FitnessBore - 2018 edition

[BlueTsunami]

Yeah Stro, it seems like you're at a crossroads of physicality or aesthetics. At the very least strength gains month over month will prob diminish the more you down the low BF route.

[Assimilate]

Realistically, I think I've pretty much hit my limit for my frame in terms of leanness and muscularity without getting really crazy about diet and supplements.

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Apologies for the camera quality, my phone situation right now is pretty dire  I'm pretty much stuck right around 150 pounds despite doubling my work load in the past month, still staying between 1200-1500 calories a day (actually sometimes less but don't tell MFP  )

I started with adding a circuit of 5 pull ups, 5 dips, 5 cable pulls, 1 weighted carry x 5. I then bumped it up to x10. Then I added a 30lb kettlebell around my neck for some of the carries. Then I added a 50 pound backpack to at least 5 of the carries, up to 9. Then I bumped the 30lb kettlebell up to a 45lb plate instead. Today was the first day with 55 in the backpack. I tend to get the hardest out of the way first when I have the most energy, so my first carry everyday is 45lb farmer walk with the now 55 pound backpack, and the 45lb plate hanging on the front. I haven't measured it out exactly, but each walk is around 100 yards total. Today was the first time I was able to do the double 45 plate chest carry (which I do not do with the backpack, yet) the entire distance without having to stop at trashcan to reset my grip a little.

I do this 5 days a week, in addition to normal weight training. I do leg press usually at least 4 days a week, feet close to engage IT band/hamstrings/glutes more which were giving me issues that made me stop doing squats. Monday: Deadlift, shoulder press, circuit, leg press, and I'll often do bench or pec deck if I'm feeling it and have time. Tuesday: Circuit, leg press, bench press which I'm now doing on machine instead of bar and have switched from my traditional 5x5 ascending sets into doing the amount of reps as the first digit on the weight until I can't finish that set (IE 1 rep at 10 pounds, 2 reps at 20, etc). Wednesday Circuit, leg press, sometimes both kinds of leg press. Thursday: Circuit, leg press, incline bench in the same format as regular. Friday: Circuit, leg press, whatever random thing strikes me at the time.

When I started the circuit, it took me 45-60 minutes to finish, now that I've doubled it and added all the extra weight, I've been doing it in roughly the same amount of time. The carries obviously double as cardio as well, so I'm at the point where I'm taking like...less than a minute between sets for most of the circuit at this point. I'm also at a point where I can't really add much more weight to these carries, beyond carrying people around, but I'm not outgoing in the least, am usually in a terrible mood, and look like I don't want to be bothered, so striking up conversations so I can work in "hey can I carry you" probably is not in my immediate future.

Overall I'm down around 75 pounds since Christmas, and I still see some problem areas I'd like to tighten up, but I don't really know how much farther I can get on this road without making it the main thing in my life.

From all those carries your traps area absolutely exploding. I'd say you can chill out on those if you want. If I were you I'd focus more on chest development, and maybe lats? but we can't see the lats in this pic so it's just a guess.

Stomach wise it seems you have a rectangular shape and there's nothing you can do about that unless you shrink to nothingness. After 30 stomach is already the worst fucking thing in the world to deal with.

riotous feel fortunate you have a smaller waist naturally. I don't have a big waist, I'd say medium naturally, and it's a pain in the ass because it seems like all my extra fat goes there to the love handles.

[TakingBackSunday]

 

Breh you're gonna weigh less than me soon!

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pls stop for my sanity

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nah, keep it up man!

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[Assimilate]

What a dream it would be to get down to 176.

I'm already ecstatic about to get to 200lb. Soon as I get into the high 180s maybe I'll post a pic.

[Flannel Boy]

150 pounds? How tall are you?

You lost 75 pounds in eight months? Wow!

It looks like you jumped on the volume and frequency train before Schoenfeld et al.

[Boogie]

Fuckin' *finally* Stro posts pics. 

[Assimilate]

wulp, I just fucked my routine up. Binge drank last night, ate pizza today and missed my workout.

[BlueTsunami]

Adonis belt on point. Thats the bodyfat dream.

[Assimilate]

Everyone always underestimates their body fat percentage. You're probably at 12-15%.

You need to dirty bulk a bit and then cut back down again.

[Assimilate]

Could be, it's hard to tell because everyone is different. Some guys you see that are ripped as fuck and they're only at like 10%.

It depends on where the fat is stored. Guys that have fat storage more like females (fat accumulates in the leg area) have ripped stomachs even at higher body fat percentages. Unlike me where all my fat goes straight to the stomach, love handle areas. But I guess it could be worse, could be one of those guys that their fat storage goes to the chest and they end up with manboobs.

[BlueTsunami]

I'm with Assi. A good indicator of super low BF is that hip striation you see in your pic. I'd say you're at 15% or even lower.

[Assimilate]

You're not carrying a lot of muscle mass but not a lot of fat either, and you seem to have a smaller skeletal frame so it could easily be under 15%. The only true test is a dexa scan (which I'll be doing in another month).

[Assimilate]

Not gonna bother with a BF scale;  apparently they are so wonky you can't even trust them as a measurement of change over time (I was assuming they'd be off, but at least consistent so I could measure change.)

Dexa is accurate . See if there is a place near you that offers it cheap

[Assimilate]

I got 2 weeks left of this mesocycle, and then it's a 3 week 'deload' or whatever you call it and I'm on to a different program.

Switching to a leg focused program for 3 months and then after that its cardio. Going to try and finally get my body slim and proportional

[Nabbis]

Been stuck in the last 10lb that i need to drop for almost two months now. It's ridiculous how hard it's to get that last extra % of bodyfat off. 

Yeah yeah, weight aint bodyfat but i estimate that it's what it will take for me to look how i want to look without much muscle loss.

[Assimilate]

Been stuck in the last 10lb that i need to drop for almost two months now. It's ridiculous how hard it's to get that last extra % of bodyfat off. 

Yeah yeah, weight aint bodyfat but i estimate that it's what it will take for me to look how i want to look without much muscle loss.

Weight loss is brutal its fucking brutal.

I can't stand when people complain they can't put on weight... like come on dude. Just eat. eating is fun. Cutting is not fun.

[Assimilate]

Cutting is easy stop being a pussy. Do IF and calorie reduction it's not hard, you're just being a self sabotaging bitch.

of course it's self sabotage. you eat sometimes because it's comfortable, boredom, etc.

[Assimilate]

Yeah well...don't. Have some fucking self restraint and discipline, you're a fucking adult.

 

chill with the A word

[Assimilate]

lol.. it's all just motivation to me

If I'm motivated I'll reach whatever weight I want;  I've gained muscle quick and lost tons of weight quick, also let myself go for long stretches of not giving a fuck (or being injured and kind of down and out because of it.)

I'm currently having trouble getting motivated to bulk;  really like being super lean.. I do WANT more muscle but not sure I really care enough to bulk into it and then cut.

Been in maintenance mode for almost 2 months now and definitely still doing a bit of body composition changing but I'm PROBABLY at the point where if I don't just want to maintain I'll need to bulk.  Kind of doing a trial run of that this week;  gonna try to get to 190-195 and see how I feel/look.

I've never sat around whining about wanting to be a given weight though; if I'm motivated enough to whine I'm motivated enough to put in work.  M

Your gf doesn't feed you chocolate? Trying to cut around a female is literally impossible.

[Assimilate]

Willpower on my nut sack.

I'll diet the rest until I get into the upper 190s, after that my program should be already starting the leg focus rotation and I'll cardio it heavy as well to try and get down to low 190s, which then I plan on supplementing hopefully an ECA stack to reach 180.

This is the plan.

[Assimilate]

Either do it or don't, if you're just going to post lame facebook style begging for compliments/advice/help then not follow it, fuck off to some other shit thread and let the people who actually put in the work not have to deal with your weak ass.

geeez

 

this guy's motivational advice

[Beezy]

Got my low bar squat up to 225 for 3 reps. It feels good to work my legs regularly again. I felt like I could do at least 2 more, but I was following my friend's program and wanted to make sure I could make it through the rest of our workout. So far we've been going up 10lbs each week, but I'm guessing that will slow down soon and the number of reps will start to increase.

[Assimilate]

This was the first day in a long time where I was really going to take an extra day off, just the idea of getting up and being active sounded so terrible, everything hurt, I feel like I slept maybe 4 hours all night....but I went in anyway and did the work instead of complaining about being unable to lose 10 pounds as I scarf down pizzas and cakes and chocolates.

Yet you have very little muscle development besides traps.... maybe you are overworking yourself?

[Nabbis]

This was the first day in a long time where I was really going to take an extra day off, just the idea of getting up and being active sounded so terrible, everything hurt, I feel like I slept maybe 4 hours all night....but I went in anyway and did the work instead of complaining about being unable to lose 10 pounds as I scarf down pizzas and cakes and chocolates.

Stop internet bullying me plz.  :'(

[BlueTsunami]

Past the halfway point to my goal weight at 174. Expect to my hit my goal weight by December at this pace. Possibly 40lbs in 4 months. I'll assess what I want to do at that point when I see what my bodyfat makeup looks like. Was whistling dixie this morning after I weighed in, no change in weight and felt the need to take a mean piss an hour later that unloaded a good amount.

[Assimilate]

I'm sorry you have shitty willpower (in regards to literally everything in your life)

False

and you try to project your issues on to everyone else. 

False

Maybe one day things will click for you when you get out of your own head.

yeah probably. We all have something don't we? or we wouldn't be on the bore.

Post pics or STFU mang.

I will when I hit my goal which may be a while considering I just had a burger and 3 gin tonics.

 

[Assimilate]

I think I'm goin to run the leg focus routine for 6 months.

I want big legs.

[Assimilate]

How about finish the other 10 things you've started on first you fucking loser

my current program is coming to an end. I have this week hard, and then some deloading and my leg focused routine starts. I was only going to run it for 3 months but now I'm thinking 6 while I cut. 

[Assimilate]

Cut to a month from now when you're on something completely different, still complaining about not hitting your goal weight and your bird legs

what are you talking about I've been on the same plan for months.

[Assimilate]

Quick physique update

-chest is great

-upper back is great

-lats have improved, could use a bit more size

-front delt is excellent as always, never had a problem with it.

-rear delt has improved

- I think my side delt could use a bit more work for sure, but that's expected with all natural lifters.

-upper traps are good

-lower/mid traps could use a bit more work.

-triceps have improved. it's always been a weak area for me but they have grown and continue to improve

-biceps are fine, lost a bit of size to them since I'm not hitting them as hard as I used to but they've never been an issue

-forearms could use work. probably need to isolate them more.

-stomach is ok, this will come with weight loss.

-legs, calfs, and glutes have improved. still far off from being totally even to the upper body. this will be the main focus soon for the next 6 months.



Overall I'm pleased with this years progress. If I can shred that 20lbs while bringing up my legs I think I can achieve my peak physique.

[Assimilate]

Chest is such a funny muscle. It's the muscle outside of biceps that dudes hit the most, want the most but ironically end up performing wrong the most.

It's all about technique. You can do a ton of weight on a barbell benchpress and yet see no results on your chest if your shoulders are rolling forward and your delts are taking over. I was a victim of this stupidity for many years in the beginning.

Another huge mistake I see when people do dumbbells is touching the dumbbells at the top. Lock out the elbows but try not to touch the dumbbells, you lose the tension at the top touching them, and put added stress on your shoulders.

Outside of this I think it's such a simple muscle - do dumbbell flat and incline and then another day barbell flat (incline if you really want) and then an isolation movement for that month either dips or flies. Rotate out the isolation movement once every month or so. That's it.

Dudes going in doing dumbbell incline/flat, flies incline/flat + some type of cable movement, and then this and that.  It's not a complicated muscle! Doing too much chest can actually fuck up your posture, and make you look hunchback because the chest muscles pull you forward and you get rounded shoulders... it's awful.

You can pick dudes out like this by the dozen at the gym.

[BlueTsunami]

Found out that raspberries taste awesome with cottage cheese. Good source of fat, protein, and fiber all together. Gonna ride this train for lunch until the wheels come off.

[agrajag]

Found out that raspberries taste awesome with cottage cheese. Good source of fat, protein, and fiber all together. Gonna ride this train for lunch until the wheels come off.

I used to buy those packs of cottage cheese that have a little pocket with different flavored jams in them and eat them before bed. Raspberry was my favorite.

[BlueTsunami]

Canned peaches are pretty amazing with cottage cheese;  drain the syrup out of them first if you don't want a sugar load though.

Dole makes these little peach cups w/ cocounut water instead of syrup and no sugar added if you can find those they are great.

Found out that raspberries taste awesome with cottage cheese. Good source of fat, protein, and fiber all together. Gonna ride this train for lunch until the wheels come off.

I used to buy those packs of cottage cheese that have a little pocket with different flavored jams in them and eat them before bed. Raspberry was my favorite.

Hell yeah. I knew sweet went well with the savory but didnt actually try this combo till now. I've been eating the one with scallions? It leans more into super savory. The raspberry combo is a welcome change. Adds some needed texture too.

Found out that raspberries taste awesome with cottage cheese. Good source of fat, protein, and fiber all together. Gonna ride this train for lunch until the wheels come off.

Isn't cottage cheese low in fat tho.

I only buy the full fat version. Its protein heavy but I'll take all the fat I can get since I try to keep a higher ratio of my caloric intake from fat.

[TakingBackSunday]

What do people think about yogurt?  I've been having these lately:

[BlueTsunami]

What do people think about yogurt?  I've been having these lately:

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Nutritionally it looks very similar to cottage cheese. I may need to look into that brand when I get sick of this mix. Never really gave yogurt a go.

[Boogie]

What do people think about yogurt?  I've been having these lately:

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I'm all about extra creamy greek yogurt. 

Also, am way too fat right now.  196lbs.  Training is going okay, but diet is shit because of busy life stuff right now, eating out too much. 

[agrajag]

I sprained my right intercostal somehow. Pretty much anything but isolation stuff is painful. Sounds like I'll be doing bodybuilding stuff for a couple of weeks.

[Assimilate]

Anyone suffer from pelvic tilt? I think all this sitting has fucked me up a little.

[BlueTsunami]

Anyone suffer from pelvic tilt? I think all this sitting has fucked me up a little.

I think I did. Forming cues to not exaggerate a neutral back to hyper extension has helped . Its whats been fucking me for a while now. Monkey butt syndrome. It places a lot of the tension square on your lower back no matter what you do if youre not aware of it.

[Assimilate]

Anyone suffer from pelvic tilt? I think all this sitting has fucked me up a little.

I think I did. Forming cues to not exaggerate a neutral back to hyper extension has helped . Its whats been fucking me for a while now. Monkey butt syndrome. It places a lot of the tension square on your lower back no matter what you do if youre not aware of it.

yeah I've noticed I may have a slight case of this

[BlueTsunami]

Holy fuck, I just ate some Chobani yogurt with Madagascar Vanilla and a hint of Cinnamon. Talk about a one way ticket to flavortown.

[Assimilate]

For the first time ever I'm more excited for leg day than anything else. The mentality game has finally turned for me.


Full steam ahead with legs/cardio   

[BlueTsunami]

Do NOT get Yoplait triple filtered milk yogurt. Fuck. This shit was foul. It seems like they filtered out the sugars and made it low in fat. This combination has this putrid tartness.

Now Oikos Triple Zero was legit. And it has 6g of fiber from some added soluble fiber which is always welcome.

The Chobani was amazing but it seemed more like a desert where the Oikos I see myself eating regularly.

[Assimilate]

My progress is coming a long nicely. I hit another little snag the last 2 or so weeks at 200-203lb fluctuations though. I'm dying to get into the 190lb range but man it's hard when on weekends I get intense urges to drink.

The workouts are nice though. After this week I have one more strong heavy week and then a deload week before I hit my 4day a week leg focused routine. Imagine this is where I'll finally start shredding pounds and getting down into the mid 190 range.

But my body composition is about where I want it to be and just building on that is the goal. Upper back has increased, and I'm focusing heavy on traps now since I think traps for me have been neglected. I changed my shrug hand width which has helped a lot, I went with a wider placement to focus more on the mid traps and wider trap rather than the neck area. This has worked.


I'm wanting to chop this beard off that I have been rocking forever now but I'm deathly afraid of fat neck. I feel like I'm carrying water around my neck/face and taking the beard off..... that might be a shock I'm not ready for yet. Not until I'm at least close to 190.   



edit: oh and man standing overhand shoulder press is about the best thing for upper chest if you lean back more. I don't know why this isn't a more talked about subject. when you type in "upper chest focus" on youtube you see all kinds of stupid exercises. I don't even think incline bench does as much for your upper chest/clavicle area as does the standing barbell press (leaning back further)

Putting a lot of emphasis on this exercise has done wonders for my upper chest

[BlueTsunami]

Theres this gorgeous shorty making a raucous at the gym, dropping her deadlifts. Its so goddamn attractive.

Update: she hyped up the free weights side of the gym with the sound of her people. Compound Goddess.

[Assimilate]

Sorry I didn't include my big flappy tits, Assy

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https://i.imgur.com/ce3oanj.jpg

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Then why the fuck post at all? Show the goods yo

You keep taking these same pics only glorifying your traps... you're all traps right now. Hows the rest of the development coming?

Forgot how rough this time of year is for me w/ my cluster headaches so I've resorted to just being in maintenance mode since I feel pretty damn weak when I have these week long headaches from hell.   

These last 3 days have been fucking rough;  a terrible headache with this weird lingering wooziness that's hard to describe.  I've still managed to do all of my workouts but man is it hard.

How very female of you..

I actually feel bad for you. Headaches are the worst. I feel so bad for women that have chronic headaches, it's usually a female thing.

Any time I have a headache I feel like I'm going to do die and rather just end my life right there on the spot.

[Assimilate]

Ya traps are the only thing in that pic. No delts, no biceps, no abs, no vasularity. Just traps.

Well the traps are so overwhelming to the rest that it's all one can focus on. Your shoulders are incredibly small for the size of your traps. We can't see your chest, but yeah your biceps are showing through and so is your abs but that's body weight, not muscle size making those stick out.

You said your lats grow too big if you do them? From this pic they are none existent and makes your stomach area too wide/square looking, so there's no V taper, making the abs pointless, really.

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I'm not judging you here, I'm super critical of myself. Consider this constructive criticism 

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[Assimilate]

why the eye roll??? why not take the criticism positively ?

weirdo. geez

[BlueTsunami]

Rolled my fucking ankle yesterday during my trail run. In the worse possible way too. Left foot was off the ground, right foot took my full body weight while rolled inward. Let out a loud FUCK and crumpled to the ground. Thinking about investing in ankle braces so I can try to avoid a roll this bad. Was also reading its a form issue with over striding. Will work on that too.

[ToxicAdam]

I did trail running with a group one time and that was enough for me to realize it wasn't for me. It's an injury waiting to happen. Especially as you get tired and lose focus of your form/surroundings.

Afterwords, we all hung out and I got to hear a bunch of war stories about how they injured themselves or had harrowing experiences with weather/wildlife. Then I realized they're a bunch of masochists.

[BlueTsunami]

I did trail running with a group one time and that was enough for me to realize it wasn't for me. It's an injury waiting to happen. Especially as you get tired and lose focus of your form/surroundings.

Afterwords, we all hung out and I got to hear a bunch of war stories about how they injured themselves or had harrowing experiences with weather/wildlife. Then I realized they're a bunch of masochists.

I had a couple of rolls before but nothing this bad. Sort of warning shots for the big one l guess. And I agree about the fatigue and lack of concentration being major problems.

[BlueTsunami]

The human psyche is a funny thing. Here I am nursing my ankle and I feel a bit adrift without my daily walk, jog, or gym time. Like all the progress i made in three months can be extinguished in the couple of days I'll need to recoup.

[BlueTsunami]

I'm worried about the winter time. My daily walks outside would ground me. The hazards of living in this region.

[Atramental]

How do I get buff, dudes? 

[Atramental]

Realistically how many times a week can you make it to a gym?

3 times if I make a real effort to go.

[Assimilate]

Realistically how many times a week can you make it to a gym?

3 times if I make a real effort to go.

That's perfectly fine for a beginner. I'd suggest a full body 3x a week strength program.

It's going to be a basic

Week A: A B A
Week B: B A B

and repeat type of work out.

It's very simple. You are going to focus on all the major compound movements with a few isolation exercises after each workout. That can be biceps, triceps, abs, whatever you want.

Focus on building strength, anything like a 5x5 is fine.

[BlueTsunami]

How do I get buff, dudes? 

Pick up heavy shit
Eat a lot of the correct shit
And sleep atleast 7 hours a day

More specifically follow a program like Wendler 531 or Stronglifts 5x5. Stronglifts may be better at first (and quicker) for those with newbie gains to exploit. You'll want to learn and utilize mainly compound movements (deadlifts, squats, benchpressing, military presses).

Develop a meal plan that hits 15% above your caloric maintenance and try to hit your protein macronutrient in bodyweight to grams. So if you weigh 170lb, try to hit 170g protein daily. Or .8 your bodyweight at the very least (or 157g). The protein intake isnt a hard fact, mainly a guideline. Just get as much protein as your capable of.

Do this, consistently, for 3 months and I'm sure you'll see results. Especially at your current bodyfat levels. Pair that zangief hair with a hard bod.

[Assimilate]

Yeah protein shake is a must. Time to be a bro Atra.

Also, Creatine. There's some shakes with protein/creatine blends.

[ToxicAdam]

Realistically how many times a week can you make it to a gym?

3 times if I make a real effort to go.

When you first start, more than half the battle is just showing up. I would plan on going twice over the weekend and once during the week.  You can really burn yourself out if you try to mix work/working out too much.

You need to make this a routine. Even if you feel tired or have excuses on why you can't go. You need to still show up and go through the motions. Get dressed, drive to the gym, go inside the gym. Even if you just turn back around or only do 20 minutes on a treadmill. You need to make it a habit and the only way to do that is to actually go to the gym.

Some of my best workouts were because I forced myself to show up. I get there and get energized to do something and it begins to feed on itself. But there have also been times where I just went in, sat in the lockeroom and then walked back out. Didn't beat myself up about it though.