Steve Shaw – Massive Iron.
Steve Shaw is a strength and obesity coach that has spent over ten years as an editor, content developer, and writer in the fitness industry. Companies he has worked for include:
- Muscle and Strength
- Tiger Fitness
In 2008 Steve Shaw created the website Muscle and Brawn, which was sold in 2018. Muscle and Brawn was known for having one of the best powerbuilding forums on the Internet. It would often compete with bodybuilding.com for the powerlifting site of the year at Powerlifting Watch.
In 2011 Steve began his YouTube journey known as “The Bearded Beast of Duloc.” Duloc was short for the city of his birth, Fond du Lac. Over time he became known as the Big, Hairy, Ugly Dude and his channel’s name was changed to Massive Iron.
Currently Steve Shaw operates the website Super Living Today.
themassiveiron.com 
Hi Steve,
I have a question for you on how to increase my strength to body weight ratio. After about a year and a half of lifting seriously (I started two years ago but was inconsistent for about 6 months after making some progress), I’ve gone from weighing 135 pounds and benching 135, squatting 160, and deadlifting 200 pounds (all 1 rep maxes) to now weighing 157 pounds, benching 185 pounds, squatting 225 pounds, and deadlifting 315 pounds. I know that these numbers already indicate my strength to body weight ratio has increased, but I’d probably attribute that to nervous system adaptations and improvements in technique that I’ve made. Do you have any training tips on how to make each “motor unit” of muscle in my body able to produce more force? Ideally I’d like to stay at around 160-175 pounds for sports related reasons but I want to be able to squat twice my body weight at some point (not sure how realistic this is so please give me a reality check here too if necessary). My training usually consists of 3 sets of 5-8 explosive reps of a compound lift followed by 3-4 accessories. I’m currently doing a 4-day upper-lower split and am getting about 150-180 grams of protein a day.
Also, I have long limbs and short muscle bellies, so I’m more gifted for sports which require reach but I’m not very genetically gifted for lifting.
Are there any exercises/ natural supplements I could utilize to boost my neural output to my muscles / increase my force production per unit of muscle, or should I just keep patiently training how I’m currently training and remain in caloric surplus for some time?
I see people on social media (I know, not very realistic) weighing less than me and lifting way more than me, but they all have short femurs/arms or have been involved in some sport that applies high volumes of mechanical tension to their muscles (wrestling, martial arts, gymnastics, rock climbing, etc). Is there hope for me to achieve much better ratios than what I have now with my genetics and without having extensive history with all these activities?
Thanks for your help!
Sincerely,
Isaac Thomas
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