First year training - Progress Pics

quick history:

started lifting September 03. 26 years old, 5'6", 161lbs. fairly clean diet, low carbs, high protein. 3 day split routine going to the gym 5 days/week.

January 04 - went into a very dirty bulking cycle. Started off at 163lbs. by the end of April, i was up to 174lbs carrying bodyfat i didn't want. no BF measurements. was doing 5x5.

Took May off, dropped to 170lbs, felt fatter than i did at 174lbs.

June 04 - Cleaned up diet a lot. Maintained weight through June mid-July while getting leaner. modified 5x5 routine.

Mid-July through August - dropped weight due to extreme stress and poor diet. stopped working bis/forearms (was my friday workout) due to time constraints and eventually lost interest in August. still doing modified 5x5 routine.

My abs and obliques are a weak point and I know that. I'm always forgetting to work them.

27 now. weighed in at 164lbs this morning right before pics were taken.

Critiques welcome.

all pics are linked because this would be a 56K nightmare otherwise.

Chest pics

September 03
December 03
April 04
June 04
September 04

Back Pics

December 03
June 04
Spetember 04

Quads - lost one or two pics of my quads

December 03
September 04

Calves

December 03
June 04
September 04

Arms

September 03
June 04 - right arm
June 04 - Left arm
September 04 - Right arm
September 04 - Left arm

I know i have a lot of work to do still. i don't see my progress as much as other people do, but i guess i'm overly critical of myself, i dunno.

Good work, bro -- as WB would say, "Keep killing that shit!"

Sugarplum said:

very nice crak- you got some great quads.

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Tom Treutlein said:

Nice progress, but your quad/knee tie-in looks weird. Maybe it's just me, but is something wrong there?

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jerkbox said:

good quads orb

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thanks for the quad comments. every time i see them i'm shocked at how much better they're looking. those deep squats are paying off.

the quad/knee tie in has always been like that for me. i was very active when i was younger, rode my bike EVERYWHERE. the years of doing that thickened my legs up. when my leg is bent and relaxed, it almost looks like i have 2 knee caps. strange, but i still like how my quads are looking.

Tom Treutlein said:

Your back is sick. The double-bis shot is nice. Just get a chest now.

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yeah, chest needs more work. i'll be hitting each bodypart every 3rd day for the next few months, weekends excluded. doing my routine like that last fall seemed to give faster results than 5x5 did. i'm also slowing down my reps a lot, focusing on a 3 second negative. i feel a lot weaker when lifting like this, because i have to go a lot lighter in order to complete my sets. incline bench on Friday i managed 75lb dbs for 5 slow controlled reps. my best ever was 8 reps right after maxxing on flat bench, but they weren't as slow and controlled as this was. hoping to put up the 80s in a few weeks

looking foreward to the next few months of lifting with a clean bulking diet.

thanks for the comments!

good improvement overall. i think you could of achieved that in six mos or less though. how's your intensity during your workouts? nonetheless, congratulations on the improvement. anyone would be proud of what you've done

intensity went down with 5x5 due to longer rest times. i think the thing that hurt the most was the lack of frequency that each muscle was worked.

also dealt with a sholder injury this summer. it's getting better, but affected all of my upper body lifts.

the routine i'm back on will allow for a higher intensity, shorter rest times, and higher frequency of hitting each muscle group should yeild good results. i ran a slightly different variation of this routine last fall and got more results in 4 months than i did in the 8 months afterwards on 5x5.

that is some fucking sick ass progress dude...

all that blood and sweat is paying off in your amazing lifts and body, mad props

Awesome progress brother!! Back and biceps are looking the best IMO. Chest is coming up nice too. In the next year you should be making some real solid progress. Quads and calves looking thick! Keep KILLING that shit brother!!

good progress. congrats on your hard work. you look a lot tighter but work on some more size. great tatts! good luck.

glennds said:

good progress. congrats on your hard work. you look a lot tighter but work on some more size. great tatts! good luck.

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size...one thing i definetly want more of. especially at my height.

clean bulking for the next few months. gonna try to keep protein at 220g/day, 3 servings of oatmeal a day, toss some breads in there along with clean carbs with dinner, i should be ok. i need to replicate the diet i did last fall but add the clean carbs.

plus i want to kick my PRs up at the end of this semester. we'll see what happens between now and then.

thanks

I think you made significant progress man. Lookin good, especially in the legs and your chest is definitely filling out.