jseams1234 Member

Down to 196# as of this morning. Haven't lost any strength and joints still good. I have a solid 4 pack with a 6 in the right lighting (lol). Feel skinny though and my clothes are looser than I like. I think I'm going to take it down to maybe 190 - or until I stall on 1800. I have no idea what my BF% is - I expect it's…

Thank you! @1975greig Late response - I've been off the site during the bulk (lol) of the pandemic. Those pictures were from 2017 - seems longer ago than that, especially after this last year we have all had to deal with. I did learn a lot of lessons - one being that you can certainly take a bulk way too far, but if you…

Good to see you too! So glad everybody seems to have stuck around. Ah, I suspected as much. Probably if you accept the request you get access to a link redirecting you to a porn site. My mistake was seeing one pop up in my email, thinking it was funny, and showing my wife. Luckily I could show her I didn't accept... but…

Howdy folks... been a long time. Finally back in the gym for the last month - strength back up to pre-covid and lockdown levels rather quickly. I'd never had a chance to really test the entire "muscle memory" thing... it's real and rather shocking how quickly you can be back after a long layoff. I did manage to keep my…

So, I don't get it... the CDC is right when it aligns with what people want to believe, but they are horribly misinformed when it goes against? ... or are we saying that we can't trust the CDC because their guidance is politically motivated?…

Did you even notice the date of the article or that her admission date and test was done in the middle of March? March 11, 2020 to be exact. This was before most states even started to shut down. I know here in California we didn't close shop at my work until March 17 and that was earlier than most. Testing wasn't…

Stefi Cohen is 5' (152cm) and weights about 119 lbs (56 kg). Her deadlift record is 529 lbs (239 kg) and her squat was 495 lbs (225 kg). That is impressive by any metric. It's much more than I can either deadlift or squat and I'm a fairly muscular 225lb man... I can bench a lot more than she can but that's about it. lol

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. Politics lean waaaaaay to one direction here. I've been out with the wife quite a bit lately, both to the beach in Pacifica and to downtown San Carlos, Redwood City and San Mateo for walks and outdoor dining. What I've anecdotally experienced here is it's almost ALWAYS teens and adults…

You could have still done pushups and pullups... great exercises that together hit almost everything upper body. Although I doubt you would have gained any real size with bodyweight in such a short time, it sure could have stopped or slowed any atrophy in the interim. Also, as was alluded to previously... how much of your…

I’ve been on T for three years. There are no noticeable changes or any “feeling” with the start of treatment. The first sign I had, like @Newold50 mentions, is clearer focus - also the return of “morning wood” and libido... however, I’m confused by your picture. Who is this friend and why are they injecting testosterone?…

It’s hard to quickly correct. I’ve had (still have) this issue myself at times. Modern life and sitting too much... This might help: https://youtu.be/K-CrEi0ymMg

Looks like poor posture and anterior pelvic tilt...

@heybales - thanks for pulling that Lyle quote up. I was about to do so myself... I’ve been through many bulk and cut cycles and have never lost muscle using his principles. It’s very frustrating hearing people push the exact opposite, high frequency, high volume, and low intensity lifting during a cut. I see so much wheel…

California, San Mateo county just got certified to move into phase 3! My gym should open soon. I’m scared to see how far I’ve slid... but excited to get back into it. :smile:

Jeez, took me 2 years to move from 245 x 10 to a messy, bouncy, butt hovering, 315 x 1... you figure out how to advance that quickly without gear, let me know. ;)

I’m 6’1 and 225. I started much much thinner - embarrassingly skinny, to be honest. I learned to log and eat in a consistent surplus, and to lift weights with programming designed for both hypertrophy and strength. It’s taken years and I’m nowhere near my potential. Patience and consistency. Edit: if you are already…

Thanks, I'll admit that me getting down to 130 (I'm 6'1) was because of a long illness and the subsequent treatment. I had been much bigger previous to that so a bit of my gains were probably muscle memory. However, I spent all of my teen years and into my thirties extremely thin so I fully understand the struggle. Anyhow,…

I lost a much longer reply earlier - so I'll preemptively TL;DR it. ;) @ShaneDuquette - I have no issues with your program or the results you advertise. I think many people here really don't understand that very underweight men gain exponentially faster at first than normal weight or heavier individuals. I gained over 60#…

Think about the comparisons between a bodybuilder and a powerlifter. They aren't completely separate and there is quite a bit of overlap between both camps - however, bodybuilders care about the overall aesthetic while powerlifters want raw strength for specific lifts in their sport. Many want both - I train for both…

It’s not a perfect metric because you can get stronger without adding muscle - but my lift numbers. If I’m adding weight to the scale I also expect my lifts to improve measurably. This has worked for me but YMMV.

Maybe I'm getting this all wrong... but aren't you "skinny"? Not trying to be mean, btw. I had to go back a few pages and look. Yeah, you aren't heavily muscled at all. You aren't going to look like any of your examples without adding significant muscle mass. I'd also not really consider 17% lean... I'm about that right…

Ok, I had a much longer reply but I think it went way off tangent. Your example of Andy Speers - another pretty jacked guy. This is a quote from Andy: "I basically just lifted weights and ate everything the cafeteria had to offer," says Spear. He entered college as a scrawny 140-pound pole vaulter at the University of…

If you went from 204 to 168 that is NOT a recomp. You dieted down/cut. If you had STAYED at 204 and reduced your bodyfat percentage from 25% to a lower percentage - that is a recomp.

Ok, I looked up Frank... He's pretty big for a natural, especially considering his leaness. He's 5'6 and about 154# and probably around 10% bodyfat. Frankly (lol) he's bigger and more cut than most naturals I've seen in my time in the gym. He also has 16" arms at that height and being that cut. Achieving that body is…

lol. I've been there... my solution was two sets of clothes. My bulk clothes and a set for when I'm near the bottom of a cut. Makes a huge difference. ;)

You can most probably get much stronger without changing your body composition much at all. Most novice lifters don't initially gain much if any muscle until they have adapted their central nervous system to more effectively use/activate what they already have. This gain in strength is sometimes quite linear and dramatic…

@steveko89 - looking awesome! Nice numbers. Just maintaining here. Pushups and pull-ups... countless. I’m getting really really good at them. lol. Hopefully my gym opens soon. We did go out today and took a walk downtown San Mateo. Picked up some takeout too!

7 years OP. 7 years of majoring in the minors. Imagine just eating at a slight surplus and killing it in the gym.

Ok, got permission from my wife and took a pic this morning. This woman is incredibly strong and can squat and leg press more than me. lol

She's been training for hypertrophy/strength for about 4 years now. I don't think they have grown at all during that time - she would be horrified if they did as they are a bit of a "standout" as they are. lol She runs the same program I do - a modified U/L split with three hypertrophy days and one power day. My program is…