yup, you can see BN in all his pasty glory in the Over 35 board =p
jk BN! you know I’m rootin for ya, ya ol git!
[quote]fr0IVIan wrote:
yup, you can see BN in all his pasty glory in the Over 35 board =p
jk BN! you know I’m rootin for ya, ya ol git![/quote]
hah…you young bucks !!
22" thighs aren’t even big on a guy WTF?
Get as big and mjscular as you possible can. Do this for two years and all your supposed disporortions will disappear.
Or else this is a bullshit trolljob.
i think… bullshit trolljob.
[quote]its_just_me wrote:
[quote]fr0IVIan wrote:
anyway, my point is that you can focus on bringing up whatever bodypart is lagging… but don’t do that at the expense of everything else. also, realize that what you think might be a weakness is exactly that… it’s what you think, and your perception may or may not be accurate, hence the importance of having your physique evaluated by those who are experienced in doing so.
additionally, the amount of body fat you carry in certain places will become less significant as you fill the rest of your frame out with more muscle.[/quote]
This ^ x 1000
The problem is not a big lower body, it’s moreso lack of size all over and fat distribution.
Fat is just fat. Don’t mean to sound harsh, but work with what you’ve got (when you cut in the future, even if you do have a big lower body muscle-wise, which will be much smaller than when bulked, is a blessing/advantage)
Quite trying to do two things at once - you cannot be losing fat around the lower boy, while expecting the upper body to grow. Once again, not to be harsh, but you seriously need to add pounds to that bar.
Muscle growth requires over-eating, fat loss requires under-eating.
At best, all you’re doing here is making the upper body grow at a snails pace (in essence, your body is simply redistributing muscle proteins), while losing a tiny amount of fat. That method will get you no-where at this stage.
You are skinny. Bring your bodyweight up (EAT), while giving good attention to all bodyparts (so yeah, that includes not just doing basic lifts where lower body gets more attention that upper).
Make your whole body BIG (just as much focus all over), then when you lean out, you may find that you’re not as “imbalanced” as you thought you were.[/quote]
Like I said in my OP, I’m not trying to lose weight anymore. At a previous point in time I saw my large legs as the problem, now I’m looking at my skinny upper body as the problem.
I also want to ask how sore I should be the next day after a work out. The weights I’m using (apart from calves ones) are excruciatingly heavy for me and I work up a sweat straight away, however I’m not as sore the next day as I think I should be, apart from a bit of stiffness.
[quote]big nurse wrote:
I was thinking …:
Take a risk (not a risk really) and post up a couple of pics, might seem a bit scary but don’t stress overmuch, i posted some quite bad ‘before’ and ‘during’ pics over on my own thread in the over 35s.
now–defintely not pretty, especially before and i was pretty embarrassed about them but all i got was positive feedback about how well i had done to go from fat/fat to ‘a lot leaner’.
Self perception is a weird thing, the way we see ourselves if often way skewed compared against a much more objective view from others.
i think you would really surprise yourself if you just did what everyone is saying ie go at the training with seriousness and hard graft, eat well, sleep well…rinse and repeat.
Just some thoughts from a previously fat bastard…now skinny intermediately not so fat skinny bastard…or whatever !![/quote]
It’s not so much the people here seeing me I’m worried about. It’s the possibility of someone I already know coming across here and recognising me or the room I take the photo in. I’m sure you could picture my body type though, basically no fat or muscle whatsoever on my arms or chest and if I lift up my legs my thigh fat hangs down alot like a womans, whih is why I was convinced this was a hormonal problem.
[quote]thogue wrote:
Which makes me even more surprised that people are calling out 22 inch legs as fat on a 6’3 man??) I think the problem is just the upper body is so small, that even the frame of the hips (which aren’t particularly big) make it seem proportionately big compared to the chest.[/quote]
Exactly. 22 inch legs are NOT abnormally large for a 6 ft 3 male. They are not large at all. The hip measurement may be proportionally larger than normal compared to the rest of your frame, but then it is hardly “too large”. You weigh 75 kilos or ~ 165 lbs at 6’3", with 12 " arms. I HIGHLY doubt this is a true bodyfat distribution problem because you are so skinny (the hips/ glutes are ALWAYS the last to lean uo, in EVERYONE) although the only way to tell for sure would be a picture. It is much more likely that it is a problem based on you being too damn skinny everywhere else. I find it frightening that the people you are currently around call that “fat”.
TWENTY TWO INCH THIGHS ARE FUCKING SKINNY JESUS.
Squat til they’re at least twenty six inches of muscle. Six three OP? Make that twenty seven inches of muscle.
[quote]Izzy_77 wrote:
I also want to ask how sore I should be the next day after a work out. The weights I’m using (apart from calves ones) are excruciatingly heavy for me and I work up a sweat straight away, however I’m not as sore the next day as I think I should be, apart from a bit of stiffness. [/quote]
Soreness is not an indicator of muscle growth, weight gain and strength gains are your best measures.
A little stiffness is expected, but not every muscle will hurt (especially as you adapt more). A good 2-3 quality sets on an exercise (last set to failure) is usually enough to make the target muscle a little sore/stiff on myself the next day, but it’s not exactly excruciating. Some muscles barely even get sore (just stiff), but they still grow.
[quote]its_just_me wrote:
[quote]Izzy_77 wrote:
I also want to ask how sore I should be the next day after a work out. The weights I’m using (apart from calves ones) are excruciatingly heavy for me and I work up a sweat straight away, however I’m not as sore the next day as I think I should be, apart from a bit of stiffness. [/quote]
Soreness is not an indicator of muscle growth, weight gain and strength gains are your best measures.
A little stiffness is expected, but not every muscle will hurt (especially as you adapt more). A good 2-3 quality sets on an exercise (last set to failure) is usually enough to make the target muscle a little sore/stiff on myself the next day, but it’s not exactly excruciating. Some muscles barely even get sore (just stiff), but they still grow.[/quote]
IMO you should be as sore as your recovery and routine dictates. I get most of my soreness from isolation work and burnouts when I’m looking for a pump. that soreness increases with more reps, the size of the pump and lactic acid buildup.
I trained my traps yesterday knowing that I’d need them a bit for ohp today. usually I’ll push my last exercise to absolute failure, and if the burn isn’t excruciatingly painful I know I need to keep pushing. but since I’m doing ohp today, I didnt push myself that far.
I have this problem too. What has worked for me is specializing on back for some time, then on chest, then back again and so on. Also consider training your legs for strength and your other body parts for mass until your body balances out.
[quote]fr0IVIan wrote:
[quote]its_just_me wrote:
[quote]Izzy_77 wrote:
I also want to ask how sore I should be the next day after a work out. The weights I’m using (apart from calves ones) are excruciatingly heavy for me and I work up a sweat straight away, however I’m not as sore the next day as I think I should be, apart from a bit of stiffness. [/quote]
Soreness is not an indicator of muscle growth, weight gain and strength gains are your best measures.
A little stiffness is expected, but not every muscle will hurt (especially as you adapt more). A good 2-3 quality sets on an exercise (last set to failure) is usually enough to make the target muscle a little sore/stiff on myself the next day, but it’s not exactly excruciating. Some muscles barely even get sore (just stiff), but they still grow.[/quote]
IMO you should be as sore as your recovery and routine dictates. I get most of my soreness from isolation work and burnouts when I’m looking for a pump. that soreness increases with more reps, the size of the pump and lactic acid buildup.
I trained my traps yesterday knowing that I’d need them a bit for ohp today. usually I’ll push my last exercise to absolute failure, and if the burn isn’t excruciatingly painful I know I need to keep pushing. but since I’m doing ohp today, I didnt push myself that far.[/quote]
Thanks to both you guys for clearing that up for me.
[quote]Raw Finn wrote:
I have this problem too. What has worked for me is specializing on back for some time, then on chest, then back again and so on. Also consider training your legs for strength and your other body parts for mass until your body balances out.[/quote]
My back really needs work, as my butt sticks out an embarrasing amount and it would be less noticible if my back wasn’t so damn skinny. So that and my chest are the problems. Did you go by any specific routine and did it get you the results you wanted?
Im actually thinking about changing routines completely and working only on upper body. The only gains Ive noticed on my current routine have been on my legs and thats the opposite of what I wanted. I know people have said not to neglect them but they’re already abnormally large for my frame and they’re getting bigger not leaner. Can anyone vouch for any good workout programs for chest, back and arms?
what you’re thinking of doing? don’t do it.
at the very least, train your legs at the end of the week, and train them with a focus on strength rather than size.
if you don’t train them at all while you hit your upper body hard, they’ll fall behind and later on you’ll be forced to play catch up. and given how painful leg sessions can be, catching up with your legs will make every session feel longer and more torturous than they already are. then there’s the weeks-long adjustment period of learning how to squat and deadlift correctly.
can you imagine how ridiculous you’ll look with an upper body that is showing signs of development and supporting them underneath are the same weak flabby legs you’ve always had? yup, you’ll look like every other douchebro at the gym.
you can prioritize certain body parts over others. don’t neglect anything. train everything from the beginning.
[quote]fr0IVIan wrote:
what you’re thinking of doing? don’t do it.
at the very least, train your legs at the end of the week, and train them with a focus on strength rather than size.
if you don’t train them at all while you hit your upper body hard, they’ll fall behind and later on you’ll be forced to play catch up. and given how painful leg sessions can be, catching up with your legs will make every session feel longer and more torturous than they already are. then there’s the weeks-long adjustment period of learning how to squat and deadlift correctly.
can you imagine how ridiculous you’ll look with an upper body that is showing signs of development and supporting them underneath are the same weak flabby legs you’ve always had? yup, you’ll look like every other douchebro at the gym.
you can prioritize certain body parts over others. don’t neglect anything. train everything from the beginning.[/quote]
That is so true, there is more than one guy at my gym with a really strong looking upper body and these tint stick like legs, all i have seen one of them do is endless bicep curls and cable crossover work.
Balance…
[quote]Izzy_77 wrote:
[quote]Raw Finn wrote:
I have this problem too. What has worked for me is specializing on back for some time, then on chest, then back again and so on. Also consider training your legs for strength and your other body parts for mass until your body balances out.[/quote]
My back really needs work, as my butt sticks out an embarrasing amount and it would be less noticible if my back wasn’t so damn skinny. So that and my chest are the problems. Did you go by any specific routine and did it get you the results you wanted?
Im actually thinking about changing routines completely and working only on upper body. The only gains Ive noticed on my current routine have been on my legs and thats the opposite of what I wanted. I know people have said not to neglect them but they’re already abnormally large for my frame and they’re getting bigger not leaner. Can anyone vouch for any good workout programs for chest, back and arms?[/quote]
Train your legs for strength.
First I specialized on my chest. I had been doing just barbell bench presses. That wasn’t enough. At least change them to dumbbell bench presses and go deep to get a stretch. If you are very flexible you could be able to go maybe even too deep - like my friend did. You should go deeper than when using a barbell but not more than 2-4 inches. If you are “too flexible”, then get a pump. It helps because it will stiffen your chest and you can’t go “too” deep anymore.
My program was 3x12-15 on barbell bp. (I needed that much reps to get a pump with a barbell.)
Then (in the same workout) proceeded to do flys for 3x12-15. Finally a pec-deck machine for 2x12-15. I went to failure (or very near) with the last set of each exercise. I did this TWICE a week. My rest periods were only 1 minute long. I think such a short rest is very important for the pump and therefore feeling the muscle.
If I would specialize now I would do dumbbell bench presses or DB incline bench presses for 3x10 and pec-deck for 3x10 twice a week. Not barbell because it seems that I can’t target chest with that. Not flys because they kill my shoulders these days because I would need a lot heavier weight. I also have to use a neutral grip on DB presses with elbows tucked in to save my shoulders. This targets chest still surprisingly well.
I don’t feel the need to specialize on my chest now so I’m only using 5 reps now and only on either a DB bench p. or a barbell bench p. and focusing on strength.
I think 10 reps is the best for mass for immediate results. 5 reps is better in the long run because it gives you strength way better. Use both periodically.
Currently I’m specializing on back. I simply just do pullups every or every other day as an addition to my regular workouts of 1x week weighted pullups, 1x week rows and 1x week deadlifts.
If you have trouble targeting your back, remember to pull leading with your elbows and think that you don’t even have biceps. 
Also practice flexing and squeezing your back muscles.
Again: Train your legs for strength. Never totally ignore your biggest bodypart. That would be a huge mistake.
Oh, and yeah my chest and back have grown considerably after I started specializing on them.
[quote]fr0IVIan wrote:
can you imagine how ridiculous you’ll look with an upper body that is showing signs of development and supporting them underneath are the same weak flabby legs you’ve always had? yup, you’ll look like every other douchebro at the gym.
[/quote]
I wouldn’t look any more ridiculous than I look now. There IS alot of muscle on my legs anyway.
Just venting here, as I’ve been looking at myself in the mirror for 10 minutes and now I feel utterly depressed. Something I neglected to mention in my first post was that according to doctors my hip bones have rolled outwards because of leg complications I’ve had since a young age. I’ve come across other people on the net who have this same hip problem and have also complained of larger legs/butt and little mass on their upper body. Isn’t this at the very least indicative of some kind of connection?
I’ll keep on working out for now, but there has to be something else at play. Based on how I treated my health my whole life there should be no reason tp look like this.
Never mind, I just found out that there is a connection. What I have is a case of knock-knees and my legs have become abnormally bulky as a result of (and to prevent further) deviation in hip alignment. So by all accounts, I should be a regular skinny guy if it weren’t for this. I’m wondering now that if I was able to completely correct my hip alignment, would the muscle go away. But it doesn’t work like that does it
you’re making this too complicated. if the condition does not cause pain or does not affect movement or activities of daily living, you are fine.
prioritize upper body training to bring it up to par with your legs.
do not neglect training your legs or they will fall behind. train them with a focus on strength rather than size if you must focus on one rather than the other.
you act as if nobody else commenting has had this problem. I have felt that my legs are much bigger in proportion to the rest of my body since forever. I prioritized my training sessions as above for a year. guess what? now everything is evening out and my legs are emerging as a weakness.
When there’s unusual fat distribution most times it’s an issue of genetics opposed to hormonal issues. Some populations, some individuals, store-fat in different places. Often-times some of this weight might have been some of the first weight you gained, might be the last to come off.
I had unusual mass distribution, I was really fat at one point with no muscle. All I can tell you is make friends with interval training, it helps build muscle, burn fat, alters the metabolism a little too. By interval training I mean anything you do that is going to blast the anaerobic system. Sprint intervals (become an okay runner before hitting sprints) will help massively, with a weight vest as well.
some-thing like interval sledge hammer training (though a sledge is dangerous, find some-thing else to start off with) fast movements that blast your anaerobic sytem.
weight-training is good as well, stick to a lot of compound movements. farmers walk, squat, deadlift, etc. Unusual fat distribution sucks, but hell, it’s just fat and it’ll eventually come off when you train hard. A good indication of how hard you are training, if you are training “right” for your goals, you will be pouring sweat like someone has been throwing 2liter buckets of water on you, either by the end, or sometimes in the first 2 minutes.
1 set of 30 squats where you could only usually handle the weight of 10reps, when your chest feels like it’s being beaten on my hammers, that stuff works well. (build up to it slowly, though). Hell, honestly for some reason “shrugs” in the middle of a good workout, when done heavy make me pour sweat, or at least they did when I first started working out.
There is only one secret method you need to worry about: hard work. When you workout, no matter what it is you are doing, you want to be hitting momentary failure, to be pushing yourself as far and as hard as you can do, every-time. If you do that, you can do your own routine, or ANY routine ANY of us give you. Just put all your effort within health limitations. (I am not saying try and pull up some obscene weight on the bar that you feel you can’t handle. as heavy as you can go and maintain proper ‘form’ and saftey)
you’ve already seen some results, keep up the good work!
Here’s an issue where diet matters a lot. eat lean proteins, chicken, fish, lots of fruits and vegetables, complex carbs, the healthier you eat during this point the better the gains/losses will be where you want them to be. This is an issue that goes without saying, but I really mean it, not just a half effort to eat healthy, but the entire dedicated effort.
low carb keto diets work wonderfully, but I find that you can also go high carb if you want to really push/stress anaerobic workouts, running a lot. I wouldn’t worry about cutting “good” carbs a lot until you get a lot of muscle and then you get fairly lean anyway. you want carbs for energy when you are doing interval training, you want them to help recovery too. I’d say they are almost required on the “harder” days.
You mention your legs and problem areas. I had this as well, sprinting will help, but you want to build up those hamstrings, quads and glutes as well. I find box-squats also tend to hit the inner thigh area well. A nice session of box-squats, followed by some heavy-step ups, and a deadlift variation directed at the hamstrings. It’s a problem area for you, but keep in mind that over the years the legs can pack on A LOT of muscle. It’s only a matter of time for you probably.