The 110lb Hulk

Copyright

The 110lb Hulk

Your roadmap to achieving the body you want.

Benjamin Pierce

This book is dedicated to my father James Pierce.

Thank you for showing me the true meaning of hard work. On days that my body aches and my mind tells me to hit the snooze button, I remember the long back-breaking days you endured providing for our family, and suddenly my challenges seem less formidable.

General Disclaimer

Any exercise program has the potential to cause physical injury. Before undertaking any new exercise program or drastic change in your diet, please consult with your physician and have a full medical with blood work performed. If at any time you do not feel well or become dizzy during exercise, stop immediately and consult a physician if the symptoms persist. It is always better to err on the side of caution when it comes to your health.

"A pint of sweat will save a gallon of blood." — General George S. Patton

An Honest Sale

I chose not to use any form of Digital Rights Management so that the wonderful folks who purchase this book will not be inconvenienced by it. To those of you who have legitimately purchased this book, I give you a heartfelt thank you for your honesty and support.

To those of you who have obtained a pirated copy of this book, please consider that I have given much of the past two years of my life to put this book together and have spent thousands of dollars in production, software, professional editing and graphic design. If this book serves its intended purposes and changes your life for the better, I ask that you consider purchasing a legitimate copy as a gesture of honesty and goodwill towards independent authors such as myself.

And to everyone: work hard, train hard, and may you realize the absolute best in yourselves now and forever.

Sincerely,

Benjamin Pierce

Welcome

Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your personal fitness journey.

Before finding any success, I inadvertently spent many years of my life following unproductive workout routines, poor diets, and confusing myself with the immense amount of fitness and diet misinformation that’s out there. But after research and a fair amount of trial and error, I found healthy and effective methods to get fit. Whether you want to gain muscle or lose weight, this book can distill in you the essential information you require to reach your fitness goals.

"Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler." — Albert Einstein

This book is organized into seven main sections:

Gaining Muscle (Bulking) breaks down basic mass-building theory and delves into some advanced techniques designed to expedite your gains.

The Exercises are what I consider to be the best mass-building exercises out of hundreds of movements available in the gym.

Shedding Fat (Cutting) provides all of the essential information you need to create an effective cardio program and lose fat.

Nutrition 101 is probably the most essential section of this book. Believe it or not, diet is responsible for 80% of your success or failure, so this section is not to be ignored.

Finishing Touches offers various non-exercise related suggestions that will give you a more polished and lean look similar to competitive bodybuilders.

Sample Programs suggests sample bulking and cutting exercise plans that you can tailor to fit your needs or follow as is, as well as sample diet plans.

Recipes details some of my favorite healthy bulking and cutting recipes. Most of these simple recipes can be quickly cooked in bulk, so if you consider yourself a time-sensitive person, you no longer have an excuse to miss healthy meals.

My Story

I went into grade nine weighing 100 lbs and standing an even 5 feet tall. I went into college weighing 120 lbs and standing 5’6, and I went into my first corporate job at age 23 tipping the scales at 125 lbs. My lack of size isn't surprising when you consider that my mom is 4’11 and might break 100 lbs after a large Thanksgiving dinner, and my father was very lean in his youth.

Unfortunately for a kid just starting high school, this lack of size was an easy mark for resident bullies in the school. On top of that, I learned pretty quickly that very few women are attracted to guys smaller than themselves. That left me out of the dating world. Fortunately for me, I didn't have a big mouth, so the bullies quickly grew tired of my pacifist attitude, while the hurt feelings resulting from the rejection of women were replaced by feelings of acceptance from a lot of great friends who saw past my size. I soon hit my academic stride and realized that I was a fast learner, not because I was naturally smart, but because I was disciplined when it came to studying. This discipline would prove to serve me well later in life too.

Around grade 10

In grade 10 my brother got a Weider barbell set and bench for our dingy basement that the neighbourhood kids would frequently come over to use. Not having a huge interest in weight training, but wanting to socialize, I decided to join in on the full-body workout routine with everyone else. That first experience with weight training was one of pure frustration. I had trouble benching 45 lbs or shoulder pressing a 20 lb bar, but the Weider pamphlet that came with the barbell set stated in no uncertain terms that it was not ok to skip workouts, and so I maintained that discipline and consistently kept to the every-other-day routine.

Over the next two months friends came and went from our makeshift basement gym. My brother’s interest had moved onto something else, but I remained constant, never skipping a workout, enjoying the solitude with my Nirvana CD and variety of cassette tapes. Sure enough, over the course of those few months, my lifts got better and I started noticing a bit of muscle. People at school took notice of my slight change of appearance which only motivated me further. Before I knew it I was 110 lbs and could bench well over my body weight. Some of the football players in the school gym even nicknamed me The 110 lb Hulk because I was lifting as much as many of them. Unfortunately I quickly hit a plateau and I stalled out at a body weight of 110 due to my extreme lack of knowledge when it came to nutrition. I had no idea about macronutrients, calorie surpluses, meal timing, or anything else that would keep me growing. My understanding was that you simply lifted weights and got big.

I kept lifting throughout high school and college and eventually made it to 125 lbs by the time I entered the working world. By this time I suffered from an extreme lack of self-confidence, especially around women. Even worse, I was disappointed that all of my hard work in the gym wasn't paying off like I thought it should be. I hit an all-time low when I professed my feelings to a friend about my size, and she told me that although she liked me as a friend, she would be afraid that she'd break me in bed. That brought me to a turning point not long after my 23rd birthday when I took a long hard look at myself in the mirror and didn’t see a shy, undersized guy. I saw an intelligent, hardworking man who was teeming with potential. I was going to make this year the year of change and I was going to put my heart and soul into making it happen.

Ready for a change

The next day I went to the gym and pleaded with the owner to tell me where I was going wrong. He suggested that it might be diet related, but refused to go any deeper into the subject for liability purposes, although he was more than happy to enroll me into the gym’s custom (and expensive) nutrition program. I learned fairly quickly that most gyms would rather upsell you on personal training and expensive programs rather than provide you with simple and honest feedback. It didn't matter though, the seeds had been planted and if diet and nutrition was where I was going wrong, I was going to become a self-made expert on the subject.

Over the next year I filled a bookshelf with books on nutrition, diet, and healthy recipes. I scoured the message boards on http://www.bodybuilding.com and would often spend my entire lunch break reading forum posts, asking questions, and absorbing knowledge like a sponge. The microwave dinners and processed foods that filled my refrigerator were soon replaced by sweet potatoes, chicken breasts, salmon, fruits and vegetables, eggs, and other whole foods. Instead of eating 3 times a day, I ate 6 to 7 smaller meals and I timed much of my daily nutrients around my workouts. Sunday afternoons were spent preparing meals in bulk so that I would have no excuses when it came to eating properly.

By the time I turned 24, I weighed in at a respectable 140 lbs, a weight I had previously thought impossible. I could have been very happy with 140, but why stop there? I continued supporting my workouts with a great diet and by 25 years of age I was 150 lbs. By 26 I was 160 lbs. And by 27 I was tipping the scales at 175 lbs. That's 50 lbs in 4 years, which for a hardgainer sorting through all of the misinformation out there by trial and error, is pretty good.

Bulked up to 175 lbs

Now I'll admit that at 175 lbs I wasn't exactly lean anymore. I was probably hovering at about 18% body fat which isn't overweight, but it's not exactly a beach body. I had bulking down to a science, but now was the time to do a proper cut and get down to some single-digit body fat numbers. For my first real cut, I decided to follow a typical competition schedule for 10 weeks. This meant a carefully planned out meal plan, no cheat meals, no alcohol, and more cardio. For cardio I took a boxing class twice a week and did 30 minutes of Stairmaster as my 3rd cardio workout per week. For weights I eased back from 5 days a week to 4 days a week with slightly less volume. In the first month I lost a few lbs but there was no drastic difference; however, during my second month my fat loss must have kicked into overdrive and I ended the month at roughly 10% body fat, and still had substantial muscle tone.

After 2 months of cutting at around 155 lbs

The last two weeks were admittedly the hardest. Maybe it was because I was in the home stretch, maybe it was because I was slowly creeping into single-digit body fat numbers, but my energy and mood took a significant dive. Despite my moodiness, the final week approached, my excitement levels rose and by photo shoot day I was shredded and ready to go. My photo shoot weight was roughly 150 lbs, which meant I had lost roughly 25 lbs of fat in about two and a half months.

Over the course of 4 years, with much trial and error, I managed to go from a scrawny 125 lbs to a meaty 175 lbs, and then finally lean out to 150 lbs. During this journey, my confidence and self-esteem have both seen a dramatic improvement, and the discipline and work ethic I’ve honed in myself allows me to successfully face all of the other challenges that life throws my way.

No matter who you are or what you think you have working against you, you have it in you to become any person you choose to be. The question then becomes, how much do you really want it?

Goal attained

A lean, mean, 150 lbs

Who the Guide is Written For

It took me years of experimenting while wading through countless misinformation and pushing through numerous setbacks to finally achieve my goal of adding some serious lean mass to my scrawny 125 lb frame. I look back and wish that I had had some sort of compass to guide me towards my goals in the most efficient manner possible. These days, finding information on the Internet isn’t difficult, but knowing what to believe certainly is. Do you trust a website that’s aim is to coerce you into purchasing their brand of supplements or exercise contraption? And forget Internet forums—almost every post erupts into a flame war with contradicting replies. What can you believe?

This book is written for anyone wishing to make some serious changes to their body and to their health in the most straightforward and most cost-effective manner possible. Whether your goal is to gain muscle, lose fat, or just stay in shape, this book aims to distill only the most valuable knowledge to you in easy-to-understand terms. It doesn’t matter your age, your size, your fitness level, or your body composition: it’s possible to make huge changes in your body and in your life with hard work, common sense, and discipline.

A wise proverb states that a journey of a thousand miles starts with but a single step. I’m giving you the map, so it’s time to take that first step.

Why Take the Plunge?

When most people think of a body transformation, they see a before picture of a scrawny or overweight person and an after picture of a ripped, well-muscled, healthy and happy looking individual. This is the physical definition of a transformation; however, the experience runs much deeper than that. One of my favourite quotes is this:

"Life is a journey, not a destination." — Ralph Waldo Emerson

This single sentence speaks volumes about what I experienced during my transformation. Not only did I change my body, but I became a much better version of myself along the way. My work ethic improved, I formed much better habits, made new friends, gained a newfound level of self-confidence, and most importantly I realized that I could continue living a well-balanced life and still work towards all of my bodybuilding and fitness goals.

By the time you are finished with this guide and you have made many great changes to your body, I’m confident that you will realize you can apply the experience to many other areas of your life as well.

Why transform your body?

When I began writing this guide, I wanted to keep the tone decidedly not preachy. By now everyone knows the health benefits that come with exercising and eating right. However, I do not feel