OcUK Health Seekers: Post your progress pics

Well I may as well join in. Not really the sort of person that likes posting pictures of myself.

Height = 5ft 7inches

Just a little background really. In March 2009 I was getting to a weight where I could no longer fit into my size 34 trousers, some of my jeans would not even fit, my weight was starting to tip over 13 stone and thought enough is enough.

My father has always been in to weight training and built a small free-weight gym in their garden so I didn’t really have an excuse.
At the end of March I started running on the road for about 1/2 mile every night, when I used to get back I thought I was going to die - This is how unhealthy I was!! When I look back it is scary!
I gave my diet a shake up just eating clean, drinking only water and cutting my calories by 500 a day from my BMR.

Until the end of April I was just running on the road every night getting up to about 2 miles each evening. From then on I threw in some resistance training 3 - 4 nights a week, a bit of swimming and squash here and there and now I am down 2.5 stone and feel so much better.

Please excuse the photos, the first one is about the only photo I have with my top off. I was really sun burnt and my girlfriend caught my off guard with the camera. I had put a few more pounds from then.
The 2nd is just from my body log about 2 months ago and yes I know I cannot pose!

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Your arms look like mine. In as much as your bicep insertion being high and not looking like you have any tri's.
Double biceps pose is greta, but when wearing a t-shirt it looks like you haev no upper arm muscle.
Good transition though dude, keep going.
 
k.Jacko said:
Your arms look like mine. In as much as your bicep insertion being high and not looking like you have any tri's.
Double biceps pose is greta, but when wearing a t-shirt it looks like you haev no upper arm muscle.
Good transition though dude, keep going.
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Yep, know exactly what your saying Jacko!

Cheers for the kind comments both of you :D
 
k.Jacko said:
Your arms look like mine. In as much as your bicep insertion being high and not looking like you have any tri's.
Double biceps pose is greta, but when wearing a t-shirt it looks like you haev no upper arm muscle.
Good transition though dude, keep going.
Click to expand...

I have exactly this.


For example, i usually wear polo shirts, branded ones for the company i work for and i look like i have no arms.
Today for casual friday, i wore a jumper which is fairly tight on the arms, and i looked pumped out all day long as it clung to the cuts in my arm/shoulder.

Sucks man, is it just genetics? I have done all i can to make the arms pop out, i get stronger, but not bigger :( I've gained maybe an inch in arm size since i started at 154 lb at xmas, 184 now.

Seaniboy, looking awesome now man, keep it up! I wanna put up some pics of my front/side but im too shy :(
 
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Seaniboy- if that is since march then really nice going mate, excellent transformation. What are you aiming for now?

dave- I would be very surprised if you could see much change in a month mate. Just stick at it, a month really is nothing in this game. Were you trying to tense your whole body in the latest pic?
 
A months too soon to see any real progress in terms of gaining mass, cutting perhaps not.

Can't quite see all of your torso in the latest picture and it looks like your tensing your arms? It's a bit blurry. I *think* your shoulders are filling out slightly.

No back/leg shots? Any weight gain at all?

I'll have some X-mas snaps up soon. I'll be in a calorie defecit when I'm at home so am expecting to lean out slightly, though I'll be doing my best to retain as much muscle as possible!
 
TommyV said:
I have exactly this.


For example, i usually wear polo shirts, branded ones for the company i work for and i look like i have no arms.
Today for casual friday, i wore a jumper which is fairly tight on the arms, and i looked pumped out all day long as it clung to the cuts in my arm/shoulder.

Sucks man, is it just genetics?
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Yeah, its genetics, which you can't alter, but you can do a little to help out. I did widearmed barbell curls with lighter weights and FULL range of motion, it brings out the lower part of the bicep, but that's about all you can do sadly. :rolleyes:
 
Benny06 said:
Hammer curls, 21's, supersets.

All with full range of motion ofc! Half motion = half muscle.
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Well sure, but i was on about the wide grip barbells to try and fill in the lower portion of the bi's. Its the only exercise i've found that helps.
Hammers certainly don't/didn't for me, they just blast the outer head and bracchs.
Although totally agree with 21s, they're killers and brilliant for total muscle stimulation. ;)
 
21's are ace :)

I've just started doing hammers recently. I rarely bicep isolate usually no more than 3/4 sets once a week after they've been pre-exhausted from pulling.

Close grip leaning slightly foward I find great for the peak. In terms of filling in near the elbow like you say I think it's one of those things to do with genetics. Though work at it and it'll come with time no doubt. Nice slow negatives and no body rocking ;)
 
I find reverse grip barbell/cable curls pump out the lower section of the my bicep. Feels good!

In a typical bicep workout(always supersetted with tri's atm) i'd typically do;
curls/concentrated curls(DB or BB)/Concentrated hammers/Reverse grip BC/BB curl

All with full range of motion as best I can until i'm about to pass out! It's weird though, only one of my arms has noticable seperation (my weaker arm), no doubt thats due to bad form over a long period of time!




Upon hitting plateaus, what are your experiences with overcoming them?

Is it a combination of slow reps/negative/peak rep pauses? Have been doing the same weights on my curl for example for MONTHS (18kg each side for 12/10/8 on each arm respectively). What can help over come this? And with the forementioned, would you typically drop weight, so you can ensure good form and a full set? (of 12/10/8???)

Only thing that is really improving weight wise is my Deadlift (attempting 350 1RM today :D)

Apologies for this wall of text!!!
 
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Try some pyramiding increasing weight and dropping reps as you go. Reverse grip are good and will help to build your forearms too.

I'm not really a fan of having an 'arms' day and never have spent one session focusing on arms. Usually I'll isolate tricep after chest and bicep after back and then throw in 2 supersets after shoulders/traps.

However I'm on a different routine now so that's not how it goes anymore!

I found:

Standing EZ curls/Lying Tricep Extension (EZ) x 3 so 10/10,10/10,10/10 no rest until 60 reps complete to be a killer for arms.

You might find you're over training them, try some dropsets or something different every few weeks. Nothing works forever unfortunatley!
 
A guy who used to train at the same gym as me would go so many weeks doing the same heavy training routine on arms. When he hit a plateau he'd go onto lighter weights for a few weeks then back on super heavy low reps for a couple of weeks to really blast/shock them.
Now, not everyone agrees with this sort of routine, but i can tell you the guy had fantastic arms so he was doing something right.
Personally i don't do the same routine twice in a row, so it always feels new and a shock to the system for me. Not sure if its working, lol, but it stops me from feeling like i'm just going through the motions.

As you mentioned Tommy, some negatives etc, may help, even pre-exhausting could make a difference.
Whatever works bud i guess.
 
Cheers guys.

I love this forum! Sounds bad, but I only use the OCUK forum for this section!

Edit:

moving to gymrat thread.
 
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I think that would be better in the gymrats thread mate? Easier to keep it all in one place and keep this for critiquing physique :)

As for the look of biceps, I found doing 5x5 (ish) with 0 isolation movements and 0 specific arm training made my whole arms grow, but they lost some of the shape. Now on a Friday I have 75 mins of just calfs then biceps/ triceps and they get a right hammering which has dramatically improved the shape again.
 
dun said:
Seaniboy- if that is since march then really nice going mate, excellent transformation. What are you aiming for now?
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Cheers Dun

The first couple of months there were times when I used to get up and think is all this strict diet and hard work really worth it?? But so glad I stuck at it :D

My main aim was going to be to try and lose the bit of fat round my belly. This has now changed being winter/xmas I am going to try and bulk slightly, upping my calorie intake then come may-is will cut again.

I do not really have any planes to be massive, just have nice shape, definition and generally be healthy
 
I'm just over the 4 month mark. I am extremely happy with my progress, i have just started taking super pumped as part of my stack. Looking to notice a big difference 2 - 4 months down the line.

4monthprogress.jpg
 
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