My Picture, My Physique… Oh, My….

The last time my picture caused this much commotion was when I was 16-years old. One lovely spring day, a very bored high-school "friend" of mine decided it'd be cute to fax my class picture to the local sheriff's office with a caption below it that read:

"Tim Patterson: Wanted for diddling Deputy Fulton's Daughter"

After Deputy Fulton was mercilessly taunted by the entire sheriff's department, he roared off to the high school and dragged me out of Driver's Ed class. I, of course, had no clue of what had happened, which made for quite an interesting dialog.

"But Deputy Fulton, I had nothing to do with it! I promise! What kind of idiot would fax his own photo and name like that, anyway?!" But my pleadings wouldn't calm the indignant beast that lived within Deputy Fulton. He was livid. I don't have the time to go into details, but let me just say it wasn't a Kodak moment.

I've always wondered if this incident had anything to do with the fact that, before my 18 birthday, I’d accumulated 19 speeding tickets and various other moving violations… Hmm….

Anyway, the pictures of TC and me that were posted in last Friday's "Atomic Dog" drew a lot of attention and provoked a ton of comments. Thankfully, most were complimentary, and some were even downright glowing. I'm convinced that the latter were sent by people who were either on hallucinogenic aids, or hoping for a leather T-jacket. 'Cuz we ain't nothin' special. At least, I don't think so.

Seriously, all of you T-men and T-vixens out there who sent in those gushing e-mails, thanks for the support. Hey, I don't care who you are, when it comes to all the hard work that goes into developing a decent body, a compliment feels pretty darn good — especially when it comes from a T-mag reader.

You T-mag readers are very loyal, but you're not pushovers. You're a fun-lovin' crowd, but you take training seriously, with a good dose of skepticism thrown in to keep everybody honest.

Regarding my picture, I'll have you know, it took the better part of a day and several doses of feel-good "medicine" before I agreed to allow it to be posted. Publishing photos of us is just not the Testosterone style. TC and I believe that what we have to say is far more important than how we look. But looking okay isn't a bad thing, either.

Of course, our most-vociferous critics (read: insanely jealous, Internet "competitors") had a great time blasting us, saying that TC and I are a couple of puny punks who should be embarrassed to be seen in public. We also had a few (actually six) readers who gave their jabs, too. Here's a sample:

"TC and Tim look like average, recreational bodybuilders — nothing more, nothing less."

— JD

"I must admit, Tim's 13-inch arms looked shredded!"

— Bobby Z

Obviously, the "TC and Tim look like average, recreational bodybuilders — nothing more, nothing less" comment was actually meant to be a dig, but I take it as a compliment. Really. I've never wanted to be a competitive bodybuilder. All I've ever aspired to attain is a very lean, 200-lb-ish physique. Or, in other words, to be an average, recreational bodybuilder… nothing more, nothing less.

Besides, the sole point of posting those pics was to refute Mentzer’s allegations — that TC was feminine and I, "after more than 20 years of training," had "far less muscle, i.e., Testosterone, than the average untrained man." TC took some photos where he looked absolutely Buffalo-ish (is that a word?) in size, but he chose to go with the more "manly" ones. I, on the other hand, went with the first pic we took. What you see is pure, unadulterated Tim, for better or worse. Regardless of whether you "admire" my bod or not, I think the photo served its purpose.

And, not that it matters, but my arms are about 16 inches cold. Of course 16 inches is nothing to brag about unless you're talking about a blue-veined throbber. Now, that would be something to brag about…

TC and I don't get upset when we're harangued about our physiques, but we do get a little miffed when people say that we are "full of it" just because we're not too big to wear store-bought clothes. It's utterly ridiculous to equate someone's intellect with their physical condition. How twisted is that?! A person's statements should stand alone, and accordingly, be judged on face value, regardless of who made them or how big of a body he sports.

But none of this has much to do with the real point I want to make: The vast majority of the entire "hardcore" audience (that's you and me, bubba) just wants a lean, athletic appearance. That's it. And they have zero aspirations of building a Ronnie-Coleman-type body. It's a good thing, too, because we average guys can't look that way, anyway.

Two of our readers put it this way:

… "99% of the people who work out and read all these Internet sites don't look like competitive bodybuilders and have no desire to compete, and that includes many people who juice as well… When they make fun of the pics put up here last Friday they don't realize that they are insulting… regular people with some muscle or lots of muscle who have no desire or the genetics to be a freak — basically the same type of genetics a Tim P or a TC would have, or any other regular guy."

— Andrew

"Why do they make a big deal about TC and Tim? Jealousy? Tim has a great physique that many of us would die to have! Who wouldn't want to be ripped and muscular and not too bulky? And TC has done quite well too! …It's sad that people act that way."

— Nate Dogg

I believe that just about every T-mag reader can relate to TC and me. We have the same physique struggles as you do. Both of us have had many years' experience taking our "average" bodies and making the most out of them — and we're still working on it!

TC and I experience many of the training, diet, and supplement frustrations you do. And the message is, don't give up! You'll end up where you want to be, but it's going to be hard work — much harder work than what a genetic freak has to endure, but doable. I don't know who implied it's a snap to go from a buck-fifty to 200, but they're dead wrong.

In my particular case, I added 46 pounds of lean mass, going from 154 to 200. If you do the math, that amounts to nearly a 30% increase in body weight. And from my picture, you can tell it's not from fat, either. And TC went from 155 pounds to 235 — again, you do the math! It was difficult, but we did it — and so can you!

Going back to the 13-inch-arm comment, did you know that to grow a 13-inch arm into 16 inches you have to add approximately 51% to your upper-arm mass? It's not as simple as adding three measly inches. And to go from 13 to 18 inches, you have to almost double your arm mass. So it's no wonder making gains is extremely difficult, even under ideal circumstances. Still, you can get the job done, just not overnight.

Yes, I know that there are a lot of lifters who've packed on a ton of mass seemingly overnight, but that's the exception and certainly not the rule. The average guy can expect to have a few bouts of rapid growth; but most of the time, progress is going to move fairly slowly, which feels like no growth at all. This doesn't mean you're a hard-gainer or that you're doing anything wrong. All it means is you're just like everyone else.

In fact, I believe that the whole "hard-gainer" thing is an urban myth. Based on years of experience, I estimate that real hard-gainers represent less than 10% of the population. In reality, the underlying cause for most people's lack of progress is nothing more than stale workouts and sucko diets.

It's just human nature to get so involved in the things closest to you — like training and diet — that your sense of perception becomes dull. In other words, you can't see the forest for the trees.

Every day, we receive countless e-mails from lifters who are stuck in a rut, asking for help. And with rare exception, the solutions are so obvious that you'd think they'd leap off the page and smack 'em right on the noggin.

My advice is to take a step back and reevaluate your goals, not from someone else's perspective, but from yours. Decide what it is that you really want the most from your body, then go after it full-force.

I believe the training secrets, if you can call them that, for building muscle are pretty simple:

• Don't place your body under house arrest by labeling yourself a hard-gainer. True hard-gainers are rare birds.

• Train to failure very infrequently.

• Cycle intensity and volume.

• Get your diet right. Screw this one up and you may as well take up stamp collecting instead of weightlifting.

• Use whatever it takes to keep training and nutritional programs fresh. It's called education and execution — read, read, read, and practice, practice, practice.

• Focus your perspective on true north. In other words, be honest about your current condition and realistic with your expectations. Intellectual dishonesty will halt progress in its tracks and send you down the path to nowhereville.

• And, above all, don't turn this thing of ours — bodybuilding — into a religion. Obsessive zealots go nowhere but crazy, making irrational leaps of faith that usually result in losses, not gains.

I'm dead serious about these points. I'm not trying to wax philosophical. That Tony Robbins stuff makes my T levels drop like TC's trousers when he sees a hottie in a thong (hint: don't go to the beach with him). I promise you, if you stay out of la-la land, you will grow. It really is just that simple.

To emphasize what I said earlier, your physique goals are just that, yours. Don't use someone else's guidelines or expectations to validate your body. And for goodness sake, don't measure a man's intelligence by how big his arms are. His pecker? Yes. Arms? no. Oh, I'm just kidding, again…

My picture, my physique, and my goals have been the subject of several discussions on the T-mag forum. I usually shy away from revealing my personal diet and training programs for fear they'd kill half the people who tried to follow them. Then we'd have to build up the T-mag readership again.

But this time I'm going to go ahead and give the details of my next program, but I don't want anyone to think it's a guarantee of success for them. It's my approach toward training and diet that has worked for me. The specifics change all the time.

My short-term goal is to add about 10 pounds of muscle without adding one scintilla of fat. I know, we preach against this kind of endeavor, but I've been pretty successful at gaining muscle without gaining fat, and hopefully I can continue to do so.

Right now I weigh a tad under 200 pounds. And at a height of six-one, that's a little skinny for my taste. So I'm going to roll the scales up to 210 and see what I look like. To accomplish this, I'm going to use what I call the bump-up-and-hold technique. I'm going to increase calories and training volume for a couple of weeks, back off for one to two weeks, and keep doing that for 12 weeks or until I hit 210.

Can I do it? Most likely yes, but I could be at the very edge of where my body's willing to go without taking a different approach. I'll just have to wait and see. That's the fun part of the challenge.

Since my next program is scheduled to last about 12 weeks, I need to factor in some changes along the way to keep my body responding. To do that, like I said, I'm going to bump-up and hold. So for the bump-up phase, I plan on splitting the body into three training days and rotating workouts over a five-day cycle. Then, on the hold weeks, I'm going to work each body part once per week and a priority body part twice per week. Here's what it looks like:

Bump-Up Weeks (two-week cycle)

Hold Weeks (one to two-week cycle, depending on fatigue)

On the priority-body-part day, choose an area that you want to emphasize and train it again on Friday. You should have at least three days in between repeated sessions, so you may need to rearrange the spilt so that you're working the priority body part on Monday or Tuesday, then again on Friday.

Loading, Reps, and Sets

For loading, alternate a classic pyramid scheme with a wave pattern every three-week phase. Use 95% of your selected-rep max to determine the weight for the heaviest work set. In other words, if you're doing 5 sets of 5, use 95% of your five-rep max on your heaviest set. It should look something like this:

5RM = 210 lb

Stop just prior to failure on the heaviest set, meaning don't attempt another rep unless you know you can nail the sucker without putting everything you have into it. At the conclusion of most other sets, you should have one to three reps left "in the hole."

Increase the loads when you can hit the target reps in all sets. And cycle intensity each time you go through a complete bump-up and hold phase, using the following load-pattern schedule:

Use fatigue as a guideline for total sets per workout. I know it sounds kind of general, but that's the best measuring stick to use. It makes no sense to simply do something because it's written down on paper. Listen to what your body is telling you from workout to workout and act accordingly. As a guideline, though, you should be performing somewhere between 20 and 40 works sets per training session.

I know this sounds like a lot of sets, but in my book, a semi-high volume is absolutely necessary to build mass. I really don't believe that failure is the trigger that stimulates growth. In fact, over the years, I've seen very little correlation between the two. In contrast, I know for sure that periodic increased frequency and volume work — big time!

Dietary Guidelines

For diet, I'm going to increase my calories by 600 a day during the bump-up phases, and by 300 a day during the hold weeks. I'm also going to keep protein intake to a minimum of 300 grams per day throughout the entire program.

For macronutrient breakdown, my preference is about 40% carbohydrate, 20% fat, and 40% protein. I don't argue with success, and this mix has always worked best for me. Believe me, I've fooled around with just about every macro configuration possible and I've always come back to 40/20/40.

You, on the other hand, might be better off with 40/30/30. It works great for a lot of people. You're the best judge of how to split up your diet. Experienced lifters know instinctively how they should eat, that is, if they've stayed in tune with their bodies.

Supplement Program

For supplements, here's exactly what I've planned for the entire 12-week program:

Tribex-500: 4 capsules in the morning with breakfast and 4 capsules at 10:00 pm with a high-protein meal.

Androsol: 70 sprays in the morning and washed off before 10:00 pm.

MD6: 2 capsules at 8:00 am, 12:00 pm, and 4:00 pm on a semi-empty stomach (light snack).

T2: 1 capsule every third day.

Advanced Protein: 150 grams spread throughout the day.

Biotest Surge: one, three-scoop serving immediately after each workout.

T2 — My Secret Weapon for Getting Ripped

Simply put, T2 has blown me away. It's so effective at eating up my body fat, I can only use it every third day. It's no joke. If I take more than that, my metabolic rate goes up so high that it's difficult to manage. Plus, I'm so wired I can't sleep at night. I'm unusual in this regard, too. Most people require three capsules a day to achieve the same effect as I receive from my once-every-three-day, limited use. Just experiment with dosing to see what works best for you.

Bottom line, if you want to see rivers of veins running down your arms, legs, and abs, T2 will deliver the results — 100% guaranteed!

Biotest Surge — My Secret Weapon for Gaining Muscle

Originally I was skeptical about Biotest Surge — that is, until I tried it! Now, I can honestly say that there's no way I'll ever give the stuff up. Without it, it would be impossible for me to train like I do.

Before Surge, the most I could handle was four hard workouts a week, hitting a body part only once a week. Now look at what I'm doing. I'm hitting the weights five days a week, and sometimes working a body part three times. And I feel great (recovered) the next day! I'd have to say, if I could only afford two supplements, Biotest Surge would definitely be one of my choices.

There you go. You now have my plan for taking an average body to its next level — get a little leaner and little more muscular, park awhile, then blow on from there.

Building a muscular, ripped body is hard work for us average guys. But if you're smart about it, you can get there, bud — sooner than you think!

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