Misc. progress thread

[Spenner]

Been doing 250 pushups per day now, every morning, then a lot of curls (haven't been keeping count... kind of changes), at least plenty of jumping jack cardio, my leg raises, crunches (don't really count those either...) and trying to eat only in Horse Stance.

My kungfu body will return. Been eating right too.

If nothing else it's great for my mind and soul. A touch of ego never hurt when you look good flexing after a shower.

EDIT: Legitimate question, can someone tell me what best thing there is to work (not sure the muscle group) under the shoulder behind the armpits? That needs work on me. Lots of supermans?

Btw here's where I'm at so far! This is just with bodyweight and the curls so far. I plan to expand a lot with what I've been doing once I have the money.



After many drug addictions and falling back to skin and bone I'm super happy with how far I've come.

[Mahou]

Are you trying to put on size?

Also, nice progress!

I hit another PR tonight on standing overhead press. I just started incorporating this lift into my routine about a month ago.....still working on the deadlifts...but I'm really starting to dislike it just because my upper torso is pretty short. Also, creatine supplementation has ceased for over a week now...I have not noticed a decrease in strength at all. - in fact, I'm still getting stronger and have not changed the volume of my routines. I did notice that I do not look as bloaty as I did before which is a bonus for me imo.

1x5 of 155. 20lb increase within a month. Felt easy...felt good.

[Spenner]

Not size necessarily. My arms are about what they were at when I was in my kungfu prime (been working my stabilizer muscles so that I can punch and maneuver hard... too bulky, no flexability). So I'm aiming for a nice balance.

[Reach]

As for your question about under the shoulder and behind the armpits, I'm assuming that's a description of the latissimus dorsi.

The easiest way to work it without a gym membership is a wide grip pullup.

If you're in a gym there are a myriad of ways to target them. Essentially every variation of a row hits them, deadlifts hit them, pulldowns hit them.

[Spenner]

I'll go the pullup route I have holes punched out of the -I- beam in my basement that I can modify and add a bar. Thanks.

[Mahou]

Progress

[Mahou]

Finally hit a pr for ohp of 185

[Reach]

That's really heavy.

You're looking big too.

I don't really lift heavy at all anymore, can't risk the injury in my line of work. I weigh just under 180 right now and did a 1 rep OHP yesterday for 155, I could probably max out at 160 or 165 right now but not much more.

I've definitely lost strength but I don't feel like I look much different. I'm content really with my size and definition, I'm actually kind of curious to see how much strength I can drop without dropping any more weight and size. Without drugs I don't feel like I can gain much more muscle anyway, I'm probably at 90% of my maximum, so I'm more interested in how simple I can make maintenance at this point lol

[Mahou]

Originally Posted by Reach

That's really heavy.

You're looking big too.

I don't really lift heavy at all anymore, can't risk the injury in my line of work. I weigh just under 180 right now and did a 1 rep OHP yesterday for 155, I could probably max out at 160 or 165 right now but not much more.

I've definitely lost strength but I don't feel like I look much different. I'm content really with my size and definition, I'm actually kind of curious to see how much strength I can drop without dropping any more weight and size. Without drugs I don't feel like I can gain much more muscle anyway, I'm probably at 90% of my maximum, so I'm more interested in how simple I can make maintenance at this point lol

Couple of questions...

What line of work are you into? I remember you saying something about this the last you posted. Have you ever used gear? How long have you been lifting?

Thanks for the compliments. I have been just focusing on strength more than anything; however, I haven't made a set goals because I'm not sure what I should be able to expect as a drug free lifter. I have met most of my fitness goals within the first year I have been lifting - 295 lb bench, 225 incline, 405 squat (all maxes of course and I don't really deadlift). Those happened to be long-term goals for me when I first started lifting in the first place because everyone made it seem out to be so difficult. For the past 3-4 months, I've been maintaining (about 210 lbs) but still making strength progress at the same time. I'll use body weight exercises to keep myself in check when it comes to conditioning (overhand/underhand pull ups, dips).

The days I do lift heavy, I try to space it out as much as possible because of how much stress it has been putting on my body.

[Reincarnate]

Losing that weight I gained back... this time for good. I am recording a lot more data, also.



Crazy water weight drop + adjustment period followed by a relatively linear drop with occasional spikes.

Been cutting on 1400 cal target:

[Reach]

Originally Posted by Mahou

Couple of questions...

What line of work are you into? I remember you saying something about this the last you posted. Have you ever used gear? How long have you been lifting?

Thanks for the compliments. I have been just focusing on strength more than anything; however, I haven't made a set goals because I'm not sure what I should be able to expect as a drug free lifter. I have met most of my fitness goals within the first year I have been lifting - 295 lb bench, 225 incline, 405 squat (all maxes of course and I don't really deadlift). Those happened to be long-term goals for me when I first started lifting in the first place because everyone made it seem out to be so difficult. For the past 3-4 months, I've been maintaining (about 210 lbs) but still making strength progress at the same time. I'll use body weight exercises to keep myself in check when it comes to conditioning (overhand/underhand pull ups, dips).

The days I do lift heavy, I try to space it out as much as possible because of how much stress it has been putting on my body.

I'm a Dentist and own my own practice. I'm rapidly expanding and investing a lot of money. I can't afford an injury, quite literally, so while I still workout 5 times a week I've cut down substantially on how much I lift.

I've been lifting for over 5 years now and am lifetime natural.

I guess comparatively, some of my best lifts ever were achieved when I was around 200lbs at the peak of a bulk I did about 1.5 years ago (I'm 5'11).

My best bench ever was 255 x 8 (317 max), Squat was 365 x 7 (438 max), and my best deadlift ever was 455 for one and I almost snapped my shit up.


Right now I do...205x8 Bench, 225x 8 deep pause squats and like a 225 deadlift lmao.

These are all extremely low RPE though, and I usually do high volume (6-10 sets) followed by accessory work.

Honestly, from my perspective, I got a LOT bigger in my first two years of lifting. BF caliper corrected in two years I gained almost 30 lbs of muscle, but then the gains fell off a cliff. In the following two years I gained maybe 5 to 10 lbs of muscle and strength progression got more difficult. Bulking in the last year yielded virtually no gains at all, and while I got a bit stronger I didn't put on any muscle.

I've since then stopped bulking, cut down to 175-180 which for me is maybe 9-10% BF (Calipers give 8% and BIA gives 11%), and I've slowly just been tapering my lifts down over the past 9 months. I don't really think I've lost more than 5 lbs of muscle and I don't think I've lost anything at all recently, so I am curious as to how low I can go while maintaining this weight and level of body fat lol.


As for natural maximums, honestly, a lot of it is genetics. I've always been kind of weak. I've never had problems putting on muscle but relative to my body weight, most of my training partners were always stronger than me even though we ran the same programs and I always looked bigger than them with a shirt off. It sounds like you're relatively gifted strength wise, so you'll probably be able to progress far. Just be wise and don't be reckless and avoid injury. Not worth it.

People with great genetics can often push into the 350-400 lb range for bench and 500-600 lbs on their squat without ever taking gear. 400+ benches and 600+ squats just don't happen without drugs unless you're got some freaky genetic lottery leverages, as most people I've known on the competitive national circuit that have pushed for it have snapped their shit up and are worse off having gone for it. Not worth it IMO. A lot of people are delusional about this too because a lot of youtube stars are juiced to the gills but claim natural lmao. There's no $ in natural powerlifting or bodybuilding anyway.

Losing that weight I gained back... this time for good. I am recording a lot more data, also.

Wicked progress. Keep us posted.

[Mahou]

Have you ever considered taking juice before to go past your natural limit?

[Reach]

Oh for sure, I've considered it, and I've done more than enough research on the topic to take them (relatively) safely.

But at the end of the day it's more a matter of principle, that and now I care more about overall health and longevity more so than size.

I'll probably TRT when I'm a bit older and it's a concern.

[Mahou]

Not sure what's going on with me but lately I have been wanting to just give up on everything I have started. I have been noticing that my depression has been getting slightly worse but not to the point where my thoughts are becoming suicidal - there is some sense of pride in me that prevents me from trying to seek help from a professional (overcoming this is pretty difficult). There have been 3 instances where I have tried to talk to some sort of therapist, but nothing has really happened. Since the weather has been improving, I've been trying different activities to get myself out of the weight room - running, biking, and walking.
Just an observation but the more I do this, the more I'm convincing myself that this is some sort of self-induced torture. From a day to day basis, I feel like I'm not worth shit, granted I'm putting in a lot of effort to never go back to the old person that I used to be. the grass is not greener on the other side and I really am not sure what to do at this point.

Tldr- thanks to the people that have motivated to get this far (arch, scwolf, and reach are the first ones that come to mind). I probably will not post anymore progression photos for awhile until I figure out what the fuck is wrong with my head.

[Travis_Flesher]

[Reach]

Originally Posted by Mahou

Not sure what's going on with me but lately I have been wanting to just give up on everything I have started. I have been noticing that my depression has been getting slightly worse but not to the point where my thoughts are becoming suicidal - there is some sense of pride in me that prevents me from trying to seek help from a professional (overcoming this is pretty difficult). There have been 3 instances where I have tried to talk to some sort of therapist, but nothing has really happened. Since the weather has been improving, I've been trying different activities to get myself out of the weight room - running, biking, and walking.
Just an observation but the more I do this, the more I'm convincing myself that this is some sort of self-induced torture. From a day to day basis, I feel like I'm not worth shit, granted I'm putting in a lot of effort to never go back to the old person that I used to be. the grass is not greener on the other side and I really am not sure what to do at this point.

Tldr- thanks to the people that have motivated to get this far (arch, scwolf, and reach are the first ones that come to mind). I probably will not post anymore progression photos for awhile until I figure out what the fuck is wrong with my head.

Honestly, it's pretty normal for even the best of us to get down in the dumps sometimes. Even people that seem like they have everything going for them lose motivation and want to give up sometimes. It's pretty normal. I too have cycles where I get lazy for awhile and need to take a break from things.

It's only really a problem if it's a chronic slump you aren't able to recover from that is actually starting to undo everything you've done.

If that's the case definitely drop the pride and seek a higher level of professional help. It sounds like you've really done a lot to improve yourself. You earned that and you should get to keep it.

I like to evaluate my life objectively and think of where I want to be in my life, and subsequently what I need to do to get there. If one of the steps you need to take to get to where you want to go in life is to seek help, there is absolutely nothing wrong with doing that. It's not something you should be ashamed of.

[Mahou]

Been looking at making some new strength gains. Especially in legs.

Just hit a pr of standing overhead press for 205. I failed the first attempt, but it went up smooth as butter the 2nd time. Looks like a 225 standing overhead press may come pretty soon. I was able to get 185 for 3 reps and 135 for about 10.

I'm taking squats more seriously now as well - I bought a belt and it has been helping a lot. I'm trying to go for a 450 squat by the end of this year (which is about 35 lbs added to my max).

[Mahou]

I guess it's pr week because I got 275 on incline bench press.

[Arch0wl]

Originally Posted by Mahou

Just hit a pr of standing overhead press for 205. I failed the first attempt, but it went up smooth as butter the 2nd time. Looks like a 225 standing overhead press may come pretty soon. I was able to get 185 for 3 reps and 135 for about 10.

god damn

[SCWolf]

Originally Posted by Mahou

Been looking at making some new strength gains. Especially in legs.

Just hit a pr of standing overhead press for 205. I failed the first attempt, but it went up smooth as butter the 2nd time. Looks like a 225 standing overhead press may come pretty soon. I was able to get 185 for 3 reps and 135 for about 10.

I'm taking squats more seriously now as well - I bought a belt and it has been helping a lot. I'm trying to go for a 450 squat by the end of this year (which is about 35 lbs added to my max).

you have strong delts