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Totentanz,
you mentioned chest dips in your routine before. I am still working on my technique.
Are you paying any attention to keeping your shoulders back/chest out during the movement?
 
Yes but I don't go all OCD with trying to keep form absolutely perfect.

I do think I have to drop dips now for my home gym. My dip station is great, but my head hits the ceiling at the top of each rep, so I don't think it's going to work.
 
So here is a pic... obviously a long way to go still to get down to how lean I want to be. Calipers claim I'm 11% but my ab skinfold is stubbornly not dropping, while my thigh skinfold is decreasing steadily... kind of annoying but whatever. I have lost noticeable fat in my legs, arms and lower back. Ab fat and waist size probably won't start dropping dramatically for another month or so, I'd guess. Sorry the picture is blurry, I have a hard time holding my phone still. I might get my girl to take pics of me at some point, but I don't like having people take pictures of me.


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Not entirely happy with my progress so far and I'm already getting sick of dieting.

You can see what I was bitching about before in the picture, my weak points clearly are chest and arms. Can't see the lats too well in that picture because my arms are in the way, but whatever.
 

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Totz, you're looking mean as heck! Good job. Hope the cut is kind and you get to keep lots of your hard-earned lean mass.

These days, I'm a lightweight compared to you. I'm around 82-85kg (180-185lb) right now. I'd love to stay at this weight and get a 1.5 x bw clean but I think I would need to add a lot of muscle and drop almost all my fat weight! I'm not overly fat as it is (~12-13%; blurry abs). Gotta aim high though.
 
Having to be stuck with 'cast member from 300' look must be a real bitch, hey? ... or is it the 'pro NBA player' look ... ? I always get them mixed up :p

I think your biceps are your weakest from that frontal - although bicep shape & size seem to have a massive genetic component.

Judging from that picture alone, I'd say your shoulders rather than chest look a bit weaker (the depth is a bit difficult to tell for chest with that quality). Well developed traps also create the visual perception that the chest looks smaller than it is. And your traps are obviously in great shape.
 
You look to be in good shape Totentanz. Wow, 4,000 Cals a day just to maintain? Whoa, that is a lot. What would happen if you dropped 1,000 calories from your daily intake? If you are around 11% body fat, I would estimate that I must be around 14%. I would say that you and I look to have around the same build, but your shoulders are better developed than mine. I am now weighing 210lbs. I don't really count my calories, but I try to ingest a decent amount of chicken, almonds, steak, cottage cheese, yoghurt and whey powder. I make sure to stay off the junk food too.
 
Lol said:
Totz, you're looking mean as heck! Good job. Hope the cut is kind and you get to keep lots of your hard-earned lean mass.

These days, I'm a lightweight compared to you. I'm around 82-85kg (180-185lb) right now. I'd love to stay at this weight and get a 1.5 x bw clean but I think I would need to add a lot of muscle and drop almost all my fat weight! I'm not overly fat as it is (~12-13%; blurry abs). Gotta aim high though.
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Yeah but I think you probably looked overall better after your cut when you posted that one frontal pic a while back then I do now. You had a much better taper than I do too. A clean of that load at that weight would be crazy. Do you think about bulking up again or do you prefer the sleeker size you are at now?

AlexAustralia said:
Having to be stuck with 'cast member from 300' look must be a real bitch, hey? ... or is it the 'pro NBA player' look ... ? I always get them mixed up :p

I think your biceps are your weakest from that frontal - although bicep shape & size seem to have a massive genetic component.

Judging from that picture alone, I'd say your shoulders rather than chest look a bit weaker (the depth is a bit difficult to tell for chest with that quality). Well developed traps also create the visual perception that the chest looks smaller than it is. And your traps are obviously in great shape.
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Pretty much the whole front of my upper body is my weak point. Only my back and legs are really acceptable. I don't do a lot of shoulder work, overhead work really bugs them the last few years. But I was overhead pressing my bodyweight so that might be part of the problem? I dunno. I have to do some work on them soon toughen them up though. Sometimes I kind of wish I had never started doing squats and all that deadlifting because I think emphasizing my strong points made my weak points even crappier than they would have been if I had focused on them. Oh well. Too late now.

TangoDown said:
FYI, you make me look like a malnourished toddler from Somalia. :cool:
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To be fair, I have been doing this for almost a decade, so relatively speaking... You probably have better genetics for this than I do so I'm sure in a decade the roles will be reversed.

Renky said:
You look to be in good shape Totentanz. Wow, 4,000 Cals a day just to maintain? Whoa, that is a lot. What would happen if you dropped 1,000 calories from your daily intake? If you are around 11% body fat, I would estimate that I must be around 14%. I would say that you and I look to have around the same build, but your shoulders are better developed than mine. I am now weighing 210lbs. I don't really count my calories, but I try to ingest a decent amount of chicken, almonds, steak, cottage cheese, yoghurt and whey powder. I make sure to stay off the junk food too.
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I guess it would depend on where the calories came from. I've done rapid fat loss diets where I'm getting very low calories and I lean up fast as long as I keep protein real high, but it sucks and I feel like crap most of the first week. But you see what I was saying about the arms now, I'm sure. Most guys I know at my bodyweight are at least at 17 inches or higher.

You know you don't have to count calories if you just put a meal plan together and figure out the calories for the meal plan. Make a few different ones so you don't get bored, then you can make sure you are getting enough calories and the right macronutrients without having to count calories every day.
 
@Totez - re: your arm size at your bodyweight - don't forget that having dense bones really throws it off. I remember you wrote that somewhere. I mean, it's probably only a 2-5kg difference if you're standing in the 185cm//6-foot range but it's still a factor I have that same peculiarity, it stumped my GP for a while during my late teens & early 20's, he always thought I was a little bit heavier than I should be for my size and skin folds.

Re: front-side needing to catch up; your back has clearly developed with a lot of thickness, but I still say your chest is looking quite strong. Compare to a young Bill Pearl (half way down here: http://bodybuilding-is-the-best.blogspot.com.au/2010_03_01_archive.html - right before everyone starting juicing) - similar size I would say, arms aside.

I'll double up recommending a thicker grip too.
 
Looks to me like you are your own worst critic, Tot. Your picture makes me look like a pre-pubescent weakling. You're looking GREAT, man! Keep up the good work!!
 
AlexAustralia said:
@Totez - re: your arm size at your bodyweight - don't forget that having dense bones really throws it off. I remember you wrote that somewhere. I mean, it's probably only a 2-5kg difference if you're standing in the 185cm//6-foot range but it's still a factor I have that same peculiarity, it stumped my GP for a while during my late teens & early 20's, he always thought I was a little bit heavier than I should be for my size and skin folds.
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Wow, I haven't met anyone else yet with my problem. Does it cause you any issues in life? I have to avoid swimming and water unless it's not over my head, I can't even tread water for more than a couple minutes. I mean other than that, it's pretty cool.

Kind of makes you wonder though.. I have no idea if I'm really at my max size or not, since I am heavier I would think that skews my results. I don't know though. I guess I'll find out, eventually. Either I'll be able to add more size or I won't.

Re: front-side needing to catch up; your back has clearly developed with a lot of thickness, but I still say your chest is looking quite strong. Compare to a young Bill Pearl (half way down here: http://bodybuilding-is-the-best.blogspot.com.au/2010_03_01_archive.html - right before everyone starting juicing) - similar size I would say, arms aside.

I'll double up recommending a thicker grip too.
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Well right now I'm planning to make my triceps and delts my specialization groups when I start trying to gain again. I think that would balance out my physique better. I would like more lat width and everything but...

Anyway, thanks for all the comments everyone. It is kind of encouraging. Helps overcome some of my defeatist attitude I've been having about things the last year or so.
 
I don't have issues swimming or anything similar - just supposedly a bit heavier than I ought to be for measurements and bf% - damn, no swimming would drive me crazy.
 
AlexAustralia said:
I don't have issues swimming or anything similar - just supposedly a bit heavier than I ought to be for measurements and bf% - damn, no swimming would drive me crazy.
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Yeah it sucks. I'm so dense in the water that I can grab other people, hold on to them and cause both of us to sink to the bottom. So I can swim in like pools and shallow lakes, but oceans, the great lakes or any other huge bodies of water are too dangerous unless I wear a life jacket.
 
Totentanz said:
Yeah but I think you probably looked overall better after your cut when you posted that one frontal pic a while back then I do now. You had a much better taper than I do too. A clean of that load at that weight would be crazy. Do you think about bulking up again or do you prefer the sleeker size you are at now?
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I did get reasonably lean, but that was after several months of UD2 and coming down from about 220lb to less than I weigh now! At least pull-ups and chins were easy! It was the first time in my life when muscle-ups were possible without much body swing.

I'd like to put a few pounds of muscle back on because I'm weaker than I'd like to be but I'm not going to get heavy again. I think I hit 225 at one point when I was bulking!

Due to my cancer situation, I have a pretty careful dietary regime to keep to now which makes it much harder to take in lots of calories. I have outlived my Prof's prognosis and I plan to keep it that way. I'd rather stay lighter and get as strong as I can be.

Improving my Oly lifts presents a great challenge as I know I can still improve my technique and flexibility a great deal. I think a 1.5 x bw clean and jerk should be doable with a bit of time, effort and lots of practice. I'd love to finally get a 500lb deadlift but I'm not going to hold my breath or lose any sleep over it.
 
Totentanz said:
Yeah it sucks. I'm so dense in the water that I can grab other people, hold on to them and cause both of us to sink to the bottom. So I can swim in like pools and shallow lakes, but oceans, the great lakes or any other huge bodies of water are too dangerous unless I wear a life jacket.
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Things for Totez to do this weekend: Lift, eat, repeat, check to see if he is Wolverine ...
 
Kinda funny, because they actually call me that at work, or Superman.

On with the post-5s. That means I'm going to shift to 10x3 and drop accessory lifts shortly here. Should be fun. Maybe I'll start logging some of it now. I am a little short on plates at the moment with my new home gym I am still assembling and can only get 410 lbs total when I throw it all on the bar, so a bit limited for my squats and deads.
 
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