This Week in the O35 (pics/vids)

[nvrstopworking]

LOL I PM him almost the same question, I thought he was doing it professionally as his pics look great!

He's not??

Wow.

[llahhsoj]

I disagree to a point. It all depends on your goals of course. If you want to be an ab model and dont really care about mass, then yes.... extended dieting is for you. To me....a 5 month deficit is excessive. There is no point in prolonging a cut. While you are in a deficit state, even just a small one, you will make NO PROGRESS adding mass. Therefore cutting so slow and so long will do two things,... 1) work to slow your metabolism 2) keep you from making any real progress mass or strength wise.

If mass is your goal....you should diet as little as possible.....not as long as possible. A structured deficit in which you lose a 1lb to 1.5 lbs/week is ideal. Anymore then that, and you are bound to lose some hard earned mass. I personally would never diet more then 12 weeks....and that is if I had A LOT of weight to lose. I have fallen into a pattern of 4-5 month surpluses with 8 week cuts. I am able to stay well within reach of abs and never have to diet too much....or too hard.

I took his post as loseing weight slowly, like a pound a week for 5 months.

[induced_drag]

I took his post as using weight slowly, like a pound a week for 5 months.

The fatter you are....the quicker you can lose weight. (rate of fat drop). 2+lbs per week is not uncommon for a guy with 30+lbs of fat to lose.

Once you start getting reasonably lean 12-13%, then you have to slow down a little (in my opinion). When I say "slow down", I mean the 1lb/week thing. For a guy at 25% bf and 220lbs that would be over 9 months of dieting (at 1lb/week) to get to "ab" range. To me that is too much. If I were that fat, I would be hitting 2+lbs a week for a while. With that much fat, there will not be significant muscle loss. Even more if you make the assumption the guy has been out of the gym for a while and let himself go a bit. In that case...the new stimulus to the muscles will encourage them to stick around.....MAYBE EVEN GROW a bit, all while dropping lots of fat.

Now if you get down to 10% and are trying to get lower, I still think, (judging from reading many natural competitors contest prep logs), a lb a week is still good to go. I cant see the benefit of going less.....unless you are trying to make no forward progress.

Another big factor is how close you are to your genetic max for LBM. A guy like Cmoore, has a ton of LBM. In fact, he is probably very close to his limit. If he wants to get leaner then the 5-6% he is, it would probably best be done SLOWLY....(heck he would only have 2-3 lbs to lose)

No offence and just trying to talk honest here, a guy like ISO, who is so far under what his genetic potential should be (frame and height wise) can diet much more aggressively without losing muscle. That will allow him to get back to trying to put on quality mass, which is not going to happen under a deficit. And ISO, I hear you about not wanting to gain 15+ lbs in a bulk to net 3-4 lbm. But that is actually pretty good. 8-10 lbs will be water/glycogen on the surplus and that would drop in the first two weeks of dieting. You would be left with 3-4LBM and 2-3lbs of fat. Just my opinion....but you gotta eat to gain.... (even if only a 200-300cal surplus) My choice btw of where I like to bulk. You will make great progress and pick up minimal fat.

I tried the "recomping", lean gaining....etc.... it did not work AT ALL for me. Now throw even a slight surplus at me, every day....and things really start to happen.

Just sharing my thoughts.... To each their own.

[bodyhard]

He's not??

Wow.

He does his own photography.

[llahhsoj]

The fatter you are....the quicker you can lose weight. (rate of fat drop). 2+lbs per week is not uncommon for a guy with 30+lbs of fat to lose.

Once you start getting reasonably lean 12-13%, then you have to slow down a little (in my opinion). When I say "slow down", I mean the 1lb/week thing. For a guy at 25% bf and 220lbs that would be over 9 months of dieting (at 1lb/week) to get to "ab" range. To me that is too much. If I were that fat, I would be hitting 2+lbs a week for a while. With that much fat, there will not be significant muscle loss. Even more if you make the assumption the guy has been out of the gym for a while and let himself go a bit. In that case...the new stimulus to the muscles will encourage them to stick around.....MAYBE EVEN GROW a bit, all while dropping lots of fat.

Now if you get down to 10% and are trying to get lower, I still think, (judging from reading many natural competitors contest prep logs), a lb a week is still good to go. I cant see the benefit of going less.....unless you are trying to make no forward progress.

Another big factor is how close you are to your genetic max for LBM. A guy like Cmoore, has a ton of LBM. In fact, he is probably very close to his limit. If he wants to get leaner then the 5-6% he is, it would probably best be done SLOWLY....(heck he would only have 2-3 lbs to lose)

No offence and just trying to talk honest here, a guy like ISO, who is so far under what his genetic potential should be (frame and height wise) can diet much more aggressively without losing muscle. That will allow him to get back to trying to put on quality mass, which is not going to happen under a deficit. And ISO, I hear you about not wanting to gain 15+ lbs in a bulk to net 3-4 lbm. But that is actually pretty good. 8-10 lbs will be water/glycogen on the surplus and that would drop in the first two weeks of dieting. You would be left with 3-4LBM and 2-3lbs of fat. Just my opinion....but you gotta eat to gain.... (even if only a 200-300cal surplus) My choice btw of where I like to bulk. You will make great progress and pick up minimal fat.

I tried the "recomping", lean gaining....etc.... it did not work AT ALL for me. Now throw even a slight surplus at me, every day....and things really start to happen.

Just sharing my thoughts.... To each their own.

Good post!

[highiso]

Man, do you have a studio in your home? Your shots always come out great. My wife and I have been struggling with lighting the past 8 weeks trying to get definition and veins to show in my progress pics. You got any tips?

We've just about decided to try some indoor pics in our home gym with some overhead white light for this weekends 5 week out shots.

You have to have professional stuff to get these kinds of shots. I've been using 3 studio strobes for every shot.

LOL I PM him almost the same question, I thought he was doing it professionally as his pics look great!

He's not??

Wow.

He does his own photography.

I used to do a lot of freelance graphic design 12 years ago and clients always wanted custom photography. I taught myself how to do it, bought the equipment and then turned it into a part time portrait business until I got divorced. All of my equipment has been in boxes since. I decided to get it out when I found out I was going to be featured in the Over 40 transformation contest. Here's my setup in my now modest sized home. No room for a business studio anymore.

[highiso]

The fatter you are....the quicker you can lose weight. (rate of fat drop). 2+lbs per week is not uncommon for a guy with 30+lbs of fat to lose.

Once you start getting reasonably lean 12-13%, then you have to slow down a little (in my opinion). When I say "slow down", I mean the 1lb/week thing. For a guy at 25% bf and 220lbs that would be over 9 months of dieting (at 1lb/week) to get to "ab" range. To me that is too much. If I were that fat, I would be hitting 2+lbs a week for a while. With that much fat, there will not be significant muscle loss. Even more if you make the assumption the guy has been out of the gym for a while and let himself go a bit. In that case...the new stimulus to the muscles will encourage them to stick around.....MAYBE EVEN GROW a bit, all while dropping lots of fat.

Now if you get down to 10% and are trying to get lower, I still think, (judging from reading many natural competitors contest prep logs), a lb a week is still good to go. I cant see the benefit of going less.....unless you are trying to make no forward progress.

Another big factor is how close you are to your genetic max for LBM. A guy like Cmoore, has a ton of LBM. In fact, he is probably very close to his limit. If he wants to get leaner then the 5-6% he is, it would probably best be done SLOWLY....(heck he would only have 2-3 lbs to lose)

No offence and just trying to talk honest here, a guy like ISO, who is so far under what his genetic potential should be (frame and height wise) can diet much more aggressively without losing muscle. That will allow him to get back to trying to put on quality mass, which is not going to happen under a deficit. And ISO, I hear you about not wanting to gain 15+ lbs in a bulk to net 3-4 lbm. But that is actually pretty good. 8-10 lbs will be water/glycogen on the surplus and that would drop in the first two weeks of dieting. You would be left with 3-4LBM and 2-3lbs of fat. Just my opinion....but you gotta eat to gain.... (even if only a 200-300cal surplus) My choice btw of where I like to bulk. You will make great progress and pick up minimal fat.

I tried the "recomping", lean gaining....etc.... it did not work AT ALL for me. Now throw even a slight surplus at me, every day....and things really start to happen.

Just sharing my thoughts.... To each their own.

No offense taken ID. I'm still trying to figure out this bodybuilding thing. I do know for sure that I hate being or feeling fat since my transformation. Like I said before 11-12% and I feel like a fat ass. I was 16%+ this winter and hated it. My 34 pants were getting a little snug. I will put on some weight this winter but I'm going to try to keep my weight under 197 for sure.

[nvrstopworking]

He does his own photography.

You have to have professional stuff to get these kinds of shots. I've been using 3 studio strobes for every shot.

I used to do a lot of freelance graphic design 12 years ago and clients always wanted custom photography. I taught myself how to do it, bought the equipment and then turned it into a part time portrait business until I got divorced. All of my equipment has been in boxes since. I decided to get it out when I found out I was going to be featured in the Over 40 transformation contest. Here's my setup in my now modest sized home. No room for a business studio anymore.

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/4spO4.jpg[/MG]

Damn.... impressive! Love photography but have yet to get into studio work. Seems to require a very precise understanding of lighting.

You should post some of your pics in the photography thread. They might be able to offer some good tips to help out.

[Skullster]

The fatter you are....the quicker you can lose weight. (rate of fat drop). 2+lbs per week is not uncommon for a guy with 30+lbs of fat to lose.

Once you start getting reasonably lean 12-13%, then you have to slow down a little (in my opinion). When I say "slow down", I mean the 1lb/week thing. For a guy at 25% bf and 220lbs that would be over 9 months of dieting (at 1lb/week) to get to "ab" range. To me that is too much. If I were that fat, I would be hitting 2+lbs a week for a while. With that much fat, there will not be significant muscle loss. Even more if you make the assumption the guy has been out of the gym for a while and let himself go a bit. In that case...the new stimulus to the muscles will encourage them to stick around.....MAYBE EVEN GROW a bit, all while dropping lots of fat.

Now if you get down to 10% and are trying to get lower, I still think, (judging from reading many natural competitors contest prep logs), a lb a week is still good to go. I cant see the benefit of going less.....unless you are trying to make no forward progress.

Another big factor is how close you are to your genetic max for LBM. A guy like Cmoore, has a ton of LBM. In fact, he is probably very close to his limit. If he wants to get leaner then the 5-6% he is, it would probably best be done SLOWLY....(heck he would only have 2-3 lbs to lose)

No offence and just trying to talk honest here, a guy like ISO, who is so far under what his genetic potential should be (frame and height wise) can diet much more aggressively without losing muscle. That will allow him to get back to trying to put on quality mass, which is not going to happen under a deficit. And ISO, I hear you about not wanting to gain 15+ lbs in a bulk to net 3-4 lbm. But that is actually pretty good. 8-10 lbs will be water/glycogen on the surplus and that would drop in the first two weeks of dieting. You would be left with 3-4LBM and 2-3lbs of fat. Just my opinion....but you gotta eat to gain.... (even if only a 200-300cal surplus) My choice btw of where I like to bulk. You will make great progress and pick up minimal fat.

I tried the "recomping", lean gaining....etc.... it did not work AT ALL for me. Now throw even a slight surplus at me, every day....and things really start to happen.

Just sharing my thoughts.... To each their own.

Great post! I am in the lots of fat to lose category and have been dieting now for 36 weeks. I have lost 68 pounds. Just 4lbs shy of a 2 pound a week average. To be honest it has been pretty easy to do once I dialed in my diet. I am not cranky or going crazy and I never feel deprived or hungry. I do like to think about how nice it would be to eat more and gain some size but I just need to be patient a little longer as I have to much fat still to remove. My best estimate is 18% BF at the moment down from 37%. (I know I know I let myself go). I am shooting for 195lbs and 12% BF but not sure my BF will be there when I hit 195.
It does suck a bit because every single body part has shrunk (biceps down 2.5inches ~ correction fatceps down). Forearms and calves shrunk the least amount at only 1/2 inch each the entire process so far. On the other hand, it's nice to finally see some definition/shape peeking through the lard.

Taken Yesterday

[bodyhard]

You have to have professional stuff to get these kinds of shots. I've been using 3 studio strobes for every shot.







I used to do a lot of freelance graphic design 12 years ago and clients always wanted custom photography. I taught myself how to do it, bought the equipment and then turned it into a part time portrait business until I got divorced. All of my equipment has been in boxes since. I decided to get it out when I found out I was going to be featured in the Over 40 transformation contest. Here's my setup in my now modest sized home. No room for a business studio anymore.

Man I would love to have a setup and know what the f'ck I was doing, my pics would be f'cking bad ass!

I am still looking around for a pro to come to my house or me go to his studio and do some shots!

[cmoore]

Taken Yesterday

Awesome progress!!

[ljimd]

Great job on the fat loss Skullster ^^^^^^^^^.

[MikeManderson]

Remember the purpose of this thread guys?

Can we start a revolving pic thread? I think it'd be fun if we had a "current" pic thread.
Sort of a "What did you do this week?" thread.

Rules:
1. Pic/Video must be of you
2. Pic/Video must be LESS than 7 days old
3. Poster must be OVER 35 YEARS OLD.

There are plenty of threads to show off your knowledge and give advice, this in NOT that thread. It is turning into another ID is so great thread. Respect the op please and lets get back to just seeing the awesome pictures.

[Skullster]

Awesome progress!!

Great job on the fat loss Skullster ^^^^^^^^^.

Thanks guys. Much appreciated.

[ljimd]

Remember the purpose of this thread guys?

Can we start a revolving pic thread? I think it'd be fun if we had a "current" pic thread.
Sort of a "What did you do this week?" thread.

Rules:
1. Pic/Video must be of you
2. Pic/Video must be LESS than 7 days old
3. Poster must be OVER 35 YEARS OLD.

There are plenty of threads to show off your knowledge and give advice, this in NOT that thread. It is turning into another ID is so great thread. Respect the op please and lets get back to just seeing the awesome pictures.

If ID bothers you...put him on ignore. We have enough forum police here already. Jeeesh.

[induced_drag]

Remember the purpose of this thread guys?

Can we start a revolving pic thread? I think it'd be fun if we had a "current" pic thread.
Sort of a "What did you do this week?" thread.

Rules:
1. Pic/Video must be of you
2. Pic/Video must be LESS than 7 days old
3. Poster must be OVER 35 YEARS OLD.

There are plenty of threads to show off your knowledge and give advice, this in NOT that thread. It is turning into another ID is so great thread. Respect the op please and lets get back to just seeing the awesome pictures.

Strong first post mike.....I mean Palmer.

[bigvin73]

The fatter you are....the quicker you can lose weight. (rate of fat drop). 2+lbs per week is not uncommon for a guy with 30+lbs of fat to lose.

Once you start getting reasonably lean 12-13%, then you have to slow down a little (in my opinion). When I say "slow down", I mean the 1lb/week thing. For a guy at 25% bf and 220lbs that would be over 9 months of dieting (at 1lb/week) to get to "ab" range. To me that is too much. If I were that fat, I would be hitting 2+lbs a week for a while. With that much fat, there will not be significant muscle loss. Even more if you make the assumption the guy has been out of the gym for a while and let himself go a bit. In that case...the new stimulus to the muscles will encourage them to stick around.....MAYBE EVEN GROW a bit, all while dropping lots of fat.

Now if you get down to 10% and are trying to get lower, I still think, (judging from reading many natural competitors contest prep logs), a lb a week is still good to go. I cant see the benefit of going less.....unless you are trying to make no forward progress.

Another big factor is how close you are to your genetic max for LBM. A guy like Cmoore, has a ton of LBM. In fact, he is probably very close to his limit. If he wants to get leaner then the 5-6% he is, it would probably best be done SLOWLY....(heck he would only have 2-3 lbs to lose)

No offence and just trying to talk honest here, a guy like ISO, who is so far under what his genetic potential should be (frame and height wise) can diet much more aggressively without losing muscle. That will allow him to get back to trying to put on quality mass, which is not going to happen under a deficit. And ISO, I hear you about not wanting to gain 15+ lbs in a bulk to net 3-4 lbm. But that is actually pretty good. 8-10 lbs will be water/glycogen on the surplus and that would drop in the first two weeks of dieting. You would be left with 3-4LBM and 2-3lbs of fat. Just my opinion....but you gotta eat to gain.... (even if only a 200-300cal surplus) My choice btw of where I like to bulk. You will make great progress and pick up minimal fat.

I tried the "recomping", lean gaining....etc.... it did not work AT ALL for me. Now throw even a slight surplus at me, every day....and things really start to happen.

Just sharing my thoughts.... To each their own.

They are having ice water in hell today.

I'm gonna not only agree with ya again ID but I'm gonna give your theory a real life example.

I've been back 5 months from two year injury durring which I ate like complete crap and did absolutely nothing.

Pre injury-285 18% bf was in a full out bulk
Start of come back-265-270 25-26% bf
5 months in 260-265 14-15% bf all lifts working back to pre injury and I haven't even come close to dialing in a diet I eat clean but sloppy if that makes sence.

I'm pretty much proving ID theory
Was not my intent to recomp it just happened I'm much bigger and harder In 5 months and actually in a tank top look like I lift.

Sorry I don't do pics actually hate taking them the few I have are only because my daughter wanted them or I would still have my av from 3 years ago

[2nd_chance]

Remember the purpose of this thread guys?

Can we start a revolving pic thread? I think it'd be fun if we had a "current" pic thread.
Sort of a "What did you do this week?" thread.

Rules:
1. Pic/Video must be of you
2. Pic/Video must be LESS than 7 days old
3. Poster must be OVER 35 YEARS OLD.

There are plenty of threads to show off your knowledge and give advice, this in NOT that thread. It is turning into another ID is so great thread. Respect the op please and lets get back to just seeing the awesome pictures.

What a joke. Why don't you take a hike Mikey?

[Brad805]

Skullster, I wish my midsection looked like that now. I started around the same time, and have dropped just a little less than you, but I still got the darn handles. I took a pic to post, but hated it by the time I got to work and trashed it. Great job.

I too found ID's reply above quite informative. I don't get the comment about offending the OP. Cmoore posted almost immediately above and he didn't seem to mind at all.

[pharmamarketer]

Good for you. Keep it up.

Great post! I am in the lots of fat to lose category and have been dieting now for 36 weeks. I have lost 68 pounds. Just 4lbs shy of a 2 pound a week average. To be honest it has been pretty easy to do once I dialed in my diet. I am not cranky or going crazy and I never feel deprived or hungry. I do like to think about how nice it would be to eat more and gain some size but I just need to be patient a little longer as I have to much fat still to remove. My best estimate is 18% BF at the moment down from 37%. (I know I know I let myself go). I am shooting for 195lbs and 12% BF but not sure my BF will be there when I hit 195.
It does suck a bit because every single body part has shrunk (biceps down 2.5inches ~ correction fatceps down). Forearms and calves shrunk the least amount at only 1/2 inch each the entire process so far. On the other hand, it's nice to finally see some definition/shape peeking through the lard.

Taken Yesterday

[MikeManderson]

What a joke. Why don't you take a hike Mikey?

i don't want to derail this thread but do you phone your buddy and get permission to defend him everyday or do you take that initiative yourself? Leave it alone now and let the pictures do the talking, you two can have your brown nosing sessions via pm. mkay

ps. funny how the two juicers defend each other and act like they have all the answers.

[themyth2009]

i don't want to derail this thread but do you phone your buddy and get permission to defend him everyday or do you take that initiative yourself? Leave it alone now and let the pictures do the talking, you two can have your brown nosing sessions via pm. mkay

ps. funny how the two juicers defend each other and act like they have all the answers.

Not a juicer but I have ALL the answers...

[induced_drag]

.... Leave it alone now and let the pictures do the talking

Here you go....my only pic this week...from Monday. A bicep shot. Your turn little b!tch

[2nd_chance]

Yes Mikey let's see some pictures of you.

[nvrstopworking]

Just ignore him guys. Let's not let a great thread turn into a bicker-fest.

Tremendous job Skullster!

[bodyhard]

Not a juicer but I have ALL the answers...

I need to start juicing I want more attention!

[bustasinclair]

Skullster, you rock brother!!!!! You're killin' it.


Thought I'd get a less formal shot in since all I do is post contest progress shots.

Training tonight--Shoulders/Upper back

[powernpain]

Just ignore him guys. Let's not let a great thread turn into a bicker-fest.

Tremendous job Skullster!

agree

This thread is a showcase for everyone to show there stuff.... Topics of debate should go outside........ Debating should not be allowed in this thread. Compliments, suggestions, positive advice....

[bodyhard]

Skullster, you rock brother!!!!! You're killin' it.


Thought I'd get a less formal shot in since all I do is post contest progress shots.

Training tonight--Shoulders/Upper back

You've come a long way man serious.

[ntrllftr]

Skullster, you rock brother!!!!! You're killin' it.


Thought I'd get a less formal shot in since all I do is post contest progress shots.

Training tonight--Shoulders/Upper back

Looks like you got a lot leaner since yer last photos that I saw. On track, Matt is on track!!!!