Hello everyone.
I started bulking about 6 months ago, and I am currently still following the 16 month "Scrawny to Brawny" program by John Berardi. In that time, I've gained some fat and some muscle. I track my weight, lean mass, and bf % with a scale that measures all 3...of course the numbers themselves are inaccurate, but they're consistant so the changes should be showing up correctly. I've gained about one pound of fat for every pound of muscle since I started measuring that statistic 3 months ago. I'm kind of disappointed by that; I think my diet is nearly perfect (although perhaps its strayed lately, in the last 2 months I haven't checked every calorie in FitDay, although I started again this week) I just eat too much for fear of not eating enough. And frankly that's fine with me, I'd rather err on the side of "too much" and get fat as opposed to not putting on mass. On workout days I take in around 5250 (sometimes more) calories.
I'm going to continue bulking without cutting until the 16 phases are over (at least), but it's getting quite depressing. I am doing this to improve my appearance and I actually look a lot worse each month on account of the fat gain! Below are the pictures I take every month, since August. You'll notice
-I missed November.
-They're extremely low res (my only camera is on my cell phone unfortunately, which is very poor quality)
I have a very hard time seeing a difference at all. In real life, most people say they notice a difference, but its very hard for me to see it in the pictures. I was hoping for some feedback. I do not flex in them because I'm trying to get bigger to improve my appearance, and I'm not walking around flexing all the time so while its kind of an ego boost it doesn't tell me what I want to know. I try to appear in them much like I usually do: normal posture, not sucking in the stomach, about midway through a breath.
So yeah, the appearance of that gut is painful to look at. My arms have definitely gotten bigger, but only an inch (11.25 unflexed -> 12.25 unflexed, midway on the bicep) in all that time. I've apparantly put on about 11 lbs. of muscle in these pictures, any guesses on where it all went? Probably the lower body, which is fairly well developed and may actually be getting "too large". It seems like the traps definitely got some muscle. As far as the little arms go, the Scrawny to Brawny program doesn't seem to develop anything but pure arm strength (no arm "size") until about the second half, which I am greatly looking forward to. For now its all 4x5 stuff.
Oh and a quick question: how much ab strength is "enough"? I can do 3x12 situps holding a 35 lb weight plate...is there any chance in hell that that gut has a six pack underneath it? I like to pretend maybe thats part of the reason its so huge
I started bulking about 6 months ago, and I am currently still following the 16 month "Scrawny to Brawny" program by John Berardi. In that time, I've gained some fat and some muscle. I track my weight, lean mass, and bf % with a scale that measures all 3...of course the numbers themselves are inaccurate, but they're consistant so the changes should be showing up correctly. I've gained about one pound of fat for every pound of muscle since I started measuring that statistic 3 months ago. I'm kind of disappointed by that; I think my diet is nearly perfect (although perhaps its strayed lately, in the last 2 months I haven't checked every calorie in FitDay, although I started again this week) I just eat too much for fear of not eating enough. And frankly that's fine with me, I'd rather err on the side of "too much" and get fat as opposed to not putting on mass. On workout days I take in around 5250 (sometimes more) calories.
I'm going to continue bulking without cutting until the 16 phases are over (at least), but it's getting quite depressing. I am doing this to improve my appearance and I actually look a lot worse each month on account of the fat gain! Below are the pictures I take every month, since August. You'll notice
-I missed November.
-They're extremely low res (my only camera is on my cell phone unfortunately, which is very poor quality)
I have a very hard time seeing a difference at all. In real life, most people say they notice a difference, but its very hard for me to see it in the pictures. I was hoping for some feedback. I do not flex in them because I'm trying to get bigger to improve my appearance, and I'm not walking around flexing all the time so while its kind of an ego boost it doesn't tell me what I want to know. I try to appear in them much like I usually do: normal posture, not sucking in the stomach, about midway through a breath.
So yeah, the appearance of that gut is painful to look at. My arms have definitely gotten bigger, but only an inch (11.25 unflexed -> 12.25 unflexed, midway on the bicep) in all that time. I've apparantly put on about 11 lbs. of muscle in these pictures, any guesses on where it all went? Probably the lower body, which is fairly well developed and may actually be getting "too large". It seems like the traps definitely got some muscle. As far as the little arms go, the Scrawny to Brawny program doesn't seem to develop anything but pure arm strength (no arm "size") until about the second half, which I am greatly looking forward to. For now its all 4x5 stuff.
Oh and a quick question: how much ab strength is "enough"? I can do 3x12 situps holding a 35 lb weight plate...is there any chance in hell that that gut has a six pack underneath it? I like to pretend maybe thats part of the reason its so huge
