i can lift 100 pounds over my head!

You do realize that HGH holds the LEAST side effects of anything mentioned in this thread right? Not to mention you would need to run 25-50IU a day to experience negatives...oh and just so you know an HGH kit holds 100IU's and costs between 200-600 dollars. So unless you are a secret agent, astronaut, millionaire cowboy you arent affording HGH at the levels needed to harm yourself. Personally anyone can get where they want without HGH unless youre a competitor.

Steroids...like i said I dont suggest them to anyone to be honest...most if not all of the people are uneducated and have not a clue of what theyre doing, just go off what their "Bros" tell them. Also by doing them first starting out, youre just setting yourself up to get hurt...connective tissues cant strengthen in such a short period of time. Not only would you experience Newb gains from lifting but also the gains from the steroids...baddddd combo for joints, ligaments, and tendons.

Moral of the thread...
Train hard 3-4x a week
Diet is 90% of the battle anyone can move weights
Have your friend get blood work to determine his hormones, lipids, and other levels are all within range.
If youre looking for some solid advice/training or diet protocols feel free to shoot me an email

"genetics"...

I have never competed and i am in horrible shape right now to be frank... one thing i do know about everyone that i personally know thats ever competed in a "natural" bodybuilding competition is that they used a lot of juice at one point or another to get the bulk of their size. That just hadn't done any cycles in a few years. That doesn't make it "natural" as the word implies or as others understand it to mean.

Natty bodybuilders are a rare breed. 9 times out of 10 theyre still on juice when on stage, and if its a tested show theres plenty of ways around that just need to be on short ester compounds that leave the body much faster than a long ester

None of these people are educated about what HGH is or how it's used at all. That's why they keep making these ignorant statements. Thank you for trying to educate them. It probably won't work...but at least you tried.

Also...as we see in this thread...the reverse is true as well. All these people on here talking about how "dangerous" testosterone or HGH are (even though they are both produced naturally in their bodies) are doing what you are saying that "Bros" do...only in reverse.

And what I've seen over the years is that when people do try testosterone or anabolics or HGH...they generally get educated about it real quick. Especially with the internet putting all the facts in front of you within a few clicks.

The folks that come on here babbling about the "danger" are going off of sensationalized things they saw or read or heard anecdotal. Lots of it is govt. propaganda as well.

Since those people won't just look stuff up for themselves...I'll post a little something here for them:

"While the 1980s was the true beginning of the war on steroids, many point to two particular cases as being the final nail in the coffin; the 1988 summer Olympics and Ben Johnson and the death of NFL star Lyle Alzado. Both instances provided a face to the issue; for those who were members of the anti-steroid population Johnsons victory pointed to use being cheating and Alzados death gave them the fire they needed to stand firm on their belief that steroids were not only dangerous but they would kill you; death is a pretty big weapon.
No one can argue, if steroids and the use thereof is illegal in a certain sport, such as those in the Olympic games, anyone who chooses to use them is in-fact cheating but what about the everyday guy, what about people who do not compete in competitive sports or who do so in venues where such use is not frowned upon?
As for Alzados death, his own doctors firmly stated there was no evidence anabolic steroid use led to his death, however, Alzado firmly believed they did and Congress chose to hold on to his words rather than the facts.
The original Steroid Control Act did not stop with these two examples; Congress debated on the issue for two solid years before its passage and whats interesting is the medical and law enforcement agencies they called on to testify on their behalf all claimed such a ban was without warrant.
Nevertheless, Congress ignored the testimony of the DEA, FDA, AMA, NIDA and NIH and passed the legislation officially placing anabolic steroids on the controlled substances list as Schedule III drugs. It is important to note Alzado actually died after the legislation was passed but it was his death that was one of the key factors that helped solidify the legislation so to speak; he was now the face of horror as it pertained to steroids."

Do some reading about having that ripped look.

It means having your body fat content very low, to a point of being unhealthy

I don't think he means "ripped" in the bodybuilder way.

I think he means "ripped" as in having lean muscle mass without much fat.

You're talking about getting "dry" for a bodybuilder competition. And that's something that they only do in the last couple of days so that when they walk out on stage there is no WATER retention (not fat loss...water loss) to hide their muscle definition.

That's the unhealthy part of a competition. Because it dehydrates the competitor to a dangerous level.

Getting rid of body fat isn't dangerous...especially if you are building muscle to replace it. That is healthy.

Dropping some spare lbs might be good I think but extreme pumping to get ripped might be not a healthy thing for a heart in that age.

Joe Weider (the guy who started and ran the Mr. Olympia bodybuilder championship and the guy who owned Weider supplements company) died at age 93 a few months ago.

He did "extreme pumping" (which is not something that is even being discussed here...I'm not even sure what you mean by it) until his death.

He lived an active life and had more energy and did more things every day than anybody on GFY.

But this isn't about "bodybuilding".
The OP is asking for a "non steroid" way to get ripped muscles after age 40.

First you have to have muscle tissue. Doesn't have to be "huge" just some muscle. For that you need to have proper testosterone levels.
So he should see a doctor and get checked and make sure his levels are good. If the levels are low, he should do testosterone therapy.

Then he needs to change his diet and get rid of a lot of the fat, salt, and sugar.

And then hit the gym 4 times a week and work your ass off in the gym.

These things are ALL healthy. Nothing there that is unhealthy.

Of course if he goes to his doctor to be checked for low testosterone, the doctor is going to do a physical as well as blood work. If the doctor sees that the guy has a bad heart...then obviously the doctor would tell him "no" on the testosterone and vigorous exercise.

But as long as the person is "normal"...then changing their lifestyle to exercise and eat right IS pretty much the definition of being healthy.

Good reply Robbie :thumbsup

this is as fucking ripped muscles as i could get in my late 40s

before: 18% bf, after: 6-7% bf, which was a bear to maintain. i don't even try that these days, i am on maintenance exercising to stay fit and keep ~10% bf

http://i.imgur.com/NBte7wN.jpg

Great job!

Looking lean, muscular and healthy.

thx man.

you're advice is sound. it's what i did. i do have some hinderances, majorly diabetic, so my gains were limited. but that's what kept me going too, so i guess it balanced out. but even so, getting into the best possible shape is doable.

Awesome Dyna! Before pic looks closer to 14% after looks around 9%, 6-7% youd be much more striated still effin awesome none the less

i wouldn't be surprised if the %s were off one way or the other, i do know this, that final bf was insane to maintain and while i obviously could have gone lower, i am not sure i could have withstood the stress. also, i'm convinced my type 1 diabetes limited things. there's a reason there's only been, what, 1 diabetic competitve bber right? tim belknap, if my memory serves.

I only meant starting body building after 40s (not being into it before and using things to speed up process like drugs).
But in that case if he only wants to drop fat while not using anabolic steroids I think it's all alright too. :winkwink:

This is 8.7% measured via Bod Pod, 24 hours no working out prior as well. Working out prior to getting BF taken will result in skewed results

http://s22.postimg.org/eszmxzxcx/photo_3.jpg
http://s22.postimg.org/6c04n2so1/photo_4.jpg
http://s8.postimg.org/lms7ge5yd/photo_5.jpg

Pardon the baby calves, tried just about every rep range and and weight and they just grow soooo dang slow.

damn phil, you're ripped, bra!


hard works pay off. :thumbsup

Since you said non-steroid I'll recommend what another poster here told you.
And that is BJJ, so basically what this means is....... work your fucking ass off 4 -5 times a week. In return for your hard work, lumps and bruises you get in the best shape of your life.
You also learn to defend yourself and you feel really great.
It's the hardest thing you'll ever love.
I am a purple belt and trained with World Champion buchecha almeida for over a year in Wellington, Fl.

And if you follow a just Ok diet, BJJ will rip you up if you eat even remotely properly.

Diet is still my problem, oh... and beer. >;-)) (So I'm not ripped, but then I don't care about being ripped right now)

http://www.bjjheroes.com/bjj-fighter...meida-buchecha

https://youtube.com/watch?v=7n5Ge0AiCRk

It's good shit!!!

go to levronereport.com to learn some tips and watch some free videos

Kevin Levrone was a pro bodybuilder. He retired, and a few years later he started a clean lifestyle without steroids. He has developed a nice new body, nothing compared with the old monster version, but for a guy over 40 he's pretty good.

Daaaamn, you guys look great. That's it, I'm getting serious about my workouts

heh read this thread earlier today and thought the same!

Question to the fitness gurus here.

What is the best way to calculate Kilojoule/Calorie intake per day?

Do you like to calculate your metabolism? (your energy use in rest)

For men:

88,362 + (your weight_in_kg X 13,397) + (length_in_cm X 4,799) - (age_in_years X 5,677)

(Sorry guys only in kg and cm ... )


The outcome (in kcal) is the energy that you are using doing nothing (only sitting on a chair)

Do you eat more then you gain in weight .. when you eat less you will drop in weight. (Doing nothing). Ofcourse you can still eat more cal and still loose weight if you burn cals with cardio and workouts.

So as soon as you are moving you'll burn cals ... (even while you eat you will burn some cal)


If you like to calculate your daily cal / proteine % / carbs % / fats % based on your food intake. I use an excell file to do those food calculations for me.


.

Thanks Trade Monkey :thumbsup

I want to work out what daily food intake I should aim for. From what I can find / read online if I were to aim for 10,000 kilojoules per day?

Sorry am only just learning about this and it is a whole new world!

My numbers from your formula lead me to astronomical figures.

88,362 + (102 x 13,397) + (196 x 4799) - (36 x 5,677)

i'd venture to say insulin is by far the most dangerous shit you can take. HGH is peanuts when people do it normally.

LOL


this is how it have to be calculated: (in your case)


88,362 + (102 x 13,397) + (196 x 4,799) - (36 x 5.677)

88,362 + 1366,49 + 940,60 - 204,37 = 2191,08


Cheers


.

george-

couple comments. that 2191 cals figure is a rough estimate. it's generally solid, but it is an average.

2200 cals is the # of cals it generally takes someone with your specs to get through 24 hours.


your actual # could vary from this and small changes in cals is all it takes, you only need to adjust cals by *maybe* 200 cals at a time to figure out your own cal requirements re: gaining weight, losing or maintaining.

and for either gaining or losing, i would try and limit that to ~300 cals a day so you don't lose too much muscle losing fat or gain too much fat gaining muscle.


the only way i could figure out how to do it all was to count cals every meal every day, log my workouts and adjust.

after you add in exercise, you will have to account for that as well, you will need to add cals to that resting metabolic rate you calculated above, again *maybe* 300-500 cals will cover your workout energy requirements, depending on intensity, again, very important to measure and adjust.

You are right about that, but it will give him an idea already. Plus that figure is very close.

It's to difficult to explain in a couple words how I calculate my intakes.
Just wanted to help him out with a simple calculation. :)

sorry, didn't mean to come across like i was criticizing, just adding some details that i had to figure out the hard way. hope it can help.

Great pics and answers, thank you :thumbsup

ahh, I knew something was not right there! comma is not a decimal place here, thank you.

That is about the number i'd been told (kilojoule to calorie number above).

Thanks mate.

A good mate of mine (also a diabetic like yourself) has been a wealth of information, I never realised how much diabetics had to learn about the foods they eat(depth of knowledge is insane).

Anyways the numbers we have arrived at for a starting point for me are :

2500 calories per day (10,700kJ per day)

carbs - 40%
protein - 40%
fats - 20%
Sound about right?

Have also picked up some whey protein, fish oil and multi vitamins too. And scales! Will weigh food to try to be more accurate with things.

My current exercise is 5 times a week high intensity cardio ~45 to 60 mins a day. Have been doing this for about 8 months and eating what I thought was good and it has helped me lose a heap of weight, however spinning my wheels now.

I will also be adding 3 days 45mins weights to that to go with this.

With re to calories per day, should I adjust to lower the calories on sat/sun when I do not work out. I do however do gardening / work on my cars / surf every weekend. Not as intense, however still physical.

I spose that gets back to what you were saying about adjusting to suit?

Anyways thanks Dyna mo and Trade Monkey, have been meaning to kick things up a notch and this is the thread that got it started! :thumbsup

If anyone has some great recipes to share - feel free - love to get a few new recipes under the belt :thumbsup