Current Bodybuilding Training Thread 2.0

@BrickHead This is awesome. Thank you.

Now, and I know this is difficult due to individual genetics, muscle bellies etc. What would the resulting body look like? In other words what do you consider a “decent looking physique” can you think of any examples be it athletes, actors, etc?

Not using a scale at this point is the hardest thing to do for me. Missing a w/o ehh, not measuring food out I probably wont eat or I consider it a carb up/cheat meal.

I will check out those authors mentioned.

Dude, again, I don’t meant to be a wiseass, but, I’ll ask, How the heck am I gonna gonna know what each and every individual man is gonna look like after training with a specific program??? And how am I going to describe the unknown man we are speaking about?

Tough love: you’re really daydreaming too much.

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You could put two guys (not twins) at the same beginning level of training, muscularity, diet, etc. on the same training plan and you’ll probably get two different physiques. So, it’d be very difficult for someone to tell you what you’ll look like in two years.

Speaking in generalities, though, following the split Brick laid out for the every-man…you’ll probably hover around 12-14% BF (not fat, but not lean necessarily, just typical) but with general muscle. You’ll look active/people can tell you workout occasionally.

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In his defense he did follow up with what you consider a decent physique. I to would be interested as in the past I asked CT the same question.

See, I do not think so. Muscle wise there will be a limit to what that split can give but, with the right exercises as we know bodybuilding is about illusion and a good diet I think you can look good.

Of course with out pictures it is hard to establish what one considers not fat, but not lean necessarily. We may be in complete agreement.

T-mag writer, beach-body. He writes for guys who will likely wind up with a beach body with his programs.

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Matthew McConaughey, beach body.

Jesse Metcalfe

I think that matches the photos Brick posted. My quote was more of a “with your shirt on” statement…as most guys don’t walk around shirtless day-to-day. Take the shirt off, though, and people will definitely be able to tell that you workout and are in shape.

Also, my statements were made with the (perhaps fool-hardy) assumption that he won’t be eating and dieting LIKE A BODYBUILDER, but rather like an ordinary dude.

Think you mean not fat but not “shredded”. The guys I show here are are very healthy body fat levels and considered lean. Shredded (5-7%) is unhealthy and unsustainable and any modern fitness writer who says he walks around at 5% year round is full of it.

Brad obviously shows great conditioning here, but from an aesthetic view, you can clearly see his arms are lagging and I would guess (this pose is all I can go on) that his v-taper may not be ideal with a fairly wide looking waist.

Now, people will argue the whole powerlifting makes you blocky (thick obliques?) argument, but at the end of the day, a bodybuilder is trying to sculpt a given set of proportions, with size and conditioning as well. A daunting task indeed. Can you take someone who is moderately muscled and just diet them down until they’ve got veins and striations? Yeah, but that’s not always gonna win a contest.

Getting brads size from an abbreviated routine? I did 3 way splits (m,w,f) when I started grad school and made decent gains. Time was limited and that was all I could spare. Did I look like a well rounded bodybuilder? Not really, but I was able to put on size with a fairly infrequent body part split. My brother did likewise when he was finishing his doctorate. Obviously you need to be on point diet wise though, and even then, genetics are always the great decider.

S

does nobody else feel like they grow better training less? Like 3x a week?

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re: those pics up there - how many of us would have loved to look like that when we started lifting, but now you look at them like “meh…”

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I don’t mean to say this dismissively at all! However, when I was MUCH younger, like in my mid-teens, I thought that all fitness writers must be jacked and have phenomenal physiques. Those were the days of magazines though, before social media, and for many of these writers, there were only a handful of photographs of them floating around, perhaps “magic photos” of them in which they were at a time in their lives which they were in very good or decent shape. I also thought that to be a top trainer or writer in the fitness biz, one would have to have a great body. Now I am older and more developed–more developed and leaner than some of them actually.

I don’t knock these guys, as some of them are good people, but having suffered through my first contest prep, I have really gained a new perspective on who I think people with specific aims should be listening to.

I REALLY want to name names of modern popular writers who are oh-so-fond of shuffling research studies and information to and fro, talking about bodybuilding, and telling bodybuilders what to do, all while one can’t find one damn shirtless photo of these guys circulating anywhere, nor do they resemble a bodybuilder in a fitting T-shirt. And I don’t mean I expect all these guys to have hulking physiques, which isn’t even necessary to look like a decent bodybuilder or some guy that appears to do serious bodybuilding training, even in a shirt. They speak about how one should do this, one should do that, and “research says”, but do not resemble a bodybuilder.
@The_Mighty_Stu
Oh, oooh, oooh, there are two smart asses I want to mention, but in good conscience, won’t. I don’t even think they personally coach bodybuilders but are all over BB forums and events.

I started getting better results for bodybuilding when I gave up training on a three or four day program of upper-lower training and went to a two-on-one-off sched. Granted the more you train, the rougher it is on the body. But there’s the tradeoff: either train less/less optimally for a goal and feel good in other ways–perhaps less sore, more energy for other activities–or train optimally for a goal, say bodybuilding, and realize there’s going to be more fatigue, soreness, and less motivation in other areas of life.

Let’s also add that the more one trains, to feel good and progress, the better sleep, lifestyle, and diet should be.

@BrickHead

Would you say that a body similar to Kron would then be an issue with diet? Being more rigid with your macros.

Yes, perhaps, considering many fighters do have to keep their diet in check to stay in a weight class. But then again, many have a huge training schedule and often miss meals and under eat.

Definitely, and “training less” can take on a few meanings depending on whether it’s days a week, or dialing back volume. I find whenever I’m going hard for a long time and back off in some manner, good progress is made. That has been on a 3x per week plan, although eventually I feel like things slow down and I need to increase frequency again.

Recently I’ve been making what I feel is some serious progress dialing back my volume to a more “normal” amount, anywhere from 9-15 working sets per muscle per week (except arms that I hit twice a week currently), where I used to do at least 12 and up to 21 working sets per muscle. I also almost never do more than 3 working sets per exercise, where I used to do 4-5 pretty consistently. My workouts take less time, I feel like I can execute with more intensity, and I’m recovering/growing better.

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yep! Now this post is 20 characters.

Yeah, this is right with my usual complaint of the current generation of study-quoters online. Everyone can cite pubmed studies yet they all (most?) look DYEL and none have a proven record of successfully training others (because not every “coach” had good genetics, but should still be able to get other results right?)

I’m certainly all for Keepin up with the science behind our chosen pursuit, but when all you can do is quote studies, but are still unable to put any of your “knowledge” to real world use, is it really of any value?

S