16 weeks into a 24 week physical challenge w/pics

[TxRedMan]

[ QUOTE ]
TX,

I'm not hating on you, over that, just have a real question that'll probably come off as hate. When you're in a gym, and you are done with your workout, you whip out your camera and take off your shirt, what kind of looks/comments do you get? I would be taken aback to say the least.

Jihad

[/ QUOTE ]

I workout w/ my shirt off quite a bit. Probably about 30% of the gym does.

The place I workout at isn't a health club, it's a bodybuilding/powerlifting gym. I think the number is something like 230 top 3 finishes in the last ten years in body building shows.

So when I take off my shirt absolutely nobody thinks its strange, but I do get some stares from guys who are just checking out how big i am, etc.

When I take pics of myself it pretty much goes unnoticed.


We were voted #1 hardcore gym in Texas by some powerlifting publication a while back.

Chalk on the floors, no frills equipment, loud rock music, and heavy weights is what we're about.

[Thremp]

motorholdem,

Bodybuilding at high levels is a very very gay sport. Anything that involves flexing my ass and having thousands of guys scream is gay.

TxRedMan,

You are one of the few people who I've seen who has arms almost as big or bigger than their shoulders. Sick genetics, but it does leave you really unbalanced. But since that not really your goal. Who cares.

Packard,

The velocity diet is really rough on you. And its now almost impossible to do well without juice FWIW. Not a ton, but 300-400mg a week might be the min to keep your mass on at a decent rate.

[StaticShock]

I get strange looks from the mooks at L.A. Fitness when I do deadlifts and break into a steady sweat. I can only imagine the looks on their faces if I took my shirt off to work out and then started taking pictures of myself.

Tx, your arms are ENORMOUS. Holy Mackerel!

[MasterLJ]

Great thread man. Keep up the good work.

I'm in the same boat, I'm 6'2" 225 right now and it's the heaviest I've ever been. I was in the best shape about 1.5-2 years ago at 190 and tons of lean muscle.

I've been working out with some regularity and am about on par with the strongest I've ever been, but I just can't change my diet and it has completely stalled out on me (I'm almost 25).

Anyway, congrats on the result and thanks for sharing some of your wisdom. I had no idea what carb cycling was and might give it a try. I've also been doing cardio right after lifting, which I don't think is very good. Just not sure how to work cardio into my routine if I want to get big and lose fat at the same time.

[TxRedMan]

[ QUOTE ]
sick forearm workout? can you tell us it.

also how many times a week do you do it?

[/ QUOTE ]

let me address a few things...my lats are actually very well developed, but the only picture i have that shows my back also shows my ass, and i'd just as soon not have someone posting threads in BBV showing either my ass or a picture where my ass is cut from the photo. either way, in all honesty my lats are pretty wide, i measure 60" in the chest.

to the OP who asked me if i'm ever going to get cut:

yes. it takes me a long time, as my body has a natural disposition to retain weight.

by the first of may (12 weeks) you'll be able to see my abdominal section.

to OP re: my forearm workout...

i do forearms twice a week, after my bicep workout.

my bicep workout includes heavy hammer curls, which builds your extensor muscle (the big muscle on top of your forearm). that's part of my bicep routine but very important to overall forearm development.

my forearm training is fairly simple:

grab a pre-loaded barbell, like the kind that sits in a rack with other barbells w/ a fixed amount of weight on it.

hold the weight in front of you, and slightly forward, about four inches. i.e., the weight is not resting on your hips, and your shoulders are holding the weight slightly out in front of you. this does two things, increases the range of motion for the exercise, and allows you to curl the weight in two directions.

get a weight you can do 50 reps with.

then do the same weight again, 50 times, it should be a weight that has you screaming during the last 10 reps. at the end of that set it should feel like the barbell is the size of a coke can.

rest about two minutes.

grab a very very heavy weight, and curl it up to the top of the motion, and hold it there w/ your forearms contracted. hold it there until failure, then immediately grab the light weight and do forearm curls until failure.

immediately following that pickup a slightly heavier weight and do reverse grip barbell curls, so as to work the top of your forearms.

rest for two minutes.

grab the heavy weight again, curl to the top and hold until failure, and again grab the light weight and try and squeeze out 50 reps.

the thing you will realize is that you CAN do 50 reps, it's just a matter of whether or not you can stand the intense pain in your forearms. at this point i'm not even bothering to rack the weight or set it down, i'm just dropping it i'm in such intense pain.

repeat this entire process one more time, then go grab the heaviest weight you can hold between your thumb and index finger that you can hold for at least 30 seconds.

by the time this workout is done your forearms should be on fire, and you will be cursing the Redman for talking you into it.

[Packard]

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in all honesty my lats are pretty wide, i measure 60" in the chest.


[/ QUOTE ]

Arnold Schwarzenegger's chest was 57 inches. Your chest is bigger than Arnolds? NO WAY!

According to his autobiography, ARNOLD: THE EDUCATION OF A BODYBUILDER, Arnold is 6'2", or 1.88 meters tall. His measurements at the peak of his career were;
Arms: 22 inches
Chest: 57 inches
Waist: 34 inches
Thighs: 28.5 inches
Calves: 20 inches
Weight: 235 pounds

http://www.schwarzenegger.com/en/help/index.asp#0

[TxRedMan]

[ QUOTE ]


[/ QUOTE ]

in all honesty my lats are pretty wide, i measure 60" in the chest.


[/ QUOTE ]

Arnold Schwarzenegger's chest was 57 inches. Your chest is bigger than Arnolds? NO WAY!

According to his autobiography, ARNOLD: THE EDUCATION OF A BODYBUILDER, Arnold is 6'2", or 1.88 meters tall. His measurements at the peak of his career were;
Arms: 22 inches
Chest: 57 inches
Waist: 34 inches
Thighs: 28.5 inches
Calves: 20 inches
Weight: 235 pounds

http://www.schwarzenegger.com/en/help/index.asp#0

[/ QUOTE ]

even ahnold's measurements are exaggerated.

for one thing, he's not 6'2. this has been verified by two people i know personally who have stood next to him.

also, i seriously doubt he had 20" calves. 20" calves are freakishly large.

the measurement of the chest is not a true 'chest' measurement, as it is more representative of the size of your back.

i might be exaggerating a bit myself when i say 60", as it's been a while since i measured, but i know it's within 57-60 inches.

also, when muscle is surrounded by fat it looks smaller. i'll post pics of myself this summer and i'll be lighter and maybe have less muscle tissue but will look bigger b/c you will be able to see lines, veins, striations and cuts.

[TxRedMan]

[ QUOTE ]
I get strange looks from the mooks at L.A. Fitness when I do deadlifts and break into a steady sweat. I can only imagine the looks on their faces if I took my shirt off to work out and then started taking pictures of myself.

Tx, your arms are ENORMOUS. Holy Mackerel!

[/ QUOTE ]

just found a pic of myself when i was natural...

no, that's not my head



and the only pic i have of my back that i can find

[Rushmore]

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with roids your body recovers faster, and generally speaking you can extend and intensify your workouts. example given: on roids, i would do my chest routine as such: 2x10 135 warmup on bench, 225x10, 315x10, 385x5, 405x5, 455x1, then I would do 385x3 pause reps, 315x5 pause reps for 3 sets, (pause reps are slow down, a pause for two seconds on your chest, then an explosion up) then I would do 225 for sets of 10 pause reps with a close grip (for tricep strength) for 5 sets. So I was doing 18 total sets on bench with mostly heavy weight and low reps - strength training.


These days I'll do 135x10 for 2 sets, 225x10, 315x6-8, 385x3, 405x1, 315x5 pause reps for 3 sets, then 4 sets of 8 with a narrow grip at 225.


On roids I would do skull crushers for triceps, 2 sets of 8 2 sets of 6 (after my narrow grip bench presses) and then i'd do dips on a machine for 4 sets of 6-8 reps, and then I would do five sets of pushdowns on a cable machine.

My tricep workout now mostly consists of overhead standing skull crushers (3-4 sets of 8) and 5-6 sets of cable push downs till exhaustion. I still do narrow grip w/ every bench press day, b/c that's what you really bench with, i.e., much more your triceps than your chest.


So, it's still intense, but the volume is less and the recovery time is longer.

[/ QUOTE ]

Huh?

The only working out that I do is 5-10 minutes on an elliptical every morning and evening, and that's just to feel better and to get my metabolism into a condition where I won't be a bloated beast with man-boobs.

I drink a lot of beer.

I am 6' 1" and about 185 (and used to be about 210), so I guess I'm doing OK.

But what the hell do I care anyway? I'm 41 years old. My life is over.

[bisonbison]

tx,

Did you once have a belly-button ring? My girlfriend has a similar scar at the top of her belly button.

Cause, if so, that's pretty funny.