cool man, well you look great and goodluck
Looking great Stu (I can see these pics). Looking real lean. It doesn’t look like you’ve lost size, its all in your head. I would 100% compete if I had that build.
Looking great, Stu! And seems as though your dog wants in on the action, haha.
Since you did mention constructive feedback, the only thing I might see a bit disproportionate from the most muscular and double bi’s is your quads - they seem a bit small from the front, but fine from the side chest pose. I don’t know if its the angle or if you should work some more on the quad sweep.
But, to make this a feedback sandwich, I repeat - you have built quite a physique.
Heya Trenchant,
Yeah, I had two pretty bad back injuries a couple of years back, and while the legs don’t look too bad from the side, you can really see the atrophy fron the front. My training has consisted lately of a lot of front squats (less stress on my lower back), and the leg presses with a toes out, non lockout approach. I’m hoping that tightening a bit will make them look better. It’s amazing though, some natty guys have these monster thighs, and others are almost the same size as their arms (which makes me wonder if my decent upper body will just make the descrepency all the more noticable).
S
Looking good man. Go for it!
[quote]ACTrain wrote:
Looking good man. Go for it![/quote]
My words exactly! Go for it! We’ll all be here to cheer you on.
i think a lot of the people at T-Nation have wanted to see you compete for a while now
as a fellow bodybuilder I’d say go for it…especially in a natty show I think you will do great.
As far as posing goes…everybody has their own way and you have to tweak to what looks best for you but here would be my suggestions with the three (go by pic number):
- try dragging your front foot to the center or arch of your back foot and then press your knees together. It wil feel very strange, but you will still get the lines in your calves…it actually makes the hams pop out more and gives a more fluid feel to the pose. Turning slightly can show off your ham/glut seperation if you have it as well…if you have decent sweet in your quads turning also makes them appear bigger.
also try grabbing your forearm instead of your hand and bring your upper body forward and stick your chest up and out. Chest is not one of your strongest bodyparts, but your arms are. Doing this should give the illusion that your chest is bigger than it is and the judges eyes will notice your arm size
doing those two things should give the pose a more fluid look. No offense but right now with the leaning and leg placement I personally think it makes you look out of place instead of poised and confident. You almost want to be a statue when you pose.
BUT like I said if you like it that way it is no worries its a great shot. Posing is about hiding weaknesses and showing strengths…I personally feel you should give my suggestions a shot and see if you like it better.
- upper body looks great, but remember not to lean too far back because the judges are down stage and beneath you. Slightly leaning forward will help in their view.
legs look good…I’d play with feet placement…sometimes the placing of your feet and angle of the leg can give you the illusion of more sweep, but as they are they look fine.
Definitely a strong pose in your upper body here man.
- I would try placing one foot farther forward than the other as it makes the crab pose more aggressive.
I’d also forget about trying to show your abs and chest too much in this pose, but instead bend over more and flare those traps up. Your shoulders and arms are your strong point and doing this should emphasize those.
I’d also look into the most muscular that Jay does with one hand on his leg and the other in front of him flexing his arm. That pose is great for people who are shoulder/arm dominant over people with a large chest.
Looking great tho man.
I’d strongly urge you to do a show. I think you can place fairly well in a natty show for sure.
DG
Man I’ll be honest. I already thought you competed. But I’ve only been on this site for a couple months.
Do it.
looking good! shoulders and back look especially fantastic!
Thanks guys.
DG- I sent Cordova the last pics from a week or so back with all 8 mandatories, and he actually some some real intricate details on the posing (he did say that some looked damn good, but obviously, having never actually been on a stage, will need ‘tweaks’).
I am trying to up my cals just a little bit the next few weeks. In my attempt to come in at a 500 cal deficit each day, I often found myself hitting well below that, and thinking that I couldn’t just eat a 900 cal dinner (too much at one sitting). Hopefully this will keep me dropping consistently, but avoid some of the lbm loss I know I have experienced (it’s inevitable, I know).
I will acknowlege that my arms still look pretty sizable relative to my entire build, but there’s no way I’m going anywhere near a tape measure, as I can tell they have shrunk a bit (still, they do look bigger -lol)
Another thought I had (and feel free to chime in on this), is that I haven’t done back squats in a long while because of my lower back, and trying to avoid my ass growing. Now, I was thinking of maybe staying with front squats as the real meat n potatos of my leg day, but then doing some ‘light’ back squats after everything is already toasted.
S
[quote]Dirty Gerdy wrote:
as a fellow bodybuilder I’d say go for it…especially in a natty show I think you will do great.
As far as posing goes…everybody has their own way and you have to tweak to what looks best for you but here would be my suggestions with the three (go by pic number):
- try dragging your front foot to the center or arch of your back foot and then press your knees together. It wil feel very strange, but you will still get the lines in your calves…it actually makes the hams pop out more and gives a more fluid feel to the pose. Turning slightly can show off your ham/glut seperation if you have it as well…if you have decent sweet in your quads turning also makes them appear bigger.
also try grabbing your forearm instead of your hand and bring your upper body forward and stick your chest up and out. Chest is not one of your strongest bodyparts, but your arms are. Doing this should give the illusion that your chest is bigger than it is and the judges eyes will notice your arm size
doing those two things should give the pose a more fluid look. No offense but right now with the leaning and leg placement I personally think it makes you look out of place instead of poised and confident. You almost want to be a statue when you pose.
BUT like I said if you like it that way it is no worries its a great shot. Posing is about hiding weaknesses and showing strengths…I personally feel you should give my suggestions a shot and see if you like it better.
- upper body looks great, but remember not to lean too far back because the judges are down stage and beneath you. Slightly leaning forward will help in their view.
legs look good…I’d play with feet placement…sometimes the placing of your feet and angle of the leg can give you the illusion of more sweep, but as they are they look fine.
Definitely a strong pose in your upper body here man.
- I would try placing one foot farther forward than the other as it makes the crab pose more aggressive.
I’d also forget about trying to show your abs and chest too much in this pose, but instead bend over more and flare those traps up. Your shoulders and arms are your strong point and doing this should emphasize those.
I’d also look into the most muscular that Jay does with one hand on his leg and the other in front of him flexing his arm. That pose is great for people who are shoulder/arm dominant over people with a large chest.
Looking great tho man.
I’d strongly urge you to do a show. I think you can place fairly well in a natty show for sure.
DG[/quote]
Great advice!
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
Another thought I had (and feel free to chime in on this), is that I haven’t done back squats in a long while because of my lower back, and trying to avoid my ass growing. Now, I was thinking of maybe staying with front squats as the real meat n potatos of my leg day, but then doing some ‘light’ back squats after everything is already toasted.
S
[/quote]
A set of 20 rep squats to end the day does the body good 
yes i think you will do very well in a natural bodybuilding show.The only weaknesses i can see is lower chest and quads, these 2 areas are the fastest to go when cutting fast.Still, even though it will be a lot harder, you can still improve a bodypart when cutting.
Imo,just add 500-1000 calories to your current intake for 4 weeks and focus on heavy hack squats, front squats, leg extensions, flat and decline presses, and youll regain your previous size in these areas, without sacrifing any the leanness you worked so hard to achieve.just my 2 cents.
There is a couple youtube vids that can help greatly with posing.
Bob Chicharillo does one for bodybuilding.com that’s great.
The other is of Evan Centopani and Dave Palumbo is critiquing him.
Both helped me.
DG
Thanks for the heads up on the posing vids, I think I may have seen the chic ones a while back. I also have an older copy of Nat Bodybuilding mag that goes over each of the mandatories with advice and suggestions for each.
Weighed in at 188 tonight, and after hitting delts, thought about an earlier comment about my weird traps, (it was the pose damnit! -lol) so I hadda check to see if they looked okay. (It was snapped with a phone, so if poor quality, I’m sorry)
Also, as I mentioned before, I’m trying to up the cals just a hair, and hopefully hold onto lbm a little more. My training partner is currently bulking, and it makes me realize how much I miss just shoveling the food in during winter
S
[quote]steel_12 wrote:
yes i think you will do very well in a natural bodybuilding show.The only weaknesses i can see is lower chest and quads, these 2 areas are the fastest to go when cutting fast.Still, even though it will be a lot harder, you can still improve a bodypart when cutting.
[/quote]
i actually see the upper chest being more of a problem than the lower chest. I do agree on the quads though, they’ll come in time and look better as body fat drops