Project Scrawny

[Birds]

How big are you at the moment birds? I remember reading that you're 6ft+ and you were around the high 70kgs-low 80kgs lean.

If that's still the case, there's still plenty of room to add lean muscle to that frame!

6'3, 79kg and ~8% bf. Not saying I have a lot of muscle, but I'm naturally a thin framed person...used to weigh 62kg at the same height.

There's room for another 20kg if i want it, but that's not me. I like running, being nimble, playing sports where too much weight is a disadvantage...and looking good for girls, for whom there is such a thing as too big. If I gain another couple kilos of muscle along the way, I won't cry about it, but it's not a goal. I've achieved what I wanted to achieve at the gym! Now I'm just going with the flow...

Plus once you get old, it's tough not to get fat after weighing that much! Look at all the ex footballers and rugby players who were 95kg+ in their prime. I think I'm quite strong for my weight, when you take into account my height...and I'm happy with that. I know it seems like a waste of potential, but IMO, so too are bodybuilders who have so much muscle that it looks ugly to most people.

[TM7GTR]

^ post proper mirror pic of physique or gtfo haha

[Trozzle]

He did, lol:

[Birds]

^ post proper mirror pic of physique or gtfo haha

lol, will PM cause this is Troy's thread

Edit: nevermind, Troy...scarily...beat me to it lol.

[Trozzle]

bahahaha took me all of like, what, 30 seconds to quote and copypaste that from the other thread. lol.

[Birds]

I reckon you already had it on clipboard lol.

I expect this thread to be full of girl pics when you get back from your little cruise

[TM7GTR]

Reppin the pink undies. If I had to compare my own physique to any of the guys who have posted pics, it would be Birds' body type... Just not as cut atm.

[TM7GTR]

P.S. Troy, expecting nudes of hot bimbos filling my inbox when you get back

[Mitcho_7]

How long have you been lifting birds?

[Trozzle]

I definitely will hit the lean bulking hard again after summer once the shirt will be staying on haha, though gonna keep it as clean as possible. Try hard to work back towards 80kg without putting too much of the fat back on. Doesn't bother me though, as most of you agree being ripped looks better Really I want to aim for a 2.5x bodyweight deadlift, so putting on too much more weight isn't desirable.

Got 160kg 1 rep yesterday. Quite happy with that. Will make better gains when I'm stuffing my face again hahaha

P.S. Troy, expecting nudes of hot bimbos filling my inbox when you get back

I'll try my absolute best bro

How long have you been lifting birds?

Ummmm

He doesn't?

[Birds]

How long have you been lifting birds?

Been going to the gym properly ~9 years; have had this physique or variations of it ~6 years.

[Mitcho_7]

Wow, I was expecting only like 2-3 yrs max.

I dont mean to sound like an ass when i ask this (im genuinely interested), but how have you not gotten massive in that 9 years? I know you stated that you didnt want to get huge so your training might not have been soley focused on hypertrophy, but in 9 years of lifting I would of thought you would get a really solid amount of size regardless?

I have been lifting for just over a year now and I would say im comparable in size to you, but im 6'1, weigh 83kg and would be at about 12-15% body fat. When i started lifting i was only like 73kg and probably still a similar/slightly lower amount of bf%. I know my growth over the next year probably wont compare at all to that, but it should still continue upwards providing diet etc are still in check.

p.s. sorry for hijacking your thread troy...

[TTT]

stop being a troll Mitch

[GHOSTrun]

I reckon as you get older, if you're not into getting strong or full on body building, maintaining a lean phsique is a pretty good ideal to strive towards, with the alternative being this:

Birds has always said he's not much interested in getting strong or big, just being lean, which he's achieved, so can't really fault him for that.

[Mitcho_7]

I'm not trying to have a go by any stretch, I was merely asking what sort of weight training birds has been predominately doing for his 9 yrs of lifting to maintain rather than continue to grow in size.

If his goal was to get really big, then 9 yrs worth of hypertrophy training should be more muscle mass/size than he has. But he has stated he didn't want to get huge and I am wondering in what way he altered his training once he reached the size he was after, so that he maintained rather than gained more mass.

Edited October 22, 2012 by Mitcho_7

[TTT]

size comes from food.

it's been said many times before.

you want to get bigger or smaller then you adjust what you eat.

By lifting weights, he has kept his muscles active.

with cardio or diet he's stayed the same.

[Birds]

size comes from food.

it's been said many times before.

you want to get bigger or smaller then you adjust what you eat.

By lifting weights, he has kept his muscles active.

with cardio or diet he's stayed the same.

This^

I get what you're saying Mitch - not taking it the wrong way at all. The key to it is in the second part of my sentence, where I said I've had this physique for ~6 years. As in, it took me about 3 years to get here (probably longer than it should have taken, but I didn't have very good advice to go off back then). For years I have limited both what I could do in terms of weights (purposely not stepping up, when the muscles were asking for more) and my food intake.

I do modify parts here and there, where I think my body shape could do with adjustment or balancing...but these days it's all about maintenance, because I'm happy with it. I've already explained my motivations for this and, if I wanted to be really big, you would have found me on the juice years ago! My physique isn't for everyone...though I will say, I have a lot of people ask me for a routine or how to get what I have (just because I limit size, does not mean it's easy to get where I am or keep it). Troy was one such "customer", when he first started out, though his goals may have changed since then. My goals may change one day (many believe/hope this will happen at a lifting comp), but until then!

Side note: progress at the gym is not a linear thing...your biggest gains happen in the first couple years. Don't quote me, but I think it was Markos, who said in one of his newsletters, something along the lines of you having ~5 years to get most of your gains...because after that, gains become significantly harder.

[Trozzle]

Ultimately my goals remain very similar, though more defined and logical (rather than aiming for a bodyweight specifically etc). I moved on from the routine you gave me Birds only due to it feeling too repetitive for me. It was definitely delivering results as an appropriately structured push/pull should, though I just got mentally bored of the same routines. As of recently I took a fairly simple routine from BB.com which I think I've put in this thread before, but you can find it quoted again below for good measure. I've slightly modified it, but only in terms of reps/sets for certain things - bench press for example, where my sets are currently 60kg 12 reps, 80kg 6 reps, 90kg failure (usually 2-4 reps), 80kg failure, 60kg failure. Otherwise the daily structure remains the same. I've got some great strength and physique gains from it so far, and I don't feel as though it will get boring too soon.

Day 1

4x Squats: 5 reps

3x Ham Work: 8 reps

3x BB or DB Row: 8 reps

2x Bicep Curls: 10 reps

Day 2

4x Bench Press: 5 reps

3x Military Press: 8 reps

3x Tricep Isolation: 8 reps

2x Ab/Calf Work: 15 reps

Day 3

4x Deadlifts: 5 reps

3x Pullups: 8 reps

3x Leg Press: 8 reps

2x Biceps Curls: 10 reps

Day 4

4x DB or Incline Press: 5 reps

3x Chest Dips: 8 reps

3x Side Lateral Raise: 8 reps

2x Ab/Calf Work: 15 reps

Day 1: On

Day 2: On

Day 3: Off

Day 4: On

Day 5: Off

Day 6: On

Day 7: Off

[Birds]

Yeah I knew you'd moved on from my routine or at least modified / added to it. Just didn't know whether you were still aiming for the same physique you were a couple years ago.

Nothing wrong with a change up - what I do these days is pretty far removed from what I originally sent you anyway! I've kept the push/pull split going, but have modified exercises and principles along the way, depending which muscles needed more work etc.

In the end, as long as you're happy with what you've got and what you're getting, it doesn't matter what you do or how you do it...and no one can really tell you otherwise!

[TTT]

My goals may change one day (many believe/hope this will happen at a lifting comp), but until then

Do it top bloke..