ZMartins journey to classic physique

[PillarofBalance]

Two rest days in a row which has been a first for a while. Moved a few things around and will now have 5 dedicated days every week to train. My calories for my two days off are lower than normal but not by a huge margin.

Saturdays Food:
Calories 3563
453 Carbs 51%
70 Fat 18%
269 Protein 31%

Sundays Food:
Calories 3481
397 Carbs 46%
78 Fat 21%
284 Protein 33%

Back in the Gym today for some chest and tri's left shoulder is giving me pain but nothing serious. Workout was the same as last few weeks but have started noticing more vascularity in the pecs.
Also talked to the gym owner to set up a meeting to go over the possibility of competing; things like where I want to be weight wise and how far away I am from that goal, and what category I would be in.

Todays food is going to be
Calories 3800
459 Carbs 49%
78 Fat 19%
304 Protein 32%

Take some extra time warming up. Don't just do something like a prescribed number of sets and reps. Warm up till you are warm. Especially after a couple days off. We tend to stiffen up after rest.

Your arms look hoooge dood

 

[Straight30weight]

I had to go back and see how tall/how much you weigh-dem guns look good mang

 

[zmartin32]

Take some extra time warming up. Don't just do something like a prescribed number of sets and reps. Warm up till you are warm. Especially after a couple days off. We tend to stiffen up after rest.

Your arms look hoooge dood

All the sets/reps I posted on here are my working sets. I always warm up the muscle groups before my workout and will even do warm up sets before the working sets as well.
I’ve tapered my workouts back when I feel like I will be doing more harm than good.
The shoulder pain has been a recurring thing that has come and gone and it’s always in the same area, deep behind the scapula. I haven’t been able to nail down what it might be though but I see my doctor Wednesday for something else so I figure I’ll ask him about it too.

And thanks I feel like my triceps are still lagging a bit but that might be because my bi’s have always been a strong point.

 

[PillarofBalance]

All the sets/reps I posted on here are my working sets. I always warm up the muscle groups before my workout and will even do warm up sets before the working sets as well.
I’ve tapered my workouts back when I feel like I will be doing more harm than good.
The shoulder pain has been a recurring thing that has come and gone and it’s always in the same area, deep behind the scapula. I haven’t been able to nail down what it might be though but I see my doctor Wednesday for something else so I figure I’ll ask him about it too.

And thanks I feel like my triceps are still lagging a bit but that might be because my bi’s have always been a strong point.

Oh that's probably an easy one. Get yourself a lacrosse ball and lay on your back. Put the ball near the scap and start moving the arm and body around till you get the ball into something tender. If you flare the lat and reach around yourself you can really get the ball deep into the subscap.

Once that feels a little better (should only take a minute of massaging it.) Move the ball the the lats and pecs, especially the pec along the collar bone and near the arm pit.

 

[zmartin32]

Oh that's probably an easy one. Get yourself a lacrosse ball and lay on your back. Put the ball near the scap and start moving the arm and body around till you get the ball into something tender. If you flare the lat and reach around yourself you can really get the ball deep into the subscap.

Once that feels a little better (should only take a minute of massaging it.) Move the ball the the lats and pecs, especially the pec along the collar bone and near the arm pit.

I’ll try that tonight when I get home from work. Hopefully it helps out. I have scapular winging on the same side I’ve always assumed it might be related.

 

[zmartin32]

Weight was 204.4 this morning and on one of my rest days it was 206. So it looks like I am fluctuating about 1.5 lbs higher than when I started posting here.

Back/Bi's today, felt really good today; good warm-up, plenty of energy during the workout and solid pump.

Food Breakdown for the day will be
Calories 3806
459 Carb 48%
78 Fat 19%
307 Protein 33%

Also I switched from brown to white rice to get the fat just a little lower, I also noticed that the tortillas I put my breakfast in is fat heavy so when I run out of them that will drop it a little more.


I know my current goal is to put on significantly more weight. But I'm looking forward to the next cut. It might not be a ton, but like most people I must store the majority of my fat around my midsection and its certainly annoying to see.

 

[zmartin32]

For anyone that is following sorry I havent posted in a few days.

2/27/2019 Normal shoulder day
Food
Calories 3857
471 Carb 49%
79 Fat 19%
304 Protein 32%

2/28/2019 Leg Day
Food
3835 Calories
496 Carbs 52%
76 Fat 18%
281 Protein 30%

Today was Arms. Switched the workout up a little, did the same exercises but superset bi's w/ tri's; always felt a better pump this way. Thinking about changing my split for the next few weeks to focus on parts I believe to be lacking. Specifically medial and posterior delts, along with chest and triceps.

Food for today is going to be a little off since I'm going out tonight to catch up with some friends but Im still going to hit my minimum Calories and be around my percentages. Fat just might creep up a 2-3 percent.

Heading into two days of rest.

 

[zmartin32]

Sorry again about my infrequent postings, my work has updated their firewall and this site is flagged so I haven’t been checking as regularly.


On Monday I spoke with my gym owner about competing and he has set me up with a guy that has been competing for years and has placed top 15 at the Olympia within the last 5 years. I don’t want to drop his name, but I meet with him March 25th to go over everything.


Mike (my gym owner) also did a BF% and it looks like I’m around 11.5% so my lean mass is at about 183. So based off that I am 22 lbs of lean mass away from hitting the weight cap for my height.


I have modified my split. Now instead of hitting arms for a second time of Friday, I will be getting some more shoulders in to bring up my medial and posterior delts. Also have dedicated days for some abdominal work.

Macros have been 50,32,18 carb,protein,fat. Calories have stayed the same and weight is 207.6 as of this morning.

 

[The Tater]

Looking good dude.

 

[Jin]

Sorry again about my infrequent postings, my work has updated their firewall and this site is flagged so I haven’t been checking as regularly.


On Monday I spoke with my gym owner about competing and he has set me up with a guy that has been competing for years and has placed top 15 at the Olympia within the last 5 years. I don’t want to drop his name, but I meet with him March 25th to go over everything.


Mike (my gym owner) also did a BF% and it looks like I’m around 11.5% so my lean mass is at about 183. So based off that I am 22 lbs of lean mass away from hitting the weight cap for my height.


I have modified my split. Now instead of hitting arms for a second time of Friday, I will be getting some more shoulders in to bring up my medial and posterior delts. Also have dedicated days for some abdominal work.

Macros have been 50,32,18 carb,protein,fat. Calories have stayed the same and weight is 207.6 as of this morning.

Thats exciting news. I too am sorry for my infrequent posting.

Here is just cut and paste Snakes feedback on your physique:

Calves- No info.
Quads- Your right, slightly small but there's good development and muscle tone. He should be fine with some work.
Abs- Will need a lot of work. He's relatively lean there so his abs should be better.
Chest- Again you're right- no upper chest. I would kill to have his lower chest sweep but that's genetic. This one bothers me the most on him because his delts, traps and lower chest lead me to believe he's going the work. May be hard to fix this one.
Delts- good
Traps- above average
Upper back- nice lat sweep
Mid back- good shape but you can never have too much size here and a side shot may show a lack of mass.

————

i dont think you need aas to compete at at the top of your weight class. Let me know what the game plan is from your Pro.

For now I would say no more flat presses: all incline. DB and bar. Upper chest is your weakest point.

I have an idea for a better split which would hit legs more often.

Let me know.

 

[St0ked]

Looking good bro, post more often. It helps others as well

 

[zmartin32]

Thats exciting news. I too am sorry for my infrequent posting.

Here is just cut and paste Snakes feedback on your physique:

Calves- No info.
Quads- Your right, slightly small but there's good development and muscle tone. He should be fine with some work.
Abs- Will need a lot of work. He's relatively lean there so his abs should be better.
Chest- Again you're right- no upper chest. I would kill to have his lower chest sweep but that's genetic. This one bothers me the most on him because his delts, traps and lower chest lead me to believe he's going the work. May be hard to fix this one.
Delts- good
Traps- above average
Upper back- nice lat sweep
Mid back- good shape but you can never have too much size here and a side shot may show a lack of mass.

————

i dont think you need aas to compete at at the top of your weight class. Let me know what the game plan is from your Pro.

For now I would say no more flat presses: all incline. DB and bar. Upper chest is your weakest point.

I have an idea for a better split which would hit legs more often.

Let me know.

I’ll start with acknowledging the feedback. I agree with virtually all of it.
I believe my calves could use more size but they are not disproportionately small. The same could go with my legs which I never even noticed myself until it was brought up in this forum.
My legs could definitely use more development in the hamstring bellies and the outer quad sweep.
I do feel like my abs look better in person and while flexed, but I completely agree that they are not only very week but also far behind where they should be.
Chest – upper chest is terrible and is only accentuated more by large front delts and lower chest. I cut out all flat work but I’m still not sure what else to do so that this can be brought up.
Delts – might just be me but I feel like my front delts dwarf my medial and posterior
Traps – never had an opinion. Glad they look above average since I haven’t done any dedicated trap work in at least a month.
Back – I think its decent but would like to be wider.


I agree that I probably don’t NEED aas to compete at the top of my weight class (205lbs) but I imagine that I would use them to retain my muscle mass while cutting weight while prepping. (Just my guess since I have no experience with aas right now)


I have cut out flat presses but I think I’ll need more than that and any suggestions to include certain exercises would be appreciated.


Also I would certainly like to hear what you have to say about the split. After this I was thinking about hitting chest twice weekly




As far as my food intake it has been steady at 3800 calories. The fat has been reduced and usually hovers between the 16-18%. Protein is between 30-33% and the rest is carbs of course.
Weight is steadily climbing I’m currently fluctuating between 207-209


I will try to remember to post some pics sometime soon.

 

[zmartin32]

Got a new split going.
Monday: Legs(primarily quads)
Tuesday: Chest / Tri
Wednesday: Back / Bi
Thursday: Legs (hamstrings)
Friday: Chest / Shoulders

Calories are still at 3800, weight isnt really moving up as far as i can tell. I did gain that initial 2-3 lbs but that is likely water from the increased amount of carbs. Going to keep the 3800 but increase my protein intake and see how that is for another month.

To work on that illusive upper-chest shelf I've dropped the amount of weight and started doing unilateral DB or cable exercises like fly's presses while putting my off-hand on the pec I am focusing on contracting. Seems to help so far.

 

[Jin]

Like the new split.

I was going to suggest legs/push(chest)/pull/legs/push(shoulders/upperchest)

I would go ahead and add another 400 calories divided between carbs and protein.