first time posing, first contest 4 weeks out

[MikeK46]

Pic from August 2009 @ 170lbs for reference:



Flash forward to a week ago...upon recommendations from friends, decided to compete in my first contest.

These photos are from yesterday....first day posing in my life, 4 weeks out from first ever contest, @ 146lbs. Just trying to get the general poses down at the moment.

FRONT DOUBLE BICEP



SIDE CHEST POSE



BACK DOUBLE BICEP



TRICEP EXTENSION



ABDOMINAL POSE



FRONT LAT SPREAD



BACK LAT SPREAD

[MikeK46]

MOST MUSCULAR



LEGS







THANKS!!

[SeanBE]

That's quite a lot of dedication! Damm. From August 2009 till now, that's very impressive. Anyway you could post your routine? Cheers

[xxxdvsONExxx]

awesome peak on them biceps, i need some.

[SydTheKid]

Great arms, especially the biceps. Overall physique is great however I'd say your back is your weak spot, goodjob none the less!

[drangel254]

Great arms, especially the biceps. Overall physique is great however I'd say your back is your weak spot, goodjob none the less!

How do you look so big weighing so little?

[thebeast110]

Impressive man, only glaring weakpoint seems to be your back/lats. But damn those front poses are impressive, especially your most muscular. Best of luck at the show lookin big!

[dejan_85]

How do you look so big weighing so little?

I am also wondering the same?

[Stevebaby]

dang, i'm jealous. that is an intense look. well done is an under statement

[Marleau12]

Damn how did you accomplish that in less then a year? What and how much do you eat a day? What's your routine?

[Fowles]

looging great dude. with some more back size you'll look even better.

[Turbulence24]

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/layne36.htm

posing towards the bottom. when you're doing back poses, make sure you aren't pulling your shoulder blades together. you want to push them out to make your back look wider. otherwise, good stuff

[jdmap2]

damn.. great work.

[jimpern]

A few more posing suggestions:
--In both double-biceps, make sure to spread your lats.
--In the lat-spreads, your hands should be higher, about navel-level.
--In the side-chest, your far-side hand should be on top of the near-side arm, pushing down. You should tuck the far-side arm in against your torso and expand your chest as you're doing so. What you're doing is more of a side-biceps pose.
--In the ab/thigh pose, your arms should be higher up, with your elbows pointing straight up and your biceps on either side of your head.
--Your side-triceps and most-muscular poses look pretty good as is. Good posing is like good musicianship: you gotta practice, practice, practice until it feels easy and routine. That impresses the judges as well.

And I'll echo what has been said before: your biceps are phenomenal! Right now they overpower the rest of your physique, and you simply have to work on bringing everything else up to match. Good luck.

P.S. I used to work in Melville, for Grumman, in leased office space on route 110.

[themyth2009]

Good luck. Arms are very impressive like others only thing I can see is your lats/back appear to lag behind.

[Scaglietti]

looking lean dude, work on the posing for sure as it will make or break your conest..
jealous of your calf genes!

[MikeK46]

thank you guys for the comments. i rewired my brain to desire only food that is beneficial to for my goal instead of detrimental. small portions of chicken, turkey, salmon, tuna, vegetables, cottage cheese...these were my staples and my loves. if i knew mentally that it would improve my physique, it was delicious.

a lot of dedication & commitment to very strict nutrition & training, logging and timing meals, calories, and macros, logging every rep in the gym, and never skipping training for any reason.

looging great dude. with some more back size you'll look even better.

thanks! I assume you're referring to getting wider up top? which exercises do you recommend I focus on?

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/layne36.htm

posing towards the bottom. when you're doing back poses, make sure you aren't pulling your shoulder blades together. you want to push them out to make your back look wider. otherwise, good stuff

point taken, thank you! and I'll be reading that link!

A few more posing suggestions:
--In both double-biceps, make sure to spread your lats.
--In the lat-spreads, your hands should be higher, about navel-level.
--In the side-chest, your far-side hand should be on top of the near-side arm, pushing down. You should tuck the far-side arm in against your torso and expand your chest as you're doing so. What you're doing is more of a side-biceps pose.
--In the ab/thigh pose, your arms should be higher up, with your elbows pointing straight up and your biceps on either side of your head.
--Your side-triceps and most-muscular poses look pretty good as is. Good posing is like good musicianship: you gotta practice, practice, practice until it feels easy and routine. That impresses the judges as well.

And I'll echo what has been said before: your biceps are phenomenal! Right now they overpower the rest of your physique, and you simply have to work on bringing everything else up to match. Good luck.

P.S. I used to work in Melville, for Grumman, in leased office space on route 110.

awesome, thank you for the advice, I will be taking note! look for next round of photos to improve upon each of those!

[oddsilence]

Amazing peak man and great body. I swear I have seen you somewhere on ESPN boards. I am an Auburn grad and fan of tigers.

[blownDC]

You sir, is my idol. Same height same weight. I'm trying to bulk to 160-165 right now and lean out to 150-155. I'd be happy if I was half as good of shape as you when I'm done.

[skodt]

Solid Bicep. Really nice work here.

[purdey]

mind sharing your arm routine?

[xxxdvsONExxx]

mind sharing your arm routine?

+1 on routine

[Rsardinia]

Pretty ripped but you need to work on your lat poses.

[stefan-109]

Great progress man.. the only critique i would say is your back.. try to spread your back out by separating your shoulder blades instead of locking.. other than that great work and wish you the best.

[cawiau]

Looking amazing and great transformation

[Ehudd]

you got a great body man, should do well in the comp, biceps and legs take the take for me.

but if you pose like that, you will lose.

[K1W1]

Nice work

[MissUK2010]

Wow well done, your gonna do well come show day

[Heathhd008]

How do you look so big weighing so little?

^ that...must be awesome being short, lookin jacked. I'll have to get like 210+ to be anything close to that lmao.

[PaLftr]

Everything's great except back...It's lacking BIG TIME. A solid back would radically transform your build. It has practically no mass right now.

Do chins, lat pull downs, deadlifts, barbell rows, dumbell rows, T-bar rows...You name it, hit them hard.