Ok, this is my first real attempt at a cut. I realize that i have some lagging body parts. I feel like my delts, arms, and calves are lagging the most. Any advice on body parts that I need to bring up is greatly appreciated. Also, what do you think I need to do to have a chance on stage.
Currently, I’m using a periodized routine. I play rugby, so athletic performance is crucial. I’m using an undulating intensity periodization scheme. 3-4 weeks of 3x10 at varying intensities, followed by 3-4 weeks of 3x5, followed by 3-4 of 3x3. Sprints, and other plyometrics as well as olympic lifts are part of the program throughout all phases.
Sorry for the double post. The two side shots were taken a couple weeks ago, during the cutting process. I feel like it gives a better impression of my actual arm and leg size.
You look good man, nice and lean, just need much more overall size. Proportionally speaking, nothing is lagging behind by a crazy amount, but I’d say visually, if you brought up legs and arms you would look more impressive (my issue as well, though I’m 6’1", haha).
Definitely need to bring your legs and lats more. I think it could possibly benefit if you lifted your legs twice a week and split them in doing quads and calves and hamstrings in calves. I like to make sure I at least get one lift heavy and one lift for volume. If you can try to even take a day off after those days to give your body extra recovery time for your legs. A lot of chin ups, DB rows, and close grip rows can help with your lat development as well. What are your stats as far as height, weight, years of training, and so on? Pretty nice work so far though.
BugeishaAD: Luckily i’m fairly short, with short legs and a longer torso. Filling out my legs shouldn’t be a problem. Currently both my legs measure 26in and my waist (below my belly button) is 29in. Unfortunately, at my belly button things get a bit wider due to having thick obliques.
Jerome: I’d like to thicken up my lats quite a bit, just trying to avoid overtraining. I think my legs look small due to the angle, but maybe i’m just delirious. My stats, 5’8, 190 lbs. I’ve been training for about 8 years, maybe a year off total during this time frame. I’ve wrestled, played football, and competed in martial arts since I was 5. Looking back, I wish I would have never had to cut weight for wrestling, I definitely missed out on some opportunities to be bigger. I’ve had several injuries that have slowed me down, but nothing has stopped me yet. I’ve had 9 meniscus tears and over 30 shoulder dislocations as well as a torn biceps tendon, torn gastroc, a torn rhomboid, and a pinched nerve at L5… Luckily, all these problems have been dealt with and its time to throw on a bit of size.
are all your exercises done with a bar as opposed to dumbbells? I know a lot of ppl like dumbbells better for chest and delts. might be worth a shot if you think your delts are lagging.
Tommy: Actually i do use a barbell for pretty much everything. I think I’m actually going to change the incline presses to DB inclines, and throw in some flies as well. I’ll also add in some DB work for shoulders.
Overall thickness is lagging… Lat width… Leg sweep … Just more thickness… But your lifts are big… How old are you? It may just be your age but you look thinner than 190 at 5’8". If you’re young and stay at it with those lifts you will get much thicker as u get older… Overall though symmetrically you look good… Just lack thickness and width…
Swolle: I definitely agree that I’m lagging in thickness. I probably appear much smaller than 190 in those pics because I cut water for the pics. I’m sure I weighed closer to 183-185. Today i’m about 194 though. Before I started cutting, thickness was my strong point, but I seem to have lost that during the cut.
I’ll be throwing in some extra work for lat width. The quad sweep will come up by continuing to squat heavy and deep. I’ll probably be throwing in front squats or hack squats on deadlift day.
So, keeping a tally on what I need to work on:
Lat Width
Quad Sweep
Arms
Shoulders
Calves
Training plan has been adjusted. Check out the new version and see what you think.
Hey, you dont look like you pack fat easely, so just go ahead and build some muscle. At 5´8 you will look great at 205-210, your structure and joints will give you an even more impressive look at that weight. Im 5´9 and 220 and I feel great. But then, If you want to compete in BB, nothing short than 215-220 in show form.
I’d really like to get up to 205-210 and under 10% body fat. I’ve been up to 220 before and i just didn’t feel good that heavy. Of course its probably because I was carrying more fat than i’d like. Caveman, I’d like to have a physique similar to yours. Its actually what i’ve been shooting for for a while now. One day i’ll be there.
