20 pound in 6 month challenge
I am getting friggin tired of all the silly e-statters telling me that I am wrong in this video on natural muscle gain expectations. In my experience, my muscle gain calculator is right on the money.
$1000 challenge
Enough silly e-statting and locker room boasting. If anyone over the age of 18 can naturally gain 20 pounds *of muscle* in 6 months and document it then I will donate $1000 to my local no-kill animal shelter. “document” means 6 months of daily weighings, daily skinfold caliper readings, daily lifting log entries, and weekly photos all taken in the same light with the same pose. Weighings must be performed accurately in this fashion so that LBM gain can be calculated. The spreadsheet on this page must be used to calculate the LBM.
When you have succeeded, please post a link to the above data in the pinned comment on the video “Natty Muscle Gain Expectations” so I can donate to the no-kill animal shelter and end this challenge.
Why all the rules?
Without the above documentation, it is far too easy to make the honest mistake of self-deception. I would be a very rich man if I had a dollar for every person claiming incredible gains but didn’t take any bodyfat measurements, nor a before photo, and says “trust me, it was ALL muscle“. Many men are fortunate enough that they put on bodyfat fairly evenly over their whole bodies. People like this can gain 5% bodyfat without it showing which is why the constant bodyfat measurements are so important, because without them, you have no idea how much fat is being gained and how much muscle is being gained. No, we don’t “trust you” that it was all muscle. We trust scientific measurements, not wishful thinking.
The weekly photos are to insure the contestant did not do a cycle of steroids at the beginning of the contest then cut. The lifting logs are for credibility. People who fake things like this do not understand them well enough to fake lifting logs.
The daily weighings are ultra important because your weight can vary 12 pounds in a single day so if you time your weighings right, you are halfway to gaining 20 pounds “of muscle” in just two days. The spreadsheet will chart a best fit line that will show both bodyweight and LBM with all the fluctuations due to sodium and water retention removed.
Follow the money
A number of people have pointed to best selling authors or very popular YouTube stars who have gained 20 pounds in 6 months “naturally”. Let me teach you one question that can completely transform your life and turn you into a career, relationship, fitness, investor, and life success story:
What are the qualifications and motivations of those giving me this advice?
Pretty easy, the author wants you to buy their $39 hard back book. The YouTube star wants you to give them views and ad revenue by constantly watching their videos to learn the “secret”.
The motivation of many people making these claims is not money, its often fame. Many these days wants to be admired as an expert. Many want to be an Instagram star.
For the record, here is my motivation. I do not want you to buy a gym membership, I want you to workout at home using used dumbbells found for pennies on the dollar from craigslist. I dont want you to buy any supplements, they are untested for toxic impurities and potentially harmful, ineffective (except for creatine), and expensive. I dont want you to pay at CustomMealPlanner for a premium account, I want you to use the free version where the best meal plans for muscle gain, fat loss, and health are totally free. I am retired and I dont have a store and I dont sell anything. I do videos because I am passionate about bodybuilding, fitness, and health. I don’t want you to buy workout plans from anyone, the best workout plans for muscle gain and strength gain are totally free. Oh, and I want you to DO YOUR CARDIO! DAILY.
UPDATE: April 28, 2019. Hmmmm. I am wrong according to lots of you “experts” out there but yet its been 7 months since this challenge started an nobody has taken me up on it. Could it be that perhaps I am right? I have no problem admitting I am wrong when I am wrong as making mistakes is how we learn. Prove me wrong and I will admit it. For example, my advanced workout for max muscle gain used to be 5 day a week split but after a decade, I realized that it is NOT optimal for adding muscle mass and I admitted I was wrong very publicly on this webpage and in a video.
UPDATE: July 9, 2019. Since this challenge has been issued nearly a year ago now (Sept 2018), not a single taker. I just did the below video highlighting this fact and a number of people have replied that it IS possible to gain 20lbs naturally in 6 months, I just need to make a big cash prize to make it worth their while. LOL! Wait, people need to be given a large cash prize to make it worth the effort? Its such a burden to carry an extra 20 pounds of rippling solid muscle that you need to be PAID to do it? Offering large cash prizes is what makes people CHEAT in contests like this which is exactly why the prize in this contest goes to a worthwhile charity. If you want to see what fake natties look like, view the contestants of a supplement companies “success stories” contest where the prize is more than $1000.