Nailed my BF level first guess. I am not super vascular but have a full six pack. Caliper at 14% and electronic reading about 16% but I’m always dehydrated which gives those false highs.
Full six pack is possible at 15%, even 20%, depends on genetics and how much muscular mass you have around your midsection. At 17% I only have the outline fo my abs, one can see individual abdominals if flexing.
I’ve been interested in this concept myself as another member here brought it to my attention. I had honestly never thought about this until then.
My FFMI is 24.8 and then it says normalized FFMI 25.013. So theoretically, because I am not on TRT of any sort, and I cycle on and off, if I ran another cycle, I am essentially wasting my time? If i put on say 5lbs of lean muscle next cycle, which would put my close to an FFMI of 26, then I realistically would not be able to maintain that after PCT due to it being over my genetic potential?
My goal has always been 215, which is when I had planned to genuinely stop, and just maintain, however my FFMI would be over 27, thus I would not be able to maintain this without cruising on a relatively high dose of test?
Depends on individualistic genetic potential. It appears AAS have the ability to slightly alter the morphology and fibre dominance of skeletal muscle, hence somewhat increasing one’s genetic maximum, whether that equates to you being able to maintain an FFMI of 27 is unknown, it’s individualistic. The potential for the formation of new muscle fibres is also a distinct possibility.
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Agreed, regarding 6 pack and genetics. I also generally speak about the “average” of what my experience has seen. As with anything there are genetic outliers. I posted my caliper readings as a kudos to your guess.
The pic you posted a little bit back (untrained eye) looked about 13-14% to me
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I calculated my FFMI and I too am near 25. This doesn’t make sense… I feel like there is still quite a bit of room to grow. Especially when compared to some others in the gym, unless there’s a lot of genetically superior folk there or more steroid users than I originally thought.
Nope, still very sore lol
There’s definitely a lot more dudes on AAS than I had ever previously thought. But I agree, there’s clearly some folks that are just thicker and built larger with different genetics. I feel “small” at the gym, partly in my own head, but I definitely don’t feel maxed out compared to how others look.
You and I are less than 1 FFMI away from one another, and we alone look a decent bit different aesthetically. To be fair, this photo is recent but ON cycle. Off cycle I am not quite this “full” looking.
@unreal24278 , maybe my FFMI is higher and I just suck at guessing BF now. I used to be much smaller and leaner, and could always tell within 1%. I’m in new territory now and have not had it actually checked it
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you got damgood shape bro: you bodybuilder or powerlifter?
Well sir, you have a very nice physique, what cycles do you run? What are you on currently?
Idk where to put this however I have a question to many @Singhbuilder @aaronca @iron_yuppie @studhammer @whoeverelse @weightliftingwithoutlimits
So I’m contemplating switching out deadlifts within my routine entirely with the reason due to the fact it’s
- Very taxing on the CNS, thus allowing me to perform less volume on other lifts dedicated to hypertrophy (don’t care at all about strength, it’s merely a byproduct of training for aesthetics to me)
- The very first lifting injury I ever accrued was due to deadlifting, thus it seems stupid that I’m doing them with regularity. I can feel some semblance of strain even now when I do them (first injury was around 13-14 years old), thus it’s irresponsible and stupid of me to be doing this particular exercise
Was thinking for back development I could switch out the movement with rack pulls (at the knee), and weighted hyperextensions and for legs Romanian deadlifts and barbell glute bridges should suffice for hamstring/glute development. My question is, how much of a nessecity do you guys believe deadlifts to be from a STRICTLY bodybuilding perspective? I don’t bench press, nor do I overhead press as my numerous ailments don’t allow for such movement, yet I find I can maintain and even gain adequate pectoral development with dips (weighted dips, machine dips etc) alone, and shoulder development from various high volume lateral raises/rear delt work. The only reason for me to continue deadlifting at this point (if other work would theoretically allow me to maintain/gain with lesser chance or injury and allow for a higher volume to be implemented) is ego… and fuck that, that’s what gets people injured. If I further injure myself I’m looking at serious trouble (already have a fucked up shoulder, sub-par knees, lower back etc… due in part to accelerated stress, wear and tear on my joints stemming from excess hypermobility/lax ligaments and somewhat defective collagen (heart is fine though, so yeet, no worries there)
Looking for opinions yeet
Honestly, if you are doing deadlifts correctly, your glutes should be hammered. Even on a max effort conventional deadlift, I never really feel it in spinal erectors. For me, its all glutes (some quads and some hamstrings). Even when I grind out reps, my back never feels the brunt, its mostly glutes for me.
If you can get your glutes working correctly in the deadlift, it really is the best thing you can do for posterior chain strength and I would much rather one put their energy into this exercise (and its variations - banded, deficit, heavy ass chains), then a bunch of assistance work
I actually use chains quite a lot for my deadlifts now and it really kicks your ass
Even if your not into strength and only for aesthetics. It really will build meat.
Nice! I dropped Deadlifts from my routine because I never got the glutes working that well. But now my knees make trouble which they never did, so I need to reintroduce them. How is it with systemic stress (CNS heavily involved in Deadlifts)? Since you are doing PL I guess your nervous system is very robust and can handle a lot of heavy lifting.
There are far more steroid users than you originally thought. Depending on the gym it’s either a handful or a shitload. The barrier to entry is much lower today than it was when I first started lifting back in the late 90’s.
My man, you have perfect proportions. That’s some statue shit right there.
It’s a huge recreational facility at the school I go to. I’ve been training hard and eating clean for a long time, plus I know my drugs, so I’ve always been very suspicious about their use. Like some of them come in and do shitty movements and I guarantee their lifestyle isn’t as on track as mine and they still blow me away. So unless I’m underestimating their intellegence/willpower/genetics, I’m pretty certain now that when I see someone who I think is using then they probably are.
With the drugs, yes. I can max out 3/4 times per week as long as my elbows don’t shit themselves.
I know exactly what you mean. Some guys it’s obvious they’re using. There’s a dude who’s now three weeks out from a competition and about four weeks ago he was still at like 20% bf but was vascular in places that it just shouldn’t be possible while being that heavy. But other guys are much less obvious. At that point it’s all about how they train and their form. Huge guys with bad form have some advantage, chemical or genetic, that’s making up for their shortcomings.
I will say that strength is not an indicator though. When I was a freshman in college I was much stronger than I am now and I was just a regular natty 19 year old. I had good form and genetics for certain things (but never benching; my God the shit I took from friends for my terrible bench) and I was lapping guys bigger than me in a few lifts. Had nothing to do with anything other than a dna lottery and a focus on good form.
Appreciate it man. I lift more in the BB rep ranges. Never taken it seriously beyond for my own personal satisfaction. If I lift for strength I do not grow much, but rather just get stronger. My growth is best at that 6-12 range.
First cycle was Test E 500mg weekly for 10 weeks. Second cycle was Test E 500mg weekly for 10 weeks with 30mg DBol for first 4 weeks. Just ended my third cycle, 500mg week if Test E for 13 weeks with 50mg anavar for the last 7 weeks. Tomorrow will be Day 1 of PCT. appreciate the kind words!
As for dead lifts…I personally only do RDL. I feel as though it is less taxing on my CNS, and I feel as though I personally get more hamstring recruitment. I go heavier on squats and leg press, and keep my RDL at or below 315.
My back isn’t great by any means, but i don’t feel as though I’m missing out on much more by skipping traditional heavy dead’s.