[quote]Lonnie123 wrote:
Dat mass… Beefy indeed, Stu. I cant say big you were before, but you definitely dont look “post op” in that pic.
Stu, I’m sure you have covered this before, but what did you do for your shoulders over the course of your lifting career that you feel brought the most size?[/quote]
Interested in your response to Lonnie’s questions on shoulders, Stu. Your delts still look great despite, I’m assuming, greatly decreased shoulder training volume during your rehab
[quote]Lonnie123 wrote:
Dat mass… Beefy indeed, Stu. I cant say big you were before, but you definitely dont look “post op” in that pic.
Stu, I’m sure you have covered this before, but what did you do for your shoulders over the course of your lifting career that you feel brought the most size?[/quote]
Thanks Lonnie, it’s always nice to hear.
Like a lot of trainers, I thought that if I just kept pushing ‘big weights’ with my shoulders that I’d be enormous eventually. Of course for whatever reason, I’d always been able to press a lot of weight, with chest work and delt work. When I finally stepped back and realized that I wasn’t achieving the results I wanted, I restructured everything and pretty much kept that approach to this day.
As most of your shoulder ‘meat’ doesn’t come from overhead work, I spent the majority of my delt training doing laterals of some kind. A typical workout would look like this:
-Lateral machine raises - I would go very strict, but would work up to almost the complete stack. I was very meticulous with the slow negatives, as well as not throwing my arms up to my ears and shfiting the emphasis from my delts to my traps.
-Lean away DB laterals - For this, after the strict machine work, I would get a little looser. Employing a small bit of body english to get a fairly heavy (relative of course) dumbell raises, I would fight it like hell on the way down. My always likened these to Arnold doing his cheat curls. Sure the concentric may have been a tad sloppy, but damn did the eccentric give you bang for your buck. Especially when done after the previous very strict machine laterals!
-Rear Laterals facing down on an incline bench - The posterior delt heads are what really gives you that rounded look, as opposed to looking hunched forward. Also, from the side, and especially if you’re hitting a rear double bicep pose with any regularlity, they are invaluable to a complete physique.
I was always very careful not to engage my back muscles when doing these. It was an abreviated ROM, where I would go from having the weights perfectly straight to my sides, to maybe 2 feet lower before reversing the motion. Again, tight peak contractions and slow eccentrics made a big impact.
-Reverse Barbell Presses - I never really was a big fan of front raises, and even when I employed them with my palms facing up for a better anterior head contraction, it always seemed like I was missing out on doing something better. An old issue of Flex had a picture of Chris Cormier doing these, and so when I tried them and realized how hard they nailed my front delts, I was sold on this as a better alternative to front DB raises.
Always careful to avoid the locking portion of the ROM (don’t wanna stress triceps, or even rest at all), I focused on the bottom 2/3 of the movement, and would do my best to explode up, pause, and lower slow on each rep. This torched the hell outta my delts, and as far as pre-exhausting them before doing any traditional pressing, it certainly fit the bill.
-Seated DB presses - I loved these mostly because I could move stupid weight with them, even after all the isolation work I had already done. Unlike most gym rats though, I always made sure to not merely get a full stretch on the bottom, but not really go very high with the weights. This kept so much stress on my delts it wasn’t even funny (they were already toasty from the reverse pressing!)
Another trick I used was to press in an arcing motion. I always likened the movement to a dumbell fly, except over your head. Pressing the weights straight up brought too much triceps into play for me, and at the end of the day, I was training my delts. A few times, I would actually substitute Push Presses for these.
The rationale was that my front delts were already pre-exhausted, and so a compound, loose movement would allow me to really overload anything that was left so long as I really fought tooth and nail on the eccentric portions. Not how a PLer would do it, but I made it work for me.
Nothing fancy in terms of sets and reps (I just focused on quality reps, and did as many sets as felt ‘right’), just a simple plan of ensuring I was getting everything I could out of the muscles, as well as considering the look I needed to achieve.
While I can’t do everything these days (post-op), I still begin with laterals and rear laterals because you won’t find many people with quality physiques that will argue how they’re actually more important than just pressing a lot if you want to have “good delts”.
S
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
[quote]Lonnie123 wrote:
Dat mass… Beefy indeed, Stu. I cant say big you were before, but you definitely dont look “post op” in that pic.
Stu, I’m sure you have covered this before, but what did you do for your shoulders over the course of your lifting career that you feel brought the most size?[/quote]
Thanks Lonnie, it’s always nice to hear.
Like a lot of trainers, I thought that if I just kept pushing ‘big weights’ with my shoulders that I’d be enormous eventually. Of course for whatever reason, I’d always been able to press a lot of weight, with chest work and delt work. When I finally stepped back and realized that I wasn’t achieving the results I wanted, I restructured everything and pretty much kept that approach to this day.
As most of your shoulder ‘meat’ doesn’t come from overhead work, I spent the majority of my delt training doing laterals of some kind. A typical workout would look like this:
-Lateral machine raises - I would go very strict, but would work up to almost the complete stack. I was very meticulous with the slow negatives, as well as not throwing my arms up to my ears and shfiting the emphasis from my delts to my traps.
-Lean away DB laterals - For this, after the strict machine work, I would get a little looser. Employing a small bit of body english to get a fairly heavy (relative of course) dumbell raises, I would fight it like hell on the way down. My always likened these to Arnold doing his cheat curls. Sure the concentric may have been a tad sloppy, but damn did the eccentric give you bang for your buck. Especially when done after the previous very strict machine laterals!
-Rear Laterals facing down on an incline bench - The posterior delt heads are what really gives you that rounded look, as opposed to looking hunched forward. Also, from the side, and especially if you’re hitting a rear double bicep pose with any regularlity, they are invaluable to a complete physique.
I was always very careful not to engage my back muscles when doing these. It was an abreviated ROM, where I would go from having the weights perfectly straight to my sides, to maybe 2 feet lower before reversing the motion. Again, tight peak contractions and slow eccentrics made a big impact.
-Reverse Barbell Presses - I never really was a big fan of front raises, and even when I employed them with my palms facing up for a better anterior head contraction, it always seemed like I was missing out on doing something better. An old issue of Flex had a picture of Chris Cormier doing these, and so when I tried them and realized how hard they nailed my front delts, I was sold on this as a better alternative to front DB raises.
Always careful to avoid the locking portion of the ROM (don’t wanna stress triceps, or even rest at all), I focused on the bottom 2/3 of the movement, and would do my best to explode up, pause, and lower slow on each rep. This torched the hell outta my delts, and as far as pre-exhausting them before doing any traditional pressing, it certainly fit the bill.
-Seated DB presses - I loved these mostly because I could move stupid weight with them, even after all the isolation work I had already done. Unlike most gym rats though, I always made sure to not merely get a full stretch on the bottom, but not really go very high with the weights. This kept so much stress on my delts it wasn’t even funny (they were already toasty from the reverse pressing!)
Another trick I used was to press in an arcing motion. I always likened the movement to a dumbell fly, except over your head. Pressing the weights straight up brought too much triceps into play for me, and at the end of the day, I was training my delts. A few times, I would actually substitute Push Presses for these.
The rationale was that my front delts were already pre-exhausted, and so a compound, loose movement would allow me to really overload anything that was left so long as I really fought tooth and nail on the eccentric portions. Not how a PLer would do it, but I made it work for me.
Nothing fancy in terms of sets and reps (I just focused on quality reps, and did as many sets as felt ‘right’), just a simple plan of ensuring I was getting everything I could out of the muscles, as well as considering the look I needed to achieve.
While I can’t do everything these days (post-op), I still begin with laterals and rear laterals because you won’t find many people with quality physiques that will argue how they’re actually more important than just pressing a lot if you want to have “good delts”.
S[/quote]
Thanks for this Stu,lots of good advice.And agree with Lonnie,looking big in that pic buddy.
Thanks man, shoulders can definitely be an eye popping addition to any physique. Ill keep plugging away at those laterals and rear delts
I just wanted to share a cool little story here. I’ve worked with a fairly wide array of competitors/athletes the last several years, but recently, I had the opportunity to work with a 70 year old gentleman who was entering a bodybuilding contest.
Originally he had gotten a diet plan from someone else, and was actually being trained by a typical personal trainer who had never worked with competitors, done so himself, and was actually a distance runner. He had only approached me as a posing coach. As the weeks went on, and we talked more, I saw him losing muscle, and certainly not training in any way that would allow him to maintain any lbm onstage. What started to happen, was that after our weekly sessions, I’d spend 20 minutes answering questions, changing his diet, and pretty much undoing all the bad advice he was getting.
Well last Saturday, I made sure I showed up to his prejudging so he’d feel supported no matter who showed up for the Masters class (I’ve seen some damn impressive ones over the years). This particular show was pretty well known around NY as a smaller, and not really too competitive one, but you never knew who would show up, and I kept reinforcing to him how proud he should be regardless of the outcome. All three of his kids flew in for the event, and he proudly introduced me to everyone he could as his “inspiration”. I headed backstage with him, and went over the finer points of pumping up, all while telling him when and what to eat. Quickly recognized by several of the Judges during the competitors’ meeting (fellow Wnbf Pros), I was tagged to do a posing demo for everyone, which I think reminded my 70 year old buddy that he was in good hands.
As there was only one 40 year athlete, and several who were 50, they allowed everyone who had entered as “grandmasters” to also go into the “masters” division so no one would be alone onstage. I popped back out into the audience, and watched as my guy actually had better conditioning than the 40 year old! His posing was on point too! Size wise, I knew he wasn’t going to give the guy a serious fight, but I had no doubt that he’d get a few nods from the judging panel. Actually, at one point, a Wnbf official and sometimes head judge I had sat on panels with in the past turned around seeing me in the 3rd row and inquired if the elder competitor with the impressive conditioning was “my guy”. When I told him that he was, he let me know that if he had entered the always competitive Naturalmania the weekend before, he would have beaten a lot of the 40 year olds in the Masters class!
Long story short, my client easily took the Grandmaster title, beating guys 20 years younger than himself in the process, as well as taking 2nd in the Masters division in what I highly doubt was a unanimous decision. As proud as I am of this gentleman, I can’t help but be a little upset that he wasted so much time with people who knew nothing of contest dieting or training. His “trainer” actually approached me at the gym one night a few weeks ago telling me that he knew nothing about bodybuilding and asking me what they should do. Still, in 5 weeks, I think we put together one hell of a package. So good in fact that he’s actually doing a 2nd show this coming Saturday. He was absolutely beaming when he asked if I needed a ride to the show and I agreed to go along with him. I even gave the guy one of my t-shirts that I only give to actual contest prep clients, you should have seen him strutting around in the gym the next day with the sleeves all rolled up! Things like this really make coaching and helping others all worthwhile 
S
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
I just wanted to share a cool little story here. I’ve worked with a fairly wide array of competitors/athletes the last several years, but recently, I had the opportunity to work with a 70 year old gentleman who was entering a bodybuilding contest.
Originally he had gotten a diet plan from someone else, and was actually being trained by a typical personal trainer who had never worked with competitors, done so himself, and was actually a distance runner. He had only approached me as a posing coach. As the weeks went on, and we talked more, I saw him losing muscle, and certainly not training in any way that would allow him to maintain any lbm onstage. What started to happen, was that after our weekly sessions, I’d spend 20 minutes answering questions, changing his diet, and pretty much undoing all the bad advice he was getting.
Well last Saturday, I made sure I showed up to his prejudging so he’d feel supported no matter who showed up for the Masters class (I’ve seen some damn impressive ones over the years). This particular show was pretty well known around NY as a smaller, and not really too competitive one, but you never knew who would show up, and I kept reinforcing to him how proud he should be regardless of the outcome. All three of his kids flew in for the event, and he proudly introduced me to everyone he could as his “inspiration”. I headed backstage with him, and went over the finer points of pumping up, all while telling him when and what to eat. Quickly recognized by several of the Judges during the competitors’ meeting (fellow Wnbf Pros), I was tagged to do a posing demo for everyone, which I think reminded my 70 year old buddy that he was in good hands.
As there was only one 40 year athlete, and several who were 50, they allowed everyone who had entered as “grandmasters” to also go into the “masters” division so no one would be alone onstage. I popped back out into the audience, and watched as my guy actually had better conditioning than the 40 year old! His posing was on point too! Size wise, I knew he wasn’t going to give the guy a serious fight, but I had no doubt that he’d get a few nods from the judging panel. Actually, at one point, a Wnbf official and sometimes head judge I had sat on panels with in the past turned around seeing me in the 3rd row and inquired if the elder competitor with the impressive conditioning was “my guy”. When I told him that he was, he let me know that if he had entered the always competitive Naturalmania the weekend before, he would have beaten a lot of the 40 year olds in the Masters class!
Long story short, my client easily took the Grandmaster title, beating guys 20 years younger than himself in the process, as well as taking 2nd in the Masters division in what I highly doubt was a unanimous decision. As proud as I am of this gentleman, I can’t help but be a little upset that he wasted so much time with people who knew nothing of contest dieting or training. His “trainer” actually approached me at the gym one night a few weeks ago telling me that he knew nothing about bodybuilding and asking me what they should do. Still, in 5 weeks, I think we put together one hell of a package. So good in fact that he’s actually doing a 2nd show this coming Saturday. He was absolutely beaming when he asked if I needed a ride to the show and I agreed to go along with him. I even gave the guy one of my t-shirts that I only give to actual contest prep clients, you should have seen him strutting around in the gym the next day with the sleeves all rolled up! Things like this really make coaching and helping others all worthwhile
S
[/quote]
Great story Stu and hats off to ya for jumping in and helping him out.Are you taking clients at the moment and is it mostly diet and training combined or just diet.
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
I just wanted to share a cool little story here. I’ve worked with a fairly wide array of competitors/athletes the last several years, but recently, I had the opportunity to work with a 70 year old gentleman who was entering a bodybuilding contest.
Originally he had gotten a diet plan from someone else, and was actually being trained by a typical personal trainer who had never worked with competitors, done so himself, and was actually a distance runner. He had only approached me as a posing coach. As the weeks went on, and we talked more, I saw him losing muscle, and certainly not training in any way that would allow him to maintain any lbm onstage. What started to happen, was that after our weekly sessions, I’d spend 20 minutes answering questions, changing his diet, and pretty much undoing all the bad advice he was getting.
Well last Saturday, I made sure I showed up to his prejudging so he’d feel supported no matter who showed up for the Masters class (I’ve seen some damn impressive ones over the years). This particular show was pretty well known around NY as a smaller, and not really too competitive one, but you never knew who would show up, and I kept reinforcing to him how proud he should be regardless of the outcome. All three of his kids flew in for the event, and he proudly introduced me to everyone he could as his “inspiration”. I headed backstage with him, and went over the finer points of pumping up, all while telling him when and what to eat. Quickly recognized by several of the Judges during the competitors’ meeting (fellow Wnbf Pros), I was tagged to do a posing demo for everyone, which I think reminded my 70 year old buddy that he was in good hands.
As there was only one 40 year athlete, and several who were 50, they allowed everyone who had entered as “grandmasters” to also go into the “masters” division so no one would be alone onstage. I popped back out into the audience, and watched as my guy actually had better conditioning than the 40 year old! His posing was on point too! Size wise, I knew he wasn’t going to give the guy a serious fight, but I had no doubt that he’d get a few nods from the judging panel. Actually, at one point, a Wnbf official and sometimes head judge I had sat on panels with in the past turned around seeing me in the 3rd row and inquired if the elder competitor with the impressive conditioning was “my guy”. When I told him that he was, he let me know that if he had entered the always competitive Naturalmania the weekend before, he would have beaten a lot of the 40 year olds in the Masters class!
Long story short, my client easily took the Grandmaster title, beating guys 20 years younger than himself in the process, as well as taking 2nd in the Masters division in what I highly doubt was a unanimous decision. As proud as I am of this gentleman, I can’t help but be a little upset that he wasted so much time with people who knew nothing of contest dieting or training. His “trainer” actually approached me at the gym one night a few weeks ago telling me that he knew nothing about bodybuilding and asking me what they should do. Still, in 5 weeks, I think we put together one hell of a package. So good in fact that he’s actually doing a 2nd show this coming Saturday. He was absolutely beaming when he asked if I needed a ride to the show and I agreed to go along with him. I even gave the guy one of my t-shirts that I only give to actual contest prep clients, you should have seen him strutting around in the gym the next day with the sleeves all rolled up! Things like this really make coaching and helping others all worthwhile
S
[/quote]
Great story! You’re a great representative for the sport, props to you for sharing you passion with others
Thanks JP. It’s an odd situation because while I always try to help out people at my gym who approach me with questions (non-clients especially), you can’t just come out and tell someone that the person (“trainer?”) they’re paying money to doesn’t really know what they’re doing and is giving them bad advice. Still, it’s been very emotionally rewarding seeing this guy take in how much work he’s put in, and knowing that he certainly doesn’t look like the average 70 year old Grandfather. Definitely a unique experience for me.
With my clients, I usually have two different categories. Some people contact me to supervise everything, diet and training, and even chased them to keep tabs (it’s amazing how difficult it must be for some people just to ‘check in’ on a weekly basis). Others are referrals from trainers at various gyms in NY who have no problem putting their people through the paces several times a week, but prefer to have someone with a bit more experience design a full program that would get people to their goals in a more efficient manner. Amazingly I get quite a lot of these sorts of clients!
@PWOLVES17- Thanks man. I guess I never saw it that way, but I certainly do love the sport/pursuit of bodybuilding. Just like with my art (I was a professional animator for 12 years), when I feel strongly about something, I think it just comes across. As I’ve been very successful in teaching film and art, I’ve been told that I convey information in a similar way when discussing nutrition and training concepts. If so, I’m very happy to hear. With the few seminars I’ve given, and the responses getting larger each time, my next one (a tentative Christmas time one I’m currently figuring specifics for with Gaglione Strength) will hopefully be a great time all around!
S
So I recently did a little interview with Unorthodox Nutrition in the U.K. We discussed all sorts of cool stuff, like working with bodybuilders vs performance athletes, periworkout nutrition, and recovering from injuries. I know it’s not usually accepted to post links to other sites on here, but as I didn’t want to disrespect the folks at Biotest, I made sure to get mod approval first.
Check it out. It’s worth it just to see me flexing in a hospital gown before my shoulder surgery -lol
unorthodoxnutrition.wordpress.com/2013/09/25/interview-with-prep-coach-stu-yellin/
S
[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
[quote]Lonnie123 wrote:
Dat mass… Beefy indeed, Stu. I cant say big you were before, but you definitely dont look “post op” in that pic.
Stu, I’m sure you have covered this before, but what did you do for your shoulders over the course of your lifting career that you feel brought the most size?[/quote]
Thanks Lonnie, it’s always nice to hear.
Like a lot of trainers, I thought that if I just kept pushing ‘big weights’ with my shoulders that I’d be enormous eventually. Of course for whatever reason, I’d always been able to press a lot of weight, with chest work and delt work. When I finally stepped back and realized that I wasn’t achieving the results I wanted, I restructured everything and pretty much kept that approach to this day.
As most of your shoulder ‘meat’ doesn’t come from overhead work, I spent the majority of my delt training doing laterals of some kind. A typical workout would look like this:
-Lateral machine raises - I would go very strict, but would work up to almost the complete stack. I was very meticulous with the slow negatives, as well as not throwing my arms up to my ears and shfiting the emphasis from my delts to my traps.
-Lean away DB laterals - For this, after the strict machine work, I would get a little looser. Employing a small bit of body english to get a fairly heavy (relative of course) dumbell raises, I would fight it like hell on the way down. My always likened these to Arnold doing his cheat curls. Sure the concentric may have been a tad sloppy, but damn did the eccentric give you bang for your buck. Especially when done after the previous very strict machine laterals!
-Rear Laterals facing down on an incline bench - The posterior delt heads are what really gives you that rounded look, as opposed to looking hunched forward. Also, from the side, and especially if you’re hitting a rear double bicep pose with any regularlity, they are invaluable to a complete physique.
I was always very careful not to engage my back muscles when doing these. It was an abreviated ROM, where I would go from having the weights perfectly straight to my sides, to maybe 2 feet lower before reversing the motion. Again, tight peak contractions and slow eccentrics made a big impact.
-Reverse Barbell Presses - I never really was a big fan of front raises, and even when I employed them with my palms facing up for a better anterior head contraction, it always seemed like I was missing out on doing something better. An old issue of Flex had a picture of Chris Cormier doing these, and so when I tried them and realized how hard they nailed my front delts, I was sold on this as a better alternative to front DB raises.
Always careful to avoid the locking portion of the ROM (don’t wanna stress triceps, or even rest at all), I focused on the bottom 2/3 of the movement, and would do my best to explode up, pause, and lower slow on each rep. This torched the hell outta my delts, and as far as pre-exhausting them before doing any traditional pressing, it certainly fit the bill.
-Seated DB presses - I loved these mostly because I could move stupid weight with them, even after all the isolation work I had already done. Unlike most gym rats though, I always made sure to not merely get a full stretch on the bottom, but not really go very high with the weights. This kept so much stress on my delts it wasn’t even funny (they were already toasty from the reverse pressing!)
Another trick I used was to press in an arcing motion. I always likened the movement to a dumbell fly, except over your head. Pressing the weights straight up brought too much triceps into play for me, and at the end of the day, I was training my delts. A few times, I would actually substitute Push Presses for these.
The rationale was that my front delts were already pre-exhausted, and so a compound, loose movement would allow me to really overload anything that was left so long as I really fought tooth and nail on the eccentric portions. Not how a PLer would do it, but I made it work for me.
Nothing fancy in terms of sets and reps (I just focused on quality reps, and did as many sets as felt ‘right’), just a simple plan of ensuring I was getting everything I could out of the muscles, as well as considering the look I needed to achieve.
While I can’t do everything these days (post-op), I still begin with laterals and rear laterals because you won’t find many people with quality physiques that will argue how they’re actually more important than just pressing a lot if you want to have “good delts”.
S[/quote]
Good stuff, Stu. Thanks for sharing.
Stu, this might be an interesting question to have you answer… What are your thoughts on your genetics?
Easy to add muscle? Hard? Strong/Weak naturally? Good/Bad body parts? etc…
I’m sure you’ve given it some thought, as we all have. I’d be interested in hearing a Natural Pro’s thoughts on their own genetics.
[quote]Lonnie123 wrote:
Stu, this might be an interesting question to have you answer… What are your thoughts on your genetics?
I’m sure you’ve given it some thought, as we all have. I’d be interested in hearing a Natural Pro’s thoughts on their own genetics.[/quote]
Very cool question. Coincidentally someone asked me the same thing fairly recently, and it really does make me stop and think. I don’t believe too many people, competitors and not, are capable of fully stepping back and viewing themselves with 100% objectivity. Heck, I do my best to always be my own worst critic because I believe it brings out the best in whatever I undertake, but can anyone ever truly be 100% unbiased?
There’s a saying I like, about how the smarter and harder I trained, the better my genetics got. It applies a lot of the time to people who always seem to feel, whether correct or not, that they really are doing everything optimally. However, even if you are doing everything in the most effective and efficient manner possible, you will inevitably reach a point where your DNA pretty much says “yep, that’s about all we’ve got.”
I can’t really look back to my initial years in the gym and state how easy or difficult it was for me to make gains as a bodybuilder. This is because I admittedly did many things incorrectly, or at least less than what I could have been doing to make the most of my training. My strength levels did increas at an almost freakish pace (hence the moniker my mentor and buddy Scott coined, “Mighty Stu”), but that was never really the goal. I would have always given up strength for size. Other people I would meet though, would feel very differently, as they were nowhere near my strength levels, yet looked much closer to the types of comic book physiques I was after.
In hindsight though, and I have watched and rewatched my contest and training videos countless times, I did build quite the heavily muscled and dense physique. It may not have always been in the ideal proportions I was aiming for, but we’ve all got our individual puzzles to solve.
Adding muscle was not an easy task for me. For people that look at photos of my heaviest contest weights (around 2011-2012), seeing that type of physique, with dingle digit bodyfat levels, and especially on a smaller skeletal frame (5’8, tiny joints), it’s very easy to conclude that it was a simple task. Even photos from my first contest convey a considerable about of size, BUT, and I point this out all the time, it was 15 years in the gym before that point. That’s some serious slow progress, even if we allow for blaming typical training and nutrition dumbass-ery.
During my competitive years, I went from 170 stage weight in '09 to 178 stage weight in 2012. For people who don’t have proper perspective, that’s an amazing bit of progress. Make no doubts though, it came from 100% ball busting training, 100% spot on nutrition, and incorporating any supplement that I felt MIGHT make even a slight difference. Was it easy? Hell no, and if anyone ever suggested otherwise, I’d not only be offended, but I’d know that they have absolutely no clue what they’re talking about.
Naturally strong, no question. If anything, I believe that this is why my training approach developed. I had to work around my natural strength levels. Aching joints are never fun, and I learned (eventually) that getting stronger doesn’t always lead to getting bigger.
My back developed fairly easily compared to my front. The way I always figured was that as I never really cared about how much I was lifting, or impressing anyone else in the gym, I was able to focus early on in learning to actually contract my back muscles without turning everything into an arm exercise.
My chest on the other hand, was a weak point for a long time, despite what I believed was a full understanding of what I was supposed to be doing form wise. Pre-exhaust work, doubling up on frequency during off seasons, and understanding how to use cables to strategically target areas I needed to hit, eventually made the difference I needed, but man it was slow in catching up -lol
Quads were also a lagging bodypart. I attribute this to a few things.
1- I got caught in chasing numbers, and while I once maxed a backsquat at 550 lbs, my legs looked like formless crap (nice plump glutes though)
2- Lower back injury in '07 took squats off my ‘to do’ list for a while. They weren’t a strong point when this happened, so losing even more ground really sucked.
3- For whatever reason, I thought that front squats were just for Olympic lifters. When I finally learned how to do these properly (from an Olympic Weightlifting coach), my quads actually started making progress.
4- Genetically (and I think after 20+ years I can say this without people saying I’m being pessimistic), I don’t have a very good quad sweep. The predetermined shape of my quads is more of a rectangular/oblong muscle. From the side, my legs look good. You can even see the quads peaking out when viewed from the rear. Still, despite making size gains, and posing as strategically as I could, at some point, with some things, you just hit that wall.
Overall, and I say this based on interacting with many people of all different levels over the years, on a scale from 1-10, I would say I’m a solid 7. Definitely had the genetics to build a decent physique, no doubt. Of course while I’m certainly well above the average gym rat, possibly the average competitor (I don’t want to sound arrogant here, but I think I’ve done okay over the years), I’m never going to be a threat to guys like Cordova and Whitacre. Not on my best day. Again, it’s not being pessimistic, it’s being honest
I’d be curious what other people think on the subject. Not only I rate on such a scale, but they themselves.
Lonnie? How do you think you fare numerically?
S
Thanks for the detailed reply Stu… I always forget a simple question to you can result in probably a 30 minute write up.
Honestly I think I am pretty genetically poor at building muscle and muscle shape (look decent in physique pics, but with a shirt on its tough to tell I lift as long as I have been) and strength (started off weak, haven’t gotten very strong by any “standard” you want to use). I might consider myself average to slightly below average here, sadly.
Considering how long I’ve worked at being a meat head, I wish I would have been dealt a nicer hand. Although I will say it might have been a blessing in disguise, because its what tore me away from the decision to start using steroids (well… I obviously dont have pro genetics, do I really want to start down this road to be a little bit bigger and stronger?)
I also gain fat incredibly easy… But I would also have to say its very easy for me to get lean. Easy come easy go I suppose. I’ve done it a few times now and I can easily drop 10-12 pounds that first month with pretty consistent drops after that. Granted I put in tons of work, calculate everything out, and follow the plan to the letter… but Its easy for me to do, its not agonizing at all. Rather enjoyable really.
If I have one major strength I would say its my grit and determination though. I know this isnt really a “physique” thing, and it certainly wont help me gain muscle faster or make my muscle bellies nice and round, but I will stick it out no matter what happens.
Stu, you have been a gold standard for me for some time for many reasons, and I always get comfort out of the fact that you didnt compete and go pro until you were 38. I just turned 29, and on that day I thought to myself “Well, it took Stu 10 years from now to go pro… maybe I’ll get to that level as well when I’m 38” -Granted you probably had the physique leading up to that show for some time (or a comparable one) but its still nice to know we can keep getting better and better even as Nattys well into our 30’s and 40’s. Just gotta be smart and train hard.
Stu, from all the endless info, pics, and youtube vids about BBing, your detailed descriptions about the BBing lifestyle/mentality are the only thing that actually makes me consider taking this hobby to the next step (perhaps even competing at some point).
I want to thank you for that.
Lol, thanks Lonnie. Yeah, I may not always answer questions with a simple one sentence, but I figure that if someone cares enough about my opinion, I at least owe it to them to put some thought and consideration into the actual subject matter.
We’ve all got that one (or even more than a single) person that we look up to. My initial training didn’t have much more direction than to get bigger, and possibly see some of the muscles on my own physique that I was frequently drawing on comic book heroes. Of course you can wonder whether I progresses better or worse (quicker or slower) due to the fact that I actually kept at it simply out of enjoyment. I’ve certainly seen plenty of trainers who go all out from the get go, and quickly burn out without ever reaching what could be very good physiques.
I think the fact that you’ve stayed with this, and it’s fit in so well with your lifestyle and profession, that you’re no doubt in it for the long haul. Of course still being in your 20’s, and having attained the gains and conditioning that you already have, there’s no question in my mind as to whether you’ll continue to improve, and at some point nab that elusive pro card.
@Infinite_Shore: Thanks man. I’ve actually enjoyed detailing and sharing my experiences over the years. I think there’s something about having to vocalize and explain what you’re doing that makes you really take a good look at everything, and can even improve your own focus. Luckily, what started off as a means to hold myself accountable has turned into a very rewarding experience. I was at a contest this past weekend, and in addition to spending time with some great competitors and fellow pros I’ve met over the years, I was recognized several times from articles I’ve had in magazines, interviews online, and even one guy who approached me saying that while he couldn’t place my face, knew that I was some sort of “fitness celebrity” -lol. Maybe I should start appearing in infomercials for questionable products?
Believe me, if I can influence other people the way the competitors I looked up to influenced me, then I’m very proud of myself. Thanks so much.
S
Just spent half a day reading through your and Lonnie’s thread/log. I missed so much over the last year or so. Busy times, tough times.
Happy to be back.
This thread is by far the most valuable source of natural bodybuilding wisdom I ever discovered.
Thanks for sharing your tips on delts! I really need to read through this whole thread, seems like a wealth of info. Also great story on the 70 yr old competitor
"Hate to derail, but
WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?! -lol So glad to see you back big man, it’s been a serious while. Hope all’s well, I know you’ve had some ‘stuff’ to deal with before.
(tried a PM, but they don’t usually work these days)
S"
Heya Stu
Did not want to abuse another members thread, so I answer in here…
Didn’t get a PM, I would for sure have answered. I wasn’t able to check the site very often latly, though. Hmm, lots of things happened. Family stuff. Had to solve some problems for my father who is still haunted by his sins from the past. I really don’t want to bother anybody with too many details here. It’s just like it has always been; people around me seem to mess things up and then want me to do the clean-up. That’s not so cool, but I won’t let my family down, ever.
My body did not seem to tollerate all the stress too well and I eventually had to have another surgery, because that tumor-like thing in my chest reappeared.
I lost a lot of weight and strength and my chest training has been somewhat constriced the last months.
But as I said, I’m not going to complain or bore other with the details.
Bottom line: thing got better, and I feel good again. My dad does well, my wife still loves me and I still got a job. So life is still extraordinary good and the world’s a paradise.
Trainining-wise I was forced to go much lighter for quite some time. I rarely banch press more than 310 anymore, do higher reps or focus on rep quality rather than weights only.
I lost some weight after the surgery, but got up to 205-210 again (so I’m not really a big man anymore…).
Squats are around 420 and deadlifts around 520-550 nowadays. A far cry from my previous bests.
But, you know, I’m still young lol and might even do more contests in the future.
What’s cool is my experiments with high density kind of workouts. Like timed workouts. Did 100x145kg deadlifts in just under 8 minutes just the other day Or 100x100kg back squats in 11:38.
And I got a MacBook Air, so I can check the forum regularly. Did not have a computer in years.
So much has been going on in here. Some members got into great shape and made great progress. The level of “training education” some guys in here have is exciting, to say the least.
Will follow your posts closely, of course.
By the way, how is life as a married man. I remember we got married around the same time. As for my part I can only say that this was by far the smartest and best and most life-enriching thing I have ever done in my life
@ParagonA- Damn man, if ever I felt a connection to anyone on here, in terms of their remaining level headed as a ‘real human being’ as well as a ‘110% full blown meat head competitor’ it was you brother. During your little absence, I regretted many times that we never got to meet up when you were talking about visiting NY way back when.
I don’t want to get into your personal stuff in a public forum, but as we used to exchange some fairly lengthy PMs on here, I hope you’ll find my normal email (google me, it’s pretty easy to track me down) or even FB and we can really catch up. Believe me, I’ve always said how difficult it is to keep up with “this” life, while living your “real” life some times. I know you fully understand what I mean by that, especially when things get rough.
Great to hear you’re doing well post surgery. Had my own ‘work’ done, and let me just say that it’s changed the game for me quite a bit. Of course being the person I try to be, I’m doing my best to reset goals, replan approaches, and just take things as they come. Life’s too short to obsess about things you can’t change, especially when there are so many other people with real obstacles in their lives. (this doesn’t mean I don’t have my bad days in terms of feeling kinda bummed, but I do my best to keep things in perspective)
Married life? Man, as someone who has practically lived in the gym for the last 20 years, and had to always down play it when I’d meet women, marrying someone who has seen me at my most meat-head means that I don’t have to cover up how serious or even obsessive I can be at times. Of course now that she’s competed a few times herself, I can say that honestly, she gets much much worse than I do during a prep -lol. Overall though, there’s an amazing sense of normalcy. Sure we’re both constantly busy, and we make sure to still keep our own interests and lives (which seems to confuse our older relatives when either of us do something without the other), but in this day and age, I like to think that it’s become the definition of healthy relationship. A great decision, no doubt!
S
Always felt you were a brother to me - not by blood line, but in the way we live our lifes and think about the world around us.
I’m currenty in the mountains at my father’s place, but will try to find your email adress and write you on the weekend (typing on a smart phone in not a cool thing for someone with large hands, and there’s no computer hete…).
I often thought about our planned meet in NY. My wife and I had planned to come statesides in our honeymoon. We ended up spending almost three month on some beautiful Fiji islands, Tonga, and the Cook Islands. I have not been to NY for many years, but we both miss the big city and plan to go there next year. Not exacly sure when, but I will tell you for sure as soon as I know! Would be very cool to finally meet you in person.
Well, it’s true that life sometimes confronts us with the unexpected and at some times, we all have to acceptvthat things turned out much diffrent than we had planned.
It’s like gravity. There is nothing we can do against it, and life is too precious and too short to bother about gravity, isn’t it?
I think one trait more or less all men and women I would call inspiring or which are great and big, even huge (not in the physical sense) to me, have in common, is that the quickly get up again after they have fallen and just keep going.
The greatest, biggest people in this world are not the lucky ones that never face challenges or adversity, but the ones that persist, that ones that still laugh, the ones that still care about others and are good to others even in hard times.
For me, this is the only way I want to live.
Let me digess: a very close friend of me died a few month ago. They couln’t do much for her anymore after they had discoverer a tumor in her head that has gotten so big and aggressive that the couldn’t possibly take it out.
I visited her in the hospital and she shared her room with a teenage boy who suffered from leukemia I guess, but with good chances to survive. On the evening I met her, they served ‘vermicelles’ as a desert. No idea if that is know. in the US, but it’s something like a national speciality here and delicious and Monika’s - my friend’s - favourite.
She was very religious which one can find good or bad or naiive, but it made her such an in redible good person, because she really lived it. I could see there was nothing she would have loved to do more than to eat that desert. Only the boy’s eyes told her that there would be nothing he would love more than to have a second one. Monika looked at him, then at me and asked “Have I given enough today? Have I sacrified enough?”
I was close to tears and told her that she had cancer and that I were sure she had given and suffered enough.
She smiled and said “No.” with her soft voice. She took the plate and handed it over to the boy.
She never had the chance to have her favourite desert again, she passed away only a few days after.
That woman was 5 feet tall or so and must have weighted far under 100 pounds on that day, but I have not seen a bigger person in my life. Ever.
That’s what’s lifa all about: beinc good. Some might find that’s soft or not cool and mistake bragging with strength. To me, trying to be good even in the face of fear, adversity, or even death, is as strong as it can get. It’s rogue and cool and admirable and hell is it bad ass.
It highly impressed me to see you are still ‘around’ on T-Nation, that you are stilm answering dozens of questions, and that you are still this upright, honest iron warrior. For that, big brother, thank you!
Cheers,
PA