OK. I have question. It's very subjective, but I'd like to see input nonetheless. From what I've seen I think the split on how people do this is 50/50. Should I be flexing or not in my photos? Particularly during the fat loss phase. It seems almost akin to "sucking it in" if you ask me. But, it's nice to see the muscles aside from your stomach. So far I've been on the "no flex" side. I know John flexes. Which does everyone think is better/more accurate/whatever?

When you take your before photos, you don't really have anything to show. When you've made progress, wouldn't you want to show it? Not to mention be able to see it?

You could slouch in your pics and work to stick out your gut, but what would that accomplish? ;)

EDIT: I saw this article (http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/silverman2.htm) at Bodybuilding.com just after I found John's site, and found it very interesting. Not that it has all that much to do with the topic, though it is somewhat related. If you take a photo like the first one in the article, hiding your progress, no one (most importantly you!) will be able to tell how much real progress you've made.

That would make an interesting photo gallery thread.... take before and after photos all on the same day and see how awful and how awesome you can make yourself look! Hell, I might try it ;)

EDIT: I saw this article (http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/silverman2.htm) at Bodybuilding.com just after I found John's site, and found it very interesting. Not that it has all that much to do with the topic, though it is somewhat related. If you take a photo like the first one in the article, hiding your progress, no one (most importantly you!) will be able to tell how much real progress you've made.

That would make an interesting photo gallery thread.... take before and after photos all on the same day and see how awful and how awesome you can make yourself look! Hell, I might try it ;)

Interesting. I was always skeptical of those "before/after" pics you see in the advertisements for fat-loss supplements. You can see that most of the people in those photos are pretty built to begin with and are probably just sucking in their gut and flexing in the "after" pics. A tan also helps bring out muscular definition.

When you take your before photos, you don't really have anything to show. When you've made progress, wouldn't you want to show it? Not to mention be able to see it?

You could slouch in your pics and work to stick out your gut, but what would that accomplish? ;)

EDIT: I saw this article (http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/silverman2.htm) at Bodybuilding.com just after I found John's site, and found it very interesting. Not that it has all that much to do with the topic, though it is somewhat related. If you take a photo like the first one in the article, hiding your progress, no one (most importantly you!) will be able to tell how much real progress you've made.

That would make an interesting photo gallery thread.... take before and after photos all on the same day and see how awful and how awesome you can make yourself look! Hell, I might try it ;)

I guess it would be nice to know who is flexing and who isn't. In my pics I put up a few days ago I have before and after pics over a 30 day period. Yes, I was slouching a bit and didn't flex in the first pics but it wasn't intentional. I guess for me when I started 30 days ago I really didn't think about flexing. For those of us who just started I know for a fact that I carry myself differently now. So for me to slouch in the after pics just wouldn't work for me. I'm sure 30 days ago I was slouching all the time but now I feel more confident and excited about my transformation. Not many people are real excited about flexing before they have even started working out. It wasn't until after I actually felt new muscle growth and saw improvement that I decided to flex for the after photos. I think the flexing allows yourself and others to see the muscle growth better as many of us still have a layer of fat hiding everything. As long as we are all happy with our own results it doesn't really matter if we flex or not. Plus I only think this is a factor on the first set of pictures someone submits. I didn't flex in my first set but will from here on out on all other pic's. So for me comparing my 60day pics with my 30 day won't be as deceiving as my start to 30 day pics.

Personally, I think flexing, and then post pics, is kinda cheesy, but of course, I do it too.

Flexing further improves definition, and that's what we're all after, right?

I say show off whet you've got -- it's usually good for your ego and self esteem to look good, and when you look good, you'll get comments about it. Which inspires you to work even harder and dedicated.

...it's a circle that's hard to break;)

andi...I might give your slouch theory a go...should be fun...if it doesn't work, I could always do some photoshopping :D

Lordscarlet,

to be able to follow your transformation it is better to flex out of my perspective. Then I do not mean that you should suck in your stomach but just flex your muscels (including the stomach). In this way you can definitely trace changes better then when not flexing. The problem is of course that this is something you dont think about in the beginning of a transformation or even fell strange about at that time! This shouldnt be that bad though since the psychological effect is positive when you can see a definite good change in the initial phase of transforming. When you have a really bad "before" picture to compare with the 30-60 days pictures(when motivation can go down :( ), you are motivated to go on even if you feel that the improvement dont came as fast as you want. :tu:

The pictures will then be there to show that you have made a huge progress(even if they are lying a little bit!) and you will continue to train. :db: and hopefully reach your goals.

That is my experience at least.

Regards Mattias