that helps.
 
Frank, muscles are heavier than fat, and most of tall and strong people have a body mass index, between " overweight and obese ", it is not unhealthy to be strong and with muscles, but it could be unhealthy to have plenty of body fat.
And, it's look like you don't have a lot of body fat, and wonder why you are thinking in " aesthetics ", what's wrong to be tall and athletic ?
I always train a lot and never was considered as " small ",older than you are, I never had any medical conditions, so, I can say, I am healthy, despite my BMI
also " overweight ".
In matter of lower body training with kettlebells : dead lifts and squats, pistols and 1 leg dead lifts, calves raises and for your gluts, multidirectional lunges, with swings and all basics kettlebells exercises.
No need to go to a gym !!! Enjoy the challenge of training hard and sweating, and this feeling of well being after a taught workout, exhausted, but so rewarding.
Good luck and action !!!
 
Frank,

This is a great post.  I suggest doing more bodyweight training because it will reward you for achieving a healthier body weight, but you can still get your innate need to lift heavy stuff.

Since you are 275 you will be lifting heavier than most bodyweight practitioners but you will quickly lose that as you increase reps/etc.

Once you start leaning out and getting healthier, you can still lift heavy stuff.

my 2 cents

Sean
 
Frank,

Bodyweight is a number, and obsessed about by people on both sides of the discussion. First, do what you want to workout wise. Do not let somebody dictate a number to you that is magic. You can be pretty jacked with your background even letting your bodyweight drop. i believe that folks with a lot of heavy barbell background get a lot more out of KBs from the habit of exploding weights, as opposed to a more endurance background person immediately going to a most efficient movement pattern to conserve energy. Bottom line, skip a meal or two, easy on booze and dessert, and workout more frequently (KB front squats and bulgarian squats will hit your legs hard) and you will like results. Good luck.

 

jmo
 
I'm with powerlifter54 here.

I have a friend who studies to become a doctor and he talked about a lecture they had where the guy(some famous english doctor on visit) talked about the uncertainty of health studies. He talked alot how it came down to genetics. I always follow up that story about my friend with another friend. He had two uncles, one on his mothers side and one on his fathers. One lived in a city, got fat, ate bad, smoked and loved booze. The other lived in a hut in the forest, growed all his own food, ate everything lightly boiled and worked out his entire life. One died 30 years ago one is still alive. Guess wich...

 

By this I want to say is that I belive in quality of life. Do what feels right and makes you happy. Try something new, by all means try kettlebells. If its not your thing, move back to barbell. Or do 3 months kb 3 months bb.

I'm small by your standards, bigger than most I meet. I use kettlebells exclusively.
 
I'd echo Sean's advice. consider picking one or two bodyweight exercises to improve (chins and handstand pushups for example) The big dudes have the most trouble with these exercises but also BENEFIT the most. <-i don't think i need to explain why (Doug Hepburn). Think if you get to 15 perfect chins and handstand pushups. At this point, you'll be leaner, freakishly strong, or some combination of the two. I do not mean to suggest abandoning kbs and barbells (far from it), but to make some bw exercise a staple in your routine. btw, if you can already perform these aforementioned numbers, i just hope to never do anything to incur your anger!
 
Cringe in advance ... "It depends on your goals."

Strong is good. Big is good if it's muscle and you like being big. Carrying around extra fat isn't good. Not liking how you look or feel isn't good. You need to act in a way that's consistent with what you want -- naturally.

I personally was comfortable 14 months ago boxing at 160 lbs and now I'm comfortable having resumed lifting at 180 lbs. I have a powerlifter friend who is a legit 410 -- not fat either -- and he's happy as a pig in mud. I don't think its good for him in an absolute health sense, but the goal of life cannot be simply to live longer.

Think on where you want to be -- in terms of body composition, not weight -- and then act in a manner consistent with the goal. To correct an implicit assumption that crept into this thread, you can certainly lift kettlebells in order to get or stay big. The protocol is what matters, not the tool used.

Rob
 
It's called "Bigorexia", or male-pattern body dysmorphia disorder.  I had it too, and could never decide if I was a bodybuilder or rock-climber.  Exercise-induced multiple personality disorder.  I really hate the implicit assumption that the purpose of lifting is getting bigger and bigger with no end in sight.  I don't believe in "The relentless pursuit of muscle."  Now instead of thinking 'big" or "skinny" I think "optimal."
 
Add heavy kettlebell squats - pull ups and increase the density and you will gain muscle using the ETK format.  No need to give up muscle to get strong.  Fat is bad muscle is good.
 
Frank

I've had a similar issue and came up with a way to handle it.  I was 6'2" 265 and jacked when I was in my mid 30s.  I continued to life but over the years put on fat and struggled with doing anything but pushing heavy weight.  When I hit 45 I realized I was still strong but fat and not in real good shape.  Then came kettlebells and an idea that I should change my focus.

For me, the focus changed to being as strong as I could but leaner.  I adopted the Paleo approach, dropped 45 lbs and fell in love with kettlebells.  Now, I'm lean, strong, mobil and 220.  I do periodically look in the mirror and still want to see me jacked but, it's not there.  It's fine, the focus is different, and my goals are different.  I think this approach has let me get much more functionally strong and still move heavy weights.  I'm not the strongest guy anymore, and that was something I had to get used to.  Still one of the strongest "old" guys, and that's ok too.

Hang in there, make the change, get lean and work!  It's about the work in the end...
 
Wow, thanks for all the replies.  I am glad to see I am not the only one with this dilemma.  I realize that I have to change my goals and get STRONGER but be LEAN.   I just have to choose my routine now.  Like I said LOVE ETK, but my schedule gets in the way for that but I think I need to force myself to get up early and do it.  Any other advice is appreciated and I think all for there replies!
 
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