Ottawa 2012/London 2012

[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

[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