Critique the Old Guy - Take Your Best Shot

[THEVMAN]

Ok - it says Physique Critique, so constructive criticism is welcome ---- what are my weaknesses, and what to do about them, (any comment on strengths would be nice too:yep: But "you such, dont quit your day job" probably will not improve me. Trying to gain about 4lbs in the off season of the next 6-8 months then compete again.

[THEVMAN]

First 4 pics are at 177lbs, 5.5% BF, last ones are at 175lbs 4.8% BF. By the way - I know my posing is not the greatest - and I am working on that. What I need is advice and where to increase muscle size to improve overall balance. Thanks for any feedback I can use. It is tough to put your self out there for more judging - but at least I have time now to improve before my next show. Take Care

[THEVMAN]

Stats: 53 yrs old, 5'11" tall, wt- mid 170s, competed in the Middle weights this year.

[Jude2]

Props on looking good at 53. Your strength is arms and shoulders. Weakness are legs and upper traps. Good realistic goal. Good luck and train hard.

[THEVMAN]

Thank you for the kind words and the feedback. I will start working my traps again, I had some muscles tightening in my neck and had stopped shrugs for a while. I attached a pic that shows them when I drop my shoulders.

Now on legs, I know I need them to cut more, and part of that is gaining size. They have about 3.5mm on calipers so maybe getting down in the low 4s with striated glues will help in detailing them. I have not done walking lunges for a long time. Here is what I did 2 days ago as a once a week routine, though I am switching to a doggcrapp routine with 5 sec negatives, and hence about 1/2 the weight. I always do a 1 min stretch at the end of working a muscle group to help the fascia expand - but that has only been recent (last 3 months) and I dieted for about 8 months off of 200 lbs.

warmup stretch, then to the smith machine
3 sets of 50 to 90 lbs at 10-15 reps of front squats to the ground. (luckily no knee problems, and lots of joint care)
The on the same machine, 4 sets for back squats to parallel, 1,2,3,and 4 plates per side - 10 reps.

Then leg press starting at 700, 15 reps narrow foot position mid way up the sled --- just 1 set today. Usually I do more on the leg press when I dont do back squats on the smith machine.
Then 800lbs 15 reps for 1 set with shoulder width foot position 1/2 way up sled, seat up.
Then 900lbs for 15, these are not too deep, maybe 3-4" shy of parallel, same with 1000lbs for 15.
My record off season is 1400 for 8 reps, and I was going to build to that - but these reps are fairly fast and fairly short. I do get sore in the quads, hams, and glutes and it take a day or two for it to reside.
Last set on leg press is 600lbs, deep reps for 15-20.
Then leg extensions, sets of 10-12 for 50lbs, 3 sets.
That was yesterday - I usually do calf, ham curls standing and seated, and inner and outer thigh machine on alternating workouts. This last diet season I was working out 4 days a week and hitting my legs twice a week - day 1 Chest, Day 2Upper back width & Quads, Day 3 Back thickness and Hams, Day 4 arms & shoulds Abs.

I have not been doing much with dead lifts or stiff leg dead lifts, but I am working more with wide chins, back extensions - and want to bring out more back thickness as well as shear Quad size. I think the ham definition will come with lower fat levels - but I can tell you that getting at 4.8% bodyfat as a natural bodybuilder required Keto dieting - anything below about 6.3% did require lots of cardio (2 hrs a day) and keto - fun for me and my thyroid.

I really appreciate any help. I have a great nutritionist and all - it just helps to get more ideas on how to improve - I am keeping my BF% under 7 off season so far - had gone to 11% last year and this time I want to keep it under 8% so I am doing 30 min of cardio a day. Metabolism for me has been a challenge - I love to life weights with lots of intensity - but cardio is another story.

[Jude2]

It is hard to grow staying really lean all the time, under 8%. I know I have always stayed really lean because that is the look I like, but can't gain much size like that. It is hard being natural I have to go to about 10% to gain some size then cut down. Try to add deadlifts to your workouts, it helps alot with the traps and back thickness.

[tammyp]

i agree with jude. if your natural staying lean and doing cardio wont let you make gains.

rack pulls and heavy bb shrugs are a good trap builder. helped me alot.

[THEVMAN]

Thanks - by the way, I have no problem gaining fat LOL - started in January preping for the Masters Nationals at 200lbs, 11% BF - the tough part about this is losing a lb a week to retain muscle as you lose fat, if you dont stay pretty lean, you can take 6 months to get down there - it took me that long to get to 4.8% bf, and I think I need to be leaner yet next year to compete in natural clubs with striated glutes. I was planning on slowly ramping up - but watching that stats - for the 1st month I was off all my supplements and did not eat very clean for a couple weeks - so I am in the mid 6% range (thinker around the middle)- 185. Now I am not sure if I should get scientific about this because I dont think there is enough precision in the numbers. But in theory - I went from 5.5% BF at 177, so lean mass was 167. Now I am 6.5% at 185, so 173 lean mass - that would say I gained 6 lbs of muscle. Of course it is likely water. Both measures are when I am carbed up - but water can play a big part in this. Though my strength is through the roof - ( 410lb hammer strength chest presses for 6 reps is close to my 3 rep 450lb record.)

If I do the math, the schedule would dictate a good 6 months off season - which would put me in may starting competition dieting. If I am at 10% at 200, the equation becomes tough, because I dont care how much muscle I gain off season, it is how much I keep - and I seem to start retaining muscle at about 8% on down - up till then the loss of fat takes the muscle with it. Even if I could achieve a goal of low 4% range at 180 lbs, 20 lbs of fat = 20 weeks of dieting, of 5 months, so it would be Oct before I could compete. Most of the good shows are in June / July. Hence leaner - meant less severe dieting for less time, better on the thyroid, and my mind LOL - and better for competing - though I only plan to do 1 or 2 shows, since the prep is a killer. I am not doubting you - I just want to dial in progress and actually gain wt. I gained 30 lbs of lean muscle in my first 3 years, and have simply been working for the last 5 years to figure out how to maintain the mass and get down under 6% - I finally have a great nutritionist - after going through several. But I am listening to you and appreciate your advice.

[THEVMAN]

Thank you all for the feedback - any others?

[THEVMAN]

3 months later, 6 months to my next show - 8.5% 196lbs
I dont think I want to add any more fat to my abs, so I will be starting a slow decline in BF now while lifting heavy and still working on weak points. Last year at this point I was 196lbs and 11% BF, so I think 4-5lbs in a year will be good to try to hold on to.

[THEVMAN]

As ya'll recommended, I have been doing dead lifts - I build up to heavy wt from 10 reps down to 6 - latest is 6 reps at 340 and 4 reps at 360lbs. Just wanted to check back in for any final comments - thank you for taking the time to support folks like me -