Best Posts in Forum: Gym and Workouts

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The way he was licking his lips in the clip they showed on news, the fact that he's in shape, and apparently ain't concerned about skin cancer told the Scorpio in me that he a freak down to the Shady Pines.

 

“Black Panther,” “Fahrenheit 451” and “Creed II” actor Michael B. Jordan covers the April 2018 issue of Men’s Health magazine photographed by











.

Read the whole post here.

 

British Bodybuilder Simeon Panda says he's a "Lifetime Natural Bodybuilder" who has never used any drugs to achieve his massive physique. He's even done a Youtube video where he supposedly goes to take a polygraph test and a drug test:



Many people in the comments section weren't buying it...

For the sake of discussion on The Boards, what do you think?

Without a doubt, it still takes a lot of hard work and time in the gym to achieve a dope physique even while taking performance enhancing drugs and steroids, but is it plausible that this dude has NEVER used anything?

Secondly, knowing the lifestyle it takes to maintain this body, would you date someone like this?

 

If you have spent any consistent time in the gym you'll recognize these animals and you may even see yourself in here:

 

Like most gay men on social media, I follow certain Personal Trainers on Instagram, Twitter and/or YouTube. In addition to sharing fitness tips, these chiseled bodied men bless us by showing off their abs and muscles daily in the form of new photos and videos.

Their positive inspirational photos and videos in no subtle way say, “you can get like me with just a little hard work and consistency.”

And there’s a lot of truth to this. These men have no doubt bust their asses to achieve the physiques they have.

However…

Recently, I started to see through the Matrix that is the Social Media Influenced Fitness Industry and noticed a very common trend.

Just about 90-95% of the most popular, oiled up and chiseled fitness models online selling us Herbalife supplements and discount “training” sessions had an unfair advantage from the start.

Turns out, most of them just might be full of shit.

THE UNFAIR ADVANTAGE

Its safe to say that most people who seek out the help of a personal trainer are looking to lose weight, sometimes tons of it. They hope to lean out enough to expose the muscle hiding underneath, giving them a “toned” look. Basically, obtaining the lowest possible body fat percentage is the goal.

We see these magazine-cover-ready trainers posting the weight loss progress photos of their clients and assume that their own personal journey was the same. They surely overcame the same struggle of losing those layers of stubborn fat that once caused unwanted bulges in their clothes.

Right?

Let’s take a look at one of the main hot-bodied “personal trainers” out there, super attractive Dolvett Quince, best known for his work helping overweight people lose pounds on NBC’s The Biggest Loser.



According to his own book, The 3-1-2-1 Diet, he says about his origins:

“One day, I caught my reflection in a car window, and I looked huge and ripped. My string-bean body had responded quickly to the rigors of weight training.“

Dolvett helps people lose hundreds of pounds, yet he’s never had that struggle in the past himself. He was (and is) a naturally slim guy who had/has the struggle of gaining muscle, not losing fat.

Two different beasts for most people. Even more difficult if your goal is to both lose fat by limiting calories AND gain muscle by consuming more calories when your body has a slow metabolism and naturally follows its evolutionary instinct to retain all fat possible for survival.

And there you have it.

That’s the main unfair advantage that I noticed over and over.

Most of these male personal trainers whose photos and videos we lust after and seek advice from started off with the unfair genetic advantage of a High Metabolism. They’re naturally slim men whose primary struggle is eating too FEW calories, not eating too many calories.

Most people don’t have this “problem.”

Is this akin to being a Marriage Counselor who has never actually been married himself?

What’s harder: Gaining weight or losing it?

Given that our society obsesses over being “slim,” I’d argue that it’s the latter.

Case in point, there’s never been an NBC show called, “THE BIGGEST GAINER” featuring slim men struggling to gain mass.

Full disclosure, I’m sorta one of these naturally slim men as well. While my love of junk food and alcohol causes the size of my mid-section to fluctuate, I’ve always been more of a skinny guy…So I know the struggle…but I’ve never been so skinny that I was one of the men who could “eat anything and never gain weight.”

Turns out, many Personal Trainers are like this and they avoid sharing this key detail with their clients.

Many of them had perfectly fine and desirable toned bodies even BEFORE they ever stepped into a gym.

On top of their naturally high metabolism, many of these Trainers were lifelong athletes whose bodies were already heavily conditioned to look like they had worked out for years, even if they hadn’t.

Their BEFORE photos look better than most of their clients’ AFTER photos.

Let’s go through some of them now.

1. Ray Grayson aka Mr Shut Up And Train

Based out of Atlanta, celebrity personal trainer Ray Grayson who also goes by the moniker Mr. Shut Up and Train, boasts an impressive 67,000+ followers on Twitter and over 48,000 followers on Instagram.

He’s undoubtedly helped a lot of people and worked hard to achieve his own fitness goals, but an archival photo reveals that he never had to face the struggle of losing tons of pounds.

As Ray puts it regarding this photo: “Twelve years ago you couldn’t tell me I wasn’t fly and Swole (skinny swole)!!!”



2. Ray aka Big Play Ray

I’ve been following the “other” Ray (aka Big Play Ray) and his bodybuilding tips and videos for years. He’s amassed an impressive 4.6 million views on his YouTube channel. But as “swole” as Ray is now, his journey has never included being a 6′ 2″ tall man needing to lose 20-40 lbs of body fat before he saw any of those impressive gym results.

Like Ray Grayson, Big Play Ray can eat whatever he wants and STILL lose weight and maintain definition if he doesn’t go to the gym multiple times per week.



3. Ulisses Jr

Bodybuilding Icon and 4-times Musclemania Pro champion, Ulisses Jr, details his workouts and meal plans to his over 1.4 million followers on Instagram…but as built and defined as he is, it turns out his main struggle is adding and KEEPING the mass, not losing layers upon layers of fat like most of his followers.



4. Chris Smith aka GetFitBySmith

Personal Trainer Chris Smith has over 250,000 Instagram Followers over multiple accounts and goes above and beyond helping people achieve their goals with fitness tips and positive inspirational messages…it doesn’t hurt that he’s also a beautiful man.

But digging into Chris’ archives we see that he’s also one of those naturally “skinny nikkas” who probably played sports since he was able to walk. Check out his Before and After. I’ve seen male strippers who currently look much flabbier than Chris Smith did way back before he started his gym journey.

So not fair.



5. Rauve Suave

Personal Trainer and (sexy) Model Rauve Suave shares fitness tips with over 53,000 Instagram followers and looks amazing doing it. But again, unlike his clients, it turns out that adding mass was his main struggle, not losing weight like his clients.

I don’t know many women (or gay men) who would turn him down if he still looked like his Before photo. There are many men out there who would trade anything to AT LEAST look like Rauve Suave did 3 years ago.



6. Gabriel Sey

Former athlete and current bodybuilding personal trainer Gabriel Sey shares his workout and fitness tips (and sexy British accent) with well over 4 million YouTube views and over 45,000 subscribers.

But as you can see, being athletic with a high metabolism, Sey has never had the struggle of looking in the mirror and seeing a depressingly fat belly like most of his clients.

Slender, muscular, college-aged Gabriel Sey’s body looks even better than some of the other current personal trainers in this list.



7. Brandon Hendrickson

Trinidadian Brandon Hendrickson has clearly worked hard on his physique, leading him to place 5th at the IFBB 2015 Olympia Competition. He shares his journey and fitness tips to his over27,000 followers on Instagram daily.

But as we can see, once again, Brandon’s diet of Caribbean Rotis and Doubles couldn’t compete with his super high metabolism back then.

Notice the trend yet?



8. Justin Reynolds

Personal trainer and aspiring musician Justin Reynolds has amassed over 70k Instagram followers and a whopping 250,000 twitter followers over the last 4 years. I’ve been there since nearly the beginning after learning about him when I responded to his unexpected “follow back” request long before I started blogging.

He’s grown from a young cute light skinned dude to an impressively muscular grown man in that time.

The key thing to note, though, is that once again he started from the point of it being hard for him to put on mass, not lose fat.

Must be nice.



9. Markell aka Mr London

Another British personal trainer, Markell aka Mr London has over 35,000 Twitter followers andover 18,000 Instagram likers who closely follow his workout/fitness tips, as well as lust over his many thirst trap photos.

As you can see by his Before photos, losing a pudgy mid-section was never a concern for the London native.

First World Problems.



10. Jonathan Garcia

Personal trainer Jonathan Garcia helps his over 10,000 Instagram followers lose weight, but he would never have been accused of being “fat” before he started hitting the gym and learning the tricks of the trade for his future clients.



11. Laquan Jones

Trainer Laquan Jones would have been called a “twink” if he was gay, but since he’s not, back then he looked like just another naturally skinny man who’s now impressively swole and teaches his over 3,000 Instagram followers how to lose weight.

A problem that he’s never really had himself.



12. Brandyn Watson

Personal trainer Brandyn Watson’s ripped muscular body is sick! His physique is full of striations and veins, you can tell that his body fat percentage is insanely low. The hard work he’s put in is very evident. This impresses his 3,500 Instagram followers, but a guy like me sees his Before photo and realizes that natural genetics plays a huge factor in his cut up appearance. I’m sure he’s a guy that LOSES weight if he doesn’t work out.

Does this hold true for most men out there?

Brandyn is blessed with the metabolism that keeps him lean, no matter what he eats. Lucky man.



13. Corey S. Taylor

Model, Actor and Personal Trainer Corey S. Taylor effectively inspires many of his over 3,000 Twitter followers with photos of his own progress. But as you can see in the Before and After photo below, Corey was sexy as hell even without gaining the extra muscle mass. To be honest, I had to squint to see the differences between the two photos.

Many of his clients, walking tubs of body fat lard, don’t have such a solid starting point as a foundation to work from.



14. Metrell Hurst

Had to include at least one fellow gay man to the list. Open gaylebrity, Personal Trainer, Military Veteran and Recording Artist Metrell Hurst has over 16,000 followers on Twitter who not only look to him for updates on his music career, they like to see his slim muscular body (present company included, the man is beautiful).

Many of you may remember the D’Angelo “How Does It Feel” inspired music video he produced where he is essentially naked.

However, once again, this chiseled black man (who’s also now Married and off the market) starts off from a place where getting fat is really not a possibility for him unless he tried very hard.


Granted, there are definitely exceptions to the rule. There are some popular Personal Trainers out there who started off fat and lost the weight.

For example, green-eyed YouTube personal training sensation Elliot Hulse has an astonishing 46 Million views on his channel…As you can see from his Before photo, he’s been what we would call overweight at the start of his journey…But if you look at his After photo, he doesn’t quite have the “Magazine Cover Model” look that the men above have.

No doubt that he’s still very attractive and muscular, but he’s not very lean or defined or, well…chiseled.

True he has tons of followers and YouTube views, but there is clearly a difference in the results here over the others mentioned.



Elliot Hulse looks perfectly fine. And he’s probably in better physical shape than anyone reading this. But I can’t help but to observe that his less-than-defined body reminds me of how bodybuilders USED to look in the 70s and early 80s.



Living in Atlanta, I know many non-famous Personal Trainers here in the city…and sure enough, 100% of them have the same story. They started off and maintained a slim/toned physique even before getting serious in the gym.

None of them were ever overweight or fat men who then lost the flab to go on to become fitness trainers

So what was the point of all this? Am I saying that the men listed above did not work hard for the bodies that they have? That they just had great genes and didn’t have to put in much effort?

Nope, the opposite. I know for a fact that a high metabolism and genetic predisposition to muscularity doesn’t always guarantee muscle mass and definition. The individual still has to put in the daily effort in the gym and eat properly.

However, we also have to accept that many of the above men find it much easier to shed fat than the rest of us. This makes their journey to muscle definition and “results” a bit easier than the plight of their clients and fans who have muscle mass hidden by hard-to-lose fat.

Are they actually “full of shit” as the title states? No…that was click bait…Many personal trainers at the very least are motivators to get people to resist temptations.

They’re kinda like Alcoholics Anonymous Sponsors who help stop addicted people from having a drink…except A.A. sponsors typically also used to be alcoholics themselves.

I seriously doubt these naturally lean Personal Trainers are telling their clients that they’ve personally never been “fat” or had to work as hard to lean out like most Americans.

What are your thoughts?

 

Thanks for this thread @cypher21! I started my fitness/nutrition goals about a month ago and have a few motivation/body goals as well. I'm not really concerned with building up muscle, I'm just focused on defining/toning up what I already have.

The most realistic to my frame/body type would def be TMarkq, and I'd like to be close to his build come 8-10 months. I'm also looking for gym/accountability partners, so if any of you are interested in the NYC area let me know! And if you'd like to follow my progress or get some additional "motivation" tips, check out my fitblr ultimately-me.tumblr.com

 

I am still trying to improve

 

When these goals are met,feel free to post transformation pics for "motivation" for the rest of us.

 

#Goals #MaybeIdHaveABoyfriendIfILookedLikeThisBlackGod #AtLeastImTallAndStillHaveAllMyHair

Ibrahiym Gladney

[ 240 lbs on the Left - 180 lbs on the Right ]



What workout or nutrition routine did you do before (AGR) System? What kind of results did you get?

To be honest I followed the crowd as far as workout routines are concerned. I would go to the gym and do three sets of chest, three sets of legs, and maybe a set or two of shoulders or back followed by 45 minutes of cardio. At the time I weighted 240 and I was able to lose 15 pounds and walk around at 225. With the addition of adding squats to my routine I was able to lose another 5 pounds and drop down to 220. Unfortunately I was only able to maintain that weight for about six months before I started slowly packing on weight until I shot back to around 239-240 pounds.

What was most appealing to you about this program?

The fact the AGR focused on a leaner look and muscular symmetry while at the same time gaining strength and losing weight.

Were the any concepts or approaches you were skeptical about?

I was skeptical about counting my calories, the workout starting point categories, and the whole program. I had a hard time accepting what was different between bodybuilding.com and the Adonis Golden Ratio System.

What was your experience going through the AT contest? Challenges that came up? Things you didn’t expect?

The biggest challenge for me was building up my intensity without a workout partner. I often felt that I wasn’t improving my physique because of the non-workout partner limitation. So I often put on my head phones and turned the anger and frustration into a constant challenge and it seems as if I came out on top. I absolutely did not expect to be so tired after my workouts. They took everything out of me. I also did not expect to see my body transforming in front of my eyes.


How did people react to your transformation? Positives and negatives (if any).

A lot of negative comments came my way as far as “you are getting super skinny” (normally by people who were not in shape) “don’t fade away on me”, or even from body builders in my gym calling me “weak” or “too small”. On the other end, I also received some positive comments as far as “you look great” and even some “keep up the good work”.

 

Im not saying that you gotta be like muscle man....but I feel like, while I may not be the most in shape dude, I have a alright body, with some thickness on me

 

C'mon man. You know as well as the rest of us that the better majority of gay men want someone with a nicely proportioned, to decently shaped, to muscular body. There are those that probably could care less one way or the other, but they are feeeeeeeeeeew and far between. That's just the reality of it, my man. We can nay say all day, but it don't change the situation.

 

My ideal body is the body of Christ...

 

So....you gotta lose weight in order to get a man?!?!?! #ICant

 

Here is something and probably what I'm aiming for:





Nice and simple, toned and handsome.

 

Somewhere in between these three is my goal; I saw the second dude at the beach a couple weeks ago *heart eyes* but like @Omega Level I'm also an ectomorph but not as completely as I used to be growing up. My biggest problem is eating enough

 

Since I wrapped up on my last freelance gig I've fairly easily cut my calories down to 1200 a day. Seems like not a lot but the body adjusts pretty quickly so I def get fuller faster. Just trying to reduce my middle age spread from junk food eating.

As for the going to the gym like the dude in the OP, I go sporadically...but I have to admit, I've never wanted one of those IG muscle bodies for myself. Always seemed like a lot of work just for external adoration.

I guess it could help the self esteem but despite what the trainer says at the beginning of the video, a nice body is no guarantee for life improvement in areas like finance, career, dating, relationships or life in general.

Lastly, I'll echo @alton and say videos like this reinforce that article I wrote about my view on these black personal trainers. They always seem to "transform" naturally skinny men into skinny toned men. You rarely see a man with excess body fat "transform" into a lean muscular man. It's always these high metabolism men who lose weight easily without trying, not men who gain weight easily.

Why Most Black Male Personal Trainers Are Actually Full of Shyt

 

No No that's exactly what I said it's not! It's uh..it's um... motivati--

-__- ...whatever just enjoy the men and post that dream body I guess...

 

This whole article.

I feel unless you have been there, you can't relate to my fitness struggle. Anyone who has gone from average-chubby-fat to in shape I'm more to take their advice from.

If you have always been rich, I'm probably not going to take your financial advice to heart but if you have bounced a check a time or two and recovered from bankruptcy and bad credit, and now have a good net worth, I can learn something from you.

 

I have been all over the map myself and I think there is a point here that is being missed. Losing weight does not equal gaining muscle or being chiseled. When I started my journey and lost 30lbs (200 to 170) I was still chubby. I had no muscle tone.

I think its safe to say many people want that toned chiseled look that the personal trainers are displaying and they think "losing weight" or "losing fat" will obtain this and it will not. Most trainers I have seen over the years focus on cardio, getting their clients "in and out" in under 30 to 45 mins with very little to NO weight training.

All the dedication in the world is not gonna replace basic education and fundamentals which many of these personal trainers don't instruct their clients. I'm a personal believer you have to educate yourself and do it on your own.

 

You know, if Pinterest was porn friendly it could replace Tumblr.

I actually have a dormant page for clothes that I still get people following and pinning. I should get back into it. It's a good site for info graphic content like recipes, workouts, fashion, cosplay tattoos etc

 

Don’t really need a paid membership per se, just personal space and time. Got my (decidedly modest) results this summer from Pinterest pages:



A lot of people think of Pinterest as the social media platform for old ladies with cats, but I swear I’ve gotten way better workout info on there than the last 20 years of (every-issue-interchangeably-the-same) Men’s Health

 

I don't mind the "new" people who want to better themselves.

*I do mind the new people hogging the equipment while in a state of confusion while simultaneously texting or socializing with the 3 other noobs they came with.

*The ones who asks you a million questions as if you're a personal trainer because somehow a fitness magazine or the internet is foreign to them.

*The ridiculously thirsty women and gay dudes who seem they are more interested in catching a man then working out.

Also I notice the crowd doesn't really get thick until around February.

 

Ew...I don't go to gyms and in public places barefoot at all either. I don't even walk on my own floor barefoot. Wither socks or flip flops. When I get out of my shower, I get out into flip flops.

Ugh, just throw the whole locker room away.

With that said...this is even more gross now that I think about all those cruising vids online where men are on the floor under stalls sucking dick & keeping popped and then the encounters be anonymous with no protection. Soooo gross to me.

 

Somewhere in the neighborhood of these 3 guys but considering my age it's not really super realistic in any short time frame. But this is dreambody so...







Jordano's body just really turns me on. I just love his aesthetic. I'd probably never have clothes on if I was built like that TBH.

I still like this stage of Elliot but where he is in 2019 is beyond my goals. If fitness was my bread winning gig maybe but for regular Joe me, I'm good. I just want a large t shirt to stretch out on my arms while the lower portion clearly shows I don't have a belly.

 

I sweat a lot so I'm very aware to clean up before and after I get on a bench or seat. Especially Bench because I a have my head. I touch as little as possible when on cardiovascular machines.My homemade liquid chalk is mostly 70 or 90 isopropyl alcohol. I wash my hands before I leave the gym because I don't want to carry those germs with me.

Gyms are gross but I try not to focus on that that much. I rarely shower at them but I do keep extra flip flops in my car for various reasons.

 

What up Squad

Are the gym closures getting you down? Don't worry, Quarantine workouts. Don't let the gym closures ruin all your gains.

 

Ike Catcher is almost seven (7) foot tall. He along with others superior male physiques dominate Muscle Beach at Venice Beach, California. Catcher is not only a tourist attraction but he and ‘Muscle Up King’ Andrew are catching the eyes of muscle and fitness blogs for their physical ascetics. Check out some of their motivational and work out videos below.

 

I walked into the gym locker room and headed towards the urinals to take a leak and saw multiple barefooted men walking through tricolor liquids on the tiled floor that consisted of clear, brown and yellow wetness. While resting between sets, I saw a dude on the fly machine finish his reps. He then takes his index finger and digs in his mouth as if to dislodge a popcorn kernel from between his tooth and gum. When done, he begins to text on his phone. I saw numerous individuals use a work-out gloved hand to pick up their water containers by the top, untwist or pop-open them open, drink water and close them. Of course almost everyone has a cell phone or tablet they're using for reading, texting, listening to music, surfing the web or taking pics and vids.

I think about how over 685,000 people contracted healthcare-associated infections (HAI) and 72,000 people died in medical facilities due to bacterial infections spread by doctors’ and nurses’ cell phones. Since 2015 HAI’s have decreased but tens of thousands of deaths still occur each year. I think about that time after I cut my hair and went to the gym, I developed folliculitis really bad on the back of my neck within a day. I think about the article I read concerning people having sex in the gym. Which made my thinking return to the men’s locker room floor…the possible ‘man jelly’ remnants those barefooted dudes could’ve been walking through.

I then remember the pictures of a man’s foot after he contracted a flesh-eating infection by walking barefoot in the men’s locker room.


Keep hand sanitizer in your car or bag to sanitize your phone once you leave the gym. If you want to splurged you can purchase a UV cell phone sanitizer / phone soap. By-the-way, I think these should be mandatory in medical facilities. In addition to this, if your phone is in a case, take it out once a week and clean it. Make sure to wear sandals or flip flops when walking through the locker room and showers. Wash your hands when you have finished working out. If you have to drink from your container during your work out, open it with your shirt or a paper towel.

 

Look, we get it: You're a busy guy, and busy guys have Instagram photos to post, texts to answer, and Tinder profiles to peruse. But when it comes to getting a solid workout in, you're probably better off leaving your phone in your locker. Even if you're not one of those infuriating people who scrolls on Instagram between sets at the squat rack while there are five other people waiting to use it, you're doing yourself a disservice.

That's right: Putzing around on your smartphone puts the brakes on your workout intensity—and it might even hinder your balance, according to brand-new research from Hiram College in Ohio.

In the study, researchers analyzed 45 college students as they worked out while texting, talking, or listening to music. A separate control group did calisthenics and/or cardio without phones, according to the paper, which was published in December in Computers in Human Behavior and Performance Enhancement & Health.

The results? Unsuprisingly, swiping right mid-workout makes it harder to focus on your pushups and burpees. Texting also reduces "postural stability"—a fancy term for how well you can stay balanced—by 45%, the researchers found, and talking on the phone mid-exercise hurts balance by 19%.

Not even master multitaskers are immune: "If you're talking or texting on your cell phone while you're putting in your daily steps, your attention is divided by the two tasks, and that can disrupt your postural stability, and therefore, possibly predispose individuals to other greater inherent risks such as falls and musculoskeletal injuries," lead study author Michael Rebold, Ph.D., said in a press release. (It is important to note, however, that 45 participants is really, really small for a study, so take these findings with a grain of statistical salt.)

The one exception to the phone ban? Listening to music. It's not exactly earth-shattering; music can make HIIT more enjoyable, helping you push through the toughest parts of a workout, according to a study published in the Journal of Sport Sciences.

Our advice: Bring your phone out only when you're doing cardio or exercise too intense to look at your phone. When you're done, toss it back in the locker so you're not tempted by emails, group texts, or calls. Thank us when you craft a killer bod—and just imagine what it'll do for your Tinder game.

Want greater gains? Don't bring your phone to the gym.

 

EAGAN, MN—After tentatively approaching the extensive rack of dumbbells located along the gym’s wall, new LA Fitness member Brian Vinje was seen lingering in the vicinity of the free weights for several seconds Thursday before returning to the elliptical machine on which he had previously been exercising, onlookers reported. According to accounts, Vinje took roughly eight seconds to peruse the wide selection of weights, lightly touching the grip of a 20-pound dumbbell for a moment, before retreating a short distance and briefly pretending to become occupied by a poster of human musculature on the wall. While reportedly pausing to cast a furtive glance around the room, Vinje is said to have made fleeting eye contact with another gym-goer seated on a nearby bench, causing him, by all accounts, to abruptly jerk his gaze back to the rack and to scan it as if searching for a specific desired weight. At press time, Vinje was seen with his eyes focused downward as he once again engaged the default settings on the elliptical trainer.

New Gym Member Lingers By Free Weights For Several Seconds Before Returning To Elliptical Machine

 

This muthafucka is 6'8 and 325lbs. Look at the before and after