John you are a tank! Tri's look massive Congratulations on your progress over the years, your hard work has paid off well! You motivate me to keep adding weight on at the gym Have a good holiday season Brian
If I may add an observation. There is no question about John's work ethic, but just as important to his success is the day in, day out consistancy and determination that is required. Eating and training in a way where it no longer becomes a dreaded chore, but an enjoyable way of life where the results are something you never want to relinquish. John has his hands tied with several obligations throughout the week but he never deviates from what it takes to get to his level. And I have to agree with Seltzer, when John begins his cut the end result will be astonishing. At 40 years of age he's got another 4-6 years before he reaches his prime and peak development. Now there's a scary thought!
That is incredible to put on 3 pounds of muscle, for every 1 pound of fat. Very impressive. Putting on almost 11 pounds of muscle in a 2 month time frame is pretty awesome also. Can't wait to see your results for the final 4 weeks.
I thank you very much, but to be clear I've added 11.4 pounds of lean mass, not 11 pounds of muscle. Of course lean mass is everything in the body (muscle, organs, water, bone, etc.) except fat. So a portion of that 11 pounds is certainly water from creatine, high carbs and post-Thanksgiving bloat. How much water I have no way of knowing, but I'd estimate around 4 or 5 pounds, putting my actual muscle gains in the neighborhood of 6-7 pounds (which I'm quite happy with!)
excellent work john, the new pictures are impressive. Nice gains all around. But i think the beard makes you look older. Are you going to shave for your upcoming cut ? Happy Holidays !
Okay, I have to come out in defense of the beard - I think it is very 300 and should stay indefinitely.
LOL, the 300 comment is quite appropo. The wrist wraps John is donning in his avator exudes a "Spartan" type quality about him.
Thanks, Steve! Happy Holidays! One thing I've discovered about having a beard is it's very polarizing--people either love it or hate it. Doesn't seem to be much middle ground. I'm very glad that I grew the beard for my bulk. Yeah, it puts a few years on me for sure... but when it comes to lifting heavy weights it has provided a psychological boost that I can't fully explain. My face is too damn pretty to cover up year round rolleyes, so I'll probably shave the beard sometime after the completion of my bulk. But I think that I'll probably grow my beard out during my winter mass gaining programs from here on out. Maybe I should have APT make me some custom gold-plated wrist wraps.
well i'm no fan of all that is manly.... but even i'm liking the beard. i think saving it for bulking season is a great idea. i can't imagine a beard being too comfortable in the florida summa heat. dec photos are . quads and traps are gettin beefy!! enjoy this final month!!
John, This is just a suggestion for your new sponsor. I am assuming the photo is of you in the before and after photo. You are looking too good in the before photo. Most people, except bodybuilders wouldn't notice a big improvement between the 2 photo's. He should show an earlier photo. As I said, just a suggestion.
The Cut I have an Idea, why dont you include the beard in the cut program. for every 3% of body fat you lose, shave off a portion, go to a Gote and mustach, next 3 % go to just a Mustach and when you lose the last % of your goal shave it all off. Just a thought to keep the phycolgical aspect to facial hair going !
You got that right. Thank you very much, Deja! I appreciate the suggestion, but that would be misleading, as earlier photos did not involve Aram's services. The two photos used in the banner ad represent my six month cut from 19% to 6% body fat that Aram worked with me on. I agree that the difference is hard to make out with such a small set of photos. Perhaps that can be changed at some point to something else. I might shave it into a goatee just to see how it looks, but I will never--and I mean NEVER--wear just a mustache. You can quote me on that.
Hamstrings are what I noticed first, damn nice work. Your traps seem to have a lot of mass, just not on the upper portion. I bet you know that already though
The December photos are awesome, and the beard just takes it to another level. Frankly, I think you should keep it through the cut, shaving only for the final pics at 6% bodyfat. It's a misconception that a beard is "too hot" for the summer months ; all that sweat gets trapped and thus cools you off! Last winter I approached Grizzly Adams territory before finally caving in to my wife's demands and shaving back to a goatee. I've got too much white mixed in with the black, so I look positively ancient with a beard. But I'm rockin' it again this winter in solidarity! (Might even add a pic to the appropriate thread downstairs here soon! ) Anyway, let me just add to the fanfare by saying your bulk is coming along fantastically. Keep it up!
Thanks, Dave! Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the hamstring improvement in this morning's pictures. I have a feeling that next month's pictures, however, are going put today's hamstrings to shame... ...your comment segues nicely into the leg workout I just did, so I might as well post the workout now (I'll go into more detail in tomorrow's update). I came up with this workout this afternoon, and it is the leg workout I'll be doing for the remaining 4 weeks of my bulk. I can't do BSQs right now, but I assure you all that this workout kills. I can barely walk right now.... - 1x25/1x20/2x10-12/2x4-6/1x2 (1RM weight, to failure) - Vertical leg press, weight increased on each set - 3x8-10 - Stiff leg deadlifts - 3xFailure/Failure/Failure - DB Bulgarian split squats (triple drop sets) - 3xFailure/3xFailure - Leg extensions/Lying leg curls (supersets) Think Bulgarians are hard? Try pre-exhausting and then doing triple drop sets with just 1 minute of rest. I felt like putting a gun in my mouth after the first drop set. That's what's so frustrating. They really do have some meat to them, just no height. It's genetics. Of course one of my favorite things to say is "Screw genetics". Well, actually I don't use the word "screw", but I try to keep what I say in my public journal rated PG. That's a new one on me. So a beard is actually a cleverly disguised organic cooling device! Is there no end to a beard's awesomeness? You better. Almost everone else in that thead has wimped out. You know it!
Solid workout today. It went on a bit longer than I would have liked, but it was pretty high volume. I'll post the workout in tomorrow's update. One picture tonight, a triceps progress photo. 18.25" here:
Holy crap! Your forearms look as big as your biceps did in your Feb 4 2004 photo. That's amazing progress for this bulk and mind blowing for the past 5 years.
