after 14 years of natural lifting, i finally made it

[DiamondMaker]

the only thing OP does that is slightly different is add blood flow restriction at the end of his workouts, which is smart because it's super light training (30% 1rm). it doesn't add to total volume which is the main driver of hypertrophy but still contributes through other mechanisms like metabolic stress

brah you can get jacked too, and in less than 14 years for sure. not taking away from OP's progress, it's srsly impressive but you don't need 14 years to get jacked natty. if you train smart you can get jacked a lot faster, as i'm sure OP will admit




Also OP how are you so light? your arms are bigger than mine and i'm 97kg at 6'2, also you look bigger than me in general

Good post bro.

I guess the weight is a function of my thin bone structure. Naturally, without working out I think I would be about 150 lb at this same body fat. In 2009 when I tried to do modeling, I stopped lifting weights and just switched to bodyweight training for a while - I believe at one point I was 160-165lb and still had some semblance of muscle.

Since 2012 I always end up dieting down to about the same 170-177 weight but each time I'm surprised by how much bigger I am despite no change on the scale. My measurements have increased so this must be a function of lowering body fats and perhaps having the ability to vary between flat/carbed-up weight?

I may also be a lot leaner then appears on camera- I don't have many good (overhead) light sources in my current home. Here was a pic i took last night after carbs showing how thin my ab skin was.

what size are your arms?

I put recent measurements on page 5, but arms 16.9 pre-workout / 17.25 post workout (once home so maybe a little bigger 15mins before?)

[Pazienxa]

fukking nuts, miring hard man.

wat size jacket/shirt you wear? I'm about same height, bulking atm because I was on dyel mode in a shirt. do you know what your shoulder width/circumference is?

[goingcia]

this made me lul, thanks man - looking huge in your profile pic



I don't think that will work as well because when you go really heavy your CNS fatigues and the whole idea of the hypertrophy days is to not achieve CNS fatigue and instead experience muscular fatigue.

Rest time, I usually give things about 2-3 minutes. I guess on the strictly hypertrophy days I do try to keep the rest down more, that's actually something I'm trying to work at being better about since I'm sort of lax and just let the time go by slow.

Supplements I would say:
Creatine 5g - all year round
beta alanine 3g - before a workout , I took this out for a while and I think I notice an improvement with or without
hmb 3g - I take this every morning during diet phase, idk if it really doesn't anything
fish oil - try to take this all year round, a necessity in dieting phase
multivitamin - try to take all year round, a necessity in dieting phase
vitamin D - I tend to show low on regular physicals so I started taking 5,000 a day

Only other tricks I have are:
300mg caffeine pre-workout
Sometimes I use smelling salts before big lifts in the offseason
Back when I drank I use to do 2 shots of whiskey before deadlifts, but that may or may not have caused a hamstring injury lol



I've done many bulking/dieting phases. My successful diets were summer 2012, summer 2013, Winter 2015 and now summer 2017.

Page 2 is photo of me bulk up in 2014, my last bulk i had injury so I got even fatter than that - but that would normally be about the BF I stop bulking at.




No one in person thinks I use roids. And truth is I just really love working out.

Good stuff. Thanks brah.

[krioro]

Gjdm.

[CTCD20]

Awesome pics. Great size. Look thick. Solid. Tight. Keep us all posted on your continued progress with any new progress pics or vid clips. Show us what you got man. Wanna see how freakin' huge, solid, thick and tight you can get. Thanks for the motivation.

[DiamondMaker]

fukking nuts, miring hard man.

wat size jacket/shirt you wear? I'm about same height, bulking atm because I was on dyel mode in a shirt. do you know what your shoulder width/circumference is?

I'm like a large but have a lot of room in the stomach so try to find big fit medium if possible. Offseason more often XL
Chest is 44 relaxed
Neck is 16.5 in dress shirt

[DiamondMaker]

Update:
Reverse diet week 1, look better now that i'm filling out. Weight around 174-176


Before /after from peak of bulk to now

[Roke]

I'm proud of you, opie. So proud.

[DiamondMaker]

Update#2:

Reverse diet week 3, going into 4th. Weight has been staying the same, at one point I hit a new low, but then bounced up 1lb over.
Macros are up to :255c 240p 40f
Cardio: 3x hiit, 2x miss (40min), ~ 7k steps a day

[Dreamlifter]

More good **** dude, impressive as fuk

[SydneyJunkie]

What's your height you manlet. I call 5'10

[sumusikoo]

6'1 @175

Damn and you look this big and shredded.


I started at 110lbs 5'10 (see avatar) , currently my highest weight was 143lbs, I'm currently down to 136lbs because I had to stop lifting for ~2 months due to work making me exhausted as **** (heavy work for whole 8 hours was killing me).

Just got off work to find a new one because last one was killing me so I'm fine to start going again to the gym, I was never the guy that needs motivation to lift, I can easily lift for a long time without ever skipping or thinking about quitting, however, there's just one thing that kills me inside.


I'm a skinny motherfuker and yet I don't have abs, really makes me wonder if I'll ever make it. I can see myself getting to 170lbs and all but will I ever be able to get anywhere close to that while having abs? Really makes me skeptical, if I'm this light already and can't even see abs let alone the more I bulk... Hell, as you can see in my avatar, that was at 110lbs and I didn't even have abs either




Also just a question, in your 14 years of lifting, which routine do you believe helped you the most in terms of gains? Currently rocking a 3x fullbody per week, got more time now so might consider going a bit more often.

[DiamondMaker]

More good **** dude, impressive as fuk

Thanks man

What's your height you manlet. I call 5'10

lol, around 6'1 - 6'2

Also just a question, in your 14 years of lifting, which routine do you believe helped you the most in terms of gains? Currently rocking a 3x fullbody per week, got more time now so might consider going a bit more often.

I go into depth on programing on page 5, and then more on timeline stuff on page 6

[sumusikoo]

I go into depth on programing on page 5, and then more on timeline stuff on page 6

Thanks bro!

U said:

"22-24 years old found "power/hypertrophy split with higher frequency" made more gains in 2 years then i did in all the bro years "



Is that the current routine u explained in page 5?

[DiamondMaker]

Thanks bro!

U said:

"22-24 years old found "power/hypertrophy split with higher frequency" made more gains in 2 years then i did in all the bro years "



Is that the current routine u explained in page 5?

Similar but I did a more simplified version that was:

Day 1 - heavy upper body
Day 2- heavy lower body
Day 3- off
Day 4- high rep back/delts
day 5- high rep legs
Day 6- high rep chest/arms
day 7 -off

It took you 14 years to gain 15 pounds? Wtf? And LOL at "I started at 15 and look at me now" yea... from 15 to like 20 it is called natural growth. So you gained 15 pounds from age 15 to now? That would mean 10 of those pounds would be natural age related gains and the other 5 from lifting.. so that would mean you only got shredded but barely put on mass.

I guess I didn't get any taller after 15. Maybe half inch. I have an old log from when I was a teen, my arms were around 12, legs were 19 when I started lifting.

Now , at a much lower boy fat my arms are about 17 and legs are 25+. So clearly put on a lot of muscle. I do find my weight pretty fascinating but I think most of this plays into not realizing just how fat I was in the past. Even with glute separation it doesn't really mean you're much under 9%, most people seriously over estimate.

[sumusikoo]

Similar but I did a more simplified version that was:

Day 1 - heavy upper body
Day 2- heavy lower body
Day 3- off
Day 4- high rep back/delts
day 5- high rep legs
Day 6- high rep chest/arms
day 7 -off

Will give it a try thanks!

By heavy you mean 1-5 reps and high rep 8-12?

[moonrakerelite]

do you shave your legs...god i can't even imagine how big of a hassle that is

no hate intended...just imagining trying to shave my own and it would be a total disaster.

[DiamondMaker]

Will give it a try thanks!

By heavy you mean 1-5 reps and high rep 8-12?

Heavy more like 4-6 . only as of getting more advance did I start doing singles,doubles,triples

High rep more like 8-15 yeah. Look up "PHAT simply shredded", good program to get you going in the correct mindset.

do you shave your legs...god i can't even imagine how big of a hassle that is

Once I got lean enough it looked weird if I didn't. But I already shave my torso, so just few extra minutes

[reddanak]

That feeling when I'll be 41 when I'm 14 years deep.

Mirin' OP. Looking good.

[AshWar]

Similar but I did a more simplified version that was:

Day 1 - heavy upper body
Day 2- heavy lower body
Day 3- off
Day 4- high rep back/delts
day 5- high rep legs
Day 6- high rep chest/arms
day 7 -off

Tried this for a few months, how the fuk do you recover after day 6 for a heavy bench session in two days?

[DiamondMaker]

Tried this for a few months, how the fuk do you recover after day 6 for a heavy bench session in two days?

On the heavy days you need to avoid doing RPE 10 (failure) and aim for closer to RPE 8-9 (1-2 reps left in the tank). Usually every 8 or so weeks I would get to a point where my body had enough and then I'd deload. After about 9 months of it I stopped getting sore entirely, but that was probably also when I stopped making the same level of gains. Adaption = progress

[Vayne]

I'm only at 1 year and 2 months in.. I guess I only have a little over 12.5 years to go.

Your favorite exercise for pecs, I still need that line for them to join!

[Dub329]

Wait, you looked 90% how you look now, the two weeks in the hospital destroyed all gains, and then you shredded a few months later?

[eac1005]

i would berry my dick in your ass. srs.

[Razor Beast]

How are you 6'1 175? You look good bro,but how the fuc do you look so big so light?

Because no frame of reference. If you stood him next to someone 6'1 210 at same bf % he would look like a swimmer. You can pull off the illusion if you are not comparing a natural to someone else in same photo.

[RonaldMcflurry]

Wait, you looked 90% how you look now, the two weeks in the hospital destroyed all gains, and then you shredded a few months later?

[Curlbrahhh]

Wait, you looked 90% how you look now, the two weeks in the hospital destroyed all gains, and then you shredded a few months later?

Dat der creatine maybe?lol

[Rousseau27]

Could be natty dude, 14 years. The 3D delts and dryness and indicators, but I won't judge. GJDM OP, repped.

Looks Good.

[kamil234]

Just the lighting, see

thicc, solid, juicy.

[MrSchons]

Mirin ripped back, good work