Im pretty sure I’ve stated exactly what ive taken in detail. Listed my biggest cycle ever and my current doses. Blood pressure is 110/70 ish. Highest it ever was was around 140/80 🤷🏻‍♂️

Did you like this kind of video, or do you want to see something else?

I agree anyone who's serious is training hard. I think recovery methods are a bigger factor for people that are serious

Patience, Genetics, Consistency thats a good ruleset 💪

While my calves haven’t gotten a whole lot bigger they do “look” better. I just can’t quit on them

The bit on calves hits close to home. Growing up skinny, I had shamefully small calves starting off. I eventually just started hammering away at my calves, just feeding them with an obscene frequency and volume. But once they reached a level where it didn't look like I skipped every single leg day ever, I just stopped and they shrunk about an inch since. Moral of the story is train your calves if it's really bothering you but it's just eventually pointless if you're not a bodybuilder and there will always be a father of 3 who never exercised with calves twice the size of yours.

Pete, keep making videos, as often as possible. Your view count will steer your channel in whichever direction its meant to go. We are here for your unique perspectives. 👍

I personally think the biggest lie in the fitness industry is that Rich Piana is dead, I think its fairly obvious that he is alive, well and working as a kingmaker for social media companies deciding which hot fitness ideas become trends.

“Im the hardest working dude in the gym.” really means = “I take 500mg t a week & eat Tren sandwiches” Also, being skinny enough to see your abs (usually ribs) does not mean you’re a tank. Just means you don’t eat Also, sumo is simply much easier than conventional for some people due to shorter ROM. I don’t even know why that’s debated

When I was 19 years old, I took a flat dose of 5 mg dbol a day, for 40 days with my breakfast. Among other things, I didn't have money for more or for anything else. My bench press went from 105 kg to 135 kg on the 40th day exactly. 3 months later without taking anything, my bench was still 135 kg, I didn't lose any of the strength. Before that cycle, I had 3-4 years of lifting experience (not like following a program or something, just casual gym goer). I had a 3 months plateau at 105 kg on the bench before I started the dbol and it wasn't moving up.

Man , you just broke my heart about the calf thing , I'm gonna have to deal with these things for the rest of my life 😢

NGL, I cried more times at the painful truth bombs in this video than when I watched Watership Down for the first time at the tender age of 28. 😭

185mg/week of doctor prescribed trt puts me at around 1050-1100 (injections spaced every 3 days). Before I started I had really solid blood pressure numbers, but afterwards I’ve had a hard time keeping my systolic under 140. Even with lots of cardio and an extremely strict diet.

honest as they come in the fitness industry thanks Pete

Half this video feels like an indirect callout to Greg Douchette and I luv it lmao. Great video man!

At my personal peak, around 2015/16 at age 46 (late bloomer), I was shooting for 300g of protein a day at a bodyweight of 240lbs. It was nearly impossible. Definitely had help from my girlfriend at the time because we would food prep on the weekends. Any attempt at more than that amount is futile for me because the goal of 300g was a struggle and I often missed it daily🤷‍♂️

I’ve been training my calves with moderate volume, a few reps from failure each set, 4-5 days a week for a little over a year now. They’ve definitely grown, probably less than an inch though, and I have a calf vein where none were visible before. I think people just treat calves like an after thought, bouncing the reps, going super hard but only once or twice a week, and stopping after 3 months. Honestly most people train calves the way I train arms, and there’s a reason I have shit arms.

I like this guy, no bullshit. I have been bodybuilding for 40 years, lies have been around since before I started training!

My calves are thick and meaty, no one in my family has them either. It was from a couple of decades of labor jobs. You can grow them, just do the equivalent of a couple of decades of landscaping and snow shoveling, basically put on a weighted vest and walk around all day on the balls of your feet.

I just don't think people take calf training seriously. I too used to be in the big compound lifts only for sets of less than 6 reps camp and once I decided I wanted to grow the neglected areas did they actually grow. I treat my isolations like the compounds lifts, just at a higher rep range.

That last one was pretty accurate. You can only train so hard, seriously. Recovery will limit you and you'll go backwards. And for some reason people think if you scream and shout while training, then you're training the hardest. Failure is failure. Screaming adds nothing. I train to failure all the time and I make some noise, but nothing like these clowns I see on YT screaming and shouting. 😆

Pete- "calves are useless" Calves- Literally allow us to walk

excellent video. unfortunately, people want to be lied to, because they are constantly looking for short-cuts. that´s pretty much why you´ll see guys weighing 100lbs who started hitting the gym 2 weeks ago already chucking whey shakes religiously, eating l-arginine capsules like smarties or jump on a cycle after 6 months of training...

100% on the calf thing, for basic functionality calves really dont need to be huge, also consider that they are close to the bottom of your body which for efficiency you dont want. you definitely can grow them, but they dont want to stay that way.

It is exactly the same for the marathon analogy. The hundred mile runner has extreme recovery ability the same as would be required for someone with more lifting volume

Pete this is all truth man. And I like this content where you’re making the content you want to. You’re just being authentic. These things you pointed out are the god honest truth in fitness.

Majority of people will be around 550-800 test levels on 125 mg a week of test from what I’ve seen. I take 200 mg a week of Test Cyp TRT and I’m usually around 900-950 mg total test. That being said everyone does metabolize at different ratios from 1:2-1:6ish but I’d say in average most people fall in the middle.

Good stuff man.

Thanks Pete for being brutally honest.Because very few people are.👍🏾

PR hitting PRs And speaking facts 🔊

training your calves isn't pointless, dense and cut calves look great :)

this was really good video Pete. make part 2 please. thanks

Disagree with you cant outwork other people. Take SSJ as an example. That guy is doing everything he can to maximize recovery so he's as fresh as possible every session, does not miss any session and most importantly, he's super hyped every session for months on end. + he's in a good environment to make progress (his crew is there and supportive). That means he's outworking his competition. Wouldnt you agree?

When I competed 181s on 700mg Tren my blood pressure was great. Even when I did my physique show on all the drugs. The minute I hit 220+, RIP blood pressure.

pete keeps it real. no reason to lie

Please, make a series out of this!

These are great! Keep making these modern style list vids for us meatheads with short attention spans. Love it.

best calf rant ever

I really like your last point. It annoys me so much when some obviously talented lifter claims they are the hardest worker*cough* Russel*cough* Orhii *cough*. Fuck I know I work hard but I don't get as much on return as some others while doing better than other hard workers. We had a girl in our PL club that was the hardest training person at the time, in the whole gym. Noone could say they train harder then her, what did she get back? She got faster at running from it, gaining so slow in comparison to others. Ofc she got stronger but not as much as you would expect. Could grinf like 7 more reps after the first that looked like a true RPE 10. So yeah, genetics plays a huge role.

You forgot the third factor to big calves- being formerly obese. When a person with lifelong obesity loses weight, they still somehow retain the massive calves that supported their former size.

My favorite one, and this ties into the protein one, is when gym bros say “ bro I am eating 4000 cal a day” or even higher crazier amounts like five or 6000. When they are not tracking, and in reality, eating like 2700 or so lol

Thanks for your integrity. One video from you that you think is important is worth a thousand bs videos. Like you said, it’s consistency and patience. Not hype! Stay strong, Pete.

Calves are important. I do them with squats and deadlifts. With lighter weights I stand with the bar like I’m squatting I do some calf raises… just a few sets. Same with deadlifts. Just stand there with the bar at the top of the deadlift and do some calf raises… 315lbs is adequate for the deadlift style calf raises. One set is adequate. It’s for ankle and foot stability.

On the calves it makes no sense from a power lifting perspective to train them but from a cosmetic perspective it makes perfect sense. Also to grow them, yes you need to do an absurd amount of volume to make them grow but after that you can put them on maintenance volume to keep it there. Same as any muscle.

Thoroughly enjoyed the video 👊

im 5'6". Strengthening calves was the only way I was able to get the bar off of the fixed rack and use the hack squat machine. All i have in the gym is a fixed rack and machines.

I'd love a 34 part series on the lies and the truths and whatever Thanks for the knowledge sir

Honestly love seeing a more fired-up Pete. Great video.

This was a great video. Loved it. Calling out b.s. that can sometimes distract us from our goals.

Make a part 2 please, love videos like this.

Ed Coan said that doing seated calf raises helped him feel more stable when squatting

Calves help return blood flow back to the heart…as the body goes the calves should grow to help venous flow

I believe John Haacks cycle for the moment but he was 100% blasting hard to get to where he is now.

Thanks for the video

Love the content like this !

I like it bro bring back that Bostin loyd calling ppl on their shit

Much respect for not going by the algorithm!

I really agree with you talking abt chasing the algorithm. Just make videos. Forget the algorithm. It's a sickness to be so invested in that stuff. It ain't the best ppl who are obsessed with the algorithm and the likes and subs, it's the worst ppl.

i find it that the more experienced i get with training the more i realize and emphasize my recovery regimen. 45m-1hr walks 6-7 times a week ,calorie intake ,sleeps and healthy social relationships for,relaxing and fun activites works best for me

Loved it Pete

My calves were probably their biggest when I was heavier and squatting over 600 with minimal if any calf work. It wasn’t worth it to me having to recover from sore calves when trying to put up as much weight as I could.

I love this video Pete. It definitely validates a lot of my own beliefs and conclusions I've come too over the last decade or so. Thank you for sharing your insight man!

Boston loyd was super honest about his ridiculously high doses. Hes one of the only honest ones i can think of.

I would say the only purpose of training calves in strength context is injury prevention when you're doing a lot of plyometrics. I used to train for vertical jump about 10 years ago, and when I neglected calf training I started to get Achilles tendinopathy. I think it must have been the blood flow to the tendon and some modest tendon strengthening. I do have to disagree on hypertrophy though. It goes without saying most people with small calves rarely train their calves, because most people don't train calves to begin with. You have to hit them with a ton of volume but also some lower rep sets. People love to cheat the range of motion and only do the top concentric portion, neglecting the weighted stretch. Calves are pretty immune to stimulus since you walk and take stairs with them, so it takes pretty high volume, intensity, and frequency for them to grow. If you're a bodybuilder it might be worth it, but it's a big commitment for the average gymgoer.

What people don't get is that if Haack is using real anavar, 50mg a day is a HUGE dose for strength gains. I mean that's 20 bonavar 2.5's a day. Good chance most '10mg' anavars are literally 2.5mg.

I've put half an inch on my calves in a few months. Emphasizing the stretch works pretty well

Agree 100% with everything you said, good video man

Good video. Always a fan of your integrity. Thank you.

Great content - stuff you won't hear in other people's vids. Keep telling the truth, sir!

I love Pete but had to switch off after the protein and calf comments as I eat 400+g of protein (from meat) every day (while working a 9-5) and have done for years and have also grown my calves significantly over the years. I’m not “just on TRT though” 😂🤷🏼‍♂️

I totally agree with you point about people saying they are better because they train harder and although I don’t believe training harder will ever trump consistency I do think the average gym goer needs to train harder. I guess that’s a whole other conversation maybe make a video about training and how to keep making progress and not getting injured in the process. After coming back from a tricep tear I wish I could go back and do things differently

Could not agree more! Great video Pete! Keep em coming.💪

Quality content cheers

Pretty sure I relatively easily hit well over 200g protein per day for over a year. That's 2 cooked 1 pound sirloins and 2 and 1/4 cups of Fage brand Greek Yogurt. Doesn't even include the chicken. May not be cheap but very doable.

Keep preaching the truth Pete!

Love your information and content, please keep it up. Do what u think best!

Great video

I signed up for my first meet on a whim because of one of your videos, thank you.

I think something to add: people preying on new lifters. Claiming transparency, to have all the secrets, etc… then moments later are directing you to some product they are affiliated with as if that is the single key element to their progress

#6: training to failure results in more muscle growth.

got a friend on legitimate trt from the NHS in the UK....now has 70mg a week...started at 100mg.....he's a high 800

Dude this is so fun. Please keep it up

This right here...honestly the first piece of truth in about 8-10 years.👌

Great point on protein, it's ridiculously expensive to eat year round eat 300 grams . Great points Pete, good video man!!

About protein and eggs...you can buy a 5 dozen cartoon at Walmart for about $10. Used to be $5 a few years ago, but still a pretty good price. That's 60 eggs. At around 6 grams of protein, that's 360 grams of protein for $10. Not too bad. I don't think anyone can eat that much per day though, or even half or it

Damn! Looking forward to part 2.

I actually eat 5k+ clean. Only whole foods and around 300g protein.

I have to disagree with the calves and the training hard part. The calves grow like any other muscle. Intensity matters massively when hitting prs, most people dont train hard enough.

Most of the people earning 6, 7 and even 8 figures off social media fitness and modeling aren't competitive athletes so I have always assumed their drug use is unpredictable aside from excessive. *I don't doubt they do a lot of healthy living but just as much unhealthy and with recreational drugs.* This is reason enough for the competitive athletes to just tell the truth.

Pete, calves are used in kicks for martial arts.

You deserve more views

Stan Efferding is frequently posting his ridiculously low blood pressure numbers. His face is always red as beet.

I eat 5500 calories a day and get 300g of protein for £45 a week. All vegan. 800g of tofu, 100g of seitan, 250g of peanut butter, 500g of rice, 200g cereal. 6"9 140kg.

As an approach towards training I find myself agreeing with Matt Wenning. There's always someone with better genetics so the only way to be the best is to outlive everyone else in the sport

I really do get 200+ grams of protein a day from chicken and beef. But i also work at a meal prep restaurant so i get to come home with loads of free food lol

I can’t give up on training calves though lol

having strong claves will make you run faster, if you have tight calves you cant really walk for very long without some strain. They arent useless at all.

Dope shit pete!..

Love this, really helps to have an experienced industry leader give an objective and bird's eye view of what is going on. Much appreciated.

Great video, thank you