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The AM community physique critique thread

20 Pounds over stage weight (Weighed in around 153.8) day of my show)
This is about 12-13 Weeks Post Show

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I'm working on my traps and middle back, but it's still hard to hit a lat spread that really brings out lat width and doesn't make my traps and center of my back disappear:
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Here's some other progress pics, taken in the morning, no pump, etc.
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And one with a pump from a few days ago:
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muscleupcrohn said:
I'm working on my traps and middle back, but it's still hard to hit a lat spread that really brings out lat width and doesn't make my traps and center of my back disappear:
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Here's some other progress pics, taken in the morning, no pump, etc.
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And one with a pump from a few days ago:
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When you do your spread, you have to sit back more to show the traps/thickness. You can't just completely roll your shoulders forward cuz that will totally bury them. It's a hard thing to balance tho
 
Bmac63095 said:
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Looking like your off to a good start. Personally I think you should look at hitting you calves and also hamstrings everything else is looking good. Doing upright rows bent over your toes so there's a small lean will put some size on your traps and bring out bothyou rear and side delts and give you better separation. Hyperextensions should help you a bunch also.
 
So when this thread first kicked off i was one on the first to post my pics. It's been awhile now and have taken the criticism and listened and adapted to get rid of my weak areas. Since then i started to train traps as i usually didn't. Rear Delts and upperback thickness was some of the issues at hand. Overall symmetry has improved since also.

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muscleupcrohn said:
I'm working on my traps and middle back, but it's still hard to hit a lat spread that really brings out lat width and doesn't make my traps and center of my back disappear:
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Here's some other progress pics, taken in the morning, no pump, etc.
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And one with a pump from a few days ago:
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Great foundation. Wheels? Either way, train hard and eat and you could really do some damage on stage. Good lines and insertions
 
1 year progress from right to left.

183 (2/7/2016) was me not training for 2 straight months, eating whatever I wanted, no cardio basically nothing. (Placed 9th as a LHW on Nov 11 of 2015) I'd diet and train 1 day and do nothing for 5 type of thing. Maybe g crazy and get 1.5 days together.
170 (7/4/2016) was a week out from winning the middle weight opens and novice overall in July of 2016
203 (2/7/2017)was Tuesday morning. Exactly 365 days of busting ass, only one cycle for 18 weeks of the entire year. Rest is just trt, perfect diet, perfect cardio and perfect training conditions. Invalid Link Removed
 
Distilled Water said:
1 year progress from right to left.

183 (2/7/2016) was me not training for 2 straight months, eating whatever I wanted, no cardio basically nothing. (Placed 9th as a LHW on Nov 11 of 2015) I'd diet and train 1 day and do nothing for 5 type of thing. Maybe g crazy and get 1.5 days together.
170 (7/4/2016) was a week out from winning the middle weight opens and novice overall in July of 2016
203 (2/7/2017)was Tuesday morning. Exactly 365 days of busting ass, only one cycle for 18 weeks of the entire year. Rest is just trt, perfect diet, perfect cardio and perfect training conditions. Invalid Link Removed
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Unreal. 20lb heavier and not even slightly less defined (maybe even more so)
 
Segansational said:
Shoulders are definitely popping! Nice work.
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Everything upper body needs to be brought up. Every single judge stated that at the show.
They said my conditioning was fantastic, and my legs were one of the best pairs on stage for my class. I just need to be porportional and add some good size to my upper half.

I appreciate that compliment, but they can never be big enough!
 
The Solution said:
Everything upper body needs to be brought up. Every single judge stated that at the show.
They said my conditioning was fantastic, and my legs were one of the best pairs on stage for my class. I just need to be porportional and add some good size to my upper half.

I appreciate that compliment, but they can never be big enough!
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Everyone has weak points its the ones who can take the constructive criticism and adapt and overcome the said weakness is truly what separates winners on stage. I've got a good hunch that your going to have great progress this year. Honestly id rather have big legs and work on upper instead of the other way. Legs are looking peeled and have really good size.
 
WAF said:
Everyone has weak points its the ones who can take the constructive criticism and adapt and overcome the said weakness is truly what separates winners on stage. I've got a good hunch that your going to have great progress this year. Honestly id rather have big legs and work on upper instead of the other way. Legs are looking peeled and have really good size.
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And this is exactly what this thread is for!
 
The Solution said:
Everything upper body needs to be brought up. Every single judge stated that at the show.
They said my conditioning was fantastic, and my legs were one of the best pairs on stage for my class. I just need to be porportional and add some good size to my upper half.

I appreciate that compliment, but they can never be big enough!
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Tom Platz problems, haha. You absolutely have the conditioning dialed in, and great legs; I'm sure you'll come back even better next time.
 
muscleupcrohn said:
Tom Platz problems, haha. You absolutely have the conditioning dialed in, and great legs; I'm sure you'll come back even better next time.
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WAF said:
Everyone has weak points its the ones who can take the constructive criticism and adapt and overcome the said weakness is truly what separates winners on stage. I've got a good hunch that your going to have great progress this year. Honestly id rather have big legs and work on upper instead of the other way. Legs are looking peeled and have really good size.
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Appreciate that fellas. and thank you for the support and kind words.
Just gotta build that upper half now!
 
Distilled Water said:
Great foundation. Wheels? Either way, train hard and eat and you could really do some damage on stage. Good lines and insertions
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Didn't see this until now. Thanks man. Here's some quad pics. They definitely need work, and I also don't think all the hair on my legs helps, haha:
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Hamstrings probably need even more work, and I'm also working on bringing up my calves, which have a long way to go in the fight against genetics.
 
Legs look good man. I would focus on a lot of narrow stance work and bring up that quad sweep.

For calves I have found very long negatives, static holds, and paused reps really bring them up. TUT Work (Time under tension). Sometimes it is not about the weight your moving. it is about how your activating the muscle. Losing the ego goes a long way in the weightroom to how you "Look" instead of what your "lifting" if that makes sense.

Try 2-3 seconds down (negative), 2-3 second pause at bottom, and then explode up. It may take a minute or two to do some sets. Your calves will be on fire.

Sometimes I superset the slow reps (heavier) with bodyweight calf raises (sets of 20-30-40) to really get the blood pumping in them.

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The Solution said:
Legs look good man. I would focus on a lot of narrow stance work and bring up that quad sweep.

For calves I have found very long negatives, static holds, and paused reps really bring them up. TUT Work (Time under tension). Sometimes it is not about the weight your moving. it is about how your activating the muscle. Losing the ego goes a long way in the weightroom to how you "Look" instead of what your "lifting" if that makes sense.

Try 2-3 seconds down (negative), 2-3 second pause at bottom, and then explode up. It may take a minute or two to do some sets. Your calves will be on fire.

Sometimes I superset the slow reps (heavier) with bodyweight calf raises (sets of 20-30-40) to really get the blood pumping in them.

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Thanks man, it's always good to get advise from people with good legs. For calves, I've recently been doing a 2-3 count hold at the bottom and 2-3 count hold at the top of reps for calves, and I think it's been helping. I definitely know what you're saying about ego though. I'll give that link a read for sure.
 
muscleupcrohn said:
Thanks man, it's always good to get advise from people with good legs. For calves, I've recently been doing a 2-3 count hold at the bottom and 2-3 count hold at the top of reps for calves, and I think it's been helping. I definitely know what you're saying about ego though. I'll give that link a read for sure.
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After seeing Erik Frankhousers calves in persons. I will never train them the same again. It was like walking pumpkins

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Just nutso.

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Still growing
Around 22-23 Pounds above stage weight (competed at 153) Sitting around 175ish

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Working on a new front double bicep which I think suits me and showing off my legs well

Honestly since Jan 1st and starting back with jason theobald he made one change in my nutrition, and I have not changed anything since.
 
Hockeyaus33 said:
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Most recent cut @ 205 lb Natural
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Damn this is impressive. Especially natural.

As DW said, back width would def be my point to focus on... maybe some more calf work as well as your upper legs are very solid. A bit hard to tell for sure on the calves tho since they're partiall cut off.
 
Distilled Water said:
Some back width and putter quad sweep and you'll be hard to handle on stage. What's next?
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I'm trying to compete at like 215 stage weight someday but really not sure if it's possible natty. I'm 27 so T-levels will start to drop soon. Bulking right now to try and gain muscle and like you guys said, doing a ton of back + calves

heres a back pic

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My hammies also need a lot of work.
and my posing obviously lol
 
You also could make that shot look a lot better with a small few adjustments.
Roll your elbows forward to pop your lats out. Set up like your are doing a front mandatory (Slightly raise chest and expand lats) and then put your arms up and roll the elbows forward to help expand your lats outward and give yourself a 3D image.

As far as legs, Do a TON of close stance work, really work on your quad sweep to help get some width. It looks like you are not trying to flex your legs and more on the upperbody in that pose. Remember posing starts from the ground up.
 
The Solution said:
You also could make that shot look a lot better with a small few adjustments.
Roll your elbows forward to pop your lats out. Set up like your are doing a front mandatory (Slightly raise chest and expand lats) and then put your arms up and roll the elbows forward to help expand your lats outward and give yourself a 3D image.

As far as legs, Do a TON of close stance work, really work on your quad sweep to help get some width. It looks like you are not trying to flex your legs and more on the upperbody in that pose. Remember posing starts from the ground up.
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I'd have to agree with all of this!
 
Up a few more pounds
You know your getting fat when your too lazy to take off your shoes when posing

Sitting around 23-25 over stage weight from November

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The Solution said:
Legs look good man. I would focus on a lot of narrow stance work and bring up that quad sweep.

For calves I have found very long negatives, static holds, and paused reps really bring them up. TUT Work (Time under tension). Sometimes it is not about the weight your moving. it is about how your activating the muscle. Losing the ego goes a long way in the weightroom to how you "Look" instead of what your "lifting" if that makes sense.

Try 2-3 seconds down (negative), 2-3 second pause at bottom, and then explode up. It may take a minute or two to do some sets. Your calves will be on fire.

Sometimes I superset the slow reps (heavier) with bodyweight calf raises (sets of 20-30-40) to really get the blood pumping in them.

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Holy smokes! Tried what you recommended, 2-4sec negative, hard contraction and a static pause in the top for 1 sec. 8-10 reps calf raises, superseted with bodyweight raises as many as possible. Never had that good contact and pump in my calves before.
How often would you recommend training them?

My calves are truly lacking, hope I can get them up in size to match the wheels.
 
Pec.Major said:
Holy smokes! Tried what you recommended, 2-4sec negative, hard contraction and a static pause in the top for 1 sec. 8-10 reps calf raises, superseted with bodyweight raises as many as possible. Never had that good contact and pump in my calves before.
How often would you recommend training them?

My calves are truly lacking, hope I can get them up in size to match the wheels.
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start at 2x a week.
I told ya it is brutal :)
 
I've been on a cut since I got out of prison 4 months ago , on a dirty , dirty bulk the whole time I was in lol , started at 205 , down to 184 , and I feet like I kept most of my muscle mass Invalid Link Removed
 
Sup guys, just wanted to share with you the results of a little 8 week recomp I did recently. Mid January to mid March.
...and yes, I already know I had f*cking puffy nips.
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Body weight went from 233 to 232lbs lol. There was an initial 10-pound drop in the first two weeks though, and I somehow gained it back.
 
Bambam, looking like a beast bro, the nips ain't **** compared to what I'm tryna control lol

Fucc it since I've posted here before I'll post my own update tooInvalid Link Removed Invalid Link Removed

These were over the weekend I'm sitting at 210 in the morning still chasing more and more size , however after seeing these I decided I need to incorporate some cardio and some abs even thou I'm still bulking so gunna add in 2 days a week 30 minutes cardio and 20 minutes abs, in the am fasted
 
Alpha1agreda said:
Bambam, looking like a beast bro, the nips ain't **** compared to what I'm tryna control lol

Fucc it since I've posted here before I'll post my own update tooInvalid Link Removed Invalid Link Removed

These were over the weekend I'm sitting at 210 in the morning still chasing more and more size , however after seeing these I decided I need to incorporate some cardio and some abs even thou I'm still bulking so gunna add in 2 days a week 30 minutes cardio and 20 minutes abs, in the am fasted
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Looking awesome yourself, dude. It doesn't look like you're dealing with much puffiness at all. I've got mine to shrink down a lot, it's under control now.
And dude I'd try to play with your diet before I resorted to adding in cardio!! You're already looking shredded, especially for being in a mass gaining phase.
 
25 Pounds above stage weight from November now.
Starting to see Thickness being added as I continue to hit PR's in the gym
Just nailed 100's x 12 on DB Incline Bench

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Alpha1agreda said:
Invalid Link Removed let's hear it AM , be brutal if you must Invalid Link Removed never been good at posing/flexing back one of my weakest points Invalid Link Removed
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Invalid Link RemovedInvalid Link RemovedInvalid Link Removed will for once in my life admit I see some results , still got a long way to go. And I'm hungry as sh1t for it
 
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First pic is two years ago when I got back in the gym after getting wounded in Afghanistan.Invalid Link RemovedInvalid Link RemovedInvalid Link Removed
These three are from 2 weeks ago. So I'm down a little more body fat. Just looking for overall thoughts. I know I'm not close to where some of you are. But literally from 2009-2015 Under doctor orders I was I wasnt allowed to do anything. After not listening to doc's anymore and doing what I needed to do did I improve and got alot more to go.
 
DemntedCowboy said:
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First pic is two years ago when I got back in the gym after getting wounded in Afghanistan.Invalid Link RemovedInvalid Link RemovedInvalid Link Removed
These three are from 2 weeks ago. So I'm down a little more body fat. Just looking for overall thoughts. I know I'm not close to where some of you are. But literally from 2009-2015 Under doctor orders I was I wasnt allowed to do anything. After not listening to doc's anymore and doing what I needed to do did I improve and got alot more to go.
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First off, thank you for your service and sacrifice! Guys like you allow us all to be narcissistic jackassses and online clowns ha.

That's huge progress man! Frankly, diet alone can get you a lot of what you want in terms of weight loss. Obviously activity will make it faster and have other benefits as well but just be careful or you could end up worse than before.
 
booneman77 said:
First off, thank you for your service and sacrifice! Guys like you allow us all to be narcissistic jackassses and online clowns ha.

That's huge progress man! Frankly, diet alone can get you a lot of what you want in terms of weight loss. Obviously activity will make it faster and have other benefits as well but just be careful or you could end up worse than before.
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Diet definetly gets you where you wanna be, and I definetly watch what I do. Since I did break my neck and back (C2-3 fused in a blast, and L3-5 buldging against my spine, and maxofacial surgery) I watch how much I lift on certain lifts, and I only do rack pulls instead of deads, and I will only do the leg press rather than squats. Everything else is game on. Lol
 
DemntedCowboy said:
Diet definetly gets you where you wanna be, and I definetly watch what I do. Since I did break my neck and back (C2-3 fused in a blast, and L3-5 buldging against my spine, and maxofacial surgery) I watch how much I lift on certain lifts, and I only do rack pulls instead of deads, and I will only do the leg press rather than squats. Everything else is game on. Lol
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Holy hell that is some serious progress despite severe injuries too! Makes my back pain look pretty damn trivial!

Are you also trying out some back movements in the Smith? One of the more pain free methods for myself is bent over rows, can still put some decent weight on the bar vs. Other variations

Best of luck moving forward brother you're killing it so far
 
Driven2lift said:
Holy hell that is some serious progress despite severe injuries too! Makes my back pain look pretty damn trivial!

Are you also trying out some back movements in the Smith? One of the more pain free methods for myself is bent over rows, can still put some decent weight on the bar vs. Other variations

Best of luck moving forward brother you're killing it so far
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Yes bent over row, shrugs, upright row. I do all of them in the smith.
 
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