__________________ - It's Rage, the rules are different!
- Rage is more ... testosteron-y
- Keep a rage handy to wipe your fingers so your not tempted to lick them
In my previous avatars whenever I got down to a 32 inch waste I weighed about 160 pounds, including my attempts at college wrestling, fun but had never wrestled before.
Now that I am doing all this weight lifting, I am back down to 33-32, but weigh 190.
Hence: the best time to grow muscles is when you start weight lifting
Going by observation and a smidge of scientific data I'd say between 20-30. Most people I've seen that lift for size make their best gains in their 20's. Plus testosterone levels peak in the late 20's. But I think some argument could be made for something like the accumulation of training knowledge over age itself being the big factor for why that period is when people seem to make their best gains. From about 14-20 wouldn't be far behind as far as potential for gains for most people and there's no reason someone cant make nearly equivalent gains between 30-40 if they started late. I don't think it's worth worrying about because you cant change time, you can just do your best from this moment on.
Even so, 28 is hardly a handicap for progress. There's not really anything your body could do 10 years ago that it cant do now as far as physique enhancement is concerned.
Are you just curious? Doing a paper? Looking for why things aren't going as well as you'd hoped? Surprised at how quickly you're gettin' huge and hoping it's not going to stop?
I don't have time to look up the numbers now, but from what I recall, in doing research for previous books, the peak for untrained guys is early 20s. With training, the peak moves out to the late 20s.
Among serious, competitive lifters, it's more like 30. But that peak can be maintained for a few years.
If you look at Olympic lifting records, you see a pretty steady dropoff for the guys competing in their 40s and 50s. And these are the best guys, the record holders in masters categories. That means, among guys in top competitive condition, strength peaks at about 30.
In sports, track and field athletes tend to peak around age 25, while baseball players typically have their best seasons at age 27. If you see someone in those sports breaking records in their mid-30s, you know about Mr. Needle's proximity to Mr. Buttock.
But those numbers just apply to people who're pushing themselves to their physiological limits. In the real world, you hit your peak when finally figure things out and push yourself as far as you can.
For me, that was in my mid-40s for the bench press and late 40s for squat and deadlift.
For mass and general strength (based on some personal records on dumbbell lifts), I know I hit my peak just over a year ago, when I did Chad's Total Strength Program. I got 2 reps with 100-pound dumbbells on the flat bench. I went back through all my old training logs, and the best I'd ever done was 2 reps with 95. (I got 5 reps with 95 in the set before I attempted to lift 100s for the first time.)
I'm building up now for another run at some personal records -- I haven't decided which ones yet; it'll depend on how my knees and shoulders feel over the next few weeks. I turn 50 in January, and I thought it'd be fun to lift something I've never lifted before.
My point, of course, is that if you aren't an elite athlete who has to peak by a particular age and is getting high-level coaching to reach that goal, you can peak whenever you're ready for it. Look at Mahler; he's still hitting records in his mid-50s.
The key to a late peak is to waste your youth on crappy workouts. That's my secret, anyway.
The key to a late peak is to waste your youth on crappy workouts. That's my secret, anyway.
Ah, good to know we're on the same page Lou
I started making decent gains for the first time a couple years ago while doing a Waterbury undulating periodization program but my best strength gains for lower body have come just this past year (34 now) with the NROL Strength routines.
Though in my early 20's I can clearly remember getting fairly ripped despite having no clue in my workouts and a typical college diet, so based on that (oh, and studies quoted in NSCA material ) I'd say 20's for males is prime time.
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Working "hard," or the perception of working hard, doesn't really mean anything. Sweating, vomiting, and breathing hard could be a good workout or a tropical disease kicking in.-Dan John
I dunno but looking at most of the fitness models I reckon they look optimum in their early to mid 30's
Damn Im 36!
Now, I'm not trying to put down the fitness models, but truthfully, I don't believe they'll ever really hit peak muscular growth or development.
In figure, you're scored down for extreme muscularity. If you're modeling for print work (magazines, etc.), they don't want you to be "too" muscular - or if at all.
Training for fitness modeling is never for growth. So I've never ever have looked to fitness models as any sort of gauge; especially since I've always been in a search for continual progress. Strength and muscle gains progress. And I thought that was the topic of this thread.
But the initial post had two questions that do not always attribute to the same answer ie you dont have to be lean and aesthetic pleasing to lift your heaviest; far from it as most will attest
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BFG
"The time for talking has passed, actions are speaking louder than words."
I had the best lifts of my life from 49-52. Of course, I was eating the cleanest, had the most knowledge, and a buddy who'd kick my ass if I DIDN'T push myself. I surprised myself more than once.
But the initial post had two questions that do not always attribute to the same answer ie you dont have to be lean and aesthetic pleasing to lift your heaviest; far from it as most will attest
Whoa, dude; hold on there for a second. I hit my heaviest bench (200 lbs) while in the middle of precontest prep for a bb'ing contest. I hit my heaviest lifts while not a lean/mean lifting machine, but not at all far from that condition!
You don't have to be a fat putz to lift heavy or train for strength.
Tony said it all and it's reiterated lots of times because it's simply not rocket science, unless of course you work for NASA and trying to solve the problem of weightlifting in zero gravity.
I wasnt saying you have to be fat to lift, but being lean isnt a pre requisite either!
I was saying that the question doesnt always equal the same response!
Yeah, I know.
Sadly, as I was training and competing for strongwoman events, I was being constantly told to "gain weight, gain weight!!!!" But I placed third in my first comp and won my second; although at both, I was the lightest PERSON competing. Heh.
Crazy.
You know I've really performed my best lifts as well as lift best when I'm relatively lean. Just something I've noticed and I know that I ain't the only one in the world who's found this to be true.
One of the world's strongest women....Heini Koivuniemi of Finalnd.
So much for the bulky-talk......MAJOR babe, strong as HELL.
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Robert dos Remedios, MA, CSCS,
HCC (Hartman-Cosgrove Certified)
Director of Speed, Strength & Conditioning
College of the Canyons, CA http://www.canyons.edu/departments/pe/strength
"NO CHAMPION HAS EVER ACHIEVED HIS OR HER GOAL WITHOUT SHOWING MORE DEDICATION THAN THE NEXT PERSON; MAKING MORE SACRIFICES THAN THE NEXT PERSON; WORKING HARDER, TRAINING, AND CONDITIONING HIM / HERSELF MORE THAN THE NEXT PERSON; ENJOYING HIS / HER FINAL GOAL MORE THAN THE NEXT PERSON"
But the initial post had two questions that do not always attribute to the same answer ie you dont have to be lean and aesthetic pleasing to lift your heaviest; far from it as most will attest
Had an opportunity to 'hang out' a bit with Rusty Joiner (the guy in the picture) at a Men's Health photo shoot here in L.A. last week. Guy looked great, albeit I would say he was about 5'6 and 160lbs. (typical gymnast build) The amazing thing is that on these MF covers, I would have swore he were at least a 6'0 190lb'er....
The camera is pretty amazing....The model that i have for my book is one of my football players (who happens to be a model...), he is about 6'1 1/2 and 210lbs. and pretty damn lean....he is going to look like a GIANT!
__________________
Robert dos Remedios, MA, CSCS,
HCC (Hartman-Cosgrove Certified)
Director of Speed, Strength & Conditioning
College of the Canyons, CA http://www.canyons.edu/departments/pe/strength
"NO CHAMPION HAS EVER ACHIEVED HIS OR HER GOAL WITHOUT SHOWING MORE DEDICATION THAN THE NEXT PERSON; MAKING MORE SACRIFICES THAN THE NEXT PERSON; WORKING HARDER, TRAINING, AND CONDITIONING HIM / HERSELF MORE THAN THE NEXT PERSON; ENJOYING HIS / HER FINAL GOAL MORE THAN THE NEXT PERSON"
Dos, Great post. I so agree that a strong woman is beautiful, inside and out. Since Patricia didn't post her Wonder Woman picture (she was modeling for a comic book I think) before, I'll post it now and hope she doesn't mind. These are not new, but it adds to the argument that a strong woman is beautiful.
That picture is from a great article by Christian Thibaudeau, Fun with Women, that shows a lot of strong young women (probably all right in their prime too, huh? lol).
Here's the T-Vixen Roundtable with more pictures of real women who are also strong and beautiful, including Patricia and Cassandra Forsythe.
Had an opportunity to 'hang out' a bit with Rusty Joiner (the guy in the picture) at a Men's Health photo shoot here in L.A. last week. Guy looked great, albeit I would say he was about 5'6 and 160lbs. (typical gymnast build) The amazing thing is that on these MF covers, I would have swore he were at least a 6'0 190lb'er....
The camera is pretty amazing....The model that i have for my book is one of my football players (who happens to be a model...), he is about 6'1 1/2 and 210lbs. and pretty damn lean....he is going to look like a GIANT!
wow never had him down as a dwarf! :p
It just goes to show how body size shows a great difference. When I did my last bulk chalenge I was gutted as I felt my physuque never showed the gains that I had made as well as I put on compared to others. It was a real eye opener, but if ya think about it when you spread 14lbs of LMM over 6ft it aint gonna show all that much!
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BFG
"The time for talking has passed, actions are speaking louder than words."
What is the prime age for muscular growth/development?
) I'd say 20's for males is prime time.
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