Focusing on lifting more weight and eating to gain muscle is the best way to look better in your circumstances, so you’re on the right track.
Progress photos once a month are a good idea, I definitely wouldn’t go any more often than that.
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One additional thing to consider- be cautious of how harsh you are with how you look. You’re gaining weight and getting stronger, so without a doubt you will be putting on some fat. Don’t let that, or scale weight, discourage you from eating.
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May 22 - 136.2
May 29 - 136.8
June 5 - 137.3
June 12 - 138.1
June 19 - 138.1
June 26 - 140.3
So I gained 2.2 last this week after going from an average of ~2500 to ~2800 calories.
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Now, if you look at the grand scheme of things, you’ve gained 4.1 pounds in 6 weeks, which is perfectly fine. Stay the course.
Bench
65% 95 1 5
75% 110 1 5
85% 122.5 1 5+ (13 reps)
65% 95 5 5
Front squat
65% 85 1 5
75% 97.5 1 5
85% 110 1 5+ (19 reps)
65% 85 5 5
Assistance
Skull crushers: ~45 lbs 5x10
DB rows: 40 - 2x10, 35 lbs - 3x10
Leg/hip/toe raises: 5x20
Went too deep on last squat and was winded after pulling out so decided not to got for last rep.
Accidentally used 40 lbs dumbbell for first two sets of rows. Changed to 35 lbs after realizing mistake.
Your weight is going up, your lifts are going up. This is a good thing.
Post your progress photos. Its a bit daunting. But everyone here is friendly enough.
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Okay, I can post progress photos but not much to see.
I went cycling today for around 35 KM. I know that’s probably counterproductive.
Didn’t really want to post progress pictures since I don’t think there’s much to show at this point, but here they are.
Try and stay in the same relax position as photo one every time.
HOWEVER - I’d guess photo one is your before and photo 2 is you after as I can see progress.
You can see a little more mass here, and I’m sure we would see even more if you showed your legs as well. In addition, I see no extra fat compared to your photos in the other thread from while ago. Your eating strategy is not making you gain any visible fat and is causing you to gain some muscle. You’re progressing. You could probably still benefit from a little more of a surplus.
Unless he arranged that olive oil bottle/triscuit package collage in the exact same picture, I’m pretty sure he just posted a relaxed front, a flexed front, and a flexed rear picture, all taken within a few seconds of each other.
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Potentially (probably). Someones been watching CSI.
Lol! None of these are before pictures. The first is just a relaxed shot. I didn’t want to post since there very little progress to show physique wise but since you guys asked.
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Should my physique be more developed at this point? I care more about the lifts going up but just curious.
I think you’ll be grateful you did these pictures in a year or two. I didn’t do any when I first started on the road back, because I was too embarrassed at 240lbs to even post my weight. It took me half a year to even post for the first time, on a site where I already knew a lot of people so be a little proud of yourself for posting this. By the time I got the courage to do it, I’d already done half a year of hard work. To this day, I wish I had a full picture of the progress I’ve made.
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Being as conservative with your surplus as you are, your physique makes sense. If you were more aggressive, you’d show a little better gains and probably a touch more fat. You know that you’re able to lean out successfully, maybe go with a larger calorie surplus and gain a little faster? You’re learning to push training hard so I think you could get away with it.
Well, my weight shot up a lot last week since I increased my calories from 2500 to 2800. So, I’m reluctant to add even more.
Give it a week or two to stabilize and then go from there. Whatever weight you gained was clearly not fat so you don’t really have anything to worry about.
Front squat
70% 90 1 3
80% 105 1 3
90% 117.5 1 3+ (14 reps)
70% 90 5 5
Bench
70% 102.5 1 3
80% 115 1 3
90% 130 1 3+ (7 reps)
70% 102.5 5 5
Assistance work:
Didn’t do assistance. Was in a bad mood today.
I knew this was going to be a bad workout. I did a fast from noon yesterday to this morning for a meditation thing I do once a month. I usually feel weak the next day. That coupled a long bike ride and under eating over the weekend caused my weight to drop. Weighed in at 138.8 lbs this morning.
I felt crap and just didn’t want to workout. I had that “I don’t want to lift” feeling I dread. Just going through the motions and I’ve been pretty upset about something IRL for the past few days that didn’t help. Not trying to make excuses. We’ll see how the rest of the week goes.