# Do you  see any serious  improvement?



## Sharptooth (Jul 26, 2020)

It's 9 months after I  started working out. What do you think? Is there a decent improvement?


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## jobo (Jul 26, 2020)

we seem to have '' judge my physique '' creeping in.

and even if we are playing that game its extremely difficult from a back shot

but il run with what ive got

youve lost a lot of body fat, down from circa 30 % to circa 20% and you've clearly put muscle on your shoulders and to a lessor extent your arms, so yes a good improvement

after that its very difficult to judge as your muscle is still hidden under body fat, id honestly expect more visible muscle on your back than you have and definitely more on your arms after 9 months, but for all i know you have huge pecs and quads ( but probably not).. so id conclude that if building muscle is your goal, ie looking good with your shirt off, rather than just looking good in a tshirt. then you need to change your exercise to achieve what your looking for.


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## Sharptooth (Jul 26, 2020)

jobo said:


> we seem to have '' judge my physique '' creeping in.
> 
> and even if we are playing that game its extremely difficult from a back shot
> 
> ...


Actually this photo is from 1st March 2020. I thought it was from September but it's way more recent. Is it good to have huge pecs?


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## jobo (Jul 26, 2020)

Sharptooth said:


> Actually this photo is from 1st March 2020. I thought it was from September but it's way more recent. Is it good to have huge pecs?


, what are you trying to do ?

i train performance and my muscle growth is just a long for the ride, but there is a strong correlation between increasing strength and growing muscles, either will help no end with the other, though the training has a different focus

if you want to impress people with your muscles, then pick a program that grows muscles, and yes pecs are an important part of that

,BUT people who are training for appearance tend to focus on pecs and biceps and neglect everything else, particularly their back as they cant see it in the mirror. these people are nowhere near as strong as you may imagine at first glance and over time end up distorting their posture

muscles building with body weight is possible but tricky, as you need to drop the obsession with increasing reps and focus on maximum activation of the muscle

sort out in your own head what your objectives are in some sort of logical order of preference and il try to help you with a program


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## Sharptooth (Jul 26, 2020)

jobo said:


> what are you trying to do ?
> 
> i train performance and my muscle growth is just a long for the ride, but there is a strong correlation between increasing strength and growing muscles, either will help no end with the other, though the training has a different focus
> 
> ...


Well I just wanna have a good looking body, nothing too much, just a decent body. I've septn a long time thinking i'm too fat so if i can be called "average" now I'm very happy. I think  my  quadriceps and my  culfs are in better shape. The abdomen part is the worse. I have no particular goal during my training. I do what my crossfit coach asks me to do. So I guess he covers all the body muscles and doesn't focus  too much in certain muscles.  What I can tell for sure is that we always have push ups, abs and endless squats (many different types). We rarely do bicep curls and exercises that focus on biceps and triceps I think.


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## jobo (Jul 26, 2020)

Sharptooth said:


> Well I just wanna have a good looking body, nothing too much, just a decent body. I've septn a long time thinking i'm too fat so if i can be called "average" now I'm very happy. I think  my  quadriceps and my  culfs are in better shape. The abdomen part is the worse. I have no particular goal during my training. I do what my crossfit coach asks me to do. So I guess he covers all the body muscles and doesn't focus  too much in certain muscles.  What I can tell for sure is that we always have push ups, abs and endless squats (many different types). We rarely do bicep curls and exercises that focus on biceps and triceps I think.


well thats fine, just keep doing it, if you look ok in a tshirt thats your objective realised,

but you are not going to achieve that much in either impressing people with your muscles or your strength /performance levels, as the effectiveness of your training will diminish with time so your get less and less benefit as the months go by for either, but your fat loss will probably keep going for a while yet, and if thats what your judging your training on, your making really good progress, and that will at least make the muscles you have more noticeable


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## Sharptooth (Jul 26, 2020)

jobo said:


> but you are not going to achieve that much in either impressing people with your muscles or your strength /performance levels, as the effectiveness of your training will diminish with time so your get less and less benefit as the months go by for either, but your fat loss will probably keep going for a while yet, and if thats what your judging your training on, your making really good progress, and that will at least make the muscles you have more noticeable


So are you suggesting that I should try a different kind of training? Or add something that my current training is lacking?


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## jobo (Jul 26, 2020)

Sharptooth said:


> So are you suggesting that I should try a different kind of training? Or add something that my current training is lacking?


im not suggesting anything, if your training is giving you want you want, stick with it

if you want something else, then do more, add something to it or something else entirety

that then totally depends on how much your doing now, what you actually want and what time you have available are prepared to invest and if you have the motivation to push yourself with out someone drilling you

which is what i said a couple of posts ago about having some training objectives, beyond just turning up and leaving it to someone else to decided whats best for you


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## Sharptooth (Jul 26, 2020)

jobo said:


> m not suggesting anything, if your training is giving you want you want, stick with it
> 
> if you want something else, then do more, add something to it or something else entirety
> 
> ...


Well I have available time.. I could go even 5 times a week but i've been told 4 times is better because more rest is needed. I saw a photo from the beach from the boxing trainer. He can do handstands but his body in that photo looks like someone who doesn't really work out. My crossfit trainer is thin too, but you can see his muscles (since he has little fat), but he can do hard exercises like one hand pull ups etc.

I always believed that if you take care of ur nutrition with most exercise programs you will end up with a nice body. I'd like to have a little bigger arms though. My legs are way thicker.


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## jobo (Jul 26, 2020)

Sharptooth said:


> Well I have available time.. I could go even 5 times a week but i've been told 4 times is better because more rest is needed. I saw a photo from the beach from the boxing trainer. He can do handstands but his body in that photo looks like someone who doesn't really work out. My crossfit trainer is thin too, but you can see his muscles (since he has little fat), but he can do hard exercises like one hand pull ups etc.
> 
> I always believed that if you take care of ur nutrition with most exercise programs you will end up with a nice body. I'd like to have a little bigger arms though. My legs are way thicker.


 body weight exercises are a lot easier for people who are thin, obviously, thats why thin people gravitate towards them, now somebody who weighs  100kg plus doing one handed pull ups is quite impressive, that means they could lift  200kg with both arms, thats fairly strong

if you want bigger arms do arm exercises on you days off, five mins should do it. its really that easy

if you turn up at your crossfit with your arms exhausted from the day before then thats better, as youl get more from those exercises, then


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## Sharptooth (Jul 26, 2020)

jobo said:


> body weight exercises are a lot easier for people who are thin, obviously, thats why thin people gravitate towards them, now somebody who weighs 100kg plus doing one handed pull ups is quite impressive, that means they could lift 200kg with both arms, thats fairly strong
> 
> if you want bigger arms do arm exercises on you days off, five mins should do it. its really that easy
> 
> if you turn up at your crossfit with your arms exhausted from the day before then thats better, as youl get more from those exercises, then


Yes this makes sense (being thin and doing body weight exercises). But trying these exercises for me, would it be useful I wonder? I could go 5 times a week at the gym i don't mind it. I like it actually. thinking about the arm work out, I really don't feel my hands getting tired. Usually it's my heart that can beat too fast, or my abs could burn.. or my quadriceps.. not my biceps and triceps. Maybe he is not giving emphasis on the hands.


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## Headhunter (Jul 26, 2020)

Honestly it’s impossible to tell from those photos and anyway our opinion doesn’t matter, it’s about how YOU feel if you feel fitter and stronger that’s all that matters


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## Monkey Turned Wolf (Jul 26, 2020)

Well, you got hairier somehow. And you figured out how to strike a pose to try to show off muscles, and change the lighting. reminds me a bit of those weight loss ads. Like others have said though, tough to tell from just the back.




Sharptooth said:


> Well I just wanna have a good looking body, nothing too much, just a decent body.



That's not a very specific goal. Everyone has different ideas of what's a good looking body. To some, unless your a certain height, you won't have that no matter what. For instance, some find people built like powerlifters attractive, some prefer a runners body. At this point, now that you've done (I assume) the general work of getting rid of most of the fat and working towards general health, so if you plan to continue either a: if you don't really care too much about an ultimate goal and just want to stay fit, continue going to your classes, or b: figure out what sort of goal you have in mind, what you need to do to achieve that goal, and work towards that. If your gym has them, schedule an intro session with a personal trainer to figure out your goals and what to do on your own time to achieve them.


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## JR 137 (Jul 27, 2020)

Monkey Turned Wolf said:


> Well, you got hairier somehow. And you figured out how to strike a pose to try to show off muscles, and change the lighting. reminds me a bit of those weight loss ads. Like others have said though, tough to tell from just the back.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Funny story you reminded me of about weight loss ads - my brother lived in LA for a few years. A few of his friends were trying to get into acting, and one of the things a couple of them did was “before and after” weight loss ads. Only problem is they all had to do it backwards. The company took “after” pictures initially, had them gain weight, then took the “before” pictures several months later.

Dehydrate and don’t eat anything for a few days beforehand, like I did in high school wrestling to make weight, then sit around on the couch all day and eat and drink nothing but garbage for a few months to pack on some bad weight. Take pics and mix up the before and after photos.

I guess they paid decently.

Edit: They weren’t scamming the ad agency. That’s what the advertisers specifically wanted.

Edit 2: And as far as those “doctor approved” weight loss pill or enhancement ads go, they typically get med students nearing graduation to use their product for endorsement. A lot of them need the money so they do it.


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