8 weeks out, Critique Me Please!

[jjjohns_10]

8 weeks out right now. Sorry the picture quality sucks. Keep in mind, i'm natural, no drugs. Any input would be awsome; give it to me straight!!!! Thx

Height: 6'
Age: 24yrs old
Weight: 218.2lbs
BF: ?? Close to 10% i think

[tammyp]

you seem a bit behind to me for 8 weeks out. work on posing.

for off season: more overall size for your frame. pretty good for a nattie.

[Dan Kennedy]

Focus on lats - especially lower lats in the off-season. Look good for a natty. Keep plugging away.
Dan

[jjjohns_10]

Thanks Tammy and Dan! I'm doing keto this year, 2hrs cardio a day right now. I had my weekly carb up the night before; a agree, I look a bit behind in these photos I felt very bloated and watery that day.

Dan: what r your favorite excercises u recommend for lower lats?
Tammy: how behind haha? I was thinkin of droppin/cycling the fats soon

[tammyp]

that is a good idea. good luck and keep us posted with progress pics!

[jjjohns_10]

Will do Tammy. I'll post again in a few weeks, thx again

[jjjohns_10]

2 hours a day at 8 weeks out? OUCH.

Haha been doin that for a while now; damn those offseason cheeseburgers!

[Jude2]

You might have gained too much weight in the offseason. You look pretty hard in your avatar pic. Just because someone is natural dosen't mean they can't get lean or hard. Alot natties are harder than non naturals. Conditioning is key in a natural show. Thats why I never say someone looks good for a nattie. People either look good or they don't. You are a little behind, but you can get there.

[tammyp]

i dont mean looks to be a nattie as a bad thing.....alot of natties, especially those that are tall, dont have good symmetry. even though you need more mass for your frame, you got it.

[holyintellect]

I agree that you look behind for 8 weeks....keep busting your ass, and hopefully you'll be ok!

Just FYI, Ive prepped three people using a ketogenic diet. With each of them, I went against what is recommended for keto users, and had them doing intervals instead of long duration cardio. The last one was a teen in November who is as natural as you can get....It made a remarkable difference in each of their preps.....I just dont think 2 hours cardio at 8 weeks out is reasonable.....

As far as improvements, I agree that your lats could come up, and I also think your delts look weak in both the second and third pics.

Good luck, and keep posting pics through your prep!

[Quadsweep]

Have to agree with Holy on the 2hrs strait cardio. Also, for later you need to make hams a priority in your leg traing. Way heavy in the quads compared to your hams. Sprints work well in place of cardio too and don't burn off lean mass. Don't go 100% as you can get injured (trust me!) about 85%. I like 10 - 50's

Jeff

[Jude2]

i dont mean looks to be a nattie as a bad thing.....alot of natties, especially those that are tall, dont have good symmetry. even though you need more mass for your frame, you got it.
Tammy I wasn't referring to your comment. I was referring to conditioning. I agree with you about symmetry for the tall BB that is natural. Size is a whole new game.

[jjjohns_10]

R
Have to agree with Holy on the 2hrs strait cardio. Also, for later you need to make hams a priority in your leg traing. Way heavy in the quads compared to your hams. Sprints work well in place of cardio too and don't burn off lean mass. Don't go 100% as you can get injured (trust me!) about 85%. I like 10 - 50's

Jeff

I'll give it a try! BTW, what's 10-50's (sorry, kind of an amateur)

[jjjohns_10]

I agree that you look behind for 8 weeks....keep busting your ass, and hopefully you'll be ok!

Just FYI, Ive prepped three people using a ketogenic diet. With each of them, I went against what is recommended for keto users, and had them doing intervals instead of long duration cardio. The last one was a teen in November who is as natural as you can get....It made a remarkable difference in each of their preps.....I just dont think 2 hours cardio at 8 weeks out is reasonable.....

As far as improvements, I agree that your lats could come up, and I also think your delts look weak in both the second and third pics.

Good luck, and keep posting pics through your prep!

I couldn't agree more. I think my shoulders suck, just gonna take time and a lot of hard work. Did u have your keto clients doing HIIT for the first 20mins, and then had then finish with low heartrate for the remainder of their cardio? Any advice would be much appreciated, thx!

[holyintellect]

I tried to be conservative because I wasnt too experienced with Keto, and all I had heard and read was that HIIT would eat away all the precious muscle. I had each of them do 1 minute balls to the wall, and then 2 minutes normally. That made a 3 minute "cycle"...I added in cycles each week until they got to 10 cycles (or 30 minutes). I let them do whatever machine they wanted to do, and I was very pleasantly pleased with the results...

[Quadsweep]

10 50 yard sprints.

[jjjohns_10]

HERE'S AN UPDATE! 6 1/2 WEEKS OUT
213.6lbs this morning. Been doing Interval Training the first couple days after carb up, then low intense the rest of the week.

[Jude2]

Man those 5# have made a difference. Leaning out nicely.

[Quadsweep]

Man those 5# have made a difference. Leaning out nicely. I agree 100%! Good work! One thing for future refrence. As BBing is about balance also, watch your quad to upper body proportions. You are on the verge of becoming leg dominant. Which BTW is way better in my book than having weak legs ! Just watch it.

Jeff

[holyintellect]

Man those 5# have made a difference. Leaning out nicely.


Ditto! Keep posting progress pics...

[tammyp]

much improved! keep it up!

[jjjohns_10]

Man those 5# have made a difference. Leaning out nicely.


I agree 100%! Good work! One thing for future refrence. As BBing is about balance also, watch your quad to upper body proportions. You are on the verge of becoming leg dominant. Which BTW is way better in my book than having weak legs ! Just watch it.

Jeff


Ditto! Keep posting progress pics...


much improved! keep it up!

Thx for the encouragement! What do u think tho, am I still a little behind? I'm not affraid to suffer

[Jude2]

You are catching up. It is hard to tell by the photos. You don't want to drop too much weight too fast, you want to keep your muscle. Keep up what you are doing.

[jjjohns_10]

OKAY GUYS, HERE'S SOME UPDATED PHOTOS.
5 1/2 WEEKS OUT
210.4lbs
Sorry bout the picture quality. The cuts in the middle Quad are visible in person.

[jjjohns_10]

Anybody? Anybody?

[tammyp]

much improved! just gotta get the ham glute tie in there..dont suffer too much..YET. you still got time. post em up weekly from now on, K?

[jjjohns_10]

Aaaaaabsolutely Tammy!!!

[Jude2]

Making good improvements. That is all you can do. Keep it up.

[holyintellect]

Improvements are definitely visible....Keep up the good work. I do suggest you get someone who knows what they are looking at to help you with your posing. There are several poses where you could certainly ENHANCE how you look by changing things around slightly.

[jjjohns_10]

4 1/2 weeks out
207.6lbs
Been working on posing alot, hopefully its paying off.

[Quadsweep]

Posing is much better! Watch how far you bring your hand around on the side 1/4 turn. I would call you on that. You are coming in nice but don't hold back to much as its easier to slow down the last two weeks than speed up. I would be slammin the diet and sprints and cardio for the next two weeks.

Jeff

[Quadsweep]

Oh and for future refrence. Nice quad sweep, Nice tear drop, week adductors. Adductors are hamstring really. Do you train hams after quads always. Are you tired after quads? I start one week heavy hams/light quads then switch the next week. Just a thought. I am a trainer too..18 years.

[jjjohns_10]

Oh and for future refrence. Nice quad sweep, Nice tear drop, week adductors. Adductors are hamstring really. Do you train hams after quads always. Are you tired after quads? I start one week heavy hams/light quads then switch the next week. Just a thought. I am a trainer too..18 years.

That's so WEIRD that you mentioned alternating hams and quads like that. Three day ago my training partner and I were looking at these progression of photos and came to that exact conclusion; WEIRD dude.!!!

And yes, i'm usually SPENT after quads. I'm not a very big guy but I can keep up on legs with the bigger guys at my gym pretty well. That new program will work well I think!

[Outlaw53]

Very handy physique, you look great.

Side Chest and Side Triceps poses are too"squatty" for me.
I know you are trying to show off your hammies, but they can be shown off in other poses or during your transitions.
Side Chest is a proud/strong looking pose, stand up straighter.
You have totally nailed the Side Triceps torso position - outstanding!

Front foot position on Abs/Thigh needs work.
Try crossing your right foot across your left so they line up one behind the other.
Front foot (right) weight should be on the big toe with foot pointed, not flat footed.

Move it around a bit to see for best separation.
Almost like butting out a cigarette butt and twisting it into the ground.

More back width is needed but that is a long-term fix.
Best of luck, you will do well.

[jjjohns_10]

3.5 weeks out *****UPDATE****
203.4lbs
Still doin keto, playing around with the idea of adding in some carbs near the end here, dropping the fats down.

[Outlaw53]

Foot position on Ab/Thigh is looking much better, nice work.

Side Chest + Side Tri could still be a bit straighter in the legs.
Can you take some shots with legs bent and legs straighter for a comparison in each pose please.

[Outlaw53]

Front Bi and Front Lat foot positions need some work too.
Please make sure you include your feet in each photo. (Don't crop them out)

[jjjohns_10]

Foot position on Ab/Thigh is looking much better, nice work.

Side Chest + Side Tri could still be a bit straighter in the legs.
Can you take some shots with legs bent and legs straighter for a comparison in each pose please.


Front Bi and Front Lat foot positions need some work too.
Please make sure you include your feet in each photo. (Don't crop them out)

Yessur, i'll post next wednesday. I agree bout the front bi/lat, they look off to me too; i was pretty tired that day lol.

[jjjohns_10]

***UPDATE*** 2.5 weeks out
200.6lbs and still quite miserable
Outlaw: totally spaced the foot thing you asked about; my bad. I'll get it right one a these days haha!

[Jude2]

Progressing well. In the rea shots try to flex your hamstrings and glutes harder.

[tammyp]

looking good, just need to get glutes tighter.

[jjjohns_10]

Candid photos, saturday afternoon after weekly friday night carb up***

[tammyp]

looking good. i would like to see legs a bit harder but that may come with drying out. good progress!