155 lbs 5’10’’ 18 yrs
Made an account just to post and get feedback. Been lifting for about a year pretty consistently, and I’ve made decent progress considering I used to be indistinguishable from a stick person. Getting a little frustrated lately though, because my physique is not where I want it to be. I’m wondering what you guys see when you look at these pics? I think in general I need more bulk but I can’t stop focusing on my narrow shoulders, which to me look worse because I have a proportionally pretty thick neck. I’m 18 and if I’m completely honest I probably have at least another year or two of natural body development which should help my proportions. For now though, I think my legs look thick compared to my torso since I played soccer all my life (don’t worry I don’t skip leg day). What do you recommend in terms of a program for me going forward? I’ve been boxing a lot lately so I do a lot of cardio, which I hope shouldn’t be a problem for putting on weight (not worried about weight classes, I’ll fight wherever I feel healthy). Suggestions?
Tried to get different lightings and I didn’t flex at all. Could post pics flexing but the point is to look good without flexing… No shorts cuz then u can’t see legs. My friends would roast me if I asked them to take pics of me in my underwear so I had to use the fucking timer. Thanks!
You some Justin Bieber looking motherfucker ain’tcha
Made some gains so far. Could make gains for a decade if you want and put on maybe another 20lbs of muscle. Won’t happen if you stay at 160ish lbs tho so maybe eat some more and get in a decent 3 year bulk lel.
I see what you mean. You can create the illusion of width and actually get wider by a few centimeters by putting some mass on your shoulders but that’s about it. Unless you want clavicle lengthening surgery or some shit.
The illusion of width is created by mass in the right places and low body fat leading to the V Taper kinda look. To show this off you have to pose a bit: Flare your lats and general walk around with Imaginary Lat Syndrome.
How about you stop focusing on your narrow shoulders before you get a body image disorder and start working to improve.
Firstly diet. Eat enough protein and enough total calories consistently else you won’t build shit.
Secondly any program will work as long as there is progress. Progress will provide the stimulus for your body to grow and in the right dietary environment you’ll get hoooge.
The appropriate program for you will depend on how advanced you are. What weights are you currently putting up e.g. Bench, Squat, Deadlift, Pull Up/Chin Up, Overhead Press, Rows etc. What kind of program are you currently running? Are you able to progress on these lifts consistently with your current program or have you stalled or slowed?
Thanks for the advice! Sooo I was about halfway through a pretty standard bulking program until a couple days ago when bodybuilding.com decided to be a bitch and make it a paid subscription. I’m still getting pretty steady growth with almost everything. I don’t usually do 1 rep max or anything like that but I can squat 8 reps at around 160, I can bench 8 at 135, I can get 10-12 pull ups 3-4 sets pretty comfortably, and overhead press usually like 40 pound dumbbells 10 reps comfortably. Rows I honestly don’t remember but in general my back is stronger than my chest. And I don’t do a lot of deadlifting because I have really tight hamstrings (something I’m working on lately) so it’s hard to get good form.
Sounds good. When you stall out or progress slows significantly switch to a more advance program. Or if you feel like you wish to try something new or want to make faster progress there’s many decent programs on T-Nation.
Not bad but does nothing to dispel your Justin Bieber image. Double those numbers and you’ll have plenty of bulk on you.
If you can’t get in a good starting position for the deadlift. Do a deadlift off blocks or rack pulls so that the bar is raised to a height you can get to. You can gradually lower the bar’s level as you become more flexible.
Once again, the keys to your success will be diet and progress in the gym. Consistency too.
Forgot to mention before but to determine whether or not your diet is on point weigh yourself everyday to make sure that your weight is trending upwards slowly say around 1-2lb per week. This is because one can only put on muscle so fast. If the scales are shooting up faster than this rate the extra is fat gains. If the scales are going up too fast you are eating too much so adjust accordingly. If it’s too slow or not moving at all you’re not eating enough.
Awesome I’ll do everything you suggested. Good call with the scale I’ll have to start doing that. My metabolism is super fast especially when I’m doing a lot of cardio, so when I try to bulk I sort of automatically eat a shit ton of food and end up putting on too much extra fat so that should help a lot. I’ll start focusing a lot more on progress too, consistency and form has never been an issue but I’m going to need a more concrete way to measure gains.
First things first: You don’t have narrow shoulders; your proportions are fine. As you continue to fill out, your body will assume a nice V taper. Be patient.
That said, most people your age/experience tend to neglect delts in favor of pecs and gunz. Don’t fall into that trap. Make delts a priority, not an afterthought. As they are your most critical bodypart, train them first.
You have long arms, and especially forearms. Start working to fill them in now. End every Biceps workout with 5-or-so sets of reverse curls and/or hammer curls.
As for how you should lift (ie, what sort of program), I personally favor working to failure in the 8-12 rep range. But if you love working heavier (or lighter) than that, do what you love. It’s far better to do a somewhat suboptimal program with maximum enthusiasm/intensity than to half-ass your way through a great program you hate. So train whatever way makes you look forward to every workout, and to attacking the weights with ferocity.
With all due respect to @khangles, gaining 1-2# of bodyweight per week will, over time, result in the accumulation of an unappealing and unnecessary amount of bodyfat. IMO, shooting for a rate of about half that (ie, 2-4#/month) is more prudent.
Agreed…youre the physique guy after all. I’m just a fat powerlifter.
OP just strikes me as one of those “I’m a hard gainer” kinda of dudes so recommending anything slower than 1lb per week will see him stuck at the same body weight and coming back here in a few months with a “Help can’t gain weight/strength/muscle” thread.
You’re probably right; he definitely looks underfed at this time. I could see him being the sort who could comfortably gain 10-20 lbs rapidly without an appreciable negative effect on his aesthetics. The problem/danger is if he kept gaining weight at that rate–eventually, it would catch up with him.
So if he started eating (and lifting) like a maniac and came back 10# heavier in a month, he’d probably look great, and be the better for it. But if he kept up that pace, and was ~50# heavier in 6 months…Not so much.
The trick with these underfed types is getting them to eat enough to get up to a gain-maximizing level of bodyfat, but keeping them from tipping over into perma/dreambulker mode.
