natural bulking update... progress (???) pix... any advices please!

[goldenFloyd]

Well. It's been almost three months and I must say that I've gotten... bigger?

I don't know. I suppose I am putting these pix up for self-motivation. The new ones were taken cold and after getting over a week of sickness and no lifting. Excuses aside, I am just happy my strength hasn't gone to complete shit since law school started (yes the dreaded 1L... I'm one of a few at my school who has not given up everything in their life for books). I weigh 238, "up" about 6 pounds from the first picture. Truthfully I'm kinda pissed at the way I look, I think psychologically I wasn't really ready to lose my tan and any semblence of definition I once had from a summer of good lifting.

Please critique. I need better everything, but esp peaks on my biceps, more tricep mass, more lower chest, more... I am still confident that if I keep increasing my lbm, it will be the diet next year that brings all my hardwork out... and I believe that increasing my lbm is much easier eating the amounts I am currently. I just hope I can lose proportionally more fat than lbm.

Am I over 20%?

Well, enough delays... all advices welcome.

Only protein, vitamin C, some BCAAs, vitamin e, fish oil, and accutane supplements have been used. I just discovered the ice glazed frozen chicken at costco and will be eating chicken forever.

Please critique my workout as well:

EXERCISE LIST (exercises not in particular order for the day):
Triceps – 2 days
T1 – Close Grip Bench, Overhead DB, French Presses / Superset
T2 – Dips, Cable/Rope push downs, DB kickbacks

Legs – 2 days
L1 – Leg Extensions, Squats, Leg Press
L2 – Lunges, Calves

Chest – 1 day
C – DB / BB Incline press, DB / BB Flat, DB Incline Flys

Back – 2 days
B1 – Heavy Dead Lifts, BB bent-over rows, DB bent-over rows
B2 – Light Dead Lifts, Lat pull-down, cable / upright row

Shoulders – 1 day
S – BB Military Press, DB Military Press, DB Lateral Raises, DB Rear Raises

Biceps – 2 days
BI1 – BB Curl, DB Curl, Reverse Curl
BI2 – DB Curl, BB Preacher Curl, Cables

Hittin’ legs and back twice a week, will rotate other parts between 1 and 2 times / week.

7 – Day Split:

Sun: OFF, Mon: L1 / B2, Tues: C / T2, Wed: OFF, Thur: B1 / BI2, Fri: S / L2, Sat: BI1 / T1

Rules:
1. No more than 6 exercises / day (18-24 sets total).
2. Heavy Back and Heavy Leg days only following off day.
3. Chest and Tris not on consecutive days (same okay).
4. Shoulders and Chest not on consecutive days.
5. No same bodypart on consecutive days.

blah, here are the pix:


08.03 back double bis 230-232#


11.03 back double bis 238+#


11.03 forearms 238+#


11.03 side chest 238+#

[goldenFloyd]

"broke" 240 today... prolly just water.

[nynsb]

"broke" 240 today... prolly just water.

Don't kid yourself.
That spare tire is fat not water

[goldenFloyd]

oh yea I know that.. just saying that the last two pounds between 238 and 240 was probably just me drinking more water, so I put the broke in parens.

What do you think my bf is?

[Rsox1]

18-20% but u got a really good look to you i would just try some lean bulking, and some more reps on your movements you the look like u have lifted some heavy weight but it doesn't look like you have done enough reps to get a more mature look to your muscle

[murph]

Don't kid yourself.
That spare tire is fat not water

ignore him ....keep up the work bro ...... it didnt take a few weeks to put the extra weight on, it wont came off that fast neither. but you CAN do anything you set your mind to ,.. and if you are serious about doing something it WILL happen....good luck ...
Murph

[goldenFloyd]

Thanks for the nice comments Rsox and Murph. Murph, I've seen the improvements you have made and they are very impressive, so thanks for chiming in on my own work in progress.

I'm 23 and 6'. Originaly goal was to bulk for this year through winter 2004 and then cut it up during the spring and summer and then maintain starting Fall of '05.

1) For bulking, should I still try and lift more reps? All my lifts are pretty much as heavy as I can go, but at about 6 reps or so. I am using about 6 reps for stiff deadlifts, all my bb bench movements, squats, etc. Only if I use a machine will I go a little higher to 8 reps or so. For sheer size though, should I think about going higher?

2) Also, is my training scheme too specialized or too much for overtraining? I consider myself intermediate, definitely not beginner, not advanced... but I've listened to those who got big by doing dense complex movements which I think I'll need to do for a few more years before I get to where I am. I do 6 sets including warmup for deads, squats, and about 4 for other movements. Is what I've outlined too much?

3) How much further should I go if I would like to be 215-220 fairly ripped at 8-9%? I know that hitting my lbm goal will not be enough because I will lose lbm while dieting - question is how much over would I need to go?

4) I am mostly disappointed with my chest strength (4x 275 right now) and the size of my arms 17.75 covered with fat. should I worry about specific bodyparts at this point or should I just focus on getting more strength overall?

Thanks for any help you bros can offer.

[LostUp]

Your doing good, those shoulders look huge. If you want just mass I'd stick to what you doing, it seems to be working. Work with your diet a little bit so that you can maybe lean out while still bulking up or maintaining, or to make it easier try to maintain your BF at this point, I don't think you want to put on any more.

[goldenFloyd]

Your doing good, those shoulders look huge. If you want just mass I'd stick to what you doing, it seems to be working. Work with your diet a little bit so that you can maybe lean out while still bulking up or maintaining, or to make it easier try to maintain your BF at this point, I don't think you want to put on any more.

Thanks for the advices. Here are a few more pix from today, 11-23-03. I couldn't stop shaking in the lee priest pose, so it is blurry I am not happy with how soft I am bulking. There is like no definition, but I am getting stronger. i NEEEEEED to make my arms bigger.

241 in these pix.

Lee Priest, I am not.

Lat/love-handle Spread

Seriously, why are my arms so small? That's quite a bit of padding. I hope this bulking thing pays off.

[GeoQuadzilla]

Lookin good man

[goldenFloyd]

Gentlemen. I am now two hundred fifty fat pounds. I have been working on my arms, trying to get them up - they are now slightly over 18" which makes me happy. I figure I have about 20 pounds of fat that needs to go eventually, but I am getting bigger and stronger on glutamine, BCAA, and FOOOOOOOD.

This is just a progress update:


left arm.


blow-up of above pic.


rat splead.

[hoss827]

Nice work bro...keep it up!

[RageControl]

Awesome job bro! Dont worry man you can always cut . You may be suprised what your results migght be once you start to cut.

[LostUp]

Sorry, at first I didn't notice your tape is blank for like the first inch, I was reading it like your arms were a tad under 17 inches haha. Anyway you said why are your arms so small, its not that they're small its just that you BF% is high so your waist is big and your showing no definition. If you cut your arms will look a lot bigger.

[goldenFloyd]

Everything you say is true. If I could get my arms to 18" cut, that would be pretty good for me I think. I am going to keep banging hard, just add some cardio on an empty stomach in the mornings, cut the crap I am eating, and go no carbs after a certain time at night... I may have to consult SC over this - I really don't want to lose what lbm I've gained and I don't want to hop on the sauce on a whim.

[LM1332]

yea i think cardio on empty stomach is a no no because your body will look for source of food and the first thing they are gonna attack are your muscles. So i dont know go to diet forum and check things out there

[goldenFloyd]

I am seeking advices from SC and RoChamp on how to shed the gross fat. From the responses I am getting, I should not be trying to bulk at this bf. I am going to have to suck it up and live with being small to lose some of this gross weight and I want to do it right. wish me luck.

[bermich]

IMO. If I had your body. I would be concentrating more on cutting than bulking. I dont think bulking is a good idea right now. I would cut a lot of the weight and try to lean out the muscle you already have. Bulking is just gonna add to your stomache and cover up your muscles even more.
Just my opinion since you are asking for one.

[LostUp]

Yeah I agree of course, at this point cut, get down to a fairly low BF% and if you want to bulk up again right afterwards that would be alot better because you will then be able to bulk up and be able to give up 3% bf and still look pretty good, as opposed to now where any BF you add is just going to take away from your build. Don't worry about being small, your not small and once you cut this will become alot more obvious. I think once your all cut up and ripped you'll like it.

[goldenFloyd]

Thanks a ton for the feedback guys. Yes, I agree with all the comments about cutting more. I need to get my game plan together to do this right, but that is the direction I am now going to focus on.

[Billon]

Massive, maaan!

[abstrack]

Don't kid yourself.
That spare tire is fat not water

he comes this ass again

[goldenFloyd]

The first pic is me 250 pounds in November. Second pic is now 233 June 7, 2004. What do you think my bf is? I've gone ahead and tried to cut like most of the feedback has been. I will continue down towards 220. I lost 1/4 - 3/8 of an inch off my arms, but my legs have gotten a lot better. Calf is about 16.75. Arms about 17.75. What do you all think my bf is? My ultimate goal will be 220 @ 8%. Thanks for the inspiration guys.

Admittedly I haven't done cardio at all, just reducing the inflow of crap. hard to diet well first year of law school finals.

[goldenFloyd]

ok, probably too hard to tell bf with these pics

[Dude-Man]

need to see the front to guess bodyfat. from the back, i'd say around 15-20 because there is little tricep definition, and no rhomboid/rear delt definition in your lat spread.

[palequail]

Yep need some front shots...but the back looks a lot more defined...Dude you should cut up even more...you'd be surprised how much muscle will show up...

[tonight]

I have to ask why no cardio? If you want to cut up, it's essential. I'd be doing 45 min low intensity cardio 7x a week to help cut up 1st thing in the morning on an empty stomach.

Plus when you cut up you'll shrink in size all around but the thing is you'll look bigger like everyone was saying.

[PrairieDawg]

should be able to loose alot of that fat once you start cutting. you're probably just bloated from eating so much. after I finished my natural bulking diet all I did was cut calories and my bf went back to normal without even doing cardio. although normal isnt where i want to be anyways

[goldenFloyd]

I guess what I was trying to say is I got this far without cardio... so now when I start doing it I hope to see more dramatic results. Thanks for the positive feedback!