Me before and now

Ok. Not a WHOLE lot of progress since it's been little over a month since my first pic, but I was wondering what you guys think I should work on. My first pic is probably around 17% body fat and my most recent one is about 12.7%. I explained in another thread that no matter what I do, I can't seem to make my shoulders grow as much as other muscles. Do you guys think my shoulders are ok or need improvement? Please guys, COMMENT! Ladies too, if you're viewing.

IMG_0040.jpg
IMG_0225.jpg
 
well I just joined today but I can see a difference in your chest area so keep up the work.
 
Well your pecs do show some improvement.

I know it's hard, but keep it in perspective: it has only been a month!! It will take time. What's your workout routine??
 
You can definitly see some improvement between the pictures. Question: how did you measure your BF%? I cannot see a significant difference between the pictures, I certainly don't think you were at 17% in the picture on the left.

You have a good base and, to me, the shoulders look to be in proportion. If you ahve been losing bodyfat, you must be in a caloric defecit so, you won't see a huge amount of muscle growth. Maybe its now time to bulk up a bit overall?
 
thanks for the replies guys. I haven't been working out in a while cuz I've been pretty sick but I'm good to go now and been hitting the gym. I'll start my 3 mile runs again when the weather gets over 50 (I'm still coughing a TINY bit). I have a body fat measuring scale and I TRY to measure at consistent times (with an empty stomach, regular hydration) to get consistent measurements, but I'll wait a while to measure again because I'm sure the numbers are out of whack right now after being sick for so long.

Some things of note recently:

-put up 135 on squat (45's).
-put up 165 on bench tonight (more than I weigh)
-Had people telling me I look significantly bigger than they remember when they see me in the gym in my wife beater
-Feel bigger/stronger
-I can do 5 sets of chinups now when I could barely do 1 a couple months ago.
-I can do 5 sets of 7-10 dips pretty easily. Gonna start moving to weighted dips soon


I attribute my HUGE success in the past couple months to reading the New Rules of Lifting, Scrawny to Brawny and the Metabolism Advantage. It made perfect sense, after reading these books, why a year of lifting in the gym never did anything for me, but in 2 months I've seen more progress than the last two years! Thanks for the help guys, I'll post a new pic after I drop some fat when I start up running again. Probably 2 weeks or so.
 
well I've been losing body fat while still getting bigger, so I'm going to keep that up until something stops. I know the hard and fast rule that you "can't do both" but I beg to differ. The body, in all its complexity, is not a black and white mechanism. I'm sure it's probably easier to bulk or cut by itself, but I can definitely do both because the scale and pictures don't lie. Plus I'd rather look sexy first, then bulk up. I remember reading plenty of articles saying if you're over 10% bf, then you should probably cut to <=10 first then bulk while maintaining 10. Either way, that's the plan. I am not big, but I am definitely not going to look like a stick if I cut another 5-10 pounds of fat. My arms are pretty big in comparison with what they used to be.
 
update pic. See any progress? The lighting is kind of jacked since this is on my camera phone.
 

Attachments

  • naked.jpg
    naked.jpg
    23 KB · Views: 176
in my opinion, you need to be going on a bulk instead of a cut. if you keep losing body fat you're just going to look like a stick!

Your just full of nice things to say on this board, why not pat some people on the back and say good job looking good, keep it up...

Just a thought ;)
 
Dude..are you ****ing joking? "See any progress?" Wtf. It's like George Jetson to Mr. Clean. :D

Tell us what you've been doing, please. ^_^
 
Thanks for all the motivating responses guys! It makes it all worth while. I have really just been hitting the compounds lifts, only using a few isolation exercises to really hit some hard to hit muscles. I'll usually only do preacher curls, some cable exercises (not really isolation) and hamstring curls for isolation. Everything else is bench, squat, deadlift, pullups, dips, and weighted rows. No REALLY defined schedule. Just kind of break it up and do whatever isn't tight or sore. Eating very well (most of the time) and eating a LOT of protein. Being sick twice in the past 2 months has also probably helped me lose a little fat. Still though...once I cut off about 5-10 pounds of fat, I'll be cut like none other! I can't wait to get there.
 
update pic. See any progress? The lighting is kind of jacked since this is on my camera phone.

(cough) I need to see an enlargement of the second picture please...so that I can make an educated evaluation :p
 
Back
Top