[quote]pwolves17 wrote:
Conditioning is right on track! I’d be happy to help you work some posing over Skype, let me know[/quote]
I appreciate the offer brother. I’ll be looking for a local posing coach soon, but if not, I’ll definitely take you up on that.
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
Definitely Very lean by normal and gym standards. Still, and I say this because I know that you already know, gotta push for a little tighter to hit contest-lean. You’ve got plenty of time, and you’ve already shown you’ve got the drive and discipline. Gonna tear it up brother.
S[/quote]
I definitely appreciate your honest feedback Stu, and I take your advice to heart. I agree, I need to be a lot tighter to compete. I have room to drop calories so I’ll base it on my progress for the week when I weigh myself tomorrow morning.
Question for anyone that would like to chime in. I may fall in one of 2 weight classes: Lightweight < 165.25 or Middle Weight 165.25- 187.25. It looks like my weight will fall somewhere right on the border line. What are the pros and cons of ending up in one weight class over the other? If I end up at Lightweight, I may be the bigger one but not the leanest. At Middleweight, I will probably be on the smaller size but may be on the leaner side. Is this something I should strategize about or does it not matter?
Are those weight classes set in stone? Many federations will set the weight classes based off of the number of competitors and their weights. I would personally lean towards being the biggest competitor in the lightweight division if you can reach that class without over dieting and sacrificing size in order to do it. If you take care of business and bring the conditioning I know you’re capable of, you won’t get outconditioned in the lightweight class. Whereas if you are at the light end of the middleweights, it’s possible you may be outmuscled
[quote]pwolves17 wrote:
Are those weight classes set in stone? Many federations will set the weight classes based off of the number of competitors and their weights. I would personally lean towards being the biggest competitor in the lightweight division if you can reach that class without over dieting and sacrificing size in order to do it. If you take care of business and bring the conditioning I know you’re capable of, you won’t get outconditioned in the lightweight class. Whereas if you are at the light end of the middleweights, it’s possible you may be outmuscled[/quote]
I agree with this
[quote]pwolves17 wrote:
Are those weight classes set in stone? Many federations will set the weight classes based off of the number of competitors and their weights. I would personally lean towards being the biggest competitor in the lightweight division if you can reach that class without over dieting and sacrificing size in order to do it. If you take care of business and bring the conditioning I know you’re capable of, you won’t get outconditioned in the lightweight class. Whereas if you are at the light end of the middleweights, it’s possible you may be outmuscled[/quote]
Thanks. That gives me a reason to push harder to get leaner.
You’re looking pretty damn lean in the front shots Yodaddy, nice work man! Got any pictures of back poses? Hamstrings/glutes really reveal conditioning in my opinion. Looks like you’ve still got a good amount of food from which to subtract calories if need be!
great thread man! Keep it up
[quote]Yogi wrote:
great thread man! Keep it up[/quote]
Thanks man!
[quote]pwolves17 wrote:
You’re looking pretty damn lean in the front shots Yodaddy, nice work man! Got any pictures of back poses? Hamstrings/glutes really reveal conditioning in my opinion. Looks like you’ve still got a good amount of food from which to subtract calories if need be![/quote]
Here’s a back shot. I start practicing posing next week…everyone’s out for the Olympia this weekend.
[quote]yodaddy wrote:
Again, forgive my bad posing, I cant see what I’m doing on this one. They’ll get better after next week. [/quote]
You won’t be able to see what you’re doing on stage, so you should get used to that.
Your right shoulder looks to be a bit tight, and you’re not really flexing your lat the way it should be. I’m not an expert (as you can see by my pic quite clearly) and don’t pretend to be, but have you tried getting in there with a lax ball? Did you injure it by chance? Maybe try to focus on getting the pecs and anterior deltoids a bit looser. It’s also probably a bit of a mind-muscle connection thing going on. I’d be interested to see what other people have to add.
Keep up the good work, though. You’re looking shredded already!
[quote]Zooguido wrote:
[quote]yodaddy wrote:
Again, forgive my bad posing, I cant see what I’m doing on this one. They’ll get better after next week. [/quote]
You won’t be able to see what you’re doing on stage, so you should get used to that.
Your right shoulder looks to be a bit tight, and you’re not really flexing your lat the way it should be. I’m not an expert (as you can see by my pic quite clearly) and don’t pretend to be, but have you tried getting in there with a lax ball? Did you injure it by chance? Maybe try to focus on getting the pecs and anterior deltoids a bit looser. It’s also probably a bit of a mind-muscle connection thing going on. I’d be interested to see what other people have to add.
Keep up the good work, though. You’re looking shredded already![/quote]
Thanks man. Yeah, I know the posing is terrible. Like I said, I haven’t started practicing my posing yet. They’ll get better as I start practicing this next week.
[quote]yodaddy wrote:
[quote]Zooguido wrote:
[quote]yodaddy wrote:
Again, forgive my bad posing, I cant see what I’m doing on this one. They’ll get better after next week. [/quote]
You won’t be able to see what you’re doing on stage, so you should get used to that.
Your right shoulder looks to be a bit tight, and you’re not really flexing your lat the way it should be. I’m not an expert (as you can see by my pic quite clearly) and don’t pretend to be, but have you tried getting in there with a lax ball? Did you injure it by chance? Maybe try to focus on getting the pecs and anterior deltoids a bit looser. It’s also probably a bit of a mind-muscle connection thing going on. I’d be interested to see what other people have to add.
Keep up the good work, though. You’re looking shredded already![/quote]
Thanks man. Yeah, I know the posing is terrible. Like I said, I haven’t started practicing my posing yet. They’ll get better as I start practicing this next week. [/quote]
Don’t worry about any muscle imbalances or tight pecs, etc. The issue in your pose is that you need to keep your chest up, rather than rounding forward. Remember, the judges will be below you, so you want to lean slightly towards them on every pose. This will make you bigger. One other thing that jumps out at me: it looks as if you’re using your thumbs to hook onto your sides and pull your lats out. When you’re on stage with your tan and oils, your skin will be very slick. You won’t be able to get traction to spread your lats that way, so get used to spreading them with your hand only touching your side, not hooked to your side. I hope that makes sense
Just a quick update and what I’m thinking. Feel free to offer any input or advice.
My strength is pretty stable, especially considering I have now dropped my calories to an average of 2200 a day. I’m experiencing some shoulder pain but can work around that. I can tolerate the hunger so far and have only felt depleted of energy a couple of days.
I’ve been doing HIIT 3 times per week and considering dropping 1 session and adding 2 low-intensity cardio days. Seems like it may be affecting my strength after doing HIIT, especially if close to a low calorie day. I will have to calculate this pretty well since I will be borderline weight classes and would like to compete in Lightweight, under 165.5. I weighed in at 168 this morning, fasted but been hovering around 170(so I’ll stick with 170). I want to lose at least another 5-6 lbs or so, to play it safe since I don’t know how their scale will play.
I will be weighing in the day before in the morning, when I’m normally lighter, so hopefully I will have time to carb up all day Friday before the show Saturday. I can maybe mess with water weight if necessary, but would like to avoid that, as well as my peak week protocol(pretty much slowly increasing carbs)
Let me know of any suggestions or thoughts.
[quote]yodaddy wrote:
Just a quick update and what I’m thinking. Feel free to offer any input or advice.
My strength is pretty stable, especially considering I have now dropped my calories to an average of 2200 a day. I’m experiencing some shoulder pain but can work around that. I can tolerate the hunger so far and have only felt depleted of energy a couple of days.
I’ve been doing HIIT 3 times per week and considering dropping 1 session and adding 2 low-intensity cardio days. Seems like it may be affecting my strength after doing HIIT, especially if close to a low calorie day. I will have to calculate this pretty well since I will be borderline weight classes and would like to compete in Lightweight, under 165.5. I weighed in at 168 this morning, fasted but been hovering around 170(so I’ll stick with 170). I want to lose at least another 5-6 lbs or so, to play it safe since I don’t know how their scale will play.
I will be weighing in the day before in the morning, when I’m normally lighter, so hopefully I will have time to carb up all day Friday before the show Saturday. I can maybe mess with water weight if necessary, but would like to avoid that, as well as my peak week protocol(pretty much slowly increasing carbs)
Let me know of any suggestions or thoughts.[/quote]
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