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I wanted to lift but not to get too bulky, oh well,

I guess beggars can’t be choosy…

– Eminem (probably)

If you wish, you can grab the N.W.A. Newsletter Playlist on Spotify here, all of the songs that have been featured in the newsletter are on the playlist.

Happy Friday, Coach J here from Anyman Fitness – and welcome to the latest edition of The N.W.A. Newsletter.

Each week with the N.W.A. Newsletter, I give you the best Nutrition, Weightlifting, and/or Attitude advice for you to start to use in your life today.

Tens of thousands of people have used this exact newsletter to gain muscle, lose fat, and become a better version of themselves…

Without any further ado, let’s get started..

N.W.A. Tip Of The Week

Today I’d like to give you a realistic look at what bulking is like for a natural trainee (no testosterone, no steroids, and not some 18 year old kid with little to no responsibilites).

Check out this picture:

These pictures are both me, taken 15 months apart; the first was taken in March of 2023, the picture on the right in June of 2024.

I weigh the same (241 pounds) in both pictures.

There’s a solid difference in body composition between the pictures; currently, I’m a lot leaner and have more muscular definition at the same bodyweight.

This indicates I’ve put on a fair amount of muscle in the last year.

If you look closely, you can see I’ve also gained a good amount of size in my chest and delts, as well as my arms.

I would say I have about 6-7 more pounds of weight loss to get to what I would consider “summer ready” condition for me.

That would put me at 234-235 pounds when I’m “summer ready”.

Last year, I was 228-229 pounds at my “summer ready” condition.

This means I’ve put on about 6-7 pounds of muscle in the last year.

So, what did it take for a 43 year old, natural trainee to gain 6-7 pounds of muscle?

From August to January, I put on 33 pounds of bodyweight, going from 228 pounds to 261 pounds at my heaviest, right around Christmas time.

I averaged about 1.5 pounds of weight gain per week.

That’s a bit higher for what I would recommend for most people; usually with bulking clients, I aim for 0.5-1 pound of bodyweight gain per week.

But at 6’8″, I figured I could gain muscle a bit more quickly than someone with a smaller frame, so I went for it.

In January, I reversed course and started the process of cutting. In the last 5 months, I’ve lost 20 pounds (an average of 1 pound of weight loss per week).

I wanted to take things nice and slow to ensure I didn’t lose any of the hard earned muscle I had accumulated.

What are my (and your) takeaways from the experience?

Being sober is like a cheat code for muscle growth.

For a full year, I used no alcohol or THC.

My sleep was incredible, my recovery was on point, my stress levels were low, and I had laser-focus in the gym.

If you’ve never had a full year of sobriety, I would highly recommend it; it was a great experience and it really taught me a lot (and the results cannot be denied).

Using nearly all machines was a welcome change to my routine (and it gave me some remarkable muscle growth).

I changed from my regular barbell and dumbbell focused workouts and used our Machine Muscle Madness program from group coaching during the bulk.

I used chest press machines, rowing machines, Smith machines, cable machines, etc, the entire time.

This allowed me to do a few things.

First, I was able to really load up the weight and push myself to absolute failure (and beyond).

I didn’t have to worry about balancing the weight or injuring myself.

I could rep and rep and rep and really feel the burn.

Second, my joints felt great and I had no tendonitis flare ups.

With barbells and dumbbells, I often have issues with tennis elbow/tendonitis.

I tend to get beaten down, especially when pushing multiple sets per session to failure.

With machines, I was able to keep intensity and weight as high as possible, and I was rarely sore or had achy joints.

This was a welcome change from how my bulks usually go.

Notice how minor of a change 6-7 pounds of muscle will give you visually.

Let me show you that before and after picture again:

It’s clear there is muscle growth between the 2 pictures.

But it’s honestly not mind-boggling.

7 pounds of lean body mass is a huge accomplishment at my age, and with my lifting experience.

People hear “7 pounds of muscle gain” and they think it means 1 pound per bicep, 1 pound per quad, 2 pounds on your chest, and 1 pound on your back.

But it’s more like you’ll just be a little bit bigger all over.

Muscle is very dense, much more dense than body fat.

I had to gain about 20 pounds of muscle before a single person ever told me “hey, you look bigger!”.

Kind of dispels the silly myth of “getting too bulky” from lifting weights…

Notice I had to gain thirty-three pounds of weight in order to gain 7 pounds of muscle…

This is how it is for a natural trainee.

If you start on a bulk, 10 pounds will be “bullshit weight”.

Water. Stomach content. Colon content. Cellular glycogen.

It’s not fat, it’s not muscle, it’s just “weight”.

After the random weight, if you do everything perfectly, about half of the additional weight you gain will be muscle, and half will be body fat.

That being said, it seems out of the 33 pounds:

10 pounds was “bullshit”
7 pounds was “muscle”
And around 13-14 pounds was body fat

If I had to do it again, the one change I would make would be to bulk a little bit slower and aim for 1 pound of weight gain per week instead of 1.5 pounds.

I took a chance, though, and ended up gaining a bit too much body fat during this bulk.

You live and you learn…

All in all, I’m thrilled with the results I’ve gained over the last 15 months.

It was a great experience, I learned a ton, and I’m excited to see what the final result is after a few more weeks of dieting.

Of course, I’ll keep you posted…

—

Check out these results in just 6 weeks of our group coaching program (below).

This is what happens when you put in the work.

You can learn more and join about our most popular – and affordable coaching offer here.

July-5-2025

N.W.A. Tip Of The Week

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