Men's Physique!

[cKemp]

Hi everyone,

This is my first post, I was a bit bummed to see there was only one other post in this section! I guess it being a new division and all there isn't much to talk about, yet! I kind of just wanted to share my story and network with other competitors, this seems like a really good forum to learn and share.

This was my first competition, the 2012 KWO Natural Classic and I placed first. I am now looking to do Provincials in 2013. My coach is Tim Love, a National Level Bodybuilder and I am sure some of you are aware of him. He has been great and his bodybuilding background helped me get into great conditioning and maintained as much muscle as possible. We are now working on my off season and prep for the 2013 OPA Natural Provincials. I plan on putting on some lean size, this will help me go up against some of the grown men as I am just a youngin' at 21 years old lol.

After Provincials I will possibly make the switch to bodybuilding, but I am very interested in the Physique division and enjoyed every second competing at the KWO show.

Would love your guys feed back!

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[ubcpower]

U have a good look for the division, I'd focus ur offseason on arms as some of those high level mens phyisqeue guys have impressive sets of guns

[cKemp]

Thanks! I definitely agree and am focusing on my arms this off season. My forearms are also lacking and really trying hard to put mass on my entire arms in general. Do you have any suggestions how to build my arms up? I target my biceps and triceps on the same day. I am also going to refrain from using straps/wraps to help build up my forearms as much as possible.

[#8]

Eat like youre trying to put on mass. Add 50-75g of protein to your daily intake and some healthy fats and see where that takes you. Your strategy will probably work if youre eating enough to put on some lean. Experiment a bit to see what gives you the best burn / pump. I find skull crushers and close grip bench gives me to best result for tri's but everyone is different.

[cKemp]

Ok thanks! I am looking forward to doing Provincials, and am planning on coming with a bit more size. Stage presentation was fine and the only thing that held me back was lack of size... which makes sense as I have only really been training for about two years.

[Skailes]

Be very careful with gaining too much size as you will be penalized for it......

[cKemp]

Thanks for your input man, naturally and realistically I won't be able to put on a lot of size before next year but I do think bringing up my arms a bit will help. I see some of the IFBB Pro physique guys and some of them are fairly big.. but at the amateur level it seems it isn't what they are looking for

[JonnyO]

You look great bro!

[TT Eric]

Arms always been my ultimate weaknesses, they are ridiculously small compared to the rest, for example calves always have been at least 1'' bigger then arms and I barely train them. That being said, there is one exercise I perfected 20 years ago and it is the only one that really do an impact on my arms it's a variation of the California press, basically : negative BB lying extension, pullover, then concentric close-grip. Every time Include this in a routine (1 out of 2) it make a difference, but every time I get sore bad, like 3-5 days. As for biceps, what has helped me the most is supinated chin-ups (back days) and heavy, negative controlled BB curls.

Forearms try this : http://www.charlespoliquin.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/730/Training_Secrets_for_Bulging_Biceps.aspx

Eric

[muskate]

What really brought up my arms this year was to have an entire day dedicated to my arms and add in a tricep with chest and bicep with back. Here's my current split.


Wednesday: Chest(upper middle priority)/Abs, w/ one tricep exercise (4 sets) and one front raise exercise(3 sets)
Thursday: Back/Calves, w/ one curl exercise(4 sets) and one rear delt raise exercise(4 sets)
Friday: Quads/Hams/Abs - 90+min duration
Saturday: Deltoids/Calves
Sunday: Bicep/Tricep/Abs
Monday: Weak area priority day, identify 4-5 areas that you consider lagging, pick one exercise for each and work the shit out of it(3-5 sets at various rep ranges). Always include Calves, and Chest.
Tuesday Active rest day, intervals and ABS

This is tailored to trying to bring up my upper chest, arms and calves.

[RandyMadsen]

I'm going to try Men's Physique for the first time, at the 2013 NB Provincials in just under 3 weeks from now.
This was me on Friday, 3 wks out. ~173 lbs
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[Praetorian]

Just be prepared for completely inconsistent judging...you may look the best onstage but come dead last.

P

[steve_d]

Randy, you look a whole lot thicker than Nationals... Chest and arms look much improved. Normally I say you can't improve in such a short time - perhaps over depleted for nationals? I think this is a way better look actually.

PS: who said board shorts division was for guys with no legs. Randy's quads = out of this world - just look at the avatar

[Delt King]

Truth.
Although Ontario is finally letting some bigger guys win.

Just be prepared for completely inconsistent judging...you may look the best onstage but come dead last.

P

[steve_d]

I'll throw this out there... Not trying to stir up the pot, but from my experience it does seem as though the shorter guys look better in men's physique. I thought this wouldn't be the case, but for some reason 90% of the time it just seems as though they are more fitting for the sport. It could just be coincidence. Chicken or the egg thing... stage presence seems better on shorter people, but is it because they are shorter and there is more flow to the type of transitions? Or is it just pure coincidence. I guess same could be said for bikini.

I also think its still judged a lot on stage presence. There is a level of muscle mass that can't be overcome by stage presence but that is a pretty big dude. Just look at the nationals this year, guy that won looked like he would have placed top 3 in middleweight bodybuilding. Which he previously did compete in and did fairly well. And to be honest, I think he got bigger FOR physique. You just don;t have the same grainy skin, and round full muscle bellies of a top tier national level bodybuilder in men's physique.

Will be interesting to see where it goes in the future and how the posing evolves, etc. Just like bikini... its much different now than it used to be - not just the physique, but the presentation.

[RandyMadsen]

Praetorian - this is something I've already observed at the local level. I was even told by a figure head in my organization that I would be great for the National level, but might be "too buff in the shoulders and arms for men's physique around here". Very frustrating - how does one get to the National level (where they supposedly would do well) if they can't get through the Provincial level? We'll see!

steve_d - Thank bud! I was very much over depleted for Nationals. Long hard diet really flattened me out. After Nationals this year I was very meticulous with my "reverse diet". I added calories slowly to increase my potential for intake without adding fat mass. So I got up to 3000+ calories/day, allocating as much to carbs as I could ~500g the last couple weeks. So now I'm "dieting" on 2900-3000 cals/day, and 450-500g carbs/day, which has allowed me to stay very full.

I think the Men's Physique category is largely based on stage presence. If you aren't pretty and can't smile, you're chances of winning are much less. My goal for Provincials is to not come in tooo lean, minimal vascularity, lean enough that the abs pop but chest can stay full - I really flatten out, especially in the chest, when I've dieted in the past.

I feel like my physique is comparable to the guy (Chris G) who just won his pro-card. He's a buff little dude with a short midsection. Unreal arms on him tho!

[steve_d]

Praetorian - this is something I've already observed at the local level. I was even told by a figure head in my organization that I would be great for the National level, but might be "too buff in the shoulders and arms for men's physique around here". Very frustrating - how does one get to the National level (where they supposedly would do well) if they can't get through the Provincial level? We'll see!

steve_d - Thank bud! I was very much over depleted for Nationals. Long hard diet really flattened me out. After Nationals this year I was very meticulous with my "reverse diet". I added calories slowly to increase my potential for intake without adding fat mass. So I got up to 3000+ calories/day, allocating as much to carbs as I could ~500g the last couple weeks. So now I'm "dieting" on 2900-3000 cals/day, and 450-500g carbs/day, which has allowed me to stay very full.

I think the Men's Physique category is largely based on stage presence. If you aren't pretty and can't smile, you're chances of winning are much less. My goal for Provincials is to not come in tooo lean, minimal vascularity, lean enough that the abs pop but chest can stay full - I really flatten out, especially in the chest, when I've dieted in the past.

I feel like my physique is comparable to the guy (Chris G) who just won his pro-card. He's a buff little dude with a short midsection. Unreal arms on him tho!

Don't worry about your placings at this show as long as you qualify for the next level. I don't think that they will penalize you so much as to not place for being a tad muscular. I think the key is don't get excessively grainy looking - although like me, you probably wouldn't need to worry about that. Its largely genetics and even if you showed up looking like nationals you'd still be able to pull off physique. Not like they ask for a most muscular shot.

I was over depleted as well. we were probably similar stage weight, 160 or so. I took an opposite approach. I ate clean most of the time, but had no target calorie intake to maintain. Felt good not to count calories... Surprisingly I still haven't gained too much fat and bloat and am just shy of 200 now. Not 4 week out lean, but enough that I could get in shape fairly quick. I suppose I'll hit the stage again someday, but it won't be soon!

[RandyMadsen]

Thanks, Steve. That is mindset going in, just qualify and go to Nationals where the size is rewarded. My goal is to come in full, but not too lean - although I'm currently experiencing quite a bit of vascularity which is scored down, I have some cards to play to deal with that yet.
Yes I weighed in at 158 lbs, couldn't believe it! Sounds like you filled out nicely! I'm going to try to stay "4 weeks out" as much as possible, I can make lean gains by managing my intake as meticulously as I do, without adding any fat.