Not Bodybuilding calibre; but I just started.

[MatthewC]

Just decided to take it serious and pictures were from September to right after thanksgiving (you could subtract about 2 lbs of turkey in the after photo realistically.) I'll be putting more up after 6 months and advice from this forum. Great stuff; any suggestions are welcomed.

 

[AllTheWay]

looks like you have a great frame to put on some decent muscle! good for you! looking forward to seeing where you are in a year!

 

[Ogre717]

Great base bro. get your swole on

 

[GreatGunz]

Decent gains between the 2 pics Bro!

 

[MatthewC]

Any suggestions on what I should be attacking first?

 

[overwatch]

Any suggestions on what I should be attacking first?

What are your goals and what does your diet look like? If you say "tone up" or "i don't want to get too bulky" I'll slap you! Lol

 

[MatthewC]

Well, would like to have abs on my stomach and rib cage; "V" cut like the situation, delts that look like dimpled softballs, horseshoes for triceps, Governor Biceps (Arnold or Ventura). I honestly was looking for suggestions from the pic; like you "you could use bigger first" and here's some suggestions. I just started changing my diet since thanksgiving; lifting days I eat about 6 times; bowl of cereal/banana/string cheese. Right after a workout a protein shake. two hrs later either 1/2 of chicken breast, can of tuna fish, or lean ground beef. At work (i'm a 2nd shifter) I eat fruit with a protein bar. Then at lunch break (8pm) fruit and another protein shake. Then at 10ish I eat a handful of almonds. Non lifting days I cut out the protein shakes. I estimate it to be around 3000 calories; 2400 on non-lifting days (i do cardio though). I have my current workout routine in the journal section.

 

[Halo]

Welcome to the board Matthew! Pics look like your on your way brother, looking forward to seeing what you can do!

 

[overwatch]

Well, would like to have abs on my stomach and rib cage; "V" cut like the situation, delts that look like dimpled softballs, horseshoes for triceps, Governor Biceps (Arnold or Ventura). I honestly was looking for suggestions from the pic; like you "you could use bigger first" and here's some suggestions. I just started changing my diet since thanksgiving; lifting days I eat about 6 times; bowl of cereal/banana/string cheese. Right after a workout a protein shake. two hrs later either 1/2 of chicken breast, can of tuna fish, or lean ground beef. At work (i'm a 2nd shifter) I eat fruit with a protein bar. Then at lunch break (8pm) fruit and another protein shake. Then at 10ish I eat a handful of almonds. Non lifting days I cut out the protein shakes. I estimate it to be around 3000 calories; 2400 on non-lifting days (i do cardio though). I have my current workout routine in the journal section.

I think you're greatly underestimating your calories and also need a much better split with higher protein. My suggestion would be to get a digital kitchen scale and use a program like fitday or myfitnesspal to track everything. I would also advise trying to get your protein from real food or non-shake sources. IMO shakes are for adding calories when you can't possibly eat any more in a day but still need more calories.

As far as what to work on.... i don't mean this offensively at all, purely constructive but i'd say bigger everything. If you want the look you described you'll need to add more mass and get much more cut. Also, don't forget your legs. Even if you aren't showing them off like your arms or abs, they're very important to the overall strength and mass building process.

In the beginning stages you can recomp which would mean eating at your maintenance calorie needs and adding a small amount of cardio. Once you're happy with the amount of muscle mass, start upping cardio to a full hour a day. Keep in mind that you will lose some muscle while cutting so make sure you're plenty big!

 

[MatthewC]

View attachment 1891View attachment 1892

Well, finished up week 2 of new diet, lots more squats, lot less cardio, and I gained about 4 lbs between pics; thinking some of that went to the pooch. Feel a lot stronger, and the chest and shoulders get a little bit meatier. Small gains; but it's only 15 days. Pretty sure I ate about 20 lbs of meat this last week; my stomach can has gotten use to the bigger diet.

I figure I'll continue to post every two weeks following your guys tips and see what kind of body builder you guys make out of me. I'll post my routine and I hope you guys can shoot holes through it (lower/higher reps/ more set/etc)

Mon-
Wide legged squats- 225 10x 225 10x 225 10x 245 8x
BB flat bench press 225 12X 225 12x 235 10X 245 8X (I do 20 unweighted dips between each set)
Flat DB fly 35 12X 35 12x 40 12X (dips in between; my right shoulder got sore so I only did 3 sets)

Tues-
Stiff legged DL- 245 12X 255 10x 255 8x 255 8x
pull-ups 12 1x 12 1x 12 1x 10 1x 9 1x
Calf raises (I don't know what I had on the hip sled, only could do 16 slow raises each leg) 5 sets

Wed-
shoulder shrugs- 305 8x (4 sets)
reverse flys- 35 10x (4 sets)
DB raises- 45 12X (4 sets)
Standing DB curls 50 10x (4 sets; usually hit failure on the last set)
Cable rows (don't know the weight) (4 sets)
Isolated DB curls 55 10X (2 sets) 60 8 (2 set; usually hit failure)

Thurs-Rest (sometimes easy yoga)

Friday-
DB incline 80 12x 90 10x 90 (2 sets) 95 8x (20 dips in between)
Squats (see monday)
Tricep pull downs (don't know weight) 4 sets
Cable cross overs (don't know weight) 4 sets

Sat-
Submissive wrestling (cardio)

Sun-
Rest