Thread: please be gentle.

First of all, congrats on the fantastic progress you have made so far! Give yourself a pat on the back!

As far as your physique goes, delts are looking pretty good, and the arms seem in proportion to them. Your chest appears a bit weak throughout, and I think you might have added a bit too much bodyfat as evidenced by the "love handle" area (this is a killer for guys!).

So, I think you should keep doing what you are doing, but perhaps add in a bit more cardio to bring bodyfat down, and also focus more on your chest training.

I thought his chest looked biggest/strongest, haha. But i am veiwing a small photo on a phone screen so i may be forgiven

Hey zl drop me a PM. I'd be more than happy to help you out free of charge.

if you cut bf you'd look quite good I think. Even the chest doesnt look as good as it could just because theres quite a bit of fat on it.

delts look great maybe some arnie presses to really emphasise the anterior head or oly bar corner push presses or clean & presses n you'll look fab

Agree on the delts, also agree on the Olympic corner push press.

Cutting would be good-perhaps starting with a psmf then going into a ud2 would be quite advisable.

ZL, do you do you any type of compound back work other than deadlifting?

Originally Posted by gopro

First of all, congrats on the fantastic progress you have made so far! Give yourself a pat on the back!

As far as your physique goes, delts are looking pretty good, and the arms seem in proportion to them. Your chest appears a bit weak throughout, and I think you might have added a bit too much bodyfat as evidenced by the "love handle" area (this is a killer for guys!).

So, I think you should keep doing what you are doing, but perhaps add in a bit more cardio to bring bodyfat down, and also focus more on your chest training.

Oh my God, I actually agree with Gopro. (apart from the increase cardio bit)



Anway yes your bf% is a touch high and your chest does need some extra work. Would you mind outlining your current training program and diet so we could have a look.

Originally Posted by juggernaut

Hey zl drop me a PM. I'd be more than happy to help you out free of charge.

that is the point of the forums.

Nice going man, you're definitely getting some good work done by the looks of things.

Keep it up!

I would keeping focusing on overall growth and development - you've got the bases covered with all those big movements.

Perhaps all you need is some variation in your training programs?

Originally Posted by Prince

that is the point of the forums.

great point. Information should free!

Originally Posted by juggernaut

great point. Information should free!

What have i been saying all day?

thanks for the input guys! My goal now is more towards bodybuilding and that ripped look for sure. dont care so much about strength. giving weightlifting a break. for the next half a year, i'll just run a lot and add a lot more isolation movements in my routine. I hope I can get as many suggestions in that respect as I can here.

Originally Posted by zl214

thanks for the input guys! My goal now is more towards bodybuilding and that ripped look for sure. dont care so much about strength. giving weightlifting a break. for the next half a year, i'll just run a lot and add a lot more isolation movements in my routine. I hope I can get as many suggestions in that respect as I can here.

If you want to build muscle i would focus on compound movements. Look at all the muscle you've built so far with them!

Keep training hard and get your diet geared towards more mass gain!

Originally Posted by zl214

thanks for the input guys! My goal now is more towards bodybuilding and that ripped look for sure. dont care so much about strength. giving weightlifting a break. for the next half a year, i'll just run a lot and add a lot more isolation movements in my routine. I hope I can get as many suggestions in that respect as I can here.

Compounds. Do compounds. Ditch most iso.
Also, run for that half year without doing weights and you'll be back to square one! you need to keep protein up, and either carbs or fat low depending on what diet you're doing and lift even heavier than before to maintain that muscle mass. Search the forums for the explanations why.

Originally Posted by Gazhole

What have i been saying all day?

wanted you to see that I was listening

Originally Posted by gopro

First of all, congrats on the fantastic progress you have made so far! Give yourself a pat on the back!

As far as your physique goes, delts are looking pretty good, and the arms seem in proportion to them. Your chest appears a bit weak throughout, and I think you might have added a bit too much bodyfat as evidenced by the "love handle" area (this is a killer for guys!).

So, I think you should keep doing what you are doing, but perhaps add in a bit more cardio to bring bodyfat down, and also focus more on your chest training.

thanks for the encouragement, i am still working on losing more fat. I have been running (HIIT) 10miles a week for the last three month. lost a lot of weight as a result. taking a break in the last a few weeks, dont want my weight to drop to fast!

so more chest it is, whats the best exercise for inner upper chest?

Ronnie Coleman thought great things about compounds. So did Dexter Jackson and Lou Ferrigno. And of course, the greatest legend of all........




















me.

Originally Posted by T_man

if you cut bf you'd look quite good I think. Even the chest doesnt look as good as it could just because theres quite a bit of fat on it.

delts look great maybe some arnie presses to really emphasise the anterior head or oly bar corner push presses or clean & presses n you'll look fab

hmm. working on it, I'll be benching a lot more from now on, so I'll see what that will do to my anterior delts. anie press are good. should do them more you are right. my shoulder movements has been limited to clean and jerk, and some military press. more isolation should be good.

Originally Posted by zl214

thanks for the encouragement, i am still working on losing more fat. I have been running (HIIT) 10miles a week for the last three month. lost a lot of weight as a result. taking a break in the last a few weeks, dont want my weight to drop to fast!

so more chest it is, whats the best exercise for inner upper chest?

Don't worry about trying to work "the upper, inner chest," just focus on working the chest in its entirety. Utilize incline presses, both BB and DB, bench presses, both BB and DB, dips, and some form of flye. Make sure form is on point and that you are not allowing your front delts to take over the movement. You don't need to get too fancy either...work the basics. Quick example:

-BB incline press...3 x 4-6
-Flat DB press...3 x 7-9
-Incline DB Flye...3 x 10-12

or

-Incline DB press...3 x 4-6
-Weighted Dips...3 x 7-9
-Flat Flye...3 x 10-12

Simple, yet effective!

Originally Posted by zl214

hmm. working on it, I'll be benching a lot more from now on, so I'll see what that will do to my anterior delts. anie press are good. should do them more you are right. my shoulder movements has been limited to clean and jerk, and some military press. more isolation should be good.

What gopro said. Don't work more, work smarter

zl214 - you're so close to being lean and tight, it wouldn't be any trouble at all to get you there.

Please read the link in my sig on "getting started", and come back with some numbers - the key to your ongoing success is your diet, and it will cost you nothing to find out what you're doing now, and nothing to find out how to fix it.

Originally Posted by Moondogg

Oh my God, I actually agree with Gopro. (apart from the increase cardio bit)



Anway yes your bf% is a touch high and your chest does need some extra work. Would you mind outlining your current training program and diet so we could have a look.

I am running a lot these days 3 days just running HIIT jog-7MPH pace, run 10MPH, two days less intense running 2km on the treadmill at 8.5 MPH pace.

resistance training has been a bit free-style in the last three months, i do whatever i feel like to at the time, but it looks like something like this. I am not a patient person, dont want to stick to a program. was on a typical 10reps x3 sets 5-8 exercises routine before this

leg once every two weeks, just squat and ham curl, sometimes hack squat, depends on the mood

back/arm once a week, chin ups/ overhead squats/ barbell row, 10-12sets, biceps- curls of all sorts until failure

Chest/shoulders/tris, once a week BB flat bench, DB incline, fly, dips. triceps extension (until failure), lateral raise (until failure).

free day once every two weeks, clean, snatch, sometimes throw single hand sntach, windmill, really a play day, nothing too serious, ride stationary bike and row as well bike 3 miles, row 1 mile.

Originally Posted by T_man

What gopro said. Don't work more, work smarter

LOL T_Man...that is a funny sig!! Just noticed!

Originally Posted by zl214

I am running a lot these days 3 days just running HIIT jog-7MPH pace, run 10MPH, two days less intense running 2km on the treadmill at 8.5 MPH pace.

resistance training has been a bit free-style in the last three months, i do whatever i feel like to at the time, but it looks like something like this. I am not a patient person, dont want to stick to a program. was on a typical 10reps x3 sets 5-8 exercises routine before this

leg once every two weeks, just squat and ham curl, sometimes hack squat, depends on the mood

back/arm once a week, chin ups/ overhead squats/ barbell row, 10-12sets, biceps- curls of all sorts until failure

Chest/shoulders/tris, once a week BB flat bench, DB incline, fly, dips. triceps extension (until failure), lateral raise (until failure).

free day once every two weeks, clean, snatch, sometimes throw single hand sntach, windmill, really a play day, nothing too serious, ride stationary bike and row as well bike 3 miles, row 1 mile.

Wow, seems like you're a bit all over the place buddy.

For right now, forget about everything that was posted in here and just worry about posting the numbers after you read the link in Builts sig. That information is vital before we can move forward and help you.

I should sig this link:
Designing a Split Routine


You're routine is all over the place. You need to understand that iso is not the best for growth. I cut out any sort of arm iso exercises and my biceps are riddled with stretch marks.
Now I'm not here to coach you, or lecture you, I'm just suggesting stuff on what other members have told me and what I've read.

No offense, but your gains aren't that impressive for 5 years, maybe because of your lack-lustre routine, so maybe a little fix and you'll be growing as fast as your initial days

Also, how's your diet?

Originally Posted by Gazhole

If you want to build muscle i would focus on compound movements. Look at all the muscle you've built so far with them!

Keep training hard and get your diet geared towards more mass gain!

Originally Posted by T_man

Compounds. Do compounds. Ditch most iso.
Also, run for that half year without doing weights and you'll be back to square one! you need to keep protein up, and either carbs or fat low depending on what diet you're doing and lift even heavier than before to maintain that muscle mass. Search the forums for the explanations why.

i was on a three day weightlifting routine before, lots of squats and hip extension movements. all compounds, and i was doing two days of bodybuilding kinda workout. i can just feel my body cant keep up with all the compound exercises. I am not one of those guys that can recover overnight, i need to tone it down a bit. and this is the reason my anterior chain has been lagging, is that i just didnt have the energy to do them. compound are great but I am trying to put a bit variation to my routine, the current variation I am trying out is running + some compound on the anterior muscle group+ big volume of isolation of smaller muscle groups + small volume of legs

I am not sure how well it will work, but i have lost weight while gaining a bit size in the last three month. hope my body wont adapt to it anytime soon.

Originally Posted by zl214

i was on a three day weightlifting routine before, lots of squats and hip extension movements. all compounds, and i was doing two days of bodybuilding kinda workout. i can just feel my body cant keep up with all the compound exercises. I am not one of those guys that can recover overnight, i need to tone it down a bit. and this is the reason my anterior chain has been lagging, is that i just didnt have the energy to do them. compound are great but I am trying to put a bit variation to my routine, the current variation I am trying out is running + some compound on the anterior muscle group+ big volume of isolation of smaller muscle groups + small volume of legs

I am not sure how well it will work, but i have lost weight while gaining a bit size in the last three month. hope my body wont adapt to it anytime soon.

aaand that's why you do a split doing sets of muscles once a week. Upper push/Lower Pull/Upper Pull/Lower Push or something like that. Gives you a week to recover and you can work each "set" of muscles intensely

Originally Posted by zl214

i was on a three day weightlifting routine before, lots of squats and hip extension movements. all compounds, and i was doing two days of bodybuilding kinda workout. i can just feel my body cant keep up with all the compound exercises. I am not one of those guys that can recover overnight, i need to tone it down a bit. and this is the reason my anterior chain has been lagging, is that i just didnt have the energy to do them. compound are great but I am trying to put a bit variation to my routine, the current variation I am trying out is running + some compound on the anterior muscle group+ big volume of isolation of smaller muscle groups + small volume of legs

I am not sure how well it will work, but i have lost weight while gaining a bit size in the last three month. hope my body wont adapt to it anytime soon.

You need periodization and a good diet.

Now please post the numbers!!