new here - so heres some pics ;)

[spytech]

Hey all-

Long time lurker, first time poster

Heres some pics of myself - let me know what you all think.

http://www.spytechonline.com/Images/...ripped/010304/

I am just heading into my 4th month of bulking - started Oct 1st at 174. Weighed in at 202 last night. Starting to get
more round than Id like so I will probably start cutting soon. Body fat has not gone up much, so it shouldnt be too hard to get where I want

Later!

[Abdominator]

Excellent muscle density and your definition is very good, especially considering that you're bulking.

As a benefit to others out there who are bulking (and trying to stay relatively lean at the same time) you should post a sample of your bulking diet and some of your before pictures one of these days.

Anywho, great job and welcome to the forum!

- Skip

[spytech]

Thanks for the warm welcome and compliments

If you browse through the ripped/ dir you will find older shots ranging from a dec/oct all the way back to 02.

heres one from dec, 02:
http://www.spytechonline.com/Images/...ipped/1206.jpg
I believe I was around 165-170 at that time.

Diet is nothing fancy - its not uber strict, but its been obviously working for me. I aim for 4,000 cals a day or so - give or take. Here it goes:

Wake up.
Meal 1: oatmeal made with 1/2c milk, 14oz milk with 1scoop champion pure whey, 1tsp glutamine (6.5g ish)

Workout.

Meal 2: 16oz milk, 2 scoops champion pure whey protein, 1tsp glutamine, 12oz water with 2scoops TransX (creatine mixture)

Meal 3: 8-12oz lean meat, veggies, 1/2 yam

Meal 4: 16oz milk, 2 scoops champion pure whey protein

Meal 5: Same as Meal 3

Meal 6: Same as Meal 4

I tend to cheat on my meals - I eat lots of plain lean steak/beef subs with italian or wheat bread. Lots of lean ham sandwiches, etc. Pasta is huge with me - I eat lots of the No Yolk Egg Noodles (about half of a 1lb bag per meal). As long as the meals are high protein, high carb, and low fat its OK with me I try to aim for at least 200g protein a day, sleep at least 7 hours a night.

I have a pretty fast metabolism, so that helps alot. What also helped is that I made a gradual run into my diet - I did not start consuming all 4,000 calories a day (well, I tried, but I ended up getting sick the first week - too much damn food). I simply scaled the 3 meals back with smaller portions and as the weeks passed I started eating more and more at each meal. It seems to work nicely.

Oh yeah, lots of water (about 1.5 gal a day). Eating frequently helps keep the metabolism running faster as well (so ive been told anyways)

Let me know if there are any questions, Ill try to answer

[Abdominator]

Ah... quite a difference!

For those who want to see a quick comparison, here's a picture of SpyTech from September 2002:

http://www.spytechonline.com/Images/...ipped/woot.jpg

And then one from January 2004:

http://www.spytechonline.com/Images/...ture%20032.jpg

I'd say your bulk is going well.

You look like you've always had a muscular and athletic physique, so you shouldn't have any problem reaching your muscle mass goals. And your meal plan is right on target. And I'm glad to see you're also getting at least 7 hours of sleep each evening.

See guys, you put nutrition, exercise & rest together simultaneously and you see results.

Great job, SpyTech.

- Skip

[Abdominator]

Hey SpyTech,

I did a quick cut and paste of your november 2003 pic and your January 2004 pic of you in the same pose (January 2004 is the smaller inset picture with the improved lighting). How much did you weigh back in November 2003? It looks like probably a 5-10 lbs. increase at least between then and now.

To help balance out your upper and inner chest, include some upward cable crossovers and pec deck if you can. Cable crossovers moving in an upward direction (with the pulleys at the bottom and bringing your hands together at the top of the movement) is good for bringing out the clavicular head of the pectorals (so are pec deck exercises and pushups with your hands together):

http://www.exrx.net/Muscles/PectoralisClavicular.html

Here's a page with some exercises that hit that region:

http://www.exrx.net/Lists/ExList/Che...#anchor1932170

Your pectoral/deltoid attachments look great, so with added emphasis on the central and upper chest, you'll achieve a very balanced and symmetrical upperbody.

Anywho, here's your comparison pic for ya. Enjoy!

- Skip

[spytech]

Skip-

Thanks for the comparison shots and responses

Nov 03 I was aroudn 190lbs. During thanks giving week I took a week off, then poured it on to try to reach 200lbs by end of Dec.

I have always been pretty 'ripped'. I was a slim 145lbs when I graduated highschool in 1999 and decided to start adding mass once I got to college. I always thought I was a hardgainer, but then I got educated and realized I just was not supplementing and eating properly (this was about 2 years ago)

Thanks for the tips on upper chest - I've been trying to enhance the 'upper pecs' and Im finding that incline bench and incline db just arent doing enough for it - they work well, but dont hit the upperchest as much as Id like

Ill try some of these lifts out on monday and see how they go

Thanks Skip!

-Nathan

[Technique]

Comparison shots definetly show progress. You're doing real well! Gotta love Skip, always helping people out with pictures and advice.

[candle25]

Damn good job spytech! You have great defnition and not much BF. Bravo!

[northlft]

your a beast but it looks from the pics that your chest may be lagging a little but their no pic showing just your chest so im not positive on that.

[hiekie]

Lookin idd very big man! Massive bag and also a massive torso..
Chest seems to be a weaker part? Hit it hard and show no mercy to those chestmuscles!

Keep up the great work!

[spytech]

Thanks for the responses

I also feel my chest is my 'weakest' part of my upper body (although my wife would say otherwise, according to her I have 'man boobs', haha). My chest/back has gained almost 4" since I started bulking, but its still not quite to where I want it to be (43" before, 47" now).

Not sure what I need to change for chest - heres what I currently do - feel free to offer any advice

This last mondays chest workout:

Bench press: 135x20 warmup, 225x12, 265x10, 285x8, 305x6
Incline bench: 165x12, 185x,10, 205x8, 225x6, 245x4
Incline db press: 75x12, 85x10, 95x10, 100x9
Decline db press: 75x12, 85x10, 95x8

Please feel free to tell my why my chest isn't blowing up Ive been making gains, but I want more

[James5567]

WOW, you look awesome man..it appears as if you "blew up"..dont see many people bulk up that cleanly...after seeing that you are committed to your diet im not gona ask if your natural because i would believe you are natural, (take that as a compliment)....Keep going man!! good luck!!

[spytech]

Thansk James Only supps I have ever used are various protein shakes, trans-x creatine, and glutamine powder from optimum nutrition. I was using some mass aminos but they gave me too much bad BO and bad breath, so I ditched em - that was in November and Im still doing fine without em

Recently talked a few friends I know at the gym out of going the roid route. They were planning a trip to mexico and everything to get them cheap. I printed out my diet plan and what supps I use and gave them that instead - so they are going to start that instead. Convinced them that theres no better feeling than seeing awesome results after busting your ass and doing it right, instead of sticking a needle in yourself and hoping for big gains.

[muscledup]

Hey spytech you look awesome! for the short time you have been bulking you arms and shoulders have improved dramatically EXCELLENT job keep up the good work my friend. what are your stats and height also do you have any pics of the quads bud? Keep doing what you are doing buddy looken BIG. oh yeah how long have you been into bodybuilding? Later

[spytech]

Thanks muscledup! Here are my stats at the start of bulking, and current:

Height: 5'10"

Oct 1->Current
Chest 43.5"->46.5"
Waist 31.5" ->33"
Biceps 15.75"->17"
Forearms 13"->14"
Hips 36"->36"
Thighs 23.5"->25"
Calves 15"->16"

Next time I take pics ill take some leg shots - I havent been able to push my legs as hard as Id like - I tore up my right hamstring last spring and it still gives me residual problems (tendons behind the knee pull/strain alot on leg curls). Today was my the first day in probably 3 months that I was able to push my legs really hard and they actually kept wanting more

Ive always lifted weights, 1-2x a week during highschool, then 2-3x a week my first 2 years of college. The last 2 years Ive been the most dedicated - eating properly, supplementing, using proper training splits, etc. Wish I woulda started being this serious years ago

[icery]

looking very good spytech

as for your chest, you could try a few things. you may be doing too many sets - 16 is a lot for some people. how many sets do you do for other bodyparts in comparison to what you do for chest?

when i first started lifting weights, i noticed that when i did bench press it did not work the chest as i wanted, and i felt too much help from shoulders and triceps. perhaps doing dumbells first in your workout would help.

shoulders are looking very nice. what do you do for them?

[spytech]

icery-

thanks for the suggestions. 16 is a good median of my typical work load for all body parts. Chest I usually do 16 sets, shoulders around 15-16, legs 12-15, 16-18 sets for back, biceps and triceps 12 each usually. My body seems to thrive on high workloads.

I think my problem with chest is simply not enough focus on the upper chest region. Going to try some more cable cross over/flye work for the uppers and see if that shows any improvements.

As for shoulders, nothing special in my workout. Ill start with seated front shoulder presses, working up to around 205lbs. Then Ill do some seated incline lateral raises and bent over lat raises for the rear delts. Finally I finish up with standing side lat raises (either one arm at a time, or both simultaneously) to hit the side delts. Depending on what part of the shoulders I feel needs more work Ill put more emphasis on certain exercises than others. For instance, lately I have been aiming to build my rear delts, as the sides and fronts are satisfactory for now - so today I did 4 sets front shoulder presses, 3 sets of seated miliary presses (really hits the rear delts good for me), 4 sets seated incline lat raises, and then 3 sets side lat raises. Usually Id do a few more sets, but the right delt was aching today, so I took it easier than usual.

[notfityet]

man you look great! Can you tell us more about these "noyolks noodles? What, or how do you fix them thanks

[spytech]

They are called NO YOLKS Egg Noodles

Their nutrional info is here:
http://www.noyolks.com/no_yolks_nutrition.html

I use the extra broad noodles. Bags are usually 12 oz (6 servings).

Ill eat half a bag at a time (3 servings) so they give you about 27g proteinn, 123g carbs, and only 3g unsaturated fat. Cannot beat that Plus they are egg noodles, so the egg protein offers a bit of variety from the typical whey protein that I get from all my shakes.

They cook ultra fast (2-3 minutes boiling tops) and taste great

[kcck]

good job, man

wat's the difference between thighs and hips? arent they both referring to yr quads?

[spytech]

Hips are where you measure across your hip/pelvis bone where you can feel them poking out (so about 3-4" lower than my navel on me). I consider it a useless stat, but i see guys have it listed alot. I dont think my hip size has changed, ever. lol.

[BigKazWSM747]

Looking very thick! awesome job! Keep up the good work!

[spytech]

Thanks bigkaz

[dpman]

28 pounds gained and not only is it almost all muscle, but you still have the makings of a 4 pack.
Wow very impressive bulk, you do have an amazing metabolism.

[dip-set]

Originally posted by dpman
28 pounds gained and not only is it almost all muscle, but you still have the makings of a 4 pack.
Wow very impressive bulk, you do have an amazing metabolism.

in this case would a verry good metabolism be considerd a fast or slow metabolism

[spytech]

dpman - thanks

dip-set - faster the metabolism, the better - in most cases. Having a fast metabolism means I burn more calories sitting there typing this post, than a person with an average or slow metabolism would

[Plop]

Hey, looks very good, strong muscle defention and look very lean while you are bulking.

Keep it up !

[therileyster675]

wow! looking awesome. keep doing whatever you are doing.

[spytech]

Thanks guys

[HoldDaMayo]

I don't like to cuss... I don't really think it's that fashionable... but dude.. you look ****ing awesome... great work, great development...