Confused about body composition (Newbie-ish)

Skeptic

Skeptic

Skeptic

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
4,158
Location
UK
Hello,

I have been training for ~5 months now, and in that time my lifts have gone up a fair bit (an example is from 25kg -> 55kg on shoulder press and most lifts have gone up around the same amount).

I'm not sure whether that is a good amount of progress for that time. I think that my routine/diet/rest is working quite well for me. In that time weight gain has been steady - going from 10st 8lbs to about 11st 6 (I am about 5'10) which I think I'm happy with..

Now my question is this. When I go the gym I see people who lift a fair bit less than me, but they have much more definition in all their muscle groups. Even when tensing I have very little definition, and it's a bit disheartening. Am I simply too fat? :(

I am currently in a bulking phase (around 3k clean cals a day, lots of protein), so I expect to not be quite as defined but I seem to have nothing at all. I have never been able to see my abs, but I assume they will come when I am in a cutting phase.

So, is my progress for the time I've been training pretty decent or could I do a lot better? I can see a difference, but I want other people to start to notice! :p
 
fus said:
Now my question is this. When I go the gym I see people who lift a fair bit less than me, but they have much more definition in all their muscle groups. Even when tensing I have very little definition, and it's a bit disheartening. Am I simply too fat? :(
Click to expand...


There are a few possible reasons for this - some people train for hypertrophy and are able to add mass with less weight than another person, the thing to remember is that you build by working at a level of intensity that your muscle requires, no 2 people are the same in that level.
Another reason could be that they are doing a different routine that means less weight but more often (first couple of weeks of HST for example)
1 more reason - you could just be genetically stronger than them or they could be genetically more suited to adding mass.

I'm pretty much like CW, not as strong as I look.
 
im with the two above, i look pretty big, big enough that people pass comments like "oh bet Az could lift two!" truth is its the same story, im a weak SOB bench is still stuck under 100k, and its not even a form thing i cant even cheat it up! But i see loadsa peeps smaller than me pushing it out.

Funny thing is i rarely see guys smaller than me DL>150k or squat > 120

Maybe theres something in that.

Oh and to the OP, 55KG sh press is pretty decent for 5 months, ive done like 13months and i cap out about 67.5

EDIT WTF is that most muscular chong! Your freaking huge! After all them back pics i figured you for some proportioned chin machine, thats a really good amount of size for a natural.
 
Last edited:
Cheers. Those pics are about 18 months old now... To be honest I don't look much different now, I've been a lot bigger @ 16.5st but also a lot fatter! Now I've cut right down to 14st 8lbs and I've lost quite a bit of muscle... so annoying as a natural, I've pretty much hit my limit I think?

Going to cut for 2 more weeks and then bulk as cleanly as possible and see if I can really pack on some lean mass for the summer :)
 
Simply put (as the only way I'd understand it anyway) - hypertrophy is muscle growth. So by overloading the muscles you stimulate the growth, you are slightly damaging the fibres of your muscles and your body responds by adding more tissue to that area to reduce the risk of the damage reoccurring. Optimal simply means training for the maximum gains.

I think that is right but if anyone can correct me then that would be good.
 
Lifting weight is simply means to an end for a bodybuilder, it's not about how much you can lift but how effectively you can create hypertrophy in the muscles.
 
Wardie said:
Lifting weight is simply means to an end for a bodybuilder, it's not about how much you can lift but how effectively you can create hypertrophy in the muscles.
Click to expand...

How do you know how effective it is?:confused:

Is it the certain type of pain you get afterwards a good indicator?
 
Growth is your indicator :cool:

I've always wanted to do some HST but I can just never ever bring my self to doing it because in my mind, lifting 300lbs 5 times will make me bigger then lifting 200lbs 10 times :(
 
You need to have faith in the science behind it all. You need to realise that (at least for most) lifting something repeatedly for 8-12 reps should (in general) stimulate more muscle growth than power lifting something for 4-5 reps. However this only works to a point because your muscles only need to be so big before they can handle lifting weight x for 8-12 reps. Then you stop growing. At which time you need to focus on lifting a heavier weight. To do this, instead of developing more muscle tissue you must develop a better mind-muscle linkage, most notably the development of your central nervous system (commonly acronymed as CNS training). This involves lower repetitions with heavier weight. The mental effort required to complete the movment outweighs the muscles capability, in essence you have the muscle tissue but not the ability to use it.

As you complete sets of heavy weight, low reps, your body has to adapt in a new way to keep up, rather than producing more muscle tissue (very loosely speaking) it produces better neural linkages, giving your brain control over more muscle fibres at once, allowing you to better use your muscle tissue. As your CNS control improves so does your overall capacity for weight. Thus when you move back to higher rep work you can lift more weight for more reps than you could previously, thus you will now gain more tissue. And so the cycle c ontinues.

Of course there are many other parts to this very simple biological summary. Testosterone levels play a huge part, and certain exercises in low rep format boost test massively, thus promoting size where it would seem counter-intuitive. This is why some strongmen like marius pudzianowski are huge yet i bet rarely rep above 6-7. Also genetics play a large role, if you have low test levels or a poor skeleto-muscular stucture you may never be above average.

But you need to stick to the base fundementals for a while to start to absorb the more complex information.
 
Killa_ken said:
Growth is your indicator :cool:

I've always wanted to do some HST but I can just never ever bring my self to doing it because in my mind, lifting 300lbs 5 times will make me bigger then lifting 200lbs 10 times :(
Click to expand...

HST is a typical example of counter intuative training, the first fortnight of 15 rep sets really doesnt promote a whole lot of growth by itself, iuts the progression through the 6-8 weeks and the chemical responses in the body during this time that cause the great results many have seen. The concept behind it is, as im sure you know, using science to pinpoint the hypertrophic peaks in exercise and maintain a highly hypertrophic state throughout the training period maximising muscle growth. If you dont complete at least the 15/10/5 rep portions of HST you might as well not have started it.
 
Killa_ken said:
Growth is your indicator :cool:

I've always wanted to do some HST but I can just never ever bring my self to doing it because in my mind, lifting 300lbs 5 times will make me bigger then lifting 200lbs 10 times :(
Click to expand...

Have you ever seen the Cirque De Soleil performers?

There was an article on T-Nation about their training. They have amazingly developer physiques but all they really do is train for their performance for hours daily.

They can't afford to do anything too intense weights wise because they can perform several times a day, so being sore really wouldn't be good.

Instead they are frequently hitting muscles by practicing their routines daily. Although not as intense as lifting weights to failure, they are frequently training the muscles.

Makes you think ;)

HST follows similar principles in that you should be in a constant state of hypertrophy, you do not need to rest muscles for a week. You'll be hitting them every 48 hours so there's no need for every session to be majoirly intense.

Believe me, if every session in HST was heavy, the program would be nowhere near as effective.

By also having light days you are de-loading, meaning that you will be constantly breaking PBs every two weeks. Periodisation is probably the most effective way of getting continual strength gains.
 
Im after strong powerful muscles with a hell of a lot of endurance aswell.

What would be my best way to do this? HST?

At the moment im doing 10-15 reps second day and using as much weight as i can possibly/physically can.

Im not after muscles for looks, im after the most efficient powerful and endurance muscles as i can get.
In car terms, Its function over form:D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom