My Journey into Bodybuilding
By
Billy Mimnaugh
Dave Tate and I recently exchanged e-mails. I proposed to him an idea about a
series in which I share an entire year’s worth of training, dieting, and other
information needed to prepare for a bodybuilding show. The series will end with
me actually competing in a show.
I realize that there are others on EliteFTS.com who have far more ability as
powerlifters (everyone) and bodybuilders (Justin Harris) and who have far more
knowledge of both than I do. However, I consider myself an “every man,” an
average, genetic specimen. So, we both thought that my experience might be
interesting.
I’m beginning my quest about one year out from competition. The goal of this
series is to demonstrate my progress because I’m starting out in a pretty
de-trained state. I just moved from Connecticut to Indiana and haven’t been
going at my training as I should. This series continue through a bulk up period
all the way up to a show (probably the Mr. Indianapolis next June). Every two
months or so, I’ll include pictures so that my progress is easily visible. I
won’t bore you with every minute detail of my diet, training, or supplement use.
Again, there are people at EliteFTS.com who have much more insight on these
things than me. I’ll give an overview every two months to show where I’m at and
what I’m doing in terms of diet and training.
I train six days a week, using only basic movements and hitting every body part
once a week, except for hamstrings, abdominals, and calves, which I train more
often. I also incorporate a special extra workout during the week to train my
right quad. It lags quite a bit behind because of a ruptured patella tendon.
My gym is in my garage, and I only have very basic equipment. The fanciest
machines that I have are a leg press, leg extension, leg curl, lat pull-down,
and monolift. Other than that, it’s all basic, old school stuff. There aren’t
any Hammer Strength machines or new fangled equipment. I just have hardcore
throwback stuff. My training partner will be my 14-year-old son.
The first thing I want to get across is that this isn’t an ego trip. I’m fully
aware of where I rate compared to most others on EliteFTS.com. I’m an average
guy with average genetics. What I’m hoping to show is that even a guy with
average genetics and multiple injuries can be competitive if he trains hard
enough, is dedicated, is willing to suffer through hard dieting, and can ignore
discomfort. I want others to see that a guy who actually works a full-time job
(and a part-time one as well) and has a family can be big and strong and
compete.
I’m very interested to see what my body will look like using only a bodybuilding
routine. The last two times that I’ve competed, I’ve walked off a powerlifting
platform, dieted for a few months, and competed in bodybuilding. The first time
out, I was completely shredded. However, I was very small and stringy. My les
looked like pegs. The second time around I looked like a dough boy with my legs
looking like softer pegs. However, in both cases, very little bodybuilding
training was involved. With a year of more volume, more body part angles, and a
bodybuilding lifestyle, I should be able to at least look like a more complete
competitor instead of a dieted down powerlifter.
The one problem with following a Westside powerlifting routine is that there’s a
lack of direct quad training and delt and bicep training. You get very strong,
but your glutes grow too big for bodybuilding, your quads get too small, and you
just take on a total powerlifting look. I’ll be trying to transform that into a
bodybuilder type look. It’s a tough challenge because I’ve been Westside for 15
years.
Ok, now for the pictures. The first set was taken in the last week of July, and
the second set was taken in the first week of October. Obviously, I have some
strong points and some very obvious and glaring weaknesses. I’ll start with my
weak points:
Quads: As you can see, my left quad isn’t too bad. I need more inner
thigh and lower thigh work, but they’re pretty proportionate. The right quad is
another story. Because of the knee injury, it has really started to lag.
Normally, I’d be very concerned with this, but if you look closely, you can see
that it has improved a bit in the second group of photos. I started devoting a
separate workout to it, and it’s finally responding. It’s obvious that I was
totally favoring the left one. By devoting a day to the right one, it’s finally
growing. I’m going to post more pictures in January, and I expect there to be a
dramatic improvement.
Arms: You can’t see it from the pictures, but I recently tore my bicep
tendon. This made the bicep on my left arm drop down. It also gave it a really
high peaked appearance. Unfortunately, the pulled bicep now looks much bigger
than the healthy one. This is a problem that probably can’t be cured.
Waist size: This is obvious from the pictures. I have a very large,
very thick waist. This is from years of doing heavy, heavy abdominal work and
side bends. I know that it looks enormous in the pictures. However, when I diet,
my waist really isn’t a concern. It shrinks right away, and my abdominals are
always a strong point. So while it’s a weakness now, I don’t think it will be
much of a problem by show time.
Calves: My calves are small and high and they don’t have any flare. However,
they have grown from 17 to 18.50 inches over the past five months so I’m trying.
Now, my strengths…
Thickness: My back, chest, delts, and traps are very thick. This is a
huge positive, especially as I diet. They all remain very thick and large. The
problem is that they overwhelm my legs and that tends to be exaggerated when I
diet.
Back: My back seems to be the difference between winning and losing. It
is very thick. When I diet, my lower back is filled with all kinds of striations
and lines. This is a definite strength.
So, I’m a “torso” bodybuilder. My extremities need work. Normally, I’d be
discouraged, but they are growing, and by adding the separate right quad day,
they continue to grow. When I post more pictures in January, hopefully you will
see a big difference.
There you have it. It’s difficult to post off-season pictures and expose what
you look like under clothes. However, I thought it was necessary to show the
entire experience. Like I said, I feel I’m just a normal guy with average
genetics who is trying a new sport. While I’ve done a few shows, most of those
were in the 1980s. The last two times that I’ve competed, it has been right
after powerlifting with no off-season. So I feel like I’m brand new to the
sport. Hopefully, you’ll see what an average guy can do if he tries hard enough.
Let me just add a comment about my strength. When I first started really
training hard for my bodybuilding goals, my strength was pretty poor. I benched
335 X 5, squatted 550 X 5, and did bent rows with 365 X 5. Since then, my bench
has gone to 405 X 5, my squat has gone to 725 X 3 and 705 X 5, and I’ve rowed
425 X 6. In addition, my glute healed enough to begin deadlifting again. Before,
I wasn’t able to do the movement and now I’m back up to a 565-lb deadlift. So my
strength is going up.
I want to thank Dave and Jim for letting me try this. Both of these guys have
been very helpful through my entire powerlifting “career.” I also want to thank
Jim Hoskinson for setting up my gym. He is top notch in my eyes as a powerlifter
but more importantly as a man. Lastly, I want to thank Marc Bartley. After
seeing his conditioning, it made me even more humiliated at what I brought to
the stage last time I competed. Because of him, my entire year is dedicated to
redeeming myself for that sad performance.
Billy Mimnaugh has been lifting for 25 years and competing for 20 years.
He has won state and regional titles in both bodybuilding and powerlifting
including the AAU Maine State Bodybuilding Championships, NPC New England
Bodybuilding Masters Championship, APF Maine State, USPF Connecticut State, and
the WNPF Region 1. He is a three time runner up in the APF Senior Nationals in
the 308-lb class and a two time runner up in the IPA Nationals. He also placed
third in the IPA Seniors and won two APF junior nationals titles. He has been in
50 bodybuilding and powerlifting events and has never placed out of the top
three in any event (except for three bomb outs). His best total is 2303 lbs at
super, 2232 lbs at 308 lbs, and 2120 lbs at 275 lbs.
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