Lookin’ great bro. After the carb-up/water manipulation and paint job, you’re going to look sick on stage
yes yes and more yes, that last back shot. Ace!
Yo man,
Your’e looking fucking awesome!!!
Hope you destroy on your first comp.
I only hope that one day, I may achieve such conditioning.
GJ
You going to take measurements before the water/carb manipulation and then after? Might be good for tracking from one contest to another.
Looking good, don’t get off track in the last few weeks of the contest, don’t try crazy shit like some people do, you are ripped the fuck up and your weigh in will be fine.
I agree with Free2be. Maybe adding a diuretic or something, but not a protocol you don’t know how you’ll react to. You’re looking real sharp now. IMO posing is improving in every shot series you make.
Awesome job dude. You’ve really brought it! Looking great, shredded as hell in those new pics.
Once you carb up and get your tan on, it’s going to be insane. Best of luck at the show!!
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
still more…[/quote]
Does that middle pic remind anyone else of a young dorian?
Good job man.
Big ups stu, you’re looking reallyyyyyy good!
good stuff Stu, you’ve prepared really well, hard to believe it’s your first show. As others mentioned: carb plus tan and you will be killing it!
The statement “it’s not about how much you weigh when you enter the show, it’s how much you look like you weigh,” is so true here. You look a lot more than 172.4 pounds. Awesome job dude.
Yeaaa buddaay! That rear double bi looks awesome, your shoulders look like horseshoe crabs and the details are really coming in now. Will there be pics of the contest online after the show?
I’m gay for this thread.
Thanks for all the compliments guys. I’m surprised how good the pics look. It’s still a little weird to think I look like “that” when I see the pics (I’m still in some disbelief over how small I’ve gotten -lol). Still, I can admit that it’s damn cool seeing veins in my lower abs, or even just noticing the ever deepening groove down the side of my thigh when I sit on the recumbent bike and catch my reflection in the gym mirror. I am quite curious where along the spectrum of ‘big’ vs ‘cut’ I will find myself being comfortable at when this is all over.
It’s been damn difficult coming down as much as I did, so if I decide that this is something I want to continue with (competing that is), I’m going to give myself a cut-off of 185 lbs, maybe 190 in winter months, then scale back to 185 even if no contest in the immediate future. It’s funny, but I used to say that it was very easy for me to just maintain, almost coast at 205 lbs after having to work damn hard when I kept my weight around 215. Now, I’m so used to a lower caloric intake, I wonder if it will involve any sort of conscious effort to re-set my body all over again. I would like to point out again, that I’ll be turning 36 a few days after the show, signifying 16 years of pounding away at my body with the weights. Just something to keep in mind when people ask me why I don’t still lift heavy all the time anymore.
The whole carbup/water thing should be cool to see. Thib’s outlined the process very well, and after answering a few questions of mine on his thread, I feel pretty good about where I’m headed (a little Praise from the Big Man himself really made my day). While I’m not going to take actual measurements, I will still keep trying to get pictures as often as I can. I’m sure Corey’s getting a little bored with the idea, even though we’re going to be using this experience as a template for when he competes next Spring. Also, my girlfriend will have my camcorder, so hopefully we can get some fun, and usable (G-Rated -lol) shots 
Okay, I’m beat, and I have to wake up in a few hours to do more cardio 
(I miss pancakes)
S
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
While I’m not going to take actual measurements, I will still keep trying to get pictures as often as I can. [/quote]
The funny thing is that even with a perfect carb up your actual measurements aren’t likely to change to a significant degree, but the look of the muscle makes it appear as if you are bigger.
In bodybuilding, the actual act of carbing up has actually more to do with drying up than filling out… the carbs’ main effect when everything is on point is actually to pull the water from outside the muscle and bring it inside of it. The end result is that the volume doesn’t change much, but the water is now inside rather than out so the look is that of a much fuller muscle wrapped by really thin skin.
That’s one of the reasons why a lot of people screw up their carb-up. The do it mainly to fill out which screws up their look.
Obviously you don’t want to look flat, but going overboard or trying “hocus pocus” last minute tricks is the best way to ruin 12 weeks of efforts.
this is a good thread to not only sticky but print out and then bust out my trusty highlighter!
So, yesterday I really felt myself dragging mentally, and today, I actually think I bordered on actually being dizzy. I threw in an extra bowl of oatmeal (3 for the day), rationalizing that I’d still be on the low end of the spectrum, but obviously not anywhere near keto-numbers. I was planning on having a decent amount of carbs this coming Sunday, before I go under 50g a day to deplete during the week, so I figure the ‘pendulum’ analogy applies to most situations, and that taking in a little extra carbs, and maybe even cals today, tomorrow, and Sunday will create more of a ‘shock’ effect when Monday rolls around, and I’m not only depleting dietwise, but doing antagonistic supersets to really get rid of everything I’ve got left.
Yes, I still did my two cardio session yesterday (SS in morning, and Intervals at night), but while I did my morning session this morning, I decided to skip tonight’s planned session simply because after over an hour hitting back and biceps, to be honest, I felt horribly drained.
I know I need to practice my posing a bit more, and this weekend, will try to make time in the mornings, when I still have some energy.
On an aside, Corey snapped a few pics of me actually training tonight, and while I look pale as hell, (and kinda small), I think the veins look cool -lol
S
Cool shot from the rear (I really need some color!)
S
In my experience, watching amateurs in my region, the judges are more biased towards conditioning than size, symetry and proportion. I don’t know how it is with your show but mine is all about conditioning.
Either way, stop fooling yourself saying you look small cuz you actually look really good and conditioned.
I have the same issue, i dropped from 213-ish to 160 now and going even lighter in the next four weeks.
I went out and spent $1000 on new clothes cuz all the other beast ones i used to wear are now too big.
Stay focused!
Peace
I don’t know if you covered this but what do your arms measure at now and what were they before the diet started?
no homo but i like the shape of your arms in that pic above…