If you’re part of our MuscleHack community on facebook, you’ll more than likely recognize this particular beast.
He’s the “Traps from Texas”, Sean Alexander Brown. A 37 year old guy from Corinth, TX -this is his facebook profile.
Sean says…
Growing up, I was always the small fry of the bunch. I was the 4th out of 5 children and the middle out of the boys. Being the smallest boy, I was pretty much picked on and led a pretty solitary life all the way through high school. I always wanted to bulk up and even hit the weights, but I seemed to never get anywhere, even through my high school years.
When I graduated, I was only about 5’6” and roughly 115 pounds. I had the pigeon-chest and buggy-whip arms to prove it. You could forget about getting a date, especially if you weighed as much as a cheerleader.
See what I mean……taken after my graduation. =>
Realizing I was not going to go through life looking like a kid, I tried for years and years to “bulk-up” eating what I can, hitting the weights hard and doing what the bodybuilding magazines said I should be doing. Years went by, I finally landed a girlfriend, got married, had children…just living the good life, so I thought.
Everyday I still saw myself as that scrawny little turd-ball. So I hit it hard, using 4-6 reps of heavy weight on everything, 30 minutes of cardio everyday, not caring what I ate, just bulk up and GROW…and I did.
I gained myself a nice little 36 inch waist, but I could bench a bunch! Power baby!!
When I reached my mid-thirties, my kids were old enough to start going to the local water park where I live, so I decided it was a nice time to go there especially on a hot summer day in Texas. I packed the cooler, went to the park, took off the shirt, and was snickered at by a couple of teenagers….
“Oh my goodness, he has moobs (man-boobs) and a gut!!” Said one girl.
Her boyfriend said,
“Ya he does, I didn’t think he’d look like that…he looks muscular, until he took off the shirt.”
Upon hearing that, I put my shirt back on and went swimming with it on, not caring about the tan line whatsoever. Ego was bruised…BIGTIME.
I asked my son and his mother Jackie if they thought I was fat. My son said “yep”. Jackie said,
“You are putting on the pounds, but that’s what you wanted, right? You can’t be big without gaining weight. Short stocky guys like you will never have a six pack unless you take steroids and do drastic cutting.”
That’s when I realized that yep, I could horse around some serious weight, but I look like a fat man when I take off my shirt. I didn’t know how to diet. I defeated my intentions. I went from being scrawny to looking like a pork chop.
About a year or so ago, I was looking at one of my favorite bodybuilders Jeff Willet when I came across an interview that a gentleman named Mark McManus did with him. I read through it, seeing what I could do to lose this gut and get better definition. At the end of the article, it gave a little description about Mark and his website MuscleHack.com. With my interest peaked, I went straight to the website and soaked in all the information I could.
To the right, I saw an ebook called Targeted Hypertrophy Training. I clicked it, read it, and realized I have been training the wrong way for over 20 years!!
With a renewed sense of vigor, I busted my butt…training THT-style. I became part of the Facebook group and I was seeing how others were reaching their goals. I even became friends with a few and started calling them “M-Hackers”.
By the time I was done with all the THT Cycles, I dropped down from and almost 37 inch waist down to a 34. I was new to dieting, so I didn’t know quite how to manage it, but still stayed strong and avoided the high sugar sodas and heart-clogging hot dogs.
I used the 7-10 rep philosophy that was in the book because I was afraid to go too light. I made improvements, but to me, it still needed fine tuning. I wanted to be a little bigger, but not fat. I needed more information; I needed to be lean and look jacked.
Looking for some more information, I decided to but my faith into Mark’s work 100% and buy the Total Six-Pack Abs book. Was I ever amazed at the hard work he put forth to make this book!! It broke down my training and diet, how many calories it took, protein, carbs, fat, the whole enchilada!
So I went back to my garage (that I aptly name the “Dungeon of Doom” until the summer, then it’s the “Furnace of Hate”) and busted and busted and busted. It all started coming together nicely.
My son started seeing the results from my new found fitness kick. I was catching him during tag and keeping up with him. My littlest daughter and I would literally play for hours outside and have a good time without being worn out.
The funniest thing happened when I went to the water park this time. When I took my shirt off, Jackie’s oldest daughter told me to please put my shirt back on. I asked why? She said,
“All my girl-friends are checking you out…along with their Moms!!!” I busted out laughing and then went on to play with my little girl. In my mind though that moment was one of the best feelings ever!
My first go-around on Total Six-Pack Abs.
With the summer here in Texas lasting well into October, I tried TSPA for a second time and still maintained the proper ratio of calories and managed to add even more muscle even while burning fat all over the place.
My second time on TSPA, my size 34 shorts were falling off of me this time, as I got down to a 32.5. Now that’s progress!
Now with the fall and winter here, I finished out my TSPA routine and proceeded on to the new THT 5. I wanted to add a little more size to my shoulders and legs. Following the proper carb/pro/fat ratios, I started busting it hard in my dungeon again, putting on a good amount of quality muscle, while staying relatively lean, and not going back to the way I was before (Mr. Moobs).
This is me at 37 years old.Very happy with the way I am looking now.
Now that 2013 is here I have a new focus and new goals. I want to get my fellow friends, co-workers, and even complete strangers to realize that getting into YOUR best shape is a lot easier than you would think. You don’t need expensive gadgets, worthless pre-workout supplements, or DVDs that have loudmouth coaches yelling at you while doing ridiculous exercises that could hurt you.
All you need is a gym membership, or an open room or garage, free weights with a good power rack and cable, MuscleHack.com, and your desire to succeed and reach your goals. Don’t make the same mistake I did for twenty years. Learn how to build muscle and look good the right way.
I’m looking a feeling a whole lot better now than I ever did in my twenties. As I always say…Keep on M-Hacking peeps!!!
————————————————————————-
Mark says – don’t go along with the herd mentality. Building muscle is a predictable event when you know what you’re doing! You SHOULD be succeeding at this game. And you CAN get lean and STAY that way. There’s no need to get fat when adding muscle.
Don’t know about you guys, but I’m in the mood to train after that!
Train With Intensity!
Mark
Brilliant read. I actually added Sean on facebook at the start of last year some time and we talk musclehack. From TSPA to THT. Hes a great guy and hes had huge improvments. Its awesome to see fellow musclehackers getting sucess.
@Shannon. Always good to see his latest pics he posts on the facebook page too 🙂
Having less body fat means you create more testosterone, since excess body fat is linked to excess estrogen production. So its important to always be lean. Great article Mark!
good job dude!! mark, just wanted to ask about the new mass phase, i see its basically the same as the old but there are now 2 sets per exercise making it a total of 19 sets, is this not over kill as just doing the 1 set routine killed me and ive been training your style for awhile now and following it to a T. also cant download the workouts, tried the office download as the adobe says it cant download it. not sure what to do. thanks bro.
Hey Sean, I was one of the original poster boys for marks’s TSPA and I know first hand the fortitude , dedication and downright hard work it takes to succeed. And you did it all without neglecting the most important things in
Life like taking care of your family. Great work Sean, keep going strong in 2013
Thanks for the compliments guys! I owe it to Mark and the MuscleHack philosophy. All those testimonials and tips serve as motivation for me to push that bar even higher. 🙂
They should have had Sean as Bane in the new Batman instead of Tom Hardy. The guy is a beast. Makes me want to give THT a go. I did some similar training with a PT and put on 2 stone in 2 months which I thought was reasonable going. Maybe I could do better on THT.
Mark, i am following the THT 5 workouts. i think by using heavy weights in order to fail by the 8-12 re, i am hurting myself. Deadlifts are hurting my back. I’ve had a personal trainer look at my form and he says i’m doing it right but probably using too much weight. I did shoulders yesterday using a machine and now my shoulder hurts, and not the good feeling sore muscle pain. I have seen improvements in how my body looks by following the program for 3 weeks now.
But I guess my question is can i lower the weight and not “fail” to prevent my body from falling apart in the process….lol
@Jason. It’s 2 sets to failure now, not 1 set. A lot of hackers (myself included) were doing this anyway, with better results. It’s not overkill at all at 3 workouts per week and a 48 hr rest between.
@Adam. Something else is up, it isn’t going to failure that’s the problem. Also, it’s 4-6 reps to failure for deadlifts, not 8-12. Anyway, something must be wrong in your form for there to be pain. Also, take a week off if you haven’t done so in a long time – your joints need the rest.
Hey Mark, I am following the THT 5 workouts and i am using the MANS diet. My question is if i consume more fat than needed to support daily energy requirements will i still lose body weight? Reason for asking is i have been consuming 1cp of olive oil daily mixed in whey shakes through out the day to boost calorie intake. I just can`t seem to meet my calorie intake any other way do to lack of hunger and budget. Is this too much fat?
No you won’t lose fat if you’re overconsuming fat. But MANS is not a fat loss diet, it’s a lean gains diet. Get Total Six Pack Abs if you want to cut.
Getting enough fat is easy, red meat, full fat cheese, mayo, cream, all the high fat sauces, nuts. Easy peasy 😉