I find the guys in the pic above "freakish" as someone had said. My ideal physique is more along these lines:

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Added on May 19, 2009, 8:00 pmThere's a normal % of bodyfat, the arms look natural, no excessive trap development, etc. Maybe a little less chest would be perfect.

This post has been edited by kotmj: May 19 2009, 08:00 PM


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"Not the BBer type of big, but the athlete kind of muscular."

Exactement!

Darklight would probably agree with the bodyfat thing.

Anyone care to speculate how the blonde guy's workout program might have looked like?

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Added on May 19, 2009, 9:58 pm(He's probably not guilty of bicep curls.)

This post has been edited by kotmj: May 19 2009, 09:58 PM

that's forgivable when you look this fabulous

On further reflection, I think the blonde guy only does two lifts for his upper body: bench presses and some form of the row.

I'm into my 6th week of Rippetoe. Your programming on your squat has no resemblance whatsoever to Rippetoe's. As Rippetoe would have said, "Go read the f***ing book." (If you want a download link to the book, PM me your email.)

But because I'm nicer and more patient than him, here are the problems I see with your programming:

1. 77.5 kg --> 90 kg, WTF? I don't know if that's a typo there, but where on earth is it stated in the book that you're to make 12.5 kg increments? 12.5 kg? He says to make 5 POUND (2.3 kg) increments per workout on the squat IN THE FIRST FEW WEEKS and to reduce even this as you progress. Think: Even if you add 2.5 kg per workout, that's 7.5 kg per week. That's unsustainable. I increase 1 kg per workout.

2. Warm ups are there to facilitate the work sets. You need to be fresh as a cucumber when you approach your work set. You do not warm up at your current record of 77.5 kg. I would suggest you warm up to a maximum of 80% of your work set weight. It follows from this that you do not warm up at 90 kg.

3. The program entails eating like a hog and drinking milk like a calf. Are you doing this? GOMAD?

Wow. When I'm in the cutting stage after all this gorging on milk, I'll ask you how you did this.

There's a definite improvement.

A very successful bulk:

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=3980303

iamyuanwu, why don't you post some pictures of yourself. I saw some really old pics of you around here. It's time for an update.

Do you often get comments about your chest? What are your chest exercises? Lifts, reps, sets, frequency, etc.

Just had a closer look. If those were my chests, I'd do close-grip bench presses now to grow the inner chest near the sternum. Others may correct me if I'm wrong.

OK, OK, I went and dug up the info that connected close grip BP with 'inner chests':

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Added on July 16, 2009, 10:18 pmhttp://www.amazon.com/Strength-Training-Anatomy-Frederic-Delavier/dp/0736063684/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1247753835&sr=8-1

This post has been edited by kotmj: Jul 16 2009, 10:18 PM


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I think those are meager gains indeed for 2.5 years of hard work! I think ON Serious Mass will do you good!

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Added on July 22, 2009, 6:33 pmBe careful not to get fat though. Takes the fun out of the gains.

This post has been edited by kotmj: Jul 22 2009, 06:33 PM

What's your chest workout like? So I can avoid it. (Mine are growing nicely.)

You can try this flat benching workout:

5 RM x3, followed by
80% of 5 RM x 10 to 20 sets
3-5 mins rest between sets

Increase weights by 0.5-1 kg each workout. Bench 3X every two weeks.

I do it like this, except the 80% portion I do as an incline (with much less weight). I've been benching for 3 months, and increased the weight by 1 kg each workout and I haven't stalled on it yet.