4-Weeks out

M

Morgoth the Dark Enemy

New Member
Since I appreciate a number of ppl on this board, I`d also appreciate their possible feedback on my latest prep. The two years I`ve spent slacking seem to have taken a toll, but using Lyle magic I think I`ve achieved bearable form for this contest...and in the 4 remaining weeks I could at least improve to ok status...maybe. Anyway, here are the pictures:

Pictures
 
Yeah....me too.  Can you post them here for us to check out?

[edit] It looks like Bryan or JV will have to enable attachments in this forum first before you can post them here (seems like a logical feature for the logs section).  Or you could just post them in the "Pictures Everyone?" thread.
 
I just signed up and skipped the info step and it loaded. You look good man, I couldn't knock your work. What would you work on as a latecomer? Lats. I'd say they could be a bit wider, & my lady thought so too. Everything looks good though.
 
I`m a moron, used the wrong Imageshack. This should work...I think:
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The pictures are very shite due to a combination of crap lighting+poor camera+poor skills+need to process them in order to render them useable, but they serve their purpose.
 
You look good, pretty cut and nice upper body proportions. Legs are too thin though in proportion to upper body. That will count heavily against you in a comp.
 
Gee, Ya think?I`m just kidding with you...it has been the case on my former contests as well...it`s the result of a fairly retarded approach to training and being into competitive soccer for a rather long spree(which ingrained the stupid idea that i didn`t need to train legs).

There are many areas that I need to improve upon, the 2 year hiatus that I`ve ended 9 months ago hasn`t really helped. I need to work on overall thickness(I`m quoting the Master, Lyle, himself), and I`m a bit too light now for my height. I can work some magic with the carb load, so I`ll be fuller than in the pictures, but that`s about it ATM. OTOH, the tradeoff would`ve been to come in maybe heavier, but not cut enough, and for natural shows, that`s a bad combo.

So, in short, yeah, I have a lot of things to fix:)Thanx for your input, you roided milk&peanut eater
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Looking pretty good for 4 weeks out. You should be able to get shredded by comp day if you really want to.

I agree with Quad....more lats. I think traps could be brought up to. They look small compared to your shoulders and arms. Although they look pretty good in the MM shot.

I actually think your quads are pretty good though. I think if you really hit your back you will develop the overall thickness you want to achieve.

Great work! And good luck in your comp!
 
Hey, Morgoth you are looking good man. Like Bulldog, I don't think your quads are far out of proportion.

You are looking pretty lean already. A mate at my gym was looking about the same degree of bf as you do now but with only 2 weeks to go to his contest. He came in very cut so you shouldn't have a problem as far as condition goes.

You have a long torso so that makes you appear to have smaller lats than is really the case. Pic 2 shows you have a fair bit of mass but then in the back double bi there seems to be a long journey down to your waist after your lats have finished flaring.

I think it will be difficult for you to add enough mass as a natty to fill out in your back to the extent that you might like. However, a bit more thickness all round would be a great improvement for next time.

All the best over the next few weeks. As well as carbing up are you going to be doing the pre-show water reduction through diuretics and /or dry white wine?
 
Thanks for the support, and for the suggestions, they`re both much appreciated.

I fell that diuretics/white wine(about the last one I`ve only read, I don`t know folks who used it, but the stuff I`ve read about it was quite supportive) are mildly overrated...for natties:) If you do your pre-competition run right, you`ll be quite cut down in the week before, where you can dabble with water and electrolyte manipulation, then do a dry carb-load/junk-load prior to competition day and you`re good to go. I may use some Epsom salt baths(this has worked nicely for me on former occasions). I think this approach to water content is better(at least 4 me).
 
i think your physique looks quite good. pics are funny, some photos you look good and others you look really good. imo, no sense talking about lagging parts now, nothing you can do about it and overall you look great. now its all about taking as much fat off as possible while keeping your muscle and sanity intact.

it looks like the prep could turn out real well. you def. have some size on you and are fairly lean now (do you know your %). another 4 weeks, some "competition color" and a good carb load and physique will really "pop"!
make sure you post those pics as well.

good luck
 
Looking good, bro. Have you tried low/no carbing it? KIDDING!!!!! I know that's not yer cup 'o tea. Best of luck with your progress. For my own education, I hope you detail your diet chronicles/tricks, etc. It would be much appreciated
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You will have a huge laugh off of this:I did the UD2 with the 14-day cycle variation for the prep. I feel it`s the best diet for contest-prep, and once you grow into it it`s not that horrid. You`ll laugh even more when you`ll hear I did the Anabolic Diet for a former contest, and stuck with it for a long time. So you misunderstood me on our former exchanges-I`m not against or pro anything, I just try to use what works.

I`m personally a muncher of carbs, so I basically have to restrict them when dieting or I`ll end up blowing up calories with a little bit of this a little bit of that. I`m also quite disciplined WRT to food:I can basically eat the same stuff day in day out without being bothered by it, which helps because I can simply set-up 4-5 possible menus and cook in advance and not have to bother with looking up stuff on a daily basis. I eat only 3-meals a day because:a)If you`re getting about 1300-1400 cals a day mostly from protein and veggies, you`re not going to end up with a lot of food if you split it up in a billion meals to keep the metabolic fire burning(which, btw, is another shitty bber myth which must die, if anything, reduced meal frequency seems to impact body composition positively, as a major kick in the nuts to all of the gym logic we`ve been exposed before) and b)it fits my schedule without having me bother with stuff when I`m at work/school.

My supplement regimen is...umm...shameful, I use only some bulk casein(which is about 93% protein which makes it ideal in my case), some whey for the pre-post tension workout shakes and for the pre-power workout one, calcium, magnesium, zinc, centrum for a multi, creatine on the carb-load and the power-workout day and...umm...that`s about it:)

The training is more or less what Lyle outlined in the book for the UD2, with some homebrew short tension workouts in between to maintain mass-the basic squat+something for the hammies+bench/dip+chin/row+shoulder press+some biceps+some triceps+calves if not doing a lot of running/or the stubborn fat protocol.

WRT to detailing what I did/am doing/will do...dunno, I think the only parts that could prove to be interesting to someone somewhere would be the carb-loading experiments(BTW, I finished a junk-load just now...it`s hard to evaluate results, there may be some benefit...i may have gained a wee bit of fat, but that I can lose quite easily, the great feeling induced by eating a metric fuckton of icecream will stick with me for the next dieting stint:) ), the pre-contest tweaks and such. I find the logs that go like:monday-list with exercises and sets+i ran+i ate+good stuff(and there`s lots of em) to be quite boring. I don`t think anyone is doing anything really revolutionary on the grind days.I know I`m not.

After this competition, and after taking a break(which means an IF based maintenance of the level that I`ll achieve for the stage, or somewhere around it-at least that`s the goal), I`ll go about getting some thickness and working up some quality weight. That I`ll certainly log, as there are a lot of ppl here that know a fair bit more than me when it comes to training for size(and it`s always fun to post PR attempts and stuff).

Thanks blue...WRT BF%, dunno, the only reading I can get is with calipers, but I rather doubt the accuracy, they`re useful due to consistency and the ability to check the general trend:). That being said, 3-site has me somewhere around 4.9(this is fully depleted, as I was in the pictures), which is ridiculously low and probably unnacurate. Dunno, I think I`m fairly lean...I have goodish vascularity(except for my glutes, but I don`t think Gaspari will give me his secret for striated glutes, nor do I think that I could use that secret)-the carbs help this a lot.

I think I was very wordy...I think it is due to being very full of a lot of stuff I haven`t eaten in a while. I think I`ll refrain from being so wordy in the future.
 
Lotsa good stuff in that post, MDE!
<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">you`re not going to end up with a lot of food if you split it up in a billion meals to keep the metabolic fire burning(which, btw, is another shitty bber myth which must die, if anything, reduced meal frequency seems to impact body composition positively, as a major kick in the nuts to all of the gym logic we`ve been exposed before).</div>

Okay, you definitely have me curious on this. Why are infrequent meals a poorer selection than, say, three larger meals a day? I would much rather eat three larger meals than squeezing in 6 all the time, especially if it would be more beneficial.

<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">My supplement regimen is...umm...shameful, I use only some bulk casein(which is about 93% protein which makes it ideal in my case), some whey for the pre-post tension workout shakes and for the pre-power workout one, calcium, magnesium, zinc, centrum for a multi, creatine on the carb-load and the power-workout day and...umm...that`s about it:)</div>

That's more than me! Protein powder and a multi-vite. That's it. Of course, if I enter the powerlifting contest in July, I may supplement a bit, more for increased energy than anything else. I've used guarana in the past when completely no-carbing it, and that worked very well.

<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I think the only parts that could prove to be interesting to someone somewhere would be the carb-loading experiments</div>

Carb loading seems to be all the rage. For what it's worth, I ended up doing an unplanned carb load during my move this week. There was no time for pre-planned meals. One of the days I actually ate like 7 Dunkin' donuts, followed by 4 slices of pizza later in the evening. The next morning, I could have sworn that my muscles looked much fuller...but it could have been all in my head, too.

I started low carbing it for aesthetic reasons, and later on, I actually did it for health reasons. I have a weird reflux disease, where my esophegeal sphinctor is weak. Excess carbs produce a lot of gas when digested, and because of this weak flap at the back of my throat, the gas was coming back up producing a constant sore throat. Some of the burning went into my lungs, too, and was causing difficulty breathing. A real mess. I find that I can go crazy with carbs once in awhile, though, and not be effected at all, which is good news. How long have you been doing carb loading, and do you find it beneficial?
 
My old workout partner went into competing. His first year saw him looking striated, but drained, listless. He didn't even place. That night he pigged out on pizza and junk and the next day he looked like Jay Cutler (well, almost)! His next year, he did the carb thing BEFORE the comp and did very well. It must be an individual thing.
 
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(quadancer @ May 27 2007,12:51)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">My old workout partner went into competing. His first year saw him looking striated, but drained, listless. He didn't even place. That night he pigged out on pizza and junk and the next day he looked like Jay Cutler (well, almost)! His next year, he did the carb thing BEFORE the comp and did very well. It must be an individual thing.</div>
You are supposed to carb up before the comp! I can't believe he go that wrong. People have been doing this for well over 20 years now. Poor guy. Oh, well. You live and learn I guess? Also, managing sodium and potassium the week or so leading up to the show can really help to sort out definition by reducing the amount of cellular water retained in/under the skin. Pretty unhealthy state to get in but it is only for the show.
 
Actually, you are supposed to pig out post competition. It`s an unwritten law...you`re not human if you don`t do this, and no force in this universe will keep you away from the junk you`ve craved
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Slap, current research shows positive partitioning effects from single meal(more correctly, short eating window per day/alternate eating non-eating etc.) IF types of approaches to meal frequency. Going from 3 meals to 6 meals is shown by research to make absolutely no difference, either for better or for worse. That`s what I was talking about. It is also my experience...if anything, I feel better on 3 meals a day. It`s simpler and more effective. This is for cutting or even maintenance(if you don`t have a very high maintenance caloric level). For bulking I`d say that having 1000+ calorie meals would be inadequate, and as such some further splitting of meals would be necesarry.

Where the &quot;gurus&quot; fucked up WRT meal frequency was the belief that your body is uber dumb, and can only process a little after which it flows right out of you(the 30-40-50-x g protein digestible in one sitting myth also originated from here). That`s simply not the case, your body will adjust gastric emptying by itself, and a larger meal will simply sit in your gut longer, you don`t have to refill it after exactly 2 hours and 32 minutes because the catabolism is gonna eat your muscle. I think you could try it(make no mistake about this, I used to get 6 meals a day religiously, coz all of da magz said that you can`t grow/lose weight/whatever with anything less. I ended up with ridiculously small boluses, and the feeling of &quot;WTF, did I eat, or what was that?&quot; after a meal.Live and learn).

About the carb-loading, the answer would be...quite a bit. They`re certainly useful, but in a regimented way, integrated into the dietary approach(something like what the UD2 does, or a CKD). I think that for best results they should be coupled with glycogen depletion, in order to achieve supercompensation on the load. A carb load can help your strength levels(so it is of use to powerlifters to some extent, the UD2 book mentions this aspect). Coupled with intelligent water manipulation, it can produce extraordinary results in terms of fullness coupled with no subcutanaeous water retention which equals big+veiny
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. But, just like everything else, carb-loading is a tool, nothing more. It should be used as such, it`s not a Holy Grail or anything(if you were to read Mauro's work or listen to some of the AD/Keto nutters, you`d think that carb loading is God`s gift to BBers...not quite, IMHO).

Very important thing to bear in mind:carb-load=loading on CARBS, not CARBS+FAT. This is a common mistake. Junk loading has its place, but it`s something you have to learn how to do really well, and I think it`s prime use is for someone doing a lot of endurance work(read retarded ammounts of cardio) and thus achieving IMTG depletion. A huge ammount of ppl manage to undo all of the fat-loss achieved during the week with a carb-load based on Pizza+Doughnuts+French Fries+icecream, ending with a ton of calories and a ton of fat. Fat is likely to be stored once you go above a certain level(15-20% of daily intake, which is necessary to prevent DNL from occuring), in the presence of that many carbs.
 
MGD wrote:
<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Slap, current research shows positive partitioning effects from single meal(more correctly, short eating window per day/alternate eating non-eating etc.) IF types of approaches to meal frequency. Going from 3 meals to 6 meals is shown by research to make absolutely no difference, either for better or for worse.</div>

That's great news, actually...I've been eating 5,6 times a day for many years, and find it extremely cumbersome. Granted, two of those meals are &quot;snack-type&quot; things, but still...

I thought the whole point of the 6-meals per day concept was that you burn more calories b/c you're forcing the digestion process to occur more often, which, in turn, burns more calories....sort of like drinking extremely cold water, you can burn an extra 100 cals per day by doing that, or so I've read. Money for nothing, if it indeed works. But if that's not the benefit I'm getting, I'll gladly go back to larger meals. Who needs the headache? Before I make a rash decison, though (I've gotten much better at thinking things through than in my younger years), I'll try to find more confirming info. If you know of any, please share!

MGD wrote:
<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Very important thing to bear in mind:carb-load=loading on CARBS, not CARBS+FAT.</div>

Yeah, I know...which explains why I'm @8%bf and you're floating at @4%
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When I load, I load! Don't get me wrong, my carb loads are not always donuts and pizza (very rarely I eat either), but I am prone to eating more junky foods than I should when I do try to carb up. Since I'm gunning for strength gains, and I need quality calories (not just crap calories), I'll load up with things like oatmeal, extra veggies &amp; fresh fruit.
 
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(Slapshotz @ May 27 2007,14:33)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">MGD wrote:
That's great news, actually...I've been eating 5,6 times a day for many years, and find it extremely cumbersome.  Granted, two of those meals are &quot;snack-type&quot; things, but still...

I thought the whole point of the 6-meals per day concept was that you burn more calories b/c you're forcing the digestion process to occur more often, which, in turn, burns more calories....sort of like drinking extremely cold water, you can burn an extra 100 cals per day by doing that, or so I've read.  Money for nothing, if it indeed works.  But if that's not the benefit I'm getting, I'll gladly go back to larger meals.  Who needs the headache?  Before I make a rash decison, though (I've gotten much better at thinking things through than in my younger years), I'll try to find more confirming info.  If you know of any, please share!

MGD wrote:

Yeah, I know...which explains why I'm @8%bf and you're floating at @4%
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When I load, I load!  Don't get me wrong, my carb loads are not always donuts and pizza (very rarely I eat either), but I am prone to eating more junky foods than I should when I do try to carb up.  Since I'm gunning for strength gains, and I need quality calories (not just crap calories), I'll load up with things like oatmeal, extra veggies &amp; fresh fruit.</div>
Well, that`s untrue(the part about more calories burned through more often digesting stuff or whatever was spewed). Think of it this way:TEF is maybe the prime thing the &quot;billion-meal-a-day&quot; crowd are harping about, right?Well, consider this:200g of protein have a TEF of x calories(x because I`m lazy and I`ve forgotten the exact value per gram of protein, which BTW is not that huge). A meal consisting of 67 g of protein will get you x/3 TEF calories, a meal consisting of 40g of protein will get you x/5...when you add it up, you`re still getting an x calorie TEF. That`s how your body works.

As I said, your body is quite smart, it`ll adjust gastric emptying in accordance with the size of the meal you`re getting, it does not have a rigorously fixed ability of processing food. As a primer, check this out, it contains also snippets from studies dealing with meal frequency.

About carb-loading:oatmeal(fiber)+fruit(fructose)+veggies(generally low caloric density, meaning you have to eat piles of em&amp;generally considerable fiber content)=bad idea. You want to stay away from fiber&amp;fructose&amp;sugar(the last two replenish liver glycogen preferentially, and you don`t want that) as much as possible. The best candidate carb for loading on is glucose...but since some ppl need real food instead of very sweet drinks(my dextrose+casein/whey shakes are quite diabetes-inducing in their own right
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), white bread, straight corn-flakes(without added sugar),rye bread, puddings made from those mass building concoctions which are made up of mostly dextrose+malto or straight dextrose are good alternatives. Maybe some 100g of sucrose or 50g or fructose(stolen from the UD2 book) are OK, i try to steer clear of them. But fruit+fiber, aside from their suboptimality in the context of replenishing your muscular glycogen pool, is a bad combination for you&amp;everyone around you...your toilet will not thank you.

This is an instance where considerable intakes of creatine(20g+/carb-load day) may hold value. Anecdotally, and subjectively, in my experience large 40g/carb-load day doses have positive effects on fullness and strength for the power workout. Just my 2 cents.
 
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