Okay, so to make a long story short, I was overweight and fat the first 17 years of my life, played football 8th grade through Senior year of high school and decided to lose weight after football.
I cut down from 215 to 165 and held that weight until June 07 when I decided to bulk and gain some size. I bulked until February 08 and started my cut for a show I was going to do in June 08 but to the advice of some competitive BB’s I know and a lack of overall back size I decided against doing the show but still cut down to 183.
The pictures shown are me taken today after starting to ramp up overall calories and carbs in prep for my next bulk starting in September. My plan is to bulk back up to 208 but do it a little cleaner this time and do a show next summer.
Keeping in mind your show next year, your chest is a clear strong point and you back seems to be lagging behind. Everything else is in proportion and just needs more size/less fat, or course.
Solid physique and if you stick with it for a few years you will be great.
Looking good, young man. Very solid base. You’ve got some clear ideas of what you’re aiming for and it’s obvious you’ve put some hard work in. Good job and keep up the excellent work. Best of luck to you.
Not bad at all man, congrats on actually bulking after having been fat and losing the weight.
Your BBing future already looks infinitely better than that of the “no bulking!” crowd.
I think your lats aren’t as weak as you believe, you simply don’t know how to bring them out well enough in the front and back spread.
Watch some Pro’s do it on video and/or pictures for a start (press hands against sides, different shoulder placement and scapular rotation, etc).
Your Lat spread attempts will look rather amusing, otherwise
I wouldn’t say that your traps are a weak point actually, I’d rather work on the delts as you look a little narrow from the front (might just be my odd monitor resolution, though, but your shoulder girdle reminds me of arnold’s stooped-shoulders look)
and maybe bring your arms (it’s impossible to have tris that are too big unless you inject funny substances into them :P) up in relation to the rest.
Well, just gain more mass all-over, really
Good luck for that show man, you’ll nail it, and remember to get your posing right!
Great overall physique! My only comment is that you mention your legs as a strong point. With a bench that is now equal to your squat, I would have to disagree here. Your legs are formidable, your deadlift is pretty good. With those numbers I would expect a low/mid 300 squat to complement the other lifts. Your chest is excellent.
Not trying to get down on your dude, you definitely have accomplished much more than I have. Keep up the good work and please take my criticism as constructive (as this was my intent)!
