Progress Since Competition

[quote]Naked Sweat Drip wrote:

[quote]Iron Dwarf wrote:
Your cameraman doesn’t lift, does he? A lifter would KNOW to be sure to show your squat from head to toe, and not cut off the part we need to see most. ;)[/quote]

Haha he does, just a bad camera man. He went up a little heavier than me that day to 405 for 12 same box height, just above parallel.

[quote]lemony2j wrote:
It looks like the guy on the right ate the guy on the left in those pics! Very impressed with your progress on every body part.

What have you done to attain such monstrous quads? Anything special/different? I’m guessing they are a strong point naturally but worth an ask
[/quote]

Thanks I really appreciate it. Looking sick in your avi btw. I would say that since I " figured" out how to train legs they grow very easily. I have to preach John Meadows techniques for legs. I could post pictures of my legs from a couple of years ago when i was squatting only slightly lighter than what I am now and my legs look like chit.

I really didn’t get the mass and shape until I started doing mountain dog style training, crazy hamstring work first and then doing hard hard nasty 3 second negatives with drop sets on the leg press. Call me crazy but I would credit most of my leg mass to those nasty leg press drop sets followed up with a close stance smith squat… I know sac-religous right. . I would not credit barbell squats with much of my leg development,

Thanks man, I completely understand what your saying, this time last year I was focusing on bb squats with no more than 5 reps per set and got up to a reasonable 1rm but my legs didn’t reflect this at all. I’ve completely changed my leg training since September pretty much as you’ve described and I’m noticing changes already, so hopefully I’m on the right track! And I’m trying hard to not come across all fanboy for John Meadows methods but they work, simple as that

Definite jumps in improvement in just a year! Pecs thicker, back and shoulders broader, quad sweep… damn quad sweep -lol. Great that you can be so analytic in your training. I know you’re still fairly young, and I have no doubt that you’ve got some great contest placings in your future.

S

I think you can go deeper on those squats, but with those quads who cares. What you’re doing is working. Good progress man.

And I wouldn’t worry too much about the forearms.

Wait, am I missing something, or are you saying that you only train legs once every two weeks?

[quote]kingbeef323 wrote:
Fking quads… GOod work, man[/quote]

Thanks KB, always admired your physique and work ethic. I hope we get to see you on stage some day!

[quote]lemony2j wrote:

Thanks man, I completely understand what your saying, this time last year I was focusing on bb squats with no more than 5 reps per set and got up to a reasonable 1rm but my legs didn’t reflect this at all. I’ve completely changed my leg training since September pretty much as you’ve described and I’m noticing changes already, so hopefully I’m on the right track! And I’m trying hard to not come across all fanboy for John Meadows methods but they work, simple as that
[/quote]

Agreed, may you build tree trunks in no time! Yeah JM has had the single most influence on my training, he’s a great guy, and no bull shit just things that work. Tax season is coming around soon and I’m really hoping I can give him some business, I know it’d be worth it.

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
Definite jumps in improvement in just a year! Pecs thicker, back and shoulders broader, quad sweep… damn quad sweep -lol. Great that you can be so analytic in your training. I know you’re still fairly young, and I have no doubt that you’ve got some great contest placings in your future.

S[/quote]

Thanks Stu, I really appreciate the kind words. Your contributions to this board and openness to help anyone that posts blows me away. Always love to hear your insights on training.

[quote]Maiden3.16 wrote:
I think you can go deeper on those squats, but with those quads who cares. What you’re doing is working. Good progress man.

And I wouldn’t worry too much about the forearms. [/quote]

Thanks Maiden, I’ll do some nice deep squats tonight just for you haha. Looking good in the avi btw.

[quote]The3Commandments wrote:
Wait, am I missing something, or are you saying that you only train legs once every two weeks?[/quote]

This is correct for now, but keep in mind this is something I have only had going for the last two months. I trained legs hard every week up until recently. I am only looking to make small strides in leg development right now or maintain. My focus is bringing up other body parts to make everything nice and symmetrical so it all goes together. That is my goal for my next show, I really want everything to match.

Thanks again for the kind words everyone and the constructive criticisms, it is very helpful to me.

Can you say a bit about what led you to the 4x/week? I feel like the # of days per week that people train is relatively idiosyncratic, but it also seems that many great bodybuilders (e.g. Matt Krock and Shelby Starnes) train 4x/week like you. Do you do anything in particular on off days?

Certainly, I have done 3, 4, and 5 days of weight training a week. When I first started out in 2009 I started with the 5/3/1 and that program works very well. One day was Squat day with assistance work, one day was deadlift and OHP Day with assistance, and One day was Bench day with assistance as per the program.

I progressed on the lifts consistently and not long after I started to see some physique progress. At that point I realized I really wasn’t getting any direct arm work in, and arms day was born and I trained like that for a while. Then I decided, well Maybe I should have a day dedicated just to shoulders and I trained monday-friday. Not long after I started reading Jm’s articles and I saw that in those he had setup 4-day splits and he had a great reason to train chest and shoulders together and have been doing that since.

If I train hard like I try to always do and keep my diet in check I see great results from 4 days. I hope this makes some sense haha. So growth and trial and error. My off days I just carry out my normal life aside from all the meals and stuff like that. Some off days I’ll cut out some calories and some training days I will go really overboard on calories, it all kind of self regulates. I like to keep things simple and effective, If I am not getting results I will try new things, up calories etc.

So I had a good back day tonight, tried a few new things like smith rows. Thought it might bother my si joint and it didn’t, they felt really awesome with a hard elbow drive like John recommends. I’m starting to look for shows now. I plan on competing in the fall so I have about six more months to bring up tri’s, chest, and fore arms… and continue to widen up shoulders and my back.