Ottawa 2012/London 2012

[kindofabigdeal8]

Hey forum peoples and fellow bodybuilders.

I have been trolling the site for a while but have been thinking of taking a more active role in the forums. I plan on contributing where i can in posts and threads pertaining to various bodybuilding related topics. I figured i may as well introduce myself before i start posting. I recently started competing, although, i have been lifting weights for some many years now, i also participated in some CPF events.
Late 2011 i decided i would start prep for the Ottawa show 2012, I had a lot of support but lacked development in my legs. I also ended up in a weight class i should not have been in. I went to London 3 weeks later and weighed in roughly 30lbs heavier, still in good condition.
The plan is to build my legs up and compete again in November.
I will post some pics here of my transformation before ottawa - london and current.

[kindofabigdeal8]

Show pics

[TT Eric]

Nice pics Paul!

Hey the new locker room is ready ?

Eric

[kindofabigdeal8]

Nice I cant wait till they get new equipment maybe some cross cables and maybe some 150lb dumbbells(doubtful). Although its close to work and most convenient location i'm going to take a break from it for bit. I went to rideau yesterday and had a killer arm workout.

[St]

Look great keep at it and add mass to the upper body since you look tall.
The overall look you want is more thickness.

[kindofabigdeal8]

Thanks St, Thickness is the goal but very difficult to aquire. I notice in London that I was very broad copmpared to the other competitors in the heavy class but lacked the thickness. I really like to train chest and back, im trying to integrate more arm,leg and core. Example, i have incresed deadlifiting, squat and press and added a full arm day (used to integrate arms in chest and back). I have also shifted focus on my rear and medial delt on my shoulder days, less pressing mouvements. I train intense, heavy weight, i dont like taking many rest days but i eat a good 6k call a day. Right now im 243, 6'1.
My qesetion is what could i do to thicken up. Am i overtraining at 6 days a week, splits?

[Delt King]

So you competed in two shows three weeks apart and 30lbs difference in bodyweight? Something was drastically wrong with both shows it seems. Looks like you've got great potential with your frame though. Welcome to CBB.

[kindofabigdeal8]

lol, thank Delt King - Yes, well my first show im not sure how i made it down to 187 on that scale but i did. The photos of both shows are the ones abouve, the pic on the right was from london weigh-in 218 (they had a good digital scale), the one on the left is Ottawa. After the Ottawa Show I went to eat all you can eat, pretty much had lots of cake and pasta, came home at about 205 that night. Afterwards i integraded about 500g a day of clean carbs into my diet up to the london show. The London weigh-in I wanted to hit super heavy so instead of traditional water cut i drank my water up untill 7:00 PM then cut it. It was a strategy, i wanted to be as large as possible on stage because i was still at a low body fat.
I think i did too much cardio going into the ottawa's, one week out I almost got into a car accident, i had to stop driving, thought i was acutualy losing my mind. I was shredded though.

[phatkid77]

LOL. I remember seeing u there at weigh ins.... I'm lime shit. He's thick. Bet he's in my class... Then you and Rob got into it about squeezing Dow. To middle.. which I disagreed with, bit encouraged. Lol.

That scale was 4# off I think. U were likely 192ish.

[kindofabigdeal8]

Hey Phats, are you doing the Ottawa's again, or provincials. Yeah, my initial weigh in was 190, then i made a stupid remark about wanting to be heavier so the guy said step on it again and we will record that weight. On second attempt i was 189, said i was two lbs away from Middle so i hustled to get down to 187 within the hour. 6th weighing, it was stupid. i wasn’t thinking straight. That’s why in London i was pretty sure i could have made super heavy and made it to top 5 if I drank some water and weighed back in but i thought whatever.. It is what it is.
I coming in with a better attitude this November, i will prepare to be in my best shape I can but won’t anticipate winning my class. I won’t tolerate any of my own shenanigans. I will weigh at what I weigh when i step on the scale. That being said I am training hard to be thicker, bigger and well rounded for this year’s show.

[kindofabigdeal8]

Eric pointed out that my rear delts are still weaker when in the gym, something i hadn’t thought of. Thanks Eric. Any critic is welcomed. I have been told i need more overall mass by Ron Hache as well, i think it’s good advice but don’t know how to approach it. I need double my legs.. that is a given.

[phatkid77]

Good.idea. I didn't stress about crap. Jsut listens to bluenose here. I'm taller as well at 5'11 or 6'. I need to bring up back and legs. Not doing provincials. MAYBE 2014. Too hard on family life...I'm grinding.away improving.best I ca. Just for me, and well u never know.
Good luck and keep at it

[Stoneco|d]

Hey Paul, nice seeing you couple weeks ago. Ya scale was off by 3-4 lbs. I weighed in at 195 but I know it was 198. I was going nuts if I made heavyweight lol. I did insane amounts of cardio and took me 2 months or so to recover. I would have qualified if I competed as a heavy though but I had plans to grow for 2 more yrs. I might do this November if I am happy with my progress.

[TT Eric]

For thickness go for rowing, rowing dumbbells, rowing BB, rowing machine, etc..

As you pointed out, I also hope we get DB up to 150lbs after the renovation, but in the mean time I have found a way to hook more weight on the DBs for rowing, I'll show you next time!

And yeah LEGS, don't make me go at Rideau to make you work them! lol

Eric

[kindofabigdeal8]

Ha.. I will get those legs ready by next show Eric. Hope to be back at queen in a month or two and hopefully then we will have more equipment.
Sam, you did well in conditioning last show and you will do it again, i'm sure you will have progressed enough by November to go back. The way i see it this is an experience game, the more shows you do the better you get with stage presence and conditioning. Besides, we will never know how the competition will look from year to year, so last years 5th place may be next years 1st. I think that provincials is a different animal, because at that level guys always come in best condition. I look forward to seeing some of the guy's compete in the provincials this year, its going to be good.

[St]

Thanks St, Thickness is the goal but very difficult to aquire. I notice in London that I was very broad copmpared to the other competitors in the heavy class but lacked the thickness. I really like to train chest and back, im trying to integrate more arm,leg and core. Example, i have incresed deadlifiting, squat and press and added a full arm day (used to integrate arms in chest and back). I have also shifted focus on my rear and medial delt on my shoulder days, less pressing mouvements. I train intense, heavy weight, i dont like taking many rest days but i eat a good 6k call a day. Right now im 243, 6'1.
My qesetion is what could i do to thicken up. Am i overtraining at 6 days a week, splits?

What Ron Hache said was right he is a Mr.O judge.
I did judge for 8 years,and it takes years to add overall mass to thicken up, 5 days a week training is more than enough,you need the time out of the gym to grow.
As long as you stay injury free, get good sleep, don't train to much, eat good you will add mass every year.

[kindofabigdeal8]

I thought i update the thread with end bulk results, i may bulk another month then diet for the show but here it is. 247

34389

[TT Eric]

Nice Paul! When I saw you Friday you looked bigger and you are indeed! Good work!

Eric

[Bigden]

New member just joined today...first post i read and boom exactly what I need to add to my physique Wide full delts...and you sir have some impressive shoulders. Genetics? what do you do for shoulders? I agree more thickness on your physique but you sure are wide. great physique man.

[kindofabigdeal8]

Thanks Bigden; I would say genetics are a factor but my training style may also be a factor. I know when I look at other competitors or friends I always envoy their thickness, especially back thickness and arms. My limbs look stringy even at 18.5 off season; my arms look stringy to me.

That being said, I don’t train much like most guys I see in the gym. I train high volume with heavy weigh and mostly with dumbbells and cables; I rarely use barbell up until recently. The other factor is likely the frequency in which I train chest and back. I started lifting 10 years ago and my chest and back where traditionally the groups I worked the most. In fact they still are to this day despite the effort I have put into training them less.

Chest day, I use db and cables. Db press – 120-150 lbs x 10 x10 until complete failure, same for incline, cross cables at 150 or max cable weight on the machine for 5 set, rep till it hurts or I fail, db pullovers with the 120-150 x 5 till it hurts or fail. Obviously if I’m at a gym with the 150 lb db I don’t complete as many sets or reps as with the 120 at the GL gyms, but damn close. I alternate this chest day with a day I just go crazy on bench press incline and flat usually per iodizing the weight from 315 x 8, down as low as 135 times whatever I can do. The alternate workout gives me a great pump but never any soreness. Workout A however keeps me raw for 2 day min.

Back day; I do pull work mostly, rack the pull down close grip for 10x10, I will lower the weight and increase back and forth as needed usually around 220-300lbs. Then I do close grip pull downs the same technique and rep range as wide grip. The pullovers with the bar usually 10x10 at 120lbs. lastly I either do Tbar rows or a seated row at 405 x 5x8 or max weight drop or alternate.
I now have an alternate back day which I just started for thickness is with dead-lifts and bent over rows and tbar rows. ( but this day is for width)

Taking it up a notch; I go through phases in my off season where I train chest and back same day and repeat 3 days later. I have been doing this for about 5 years now. The technique is very Arnoldesq. Truth be told, I think I lifted my chest back workouts from the Arnold encyclopedia when I had started training.

So for me this really worked in terms of the width department, especially lat with and chest width. Believe it or not I didn’t even really train deltoids weakly when I started, maybe once or twice a month. When I decided to compete 3 years ago I started hammering my dealt 3 times a week. I do DB press with the 120’s usually 4x8, then barbell military press behind the head with 135 rep it out, then lateral raise with extremely good form db 20’s-40lbs. Rear delt I like to use the fly machine or dumbbells. I usually do medial and rear until I feel like I’m going to cry.

I really think training that way made me wide, whereas this year I focused on more barbell, compound movements for back and chest. Last year I was about 202 at the bf, this year I’m 222. My legs have come up slightly but I can’t see a difference in thickness. So my assumptions based on subjective experience are that a lot of dumbbell and cable work will widen you out.
Experts and pro’s; please correct me if this is wrong like I said it’s based on my subjective observation

[kindofabigdeal8]

Next logical step, provided that i qualify for provincials this year is to hammer my quads and hamstrings the way I have done my back and chest for years. I doing legs twice a week this year but it wasn’t enough. This year i build strength and connection, after these show I will have to increase the volume. If I work hard enough, which I will, I will be ready to give the audience a good showing in provincials 2015.

[Bigden]

Hey thanks for the details on your training so a good combination of high volume and genetics played a factor on your width. Not sure if its just me put there always seems to be 2 types of physiques; the thick guy with a blocky physique with lots of thickness looks very strong but not too wide...then their is the aesthetic awesome looking physique guy who is lean and hard, smaller limbs but wide as a door frame...(Dennis wolf type) its hard to have both. I stand on the thick guy with a blocky physique :( so wish I had a different type of physique but i think this is where genetics come in play.

My workouts are based on GVT which is similar to yours high volume and sore for days, just wish I could add some width to my physique. I just kicked it up a notch for shoulders I think I just need to be patient.

have you ever measured your shoulder width? (lean against the wall shoulders relaxed and have somebody use a pencil and do a little notch on the wall at the side of the delts each side and then measure one end to another) read this in t-nation:

"The average man in the United States is 5-foot 10-inches tal, and weighs 172 pounds. His shoulder width is 18-1/4 inches.

Using that as a starting number, if your shoulder width is approximately 18-1/4 inches . . . then, your shoulder width is AVERAGE or NORMAL.

A little bit goes a long way in shoulder width . . . 20-inch-wide shoulders look significantly broader than average shoulders; 21-inch shoulders will get plenty of attention; 22-inch shoulders will draw stares from almost everyone; 23-inch shoulders are super heroic and will get you a ticket on the front row of Mr. Olympia contests; and 24-inch shoulders are as rare as a 500-pound overhead press."

My shoulders do 22.5" but yet I feel so narrow :( maybe my 50" chest makes me look less width..?

sorry to highjack your thread just found your physique very inspiring and looking for any direction you can point me to at least improve a bit more on my width.