[quote]DropTopSVT wrote:
As for dead-lifts, I’ve never done em. Think they’ll help me? Where do I start and how do I do em without breaking my back.
Ironwarrior, your dead on too. I should be getting back to my regular schedule soon and hopefully a regular diet will follow with it.
Thanx again guys, keep it coming.[/quote]
Variations of deadlifts will bring up your legs, back, traps, and forearms and help give you a more solid look overall. I’m sure we have some good deadlifting articles here if you look around. Pay attention to form, but go heavy. I see guys your size at the gym deadlifting 135 lbs and I want to cry.
Add in something like step-ups or short-stride lunges to really hammer your quads, and you’ll be all set.
Dunno about the rating, but the OP looks quite solid compared to many of the recent posters with ab shots - good width and size on the upper body, thickness seems a little lowish imo. As far as the bodyfat is concerned, he hasn;t gotten to the point where he can;t diet it off, no reason why he can;t add more mass while keeping his diet in check, but thats jmo.
[quote]thesteve wrote:
6.4 …Really?
It seems to me people with abs who dont post leg shots get lower ratings than people without them who post no leg shots. [/quote]
Thanx for all the kind words and the criticism as well. This is exactly what I needed. I can post shots of my legs if you guys want, but they are lacking due to injury (which took me off legs for over 4 months). I’ll get em up anyway though if you guys need to see em.
My goals more function oriented than form, but I, as all of us here probably do, want to look good too. In my career my height is a major disadvantage and I have always felt that being strong and “powerful” helps me overcome that disadvantage. I like the way I feel at 200 lbs., but I can’t seem to get any heavier than that unless I cut ALL cardio out of my training. That can’t happen, so right now my goals are to maintain 200 lbs, lower my BF% to 10% or lower and get as strong as humanly possible with my frame.
Being 195 now and having puny legs, leads me to believe that if I can start hitting the legs up without injury, I can lower my BF% and still maintain my weight with the added muscle in my lower body.
Does this make sense?
Yeah mate I understand what ya saying- sorry to hear bout the injury. It was more in response to the guy who was suprised by the seemingly low-ish score,. Ur upper half is quality. But, just like a great pair of legs doesn’t make an 8/10 physique alone, same applies to upper body IMO. Upper half defs lookin massive though, good luck with the training
I get what the steve is saying, people get flamed for having abs because it’s assumed they don’t work out their legs. When people don’t have abs it seems like people assume they do work out their legs.
Quite honestly, and I think the OP will agree with me, it doesn’t look as though he’s payed anywhere near as much attention to legs than he’s payed to his upper body. At least he posted some pics when asked, though.
Lankymofo, I’m getting over two significant injuries in my legs. I broke my left ankle and had a misdiagnosis. The Dr. missed the break and treated me for a sprain. That caused my ankle to heal incorrectly and ultimately led to a strained MCL/ACL from added pressure (trying not hurt the ankle again)and incorrect form.
That was enough to keep me away from descent leg workouts for a considerable amount of time. The ankle break was back in late 05. So, that was about 6 months off from the gym completely, then when I got back in again in mid 06 I still had pain in the ankle, but worked through it (so I thought).
The specialist that I saw said that the strained ligaments (suffered in early 07)in my knee were a result of incorrect form from me “dealing” with the pain in my ankle. So, here I am now still fighting an almost 3 year old injury that I am hoping to finally put behind me and start making some gains.
There was no way on earth I was going to let it keep me out of the gym completely this time, so yes I have payed way more attention to my upper body in terms of bulk over the last year or so.
This picture is me in mid 06, right before I got back to the gym. This picture is also what made me realize how much work I had in front of me and also what kept me going at upper body even though I couldn’t go at lower body hard.
No excuses now though, I gotta start hammering away and getting the roots where the trunk is.
Did dead lifts for the 1st time today. WOW! I love them! Tomorrow will be leg day, first heavy leg day in a long time.
For dead lifts, I started with 135 x 10 just to get a feel for the motion. Then I went to 225 x 8 and then 275 x 4. It felt really good, but I think I’m gonna have to slowly work my way up to bigger weights so I don’t hurt myself. At 275 I felt a little out of wack, that’s why I stopped at 4.
