Chris:
I’m a pretty big guy at 6-feet-7-inches tall and approximately 300 pounds.
I’ve weight trained on and off for years and just started back a few months ago after several years off. During the last active training period of my life I was probably about 250 pounds. I was solid, but now I have a much higher percentage of body fat.
I have always wanted to be big. My mentality has always been to gain mass first and then try to get ripped.
However, now I have a few minor health problems that I believe could be solved by losing a few pounds. My question is do you think it’s better to build mass first while having a few extra pounds and then lose the fat, hopefully without losing the muscle?
- Mike
Mike:
A few years ago a guy named Jay Nichols walked into my office and asked me if I could help him get in better shape.
He, too, stood 6–feet-7-inches tall and weighed about 260 pounds.
He had a huge frame with a lot of potential, but he sported a belly that looked as if he swallowed a basketball.
He had spent the last 10 years lifting with his meathead friends, who all shared the common goal of trying to get as big as they could, even it meant adding two inches to their guts for every inch gained on their biceps.
I can still remember his face when I told him the first thing we were going to do was drop some weight to expose the muscles that he had worked so many years to build.
“Get smaller? Are you kidding? I need to get bigger,” he said.
I explained to him that not only would he be healthier and more mobile, but he would look twice as big when he shrunk his waist and chiseled some shape into his muscles.
Jay wasn’t buying it. He still felt he needed to get bigger before trying to shed body fat and get cut.
He continued working out with the same old friends with the same goals, but he continued to ask me questions about training.
Finally, he walked into the gym one day and said, “You win. When we can get started?”
Jay and I worked together for the next three months. We slowly taught his body to burn fat while preserving the muscle he already had.
With each passing week his shape changed, and he began to buy into what we were doing.
By week 12 Jay looked like a completely new person. He had dropped a total of 60 pounds and had muscles sticking out everywhere.
Best of all, he no longer had the distended belly that had once made him look blocky. Instead, he sported six-pack abs and a V shape that would make anyone proud.
The moral of this story is go for quality. Why spend all of your time and energy chasing the wrong goal when you already have the tools to look great and be healthy? I can guarantee you’ll be surprised at how much bigger your muscles look when they aren’t covered with fat.
