Took these yesterday. Never done this before. It feels weird to be showing pics of me to complete strangers. No head shots either (hope you'll understand why esp in my profession). Also no leg shots due to it being too difficult to get good pics on my own.

Weight: 70kg
Height: 5'6"
Body Fat: ~3%

Hats off to you mate! Thats some impressive conditioning!

Your back shot looks like Orinoco and Tartulhos!...I bet your all the same really ! Just changing the shades!

Well, impressive and good on ya!

KP

Excellent condition and a great shape from the front.

You do not appear to have much in the way of back width, is that an area you struggle with?

great condition. nice tight waist with taper to compliment. some good genetics in terms of your bicep and lower lat insertion points.gives a nice full look to your biceps. delts look to be one of your weaker points, but like me you dont have the broadest frame which makes it difficult in this area.

overall an impressive physique!

Rab

edit - looking again, your delts aint weak, the front relaxed shot gives that impression in terms of width..which i talked about above

simon m wrote:You do not appear to have much in the way of back width, is that an area you struggle with?

Yes, exactly Simon.
My depth, esp on the back, is an area I'm working on for sure.

To put this into perspective I am the heaviest and biggest I've ever been. And I'm not very heavy or big at all really. BUT, as you can see I am defined and well conditioned which gives more of an illusion of size. I'm relatively strong too.

Anyway, by saying this I hope you'll understand that my progress has always been about working up to a weight/size. I've never been bigger/heavier and had to work down.

Overall I'm very happy. But we all have, and indeed need, goals.

And my goal for this year is to get to 76kg. For me that's not going to be easy; esp as I indeed for this to be pure muscle. I see most of this going on my back & legs. And obviously all the other body parts will increase in size as a result of this muscle gain too.

Rab wrote:edit - looking again, your delts aint weak, the front relaxed shot gives that impression in terms of width..which i talked about above

camera angles eh lol

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Thanks for all the kind words. As I say it's a little weird to be showing pics of myself. If all goes to plan I'll post some more in 6 months so peeps can see the difference.

One of the things that most of us now do for back development is reverse close grip pulldowns. If you are not already doing these, they are worth a go.

If you pack on a few more kgs on the back and legs, you'll look immense.

I wouls say that you could easily get a Mens Health cover.

simon m wrote:One of the things that most of us now do for back development is reverse close grip pulldowns. If you are not already doing these, they are worth a go.

you mean palms facing you (supinated)?

I haven't used a pulldown machine in about a year. i only do pull-ups/chin-ups. I use a weighted belt. I change my hand grip positions too. In the last month I've been doing mixed-grip chins (one hand pronated and the other supinated). I added 17.5kg to the belt and did 3sets of 6 reps (3 reps on both hand positions) last week... just as an example.

simon m wrote:If you pack on a few more kgs on the back and legs, you'll look immense.

I would say that you could easily get a Mens Health cover.

Thanks. I have actually thought about it. If this year goes well then I'll have a serious think about entering for next years event.

Agree with Simon with the Pulldowns. I've been recently converted over to these and I'm sure these have contributed to my overall chest size increasing by 1/2 inch in around 4-5 weeks.

I also ultilise ascending and descending dropsets with these which you may also find beneficial for your conditioning.

Looking in fantastic shape overall. Should be very proud of what you've achieved.

That's excellent conditioning mate,

health4ni wrote: you mean palms facing you (supinated)?

Exactly.

The way I do them is to arch my chest upward and pulldown to my sternum and hold the contraction for a second in the fully contrcated position.

You will really notice these.

^^ sure. I've done them before. In fact I used to do them a lot. I'm just of the opinion that doing chins/pull-ups is better. I can do a lean-back & pull to the sternum chin, so perhaps I'll do that more now. Might try the lat pulldowns again though, but as I say I really do think chins/pull-ups are better... harder too.

You look fantastic, well done on some great work.

Your pics back up your comments in other threads, clearly a man with knowledge and experience.

A good addition to the forum :]

health4ni wrote:^^ sure. I've done them before. In fact I used to do them a lot. I'm just of the opinion that doing chins/pull-ups is better. I can do a lean-back & pull to the sternum chin, so perhaps I'll do that more now. Might try the lat pulldowns again though, but as I say I really do think chins/pull-ups are better... harder too.

I disagree, but I weigh 16 1/2 stone with dodgy shoulders. Lat pulldowns allow a more controlled contraction for most people.

I think that there's a certain snobery with pullups. I was watching a bloke with no back development to speak of doing a fair few pullups yesterday and he was cheating the movement up by using momentum from his legs and getting exhausted.

You are probably one of the few trainers who could do them well as I imagine that your weight to strength ratio is impressive, although I will say, no really huge fellas I know do pullups. I think this is as much to protect the shoulders as anything.

Give them a try as Alex T who is a monster has benefited and he's by far the strongest bloke I've met recently.

omg yes! I see too many blokes doing chins badly. Half-reps. Swinging all over the show. Chins nowhere near the bar. Just awful!

I'm strict in form for the particular chin/pull-up I'm doing. Fast up, slow down (3-4secs). Arms totally straight and hanging there before the next pull. PB for shoulder width supinated chins is BW plus 42.5kg (starting in the fully stretched position, pull to chin over bar, then controlled 4 secs down).

health4ni wrote:omg yes! I see too many blokes doing chins badly. Half-reps. Swinging all over the show. Chins nowhere near the bar. Just awful!

I'm strict in form for the particular chin/pull-up I'm doing. Fast up, slow down (3-4secs). Arms totally straight and hanging there before the next pull. PB for shoulder width supinated chins is BW plus 42.5kg (starting in the fully stretched position, pull to chin over bar, then controlled 4 secs down).

Seeing your photos I had an idea that you'd be one of those blokes who puts fella like me to shame - good work!

what does your back program look like out of intrest h4ni?

Awesome conditioning mate! No big weaknesses although as the others have already said your weakest is your back. I think a big thick back gets easier to come by as you yourself get heavier. Are you a big deadlifter?

I'm going to agree with you here about the chins, they're better than CGPI pulldowns imho, though I don't like and never do wide-grip pullups as they wreck my shoulders. Perfect example of no one exercise is best for all, we're all different?

Looking lean and mean mate. Well impressed with you conditioning. Would you say this is down to your overall weekly activity level?

^^ perhaps. I try to train at least 4 times a week. Ideally I want to do 5. Sometimes only do 3 though.

I don't do cardio. And I very rarely do HIIT. I just work my butt off with weights

My lifestyle, diet, nutrition & supplementation are big factors too.
The supplementation has really made an improvement in the last year... but I was always very well conditioned anyway, so supps (like Fish Oils esp) have helped me lean up even more and look better than I ever have. Just to clarify, the supps have kind of made that "finishing touch" if you like. Shit loads of hard work, good programs, close attention to what i put in mouth and a relatively stress free life are the major factors.

Plus I've fixed my sleep too (that's defo down to supplementation). I used to get up 1 or 2 times every night for a pee. For years I've been doing that. I realised 9 months ago that that is not normal for us humans and shouldn't happen.
I now very rarely get up. That allows me to carry on producing melatonin and growth hormone in my sleep and so has really helped my recovery & progress too.

I'd hit it!!!

Looking very lean there, great development overall, though as others have said, your back seems to be lacking a bit.
Alot of hard work put into that for sure.

Can't really add much to what has been said already... excellent conditioning and evidence of a lot of hard gym work!! Impressive.

health4ni wrote:Plus I've fixed my sleep too (that's defo down to supplementation). I used to get up 1 or 2 times every night for a pee. For years I've been doing that. I realised 9 months ago that that is not normal for us humans and shouldn't happen.
I now very rarely get up. That allows me to carry on producing melatonin and growth hormone in my sleep and so has really helped my recovery & progress too.

I really agree with this - when my sleeping patterns are consistantly good for merely a few weeks I start to notice much greater progress and definite lowering of b/fat levels (nowhere close to your level though) - long live GABA!!!

By the way, do you plan to compete at any point or is bodybuilding more of a lifestyle or recreational activity for you?

Impressive stuff mate, I envy your clients.

Excellent physique Scott! Looking very tight around the lower back/hip area....I'm guessing that's where those last couple of percent bodyfat make a difference. Very impressive!

Just awsome mate!!!

Looking superb mate