Shafty is shredding: progress pics

homeslice1325 said:
shafty, first of all you are looking great, chest is lookin big and wide shoulders=base for more gains. i was wondering what your HST workout looks like, can you give me a layout? thanks
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Thanks for the compliments man! My current HST layout is fairly simple:
-Benching for chest and anterior delts
-Lateral raises and military presses without back support for lateral and posterior delts (I do the military presses one hand at a time)
-Close grip benching for tris
-Barbell curls for bis
-Barbell rows for spinal erectors and dumbell rows for lats and overall upper back
-Squats for legs.

That's all there is to it: no magic formula here. :D All it takes is a set of exercises (no matter how simple and repetitive) that target all the major muscle groups of the body, and a HST type high frequency stimulus for muscular hypertrophy. I do change my routine every 2 cycles or so, at least in that I make slight modifications. For example, I used to do skullcrushers and shrugs, which I replaced with close grip benching and barbell rows.
 
Bigbutnottoo, thanks for the assurance; I know in my mind that most if not all of the 'fat gain' I'm experiencing is just water retention from an increase in calories. I haven't even gotten up to my maintenance calories yet since I've been adding more cals at a very slow rate. Right now I'm eating around 2600-2700, and I still have around 100 calories to add before I'm at my maintenance level. I never went lower than 2400 on a workout day during my diet, either, so now that I think about it my BathmateR couldn't possibly have slowed down enough for me to experience a 'rebound fat gain'.

And sikdogg, I always count my calories- even when bulking up (to avoid overeating). My macros where roughly 35/40/25 (protein, carbs, fats), and I ate very clean, as I always do (the second last meal of the day was virtually carb free, and the last one was zero carb all throughout the diet). I didn't go below 2400 on any day as I mentioned, since I was doing pretty intense HIIT sessions and I didn't want to burn out. Turns out some of the fatigue I started to experience may have been brought on by the HIIT itself, so I may have to alternate between light intesity cardio and HIIT in my next dieting cycle.
 
homeslice1325 said:
thanks for the info shafty, i'm gonna follow in your footsteps for a while
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Give HST a go my friend! You might be pleasently surprised! :)
If you need any advice on a layout for your workouts, just send me a PM and I'll help you out.
 
hey man!

looking good... ur tricepts are big.... though i think u need to work on ur bicepts a lil.... ummmm... you have a good V shap happening... oh and ur chest is coming along well, see if u can squar ur pects off a lil, then youll b dominating mate!....

ur progress is coming along well.. i remember seeing ur pics about 8 months ago.... youve come along way man. :)
 
Thanks bugwahna!
Yep.. my biceps are pretty weak in comparison to my tris. I don't really work them out that intensely since all the back work I do hits them pretty hard, too. I probably should dedicate more time and effort to them (same as with my calves, which I totally neglect! :O)

The pecs not being square is something I really can't seem to change. I have a certain 'mold' that they seem to grow into regardless of what type of exercise I put them through. Ah well, I suppose it doesn't matter once you get to a low enough bodyfat level, huh?

The progress I've made is indeed very noticeable when you look at the earlier pics I posted at Mens-Network. I've essentially stayed at the same BF% but packed on mass like nobody's business. :D

Thanks again for the compliments! BTW, how is your BB/general body shaping coming along?
 
Hey Shafty,

yer i figured that was ur natural pec shape, as indeed i cant see too much body fat on u... im guess 12% ... umm my body is coming along.. footy season finished a few months back, so ive just been runing and planing bball... ive been a lil slack on the gym of late as my hobby on the side (breakdancing) builds me up naturally, um i went for a swim today which was good, so im going to do that more often now... ill post a pic in a few mins if i can get my web cam to work mate, hehe.

Talk soon shafty.
 
Shafty said:
The pecs not being square is something I really can't seem to change. I have a certain 'mold' that they seem to grow into regardless of what type of exercise I put them through. Ah well, I suppose it doesn't matter once you get to a low enough bodyfat level, huh?
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Thats just genetics. Muscle shape cant really be changed just the size. Same thing used to happen with Arnold's abs which were weak compared to other BBs. Not his fault just the way his abs were. If you look at bodybuilders you will see there are at least a couple different shapes of pecs, abs,etc. A lot of people have more rounded shapes and some are more squared.

All we can hope to do in life is best meet our genetic potential and you are doing well with what you have.
 
bigbutnottoo said:
Thats just genetics. Muscle shape cant really be changed just the size. Same thing used to happen with Arnold's abs which were weak compared to other BBs. Not his fault just the way his abs were. If you look at bodybuilders you will see there are at least a couple different shapes of pecs, abs,etc. A lot of people have more rounded shapes and some are more squared.

All we can hope to do in life is best meet our genetic potential and you are doing well with what you have.
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Exactly. There are actually only a few truly symmetric, totally square muscled guys in the pro BB scene. The first one that comes to mind is Flex Wheeler, who has rightfully earned himself the nickname 'sultan of symmetry'. Then there are those who essentially look like an ugly pile of flesh that has been dug up from a slaughterhouse's dumpster. More bodybuilders fit into that category than the previous one... and few really bad examples such as Ronnie Coleman come to mind immediately. That guy looks positively hideous if his BF% reaches a level any higher than 10%. Even at 12%, which is ripped by pretty much anyone's standards, he looks misshapen and blob-like (and not just because he has an enormous GH gut).

I think nobody should look up to a pro BBers physique as something to aspire to. 100% of these guys are juiced up (most of them year round) in addition to their great genetics, and quite frankly, there is such a state as having too much muscle. If you have so much beef on you that you look fat even at relatively low BF levels, you have gone beyond attractive and entered the realm of freakish. Not that most of us could ever attain such massive amounts of muscle, but it is indeed better to accept your genetic limitations, stay healthy and strive to maximize your natural potential. Which is surprisingly high for most people: I would say that a FINAL goal of around 190-210 lbs (depending on one's height, of course) at less than 10% BF can be attained by most anyone who sticks to it for the long haul. I, for one, am hell-bent on getting there someday, and judging from my progress so far, it may not be much more than a few years down the road.
 
bigbutnottoo said:
Thats just genetics. Muscle shape cant really be changed just the size. Same thing used to happen with Arnold's abs which were weak compared to other BBs. Not his fault just the way his abs were. If you look at bodybuilders you will see there are at least a couple different shapes of pecs, abs,etc. A lot of people have more rounded shapes and some are more squared.

All we can hope to do in life is best meet our genetic potential and you are doing well with what you have.
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Although the actual shape of the muscle can't be changed, the appearance can over time as you're muscles mature and you add thickness and depth to them. If you look at some pro BB'er pecs today and compare it to pics of them from say ten years ago you will see a difference. They usually look rounder early on and kind of squared off as the muscle matured. I was looking thru a book by Franco Columbo the other day and noticed this...
 
Shafty said:
Exactly. There are actually only a few truly symmetric, totally square muscled guys in the pro BB scene. The first one that comes to mind is Flex Wheeler, who has rightfully earned himself the nickname 'sultan of symmetry'. Then there are those who essentially look like an ugly pile of flesh that has been dug up from a slaughterhouse's dumpster. More bodybuilders fit into that category than the previous one... and few really bad examples such as Ronnie Coleman come to mind immediately. That guy looks positively hideous if his BF% reaches a level any higher than 10%. Even at 12%, which is ripped by pretty much anyone's standards, he looks misshapen and blob-like (and not just because he has an enormous GH gut).

I think nobody should look up to a pro BBers physique as something to aspire to. 100% of these guys are juiced up (most of them year round) in addition to their great genetics, and quite frankly, there is such a state as having too much muscle. If you have so much beef on you that you look fat even at relatively low BF levels, you have gone beyond attractive and entered the realm of freakish. Not that most of us could ever attain such massive amounts of muscle, but it is indeed better to accept your genetic limitations, stay healthy and strive to maximize your natural potential. Which is surprisingly high for most people: I would say that a FINAL goal of around 190-210 lbs (depending on one's height, of course) at less than 10% BF can be attained by most anyone who sticks to it for the long haul. I, for one, am hell-bent on getting there someday, and judging from my progress so far, it may not be much more than a few years down the road.
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Yeah it seems after Dorian Yates won the olympia that everyone is getting so ridiculously huge and it looks pretty silly. The bodybuiler that I am trying to model myself after is Steve Reeves. Goin waaaay back to the 50's. I know with hard work I can get to a physique similar to his someday

Oh btw nice work!
 
yer his check is chiseld... thats how i want mine.. though as the obove posts say might not b possible for everyone unfortunatly :(
 
sikdogg said:
Although the actual shape of the muscle can't be changed, the appearance can over time as you're muscles mature and you add thickness and depth to them. If you look at some pro BB'er pecs today and compare it to pics of them from say ten years ago you will see a difference. They usually look rounder early on and kind of squared off as the muscle matured. I was looking thru a book by Franco Columbo the other day and noticed this...
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Interesting.
 
Bigd5903 said:
The bodybuiler that I am trying to model myself after is Steve Reeves. !
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I remember sometime around 1997-1998 reading an article by him in one of the mags that gave size goals based on height, wrist size,etc. I remember that a true 6' height for example, he advocated no more than 200 lbs on an average joint structure. The symmetry goals also had waist, chest, arm, calf, neck,etc. I have seen other variations but IIRC it was something like calf, neck, and arm the same measure. for me my neck is 16.5, calf 16.5 and arm 15.5. I am going to aim for my leanest at around 200 and go for the Reeves type physique. As I said in my progress thread I am going for about 180 ( down from 225) initially. Then i will try to bulk slowly on about 300 calories above maintenance.

Reeves also accomplished over 20" differential between waist and chest ( over 50" chest on a 30" wasit) and his should width was calipered at close to 24" ( mines about 19.5").

That reminds me to go update my thread..
 
Bigd5903 said:
Yeah it seems after Dorian Yates won the olympia that everyone is getting so ridiculously huge and it looks pretty silly. The bodybuiler that I am trying to model myself after is Steve Reeves. Goin waaaay back to the 50's. I know with hard work I can get to a physique similar to his someday

Oh btw nice work!
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That is exactly the type of physique I'm aiming to achieve some day, too. I know it might be possible to attain a level of mass that is somewhat greater than his, but that would mean I'd pretty much have to dedicate my entire life to BBing, only to reach my goal when I'm no longer 'in my prime'. And besides, too much mass on a frame becomes a health hazard, regardless of whether it's fat or lean mass. Your heart will become overburdened if it has to work at a level that surpasses it's relative capacity just to pump blood into all areas of such a massive frame, and your joints won't be too happy either, as was mentioned by bigbutnottoo. I don't think I'd be willing to risk my health just to add those elusive 10 extra pounds of beef onto my bod. :D

Oh yeah, and thanks for the compliments BTW! :cool:
 
Thanks for the continued interest buddy! :)

Well, I'm currently doing another bulking cycle at around 3100 kcals, give or take a hundred or two. I'm up to around 14% BF from my 12-13% at the end of my cutting phase, but I know most of the 'smoothness' is just water retention. I did an experiment one day where I sweated off as much of the excess water as I could (by doing cardio and taking diuretic substances such as pineapple and cabbage), and lo and behold, I looked just as ripped as I did when I was finishing up my shredding. Currently I'll be bulking up for another 2 months or so, after which I will embark upon an end-of-all-diets type of program, hoping to get to 10-11% BF come summer. That I plan on accomplishing by first cutting down to 12% with conventional methods, and then squeezing out those damn stubborn bits of remaining BF with Lyle MacDonald's UD2.

Christmas went surprisingly well- I managed to put all of those 'unhealthy' holiday foods to good use with a few well timed workout/cardio arrangements. We had 2 big Christmas meals, one on the eve and one on Christmas day. Well, I did an intense HST workout + 30 minutes of brisk walking/jogging before eating the first meal, which effectively emptied my glycogen stores and primed my body up to soak in all of the excess calories I'd be consuming. I also did the same by doing a very intense HIIT session on my elliptic trainer before the Christmas day meal, so I could indulge in everything, completely free of guilt. Now THAT is some serious precision eating right there! :D I actually managed to get away with eating stuff that I don't normally touch with a ten foot pole- including a lot of chocolate, gingerbread cookies etc, and I only felt like my body had gotten what it needed afterwards. The total amount of calories I got was around 3200 per day, which wasn't all too bad.
 
Shafty, please PM me or post in this thread some informative resources on HST.

I have a healthy and safe solution for you regarding fat loss that you may not have tried yet: juice fasting. Get yourself a juicer and go on a "juice fast" for 3 - 4 days each month. The most I've ever fasted is 4 days and felt great the whole time. The last fast I did was a 4 day'er and had more than enough energy to do a full couple hours of kung-fu. On the 4th day of the fast, I hiked about 6 miles and carried my then 6yr-old daughter on my back for the last 2 miles in 100 degree heat. Yeah - she was a trooper. During your fast, it's good to exercise, but not with weights. All aerobic exercise is recommended and you will find that you have more energy than people that had a square meal. The most important part of a fast is when you stop it and resume eating solid foods. You will gain all the weight back and then some if you break the fast incorrectly. If you break the fast correctly, you'll be so pleased and amazed that I guarantee that you'll be hooked.

Let me know if you want to know more specifics.

Regards,

HOOSYODADDI
 
HOOSYODADDI said:
Shafty, please PM me or post in this thread some informative resources on HST.
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I've found what I need to know about HST. Please disregard this request, Shafty. I'll query you when I have some specific HST questions in mind. I going to try HST starting next week.

Thanks,

HOOS
 
Very good without using anadrol, dianabol, deca, winstrol and such. I must say.

And professional bodubuilders, I believe everyone of them has taken roids. To a level then done it properly.

At least arnold and sylv stallone they admitted it at least. Others just walk around lying. =)

Have you thought of doing something about that stumach region?, it should have more mass to work with.

Overall superb gains my man!
 
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