| Lyle was late for the gym. He was due to meet up with a couple of mates for a weight training session. He pulled into the car park, grabbed his gym kit and dashed into the locker room to get changed.
As he scanned himself into the weights room he saw his buddies Tyler and Chad doing chest presses in the far corner. Tyler was benching over 200lbs while Chad spotted. Both guys were big, real big and although they claimed they were 100% natural the speed of their gains suggested a little help of the chemical type. Lyle on the other hand, at just over 6’ and weighing in at around 190lbs was small by their standards although he had a great physique. Guns…, pecs, quads and well defined wash board abs!
“Good to see you Lyle” said Tyler as he took a breather. “We thought you weren’t going to make it today?”
“No, no” replied Lyle “Just got caught in traffic. The freeway was a bitch today”
“Good” said Chad “I think we need to step up your training routine if you’re going to get bigger. You’ve gained around 10 pounds in the last month but you’re going to need to start eating and training more if you’re going to add serious bulk.”
Lyle was keen to get bigger. He’d been training for several years and while he’d certainly seen some good gains he’d also seen some of his friends pack on some serious muscle which he found a bit of a turn on.
“OK” enthused Lyle “I just want to make sure I do it right. I want to bulk up but I don’t want to gain fat as I do it”
Chad looked at Lyle keenly. “Let’s see how you get on. If you do develop a little fat, you can always cut later but it’s important to eat if you’re going to make serious gains”
So Lyle set about upping his calorie intake, adding in a couple of extra weight gain shakes a day in between his 5 protein loaded meals. In fact, it seemed that when he wasn’t at the gym training he was eating. He upped his training programme so that he hit the gym before work every day and then again on his way home. He eased up on the weekend by only training once a day. He lifted to the max with the support of his gym buddies and started to see the results of his hard work pay off.
“That’s amazing dude” Chad congratulated Lyle “You’ve hit 220 pounds”
Lyle stepped off the scale and looked at himself in the mirror. The change was certainly remarkable. He had added a good couple of inches to his guns. His pecs were firm and rounded with his large nipples protruding noticeably through his tight vest and his quads now stretched his shorts to the point where his packet was bulging through the lycra. His traps were curving up from his shoulders and his neck had definitely thickened. He pulled up his vest to look at his abs and noticed that their usual taut definition had a blurred a little under a thin layer of fat. Indeed, his waist measurement had also increased from 32 inches to 34.
“That’s to be expected” reassured Chad “When you’re gaining muscle like that, you’ve got to feed it and there’s bound to be a little gain of fat – nothing to worry about. You can start to cut when you hit your goal"
Yeah, just another 50 pounds or so and I’ll hit my target and then I’ll start cutting to increase my definition thought Lyle. He was incredibly pleased with his results and hit the gym with renewed vigour. He pushed himself even harder in the gym and upped his calorie intake even further to compensate. To boost his energy levels he’d started to carb load as he found himself crashing after his workouts. He found that he was looking forward to his meals even more than the workouts themselves.
“Time for your weigh in” said Tyler as Lyle arrived at the gym a couple of months later. “I reckon you must be almost at your goal weight now, if not even a bit more”
Lyle eyed himself up and down as he stepped on the scale. He hardly recognised himself but really liked what he saw. He had packed on the weight and bulked up hugely. He had turned from a boy into a monster and was now making Chad and Tyler look on the small size! He’d had to invest in a whole new wardrobe as he no longer fitted into any of his old clothes. He’d seen his chest barrel out to a massive 46 inches and his guns were now an enormous 19 inches. His delts and traps had enlarged enormously and his neck was thick and strong. His vest was tight across his chest and he noticed that it was also tight around his mid-section. He turned sideways on and noticed that he had definitely developed a body-builder belly. While it was still pretty firm, all ab definition had been lost and now he had a smooth, rounded pot-belly. In fact, most of his muscle definition had gone. In his race to gain he’d let his control of his diet slip and so had not only gained muscle but also a substantial amount of fat. Going to have to do something about that before too long or I may not be able to get rid of it he thought but the sight of his massive gains made him really pleased.
“Whoa bro!” exclaimed Tyler. “You’re on 290 pounds. You’ve packed on another 70 pounds, that’s about 50% more than you were aiming for.”
“No way” stuttered Lyle in disbelief, staring down at the scale. “I didn’t realise I’d gained that much!”
“We’re going to have to ease up on the dietary front to get your definition back” noted Tyler “but to ensure that you don’t lose all your hard earned gains, you’re still going to have to lift big.”
“No problem” said Lyle “I know what I need to do. I was adding in a couple of extra shakes a day so I’ll just cut these out and I should start to trim down.”
He lay back on the bench and Tyler and Chad lifted the 240 pound barbell up to his chest. He pushed out a couple of reps and then felt an excruciating pain in his right shoulder and felt the barbell give. Luckily Tyler and Chad were there to catch it but that was the end of his workout.
“I’m sure I’ll be fine” said Lyle “Maybe a couple of day’s rest will sort it out”
“Maybe” replied Tyler “but I’m not so sure and you definitely need to get it looked at”
Lyle was at home lying on the sofa watching an episode of his favorite show. It was 8 weeks since he’s injured himself at the gym and the doctor had recommended no lifting for at least a month. At first he’d been a little depressed and had gone home and cheered himself up by polishing off an entire tub of ice cream. Then he’d consoled himself with the fact that he’d be able to catch up on all the hours of TV he’d missed over the last half a year or so because he’d been too busy at the gym. Unfortunately over that time, his appetite had not decreased and with no exercise to burn off any of the calories he’d started to gain weight at an increasing rate. He knew he was gaining but just could not bring himself to cut down on his 7-meal a day programme, convincing himself that when he got back into the gym he would just push himself harder to lose the weight. The problem was that he could have returned to the gym a month earlier but just couldn’t find the motivation.
His TV program finished; he sat up and the buttons on his shirt strained as his belly flopped over the belt on his trousers. Whoa, he thought, rubbing his hand over his bloated stomach, I’m going to have to get back into the gym as this is getting ridiculous. He stuffed a handful of chips into his mouth as he got up and walked through to the kitchen to make himself his regular 4pm snack – two jacket potatoes with baked beans, topped with cheddar cheese and a plate of fries on the side, washed down with a large protein gainer shake and a “small” dessert of half a cherry pie smothered with whipped cream. He caught sight of himself in the full length mirror as he walked through the hallway. The trousers he’d only bought three months earlier were now stretched extremely tight around his thighs and the top button was straining from the pressure of his expanded girth. His stomach was no longer just a little pot-belly but protruded hugely and hung down over his belt. His shirt, again a recent buy, was bulging from all the fat trying to escape and it gaped open between the buttons covering his enormous belly. When he moved his arms, the sleeves looked to be on the verge of ripping as his once firm biceps had turned to mounds of flab. Where previously his neck had been thick and strong he now had folds of fat flowing down to his now rounded shoulders. He stared at himself in disbelief. He hadn’t realised he had let himself go this far. He made a detour into the bathroom, tapping his foot on the scale to activate it as he got on. He’d invested in a heavy duty model in preparation for his gym bulk but even so it still creaked as eased down onto it.
He looked down at the display and thought “Oh that’s not too bad it’s only 280 pounds” but then he looked closer and realised that it was not 280 but 380. “Holy crap” he thought “this can’t be possible. Right, I’m going to have to figure out a way to address this just as soon as I’ve had my afternoon snack – I’m ravenous”.
And so, in the space of less than a year, Lyle went from a lean, muscular stud at 180 pounds to almost double that weight as a 380 pound beast. But he just couldn’t motivate himself to get back into the gym, nor could he bring himself to cut down on his huge meal programme and soon his weight began to creep up to the 400 pound mark....
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