http://i29.tinypic.com/2yugkr5.jpg Sept 06, 5 feet 10, skinny, about 10 stone, 30 inch waisted jeans fit, decided to do weights and bulk.

http://i29.tinypic.com/28tzub9.jpg - 7th September 07 - had junk bulked and ended up with a huge fat face

http://i28.tinypic.com/206im45.jpg and a fat body to match, about 13 stone, 36 inch waisted jeans, my ignorance re proper diet had led me to this

http://i28.tinypic.com/25qdjmc.jpg - 5th October, a drastic cut in calories and booze had commenced.

http://i26.tinypic.com/11tms81.jpg - 28th November 2007 - still tubby

http://i30.tinypic.com/2uhacnp.jpg - 22nd december - a semblance of normal appearance returns

http://i28.tinypic.com/308waqf.jpg

http://i32.tinypic.com/6ithlw.jpg

http://i25.tinypic.com/20873ih.jpg

http://i29.tinypic.com/j6gz83.jpg


http://i29.tinypic.com/op7fr8.jpg


Some pics from recent weeks, back on the booze as of Christmas 07 but some progress appears to have been made since Christmas time.

Great progress!!

Thanks, my Saturday night boozing has held me up a little I think. Going to try and drop a bit more fat before a slow bulk, could do with adding 30-40lbs of muscle in the long term lol, that would probably take 3-4 years. My next bulk I'd hope to add up to 14lbs of muscle in one year, and no more than 10lbs of fat.

Bummer that you gained too much fat, but very nicely done getting rid of it!

Great progress!

Though I don't think you have enough CDs/DVDs in your place. :D

Great progress!

Though I don't think you have enough CDs/DVDs in your place. :D


Funny you should say that bro, I'm just back from the record store where I've bought another half dozen :tucool::D

Although I think the best part of those pics as I've just noticed is that big stack of old VHS cassettes I've got piled up at the back of the room:lol:

Bummer that you gained too much fat, but very nicely done getting rid of it!

Yeah for some reason I'd picked up the idea that to bulk you had to go down the old school route of junk bulking and eating everything in site. As I now realise you can only get away with that approach if you're blessed with a very fast metabolism and as I've learned I have an average metabolism only. The junk bulk approach certainly enabled my strength gains to go up fast, but I'd maybe have got the same strength gains and more with a clean and controlled eating approach.

Having dieted down though I can clearly see that I still lack the lean mass necessary to give me the look I'd ideally want. I sure don't want to get massive but another two stone or so of lean would probably be ideal and give me a good build without having the over developed bodybuilder look. I'm fairly lean now, probably c. 15% body fat but will probablycut a few pounds of fat more so I'm starting my bulk from a low fat base. That will mean I have less fat to lose at the end of the bulk, plus I've read you're likely to add a more favourable ratio of muscle to fat if you bulk slowly from a low fat base. Apparently if you bulk from a high fat base you're more likely to add more fat than you do muscle.


Started cutting at 185 lbs or so and am now 160 at 5'10" height. Funny thing is I'd dropped to 160 by end of November, the weight came off very quickly in the first three months of cutting. But I've hovered round about that weight ever since but have definitely lost a lot of fat since the end of November.

Bummer that you gained too much fat, but very nicely done getting rid of it!


agreed! your starting to look really good. your pecs in particular :nod:

agreed! your starting to look really good. your pecs in particular :nod:


Hey well thanks, from memory you didn't look too bad yourself;):D

Great Progress:tu: . How much calories were you consuming on the cut days on average (excluding the alcohol saturdays). also what has your weights /cardio routine been like?


thanks

Hey, congrats, looking strong!

I'm 5'9" and around 11st. I don't actually look much bigger than your starting pic. Growing my arms is the hardest area for me, so I was wondering what your workout looked like. Even though you put on the extra fat, as your November 2007 pic shows, your arms got a lot bigger. Any tips?

PS: Grew up in Glasgow too :tucool:

Great Progress:tu: . How much calories were you consuming on the cut days on average (excluding the alcohol saturdays). also what has your weights /cardio routine been like?


thanks


I've never counted calories strictly but would guess they have varied between 1500- 2000 roughly per day throughout the cut. I started off about 1500 per day and more recently probably nearer 2000. I would guess that I have added a little muscle but not loads throughout the cut, certainly some of my lifts have gone up a fair bit.


Weights routine I have done mostly 3x full body per week - squats, deads, bb flat bench, chinups/lat pulldowns, rows,shoulder press and some bicep curls. I normally squat twice per week and deadlift once per week, not on the same day. I very between 10-15 reps per set.

Cardio - not much - just 2-3 times per week normally, five a side football once per week for an hour and normally rowing machine twice per week HIT 20 minutes, after weight training.

Hey, congrats, looking strong!

I'm 5'9" and around 11st. I don't actually look much bigger than your starting pic. Growing my arms is the hardest area for me, so I was wondering what your workout looked like. Even though you put on the extra fat, as your November 2007 pic shows, your arms got a lot bigger. Any tips?

PS: Grew up in Glasgow too :tucool:


For arms I do anything between 1-4 sets of chinups 3 times per week, usually :-

Tuesday - 3 sets bodyweight to failure

Thursday - 1 set bodyweight to failure

Saturday - 3 sets bodyweight to failure.

I can do 15 dead hang chins. Plus on 2 of the days, I'll do 2 sets of preacher curls, and maybe 1 set on the thursday. I also do 2-3 sets of seated cable rows 2-3 times per week. So I guess with chins, rows and preacher curls x 3 per week the biceps are getting fairly hit.

I don't do tricep isolations, I just do flat barbell bench x 3 per week, usually 5 sets Tuesday (2 warm up sets and 3 working sets) and Saturday and 3 sets on Thursday (2 warm up and one working), for shoulders I'll do 2-3 sets of usually seated dumbell presses on Tuesday and Saturday and 1-2 sets on Thursdays.

I'll do only about 2 working sets of squats on a Tuesday (my legs are normally lacking power after playing footy the night before) and 3-5 working sets on Saturdays. I'll do about 3-5 working sets, excluding warm up sets, of conventional deadlifts on Thursdays.

The idea of my Thursday workputs is to keep the number of sets low so I can recover in time for Saturday (I'll work out Thursday night time and then Saturday afternoon, so I have less than 48 hrs recovery between Thursday and Saturday workouts). So Thursday I just want to keep the muscles stimulated, rather than exhausting them, plus I think a lot of sets 3 times per week is too much, certainly on a cut, and maybe on a bulk too.

Hey well thanks, from memory you didn't look too bad yourself;):D

hehe, thanks mate! :D

hehe, thanks mate! :D


No problem ma bonnie wee lassie:)

No problem ma bonnie wee lassie:)

lol... When the scotsman met the aussie :P (would make a good movie, eh?)

lol... When the scotsman met the aussie :P (would make a good movie, eh?)


Titled "The Jock and the Sheila" ? :confused: :)