Ryan Hall, most incredible body transformation from skinny distance runner to Incredible Hulk

ABSOLUTE BS.

There is no reason to not be able to gain muscle after two years or really any strict length of time, rather the ability to gain muscle is limited by 1) steady drop in your forties and beyond in ability to gain or preserve muscle; and 2) your genetic muscle potential, the closer you are to it, the harder it gets (with the caveat that the hypothesis that your body has a genetic ceiling is just a hypothesis and doesn’t lend itself to a useful way to predict how much one can gain other than just by trying hard to gain and seeing where you land).

lol he's "bigger", more muscular density, than I was, and than I am now.

I have always sprinted though, along with the occasional 5-10k. I never developed useless giant arms like that, although my front delts got huge.

If I hadn't burned calories etc doing athletics, and just done weights and tons of BS supplements, maybe I would have ended up like that. A friend I used to train with, totally natural and no supplements (except for the Big Gulps he used to love), would have made Hall look small--but he was bulkier, and not as ripped. At 5'8" he went 265, and warmed up full squats at 3 plates. (!) He should have gone into Olympic weightlifting, but was too interested in business instead.

So in my experience, it is possible--but it takes insane work, insane dedication, and most of all specific genetics.

What I do know is that neither I nor any of my friends ever posted or circulated pics or vids of ourselves doing stuff. I made two vids ever--1000+lb leg press to show a disbelieving HS football team what proper form looked like, and 4-1/2 plate squat, to show myself what bad form looked like :)

I'm just glad to see that Big Ry is tucking his ears into his ball cap less frequently. That's a much more positive personal development than getting yoked. Keep up the momentum, bro!

Do you think a skinny runner can put on a pound of muscle without putting on a half pound of fat concurrently? As verified by dexascan, not skin fold calipers? I suspect you are a natural mesomorph, who only got down to 140 pounds from the catabolic effects of high mileage. And that of the 45 pounds you put on, at least 10 were fat. Not trying to be obnoxious but the people I know that did before and after dexas were surprised how hard it is to gain muscle without gaining fat, or lose fat without losing muscle

Yeah. They were called hotness threads on Letsrun. Nowadays, those threads are instantly deleted.

you're incredibly short, bench 265, but can only deadlift 405? what's the issue?

Maybe we are like coyotes, when the population is adequate, the reproductive urge diminshes

Long armed and short tempered. Alan is a talking/typing pygmy gorilla.

Because he’s now making money as a weightlifter and it’s under the guise that he’s clean. It would take some very simple investigative work to prove that he’s taking steroids (which he is), and he would stand to lose thousands upon thousands of dollars

How is Ryan making THE BIG BUCKS as a weightlifter? Did I miss something? It's not like he's Nick Bare with a 100 million dollar horsesh*t company.

405 deadlift for someone 185 and not on gear is awesome. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve gone into a gym and watch someone deadlift 405. Just the other day saw some guy probably 215, super ripped, having a hard time going sets of 5 at 275. Lol- he was even throwing the weight down on final rep.

Hollywood actors do it all the time. Drugs. It doesn't take years and hours in the gym.

POTD

And didn't Ryan Hall make this transformation like 10 years ago? Why is this suddenly AMAZING NEWS?

He ran a marathon in 2017. He got big 3 years ago.

How easily one can deadlift is influenced by how long one’s arms are while the opposite is true for presses.

I'll throw in my $0.02

I am 6'0" age 27 and stopped running and started weight training in June. Not super fast at lifetime PR's of 4:30 mile, 16:57 5k, 2:55 Marathon.

I was 155 lbs in June and am now up to 172 lbs. (and yes, I still have visible abs)

Lifting PR's currently

Bench: 205

Front Squat: 225

Deadlift: 315

Progress is slowing down rapidly now, but it's been fun to quickly improve at something new. Lifting so far is way easier and less taxing on the body than running high mileage. I spend less than 4 hours per week in the gym.

I’m just over 150 pounds and am doing sets of 5 with 260 lbs (and improving by the week). Hard to believe someone “215, super ripped” can’t rep 275. Maybe he was recovering from injury or has unusually short arms for his height.