New 32 Year Old Fatty

Hello all. I’m a 32 year old, 267 pound, 5’ 11" fatty who just wants to get stronger and more fit. If I were to post some videos here (though embarrassed as I am of them), would someone be willing to critique my form?

I’m not comfortable posting videos of myself since I just look like a fat guy lifting weights, but I lift alone and have no one to tell me if my form sucks. Is that all right in this forum?

Hey man, props on wanting to improve your body!

Sure you can post some vids for form check, just don’t lift half naked :slight_smile: ! ! !

Also, use “working” weight, not an empty bar or a warm-up set.

Hope you already know that loosing fat is more about diet than exercising (even if it can help, of course).

What your program looks like (days of training, exercises, sets, reps, etc…)?

Do you have a solid diet? Mind posting it?

1 Like

[quote]junaitari wrote:
I’ve been on this routine for about 3 or 4 months and have lost around 15 pounds.[/quote]
That’s 1.25lbs. per week on average. That’s perfection in loss right there. Congratulations!

[quote]junaitari wrote:
I have both squat & deadlift from the side. Should I do the same for the bench press or is a view from the front acceptable?
[/quote]

Side view for squat and DL should be fine; for BP, the best option is something halfway between side and front view.

Nice fat loss so far, sound routine choice too.

Have you seen Christian Thibaudeau’s videos on the “perfect rep”? It has worked very well in helping me increase power on big strength exercises such as bench, squat, and military press.

The basic idea is to lower the weight slow and controlled, and explode up with as much force and acceleration as possible. That’s a bad oversimplification of the process, but check it out:

http://www.T-Nation.com/free_online_program/sports_body_training_muscle_anaconda/anaconda_protocol?s=index#3-8211-perfect-rep

It looks like you are bringing the weight down pretty quickly and maybe not under the most control. Also, you seem to be pressing the weight with the same speed at which you are doing the eccentric motion. Just a few thoughts, hope that helps.

I would def go to EliteFTS and look at the bench series that Dave Tate has been putting out, its some really good stuff. Its also a great site if you are more in to the powerlifting kinda stuff. I know where you are coming from being a heavy guy wanting to lift heavy weight. and 345 bench is pretty good man I wouldn’t be ashamed of that at all, most assholes who go to the gym for years never move 315.

In both videos it looks like your upper back is not tight enough; you really need to squeeze your shoulder blades together.

Nice benching, but everything (from legs to upper back) is much too loose, and you should arch your back a bit more.

[quote]junaitari wrote:
Ok, gotcha I’ll work on keeping my upper back tight. When I bench, though, I have full intentions of being tight, but it feels like my bench is too tall and makes it hard for me to get a stable base. It’s a Body Solid GFID31. Once my legs go, everything gets loose. Perhaps I should put some boards on the floor where my feet should plant and see if that helps me stay tight.

Thanks for the suggestions. I will try to put them into practice. [/quote]

Focus on squeezing the glutes, that’ll help keep your body tight during the bench.

Honestly I think your squat form looks great, but it was kind of hard to tell from that angle. And as was mentioned by a couple other folks, you’re already pushing some serious weight, so congrats on that :wink:

A note on the squat: Since you mention knee injury, you might wanna descend slower on your reps instead of dropping down so quickly.

Yeah I always squat and DL slow. It’s just a habit, but I have always felt that there was some kind of benefit. It seems like I am working harder that way somehow.

So even though I have no scientific reason to back it up, I recommend slower reps