Phils Before and After Photos *New Old Fat Pics found. OMG!

[phillipeb]

Hello. I had posted once before the before and after pictures but the website hiccuped and lost it. Which was fortuitous because i did not stick to my plan.

 

At my heaviest i was around 255-275lbs depending on who you talk to. I maintain that i was at least 255. I do not have many photos from this time but ill look through my records to find some and scan the pictures and update this post.

 

This is when i was around 210-220

 

Updated:

 

i just wanted to show everyone how i started out:

 

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3066/2947903283_b7cf7022a2.jpg

 

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3161/2948764368_9fb9e1bf0e.jpg

 

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3074/2948767000_b6c4028f12.jpg

 

 

and now:

 

http://assets.realjock.com/photos/member/468/43082_336716.jpg

For my new pictures of how i look check out page 3.

----------------------------

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/phillipeb/liquidphil.jpg

Dancing at a rave.

 

when i first became vegan i was roughly 195

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/phillipeb/10902phil_022-med.jpg

(while my neck and face were trim i was still fat in the lower regions.) I had some decent shoulder musculature but that was it.

 

This picture was after i had been vegan for about three years. I was at around 180-185

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/phillipeb/DSCF0507.jpg

To me this was my perfect weight as far as frame goes. I had muscle on my chest as well.

 

For one reason or another i obtained an eating disorder and dropped eventually down to 145lbs at the thinnest:

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/phillipeb/annaspics2005058.jpg

You can only tell im that thin from my face.

 

Anywho i got over that started eating normally, but the damage had been done i had atrophied my muscles and gained fat from eating normally.

 

 

I am starting at the bottom rung here and love that i can say i eventually built my entire physique as a vegan.

 

 

here i am today at 161lbs after working out bodyweight excercises for two weeks.

 

before work out:

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/phillipeb/021808/Picture129.jpg

 

after workout:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/phillipeb/032908/Picture211.jpg

 

 

before workout:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/phillipeb/021808/Picture131.jpg

 

after workout:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/phillipeb/032908/Picture246.jpg

 

before workout:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/phillipeb/021808/Picture138.jpg

 

after workout:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/phillipeb/032908/Picture222.jpg

 

 

and here are a few lucky camera shots that make me somehow look large:

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/phillipeb/032908/Picture240.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/phillipeb/032908/Picture241.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/phillipeb/032908/Picture244.jpg

 

 

One of the things i noticed is that my extra skin issue is actually exasterbated by working out, at least so far. Perhaps i have to much fat in my diet or perhaps the muscle i am gaining under the small amount of fat i have is pushing the skin out:

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/phillipeb/032908/Picture202.jpg

here is me normally but here is me when i stand or bend over.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/phillipeb/032908/Picture250.jpg

 

But i am trying and I know that baring surgery I can only do my best. My goal is to get up to 180lbs again but to do so very slowly.

 

you can see my training blog here:

 

Phils training blog

 

Thank you all for motivating me to make a difference in my life and to keep at it in a healthy manner.

Edited October 17, 2008 by phillipeb

[Lean and Green]

Hey lookin good brother. Just out of curiosity, what is your height? I would say around 5'11" ish??

 

Anyhow, you can see muscles starting to develop on your arms as well as upper back from what I can gauge with the pictures. Being you can see your body with the older pictures, there's no way of knowing.

 

I know how you feel with the fluctuations in weight. I went through a smilar bout, fluctuating from 140-200 within a span of 3 years. It's good to find a happy place and it seems like you have done that or are at least on the road to your 185 ideal physique, once you add the lbm to your current frame.

 

Being that you are pretty lean, I wouldn't be overly paranoid about your dietary intake. I would eat accordingly. If you start to put in intense wkouts, feed your body and you will enhance your physique. BW wkouts are good, pullups, dips, pushups, chinups and various other exercises. You can develop a nice base for your frame. Don't hesitate to incorporate a routine with weights as well though. It will produce significant change and results. Pls it is always good to switch things up...

 

Keep up the hard work!

[Guest]

Good work You'll get to where you want to be...I'm sure of it.

[tuc]

A good start! Now all you need is consistency and a lot of food. I bet you'll look totally different in just 3 months if you just stick to eating a lot of healthy food and working out the way you've described.

 

The only thing standing between great gains is some hard work and good eating.

 

Be prepared that in no time you'll have an urge to get some heavy a** dumbbells or to go to a gym as your own bodyweight won't give you enough resistance soon.

[xjohanx]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/phillipeb/10902phil_022-med.jpg

 

i love that hair!!

 

great progress, you guns seem to be a lot bigger

[phillipeb]

Hey lookin good brother. Just out of curiosity, what is your height? I would say around 5'11" ish??

 

Anyhow, you can see muscles starting to develop on your arms as well as upper back from what I can gauge with the pictures. Being you can see your body with the older pictures, there's no way of knowing.

 

I know how you feel with the fluctuations in weight. I went through a smilar bout, fluctuating from 140-200 within a span of 3 years. It's good to find a happy place and it seems like you have done that or are at least on the road to your 185 ideal physique, once you add the lbm to your current frame.

 

Being that you are pretty lean, I wouldn't be overly paranoid about your dietary intake. I would eat accordingly. If you start to put in intense wkouts, feed your body and you will enhance your physique. BW wkouts are good, pullups, dips, pushups, chinups and various other exercises. You can develop a nice base for your frame. Don't hesitate to incorporate a routine with weights as well though. It will produce significant change and results. Pls it is always good to switch things up...

 

Keep up the hard work!

 

Thank you for the encouragement.

 

I am 6 feet and 161.5 lbs currently. I feel as though i have made much more progress than i look, but i realize it is only two weeks and the change is a mental issue not a physical one. But damn its good to be active. I would love one day to look like you did during your competition time but i think your just genetically blessed as well as worked your ass of for it.

[Lean and Green]

Well thank you for the compliments.

 

That was actually my average weight last year. Trust me, you can do anything you set your mind to. My genetics aren't anything extra-special. I have a stronger than average lower body but my upper body is just like anyone elses. In fact no matter how hard I train my upper back, I will never have that bb 'wings' look as my back isn't meant to look wide.

 

This is however, your thread showing you off and so I want to keep the attention and focus on you.

 

That is lean for your height. Every build is different so it could be where you should be without any lbm from resistance training. You have a slightly small frame but not a true small frame. You could definitely be 180lbs at and as lean as you are now within the year. Yes you have to work but it's dooable. All depends on where your focus is and goals are. Being that you are posting on the bf/after thread, I would assume you are in it to make progress which is what I want to hear. Train hard and post and we're all here to answer whatever concerns come across your way that you may not understand. Or just to motivate you.

 

2 weeks is a short amount of time; give your body time. I would say to give a good look at your body every 2-3 months and look for change and gauge by that. If you look at your body every day like the pages of a flip book, you won't notice major differences and will get discouraged. But like the flip book, several 100 pages (or days in your case) and from start to finish, you will see the difference once you put the time and effort in.

 

Keep it up!

[phillipeb]

Well thank you for the compliments.

 

That was actually my average weight last year. Trust me, you can do anything you set your mind to. My genetics aren't anything extra-special. I have a stronger than average lower body but my upper body is just like anyone elses. In fact no matter how hard I train my upper back, I will never have that bb 'wings' look as my back isn't meant to look wide.

 

This is however, your thread showing you off and so I want to keep the attention and focus on you.

 

That is lean for your height. Every build is different so it could be where you should be without any lbm from resistance training. You have a slightly small frame but not a true small frame. You could definitely be 180lbs at and as lean as you are now within the year. Yes you have to work but it's dooable. All depends on where your focus is and goals are. Being that you are posting on the bf/after thread, I would assume you are in it to make progress which is what I want to hear. Train hard and post and we're all here to answer whatever concerns come across your way that you may not understand. Or just to motivate you.

 

2 weeks is a short amount of time; give your body time. I would say to give a good look at your body every 2-3 months and look for change and gauge by that. If you look at your body every day like the pages of a flip book, you won't notice major differences and will get discouraged. But like the flip book, several 100 pages (or days in your case) and from start to finish, you will see the difference once you put the time and effort in.

 

Keep it up!

 

 

My worry is this. I do not want to be a gym rat and it seems as though in order to get really impressive gains you have to be in the gym too often for my liking or suffer the agony of loosing that incredible physique. I am looking to add muscle slowly so that my body gets us to the idea of having that muscle in order to minimize upkeep. 5lbs a year would be fine in my book.

[Troy]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/phillipeb/liquidphil.jpg

 

 

Nice post man... huge difference in those pictures... i kept going up and down rechecking the pics to see if it was really the same person...!

[Lean and Green]

My worry is this. I do not want to be a gym rat and it seems as though in order to get really impressive gains you have to be in the gym too often for my liking or suffer the agony of loosing that incredible physique. I am looking to add muscle slowly so that my body gets us to the idea of having that muscle in order to minimize upkeep. 5lbs a year would be fine in my book.

 

That is def dooable, 5lbs is fairly easy to achieve per year, especially since you are young. Remember though, when you first start training, you gain alot of lbm in a very short amount of time and then it starts to slow down and build little by little.

 

Losing physique... well it may take some bit to gain the physique you want but maintenance is the easy part. You don't have to work as hard and you just have to keep your diet clean.

 

As far as being a gym rat, well, of course the more time you dedicate, the better results you will get (without overtraining, of course). But there should be no reason why you cannot gain steadily at a good pace by lifting 45min-1hr 3 times a week, I would say to aim for around that much and you'll still have plenty of free time outside of the gym and not be considered a gym rat.

 

Think about it, you can excel at a sport and be very good without having to train like, say, an olympian. You can dance or practice yoga twice a week and be decent at them without being a professional.

 

You can step inside of a gym without making yourself a gym rat. Pllenty of people do it. Don't avoid the gym completely b/c of that; weights will help you get to where you want to be fairly quick and it feels good.

 

By the way I love that hairdo as well and it shows in your expression that you do as well!

[phillipeb]

In other news interestingly enough I said i only wanted to gain 5lbs in a year but i gained 5 lbs in two weeks..... Holy crap.

[phillipeb]

My fitness challenge ended. It was a three month challenge i proposed to my friends well i fell off the wagon for two months of it. But for the last month i worked out 2-3 times per week.

 

I of course did not gain to much muscle but i notice it. I think i have about another 2-4 weeks before i start hitting the weights

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/phillipeb/bss%20end%20of%20fitness%20callenge%2050408/Picture308.jpg

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/phillipeb/bss%20end%20of%20fitness%20callenge%2050408/Picture317.jpg

 

I noticed you cant tell much for growth but i am twice as strong as i was before. Also my chest area is becoming thicker. I have come to the realization that i am going to have to incorporate weights into my workout if i am ever going to have a chest to speak of. more than a month of bodyweight exercises and my chest has made little gains.

 

 

P.s. i weigh about 170 now. i started at 159 i know about 5 lbs is muscle the rest is beer and pizza. i stopped drinking because i was drinking quite often, hopefully i can channel that into more healthy calories during the day.

[Katabatic]

Sounds good!

[Lean and Green]

Good stuff. You look great. I look forward to hearing of your experience with pumping iron. Once I started with barbell bench press training, my chest just decided it would explode with size. Dumbells didn't cut it for me. It was probably a matter of timing and switching it up.

 

Point is, that I encourage you to alternate your routine and reap the benefits from doing so...

[DV]

I agree with L&G on this one. Bench presses, especially with the barbell will build your chest.

[phillipeb]

This is exactly what i was thinking. I was a bit worried about doing a barbell centric routine what with me not having a partner to spot me. I thought it would be easier and more thourough if i used barbells. I am happy that you guys think so. Do either of you have perhaps a basic plan you would mind sharing with me as far as barbell workouts go? Also i was wondering how one decides how much weight he should pump? I also hear of warmup sets, could you explain these more fully?

 

Thanks all.

 

 

phil

[DV]

I use a spotter since the risk of injury is so great and you need to go to failure to get optimal growth.

 

As a woman, I concentrate on the chest muscles that are visible. Therefore, I do incline bench and flat bench. For warm-up, I either do a few sets of push ups (12 to 15 reps, 1 or 2 sets) or do a couple of sets of lower weight bench presses at 12 to 15 reps.

 

I hope that helps.

[Troy]

I'm gonna disagree with Lean & Green and DV and say dumbbells are better for chest growth in my opinion. I haven't benched since 98-99... not that I didn't like it, I liked it alot. My PB was 225x17 but my max was only 315. But just the opposite to Lean & Green, my chest didn't really start to grow until I started really working dumbbells. I feel that stabilizing a dumbbell with one hand is more difficult than stabilizing a barbell with two hands, and the increased stability must come from the recruitment and firing of more muscle fibers. If you recruit more fibers you have the opportunity to build more muscle.

 

A key point L&G stated was that when he switched. Probably more important than a single exercises is varying the exercises up.

[phillipeb]

I'm gonna disagree with Lean & Green and DV and say dumbbells are better for chest growth in my opinion. I haven't benched since 98-99... not that I didn't like it, I liked it alot. My PB was 225x17 but my max was only 315. But just the opposite to Lean & Green, my chest didn't really start to grow until I started really working dumbbells. I feel that stabilizing a dumbbell with one hand is more difficult than stabilizing a barbell with two hands, and the increased stability must come from the recruitment and firing of more muscle fibers. If you recruit more fibers you have the opportunity to build more muscle.

 

A key point L&G stated was that when he switched. Probably more important than a single exercises is varying the exercises up.

 

Thanks Troy. Also do you know of any good resources online that would help me put together a routine? Also as far as practical workout goes, the rock climbing gym has mainly dumbells so its just more advantageous.

[phillipeb]

http://www.frontslc.com/images/standard/weights-IMG_1089-wweb.jpg

[Lean and Green]

Hey phillipeb. As stated, switching up is more beneficial than the exercise itself. Although I still feel that bbells helped me more so for some reason. I have no scientific evidence behind it and I already knew troy and some others praise dumbell work and enhancing the stabilizers but it just works for me.

 

Whatever the case, what's most important is that you incorporate some form of different training into your regimen and whether it be barbells, dumbells, cables, towel training, theraband or whatever the heck you have at your disposal, you will see a huge difference in results immediately.

 

So it seems that you have dumbells at your disposal, great, make use of them. I also see a barbell. So you have plenty of variations all over the place that you can harness. Start with something simple, go with the program for 6-8 weeks and then switch it up again.

 

So where could you begin? How much wait you should pump you ask? Yes it is beneficial to go to failure but that doesn't mean you cannot get a pump a good growth without a spotter. I had not one single spot for my first 4 months of training. Just now, I am starting to have a spot and for bbell bench only, nothing else, so it can be done.

 

so the rep ranges are something like this

 

15+ endurance

12-15 cutting

10-12 growth/cutting

8-10 growth

6-8 strength/growth

< 6 strength

 

So no matter what your goals are, say it is only growth (8-10 rep range), you should still go through a little bit of each of these ranges so that when you go back to the 8-10 range, you will be able to have more endurance and strength to accomplish as much as possible in an 8-10 range.

 

I personally feel it is good to start at a higher rep range to get a feel for lifting and to develop some endurance, as a base and primer to be able to do other rep ranges. Therefore, imo, i would recommend something in the 12-15 rep range for the start for a bit of time and then after some weeks to move to another range

 

something like this

weeks 1-5 ; 12 reps

weeks 5-7 ; 10 reps

weeks 7-14 ; 8 reps

weeks 14-17; 15 reps

weeks 17-22; 6 reps

weeks 22-32; 8 reps

 

Again that's just off the top of my head and you can toy with whatever feels right, as you can see, i made the 8 rep range the highest duration of training period for someone who wants bbing/growth as their primary focus.

 

Okay, a simple routine...

 

Firstly I would say to put the parts of your body that need the most work ahead of others. Examine your upper chest/middle/lower and decide which one is stronger than the other. Everyone is different. So if you have a weaker lower chest and a very strong upper chest, work out decline first, flat second and upper last. That's for you to decide

 

I'll give you some routines I performed this year just to get an idea of what you can do....

20 sets (plus pushups)

Flat Bench Dumbells (4 sets x 12 reps per set)

Incline Bench Dumbells (4 sets x 12 reps per set

Decline Bench Dumbells (4 sets x 12 reps per set)

Cable Crossovers (4 sets x 12 reps per set)

Incline Dumbell Flyes (4 sets x 12 reps per set)

Pushups (until failure, if any are possible)

 

Something I read once is that a good way to tell if you have exhausted your chest is to see if you can do a pushup after your routine. If you can't then you destroyed your chest and did more than enough.

 

Chest workout # 2

21 sets

Incline Barbell Bench (3 sets x 8 reps per set)

Flat Bench (3 sets x 8 reps per set)

Decline Bench (3 sets x 8 reps per set)

Incline Bench Dumbells (2 sets x 6-8 reps per set)

Flat Bench Dumbells (2 sets x 6-8 reps per set)

Decline Bench Dumbells (2 sets x 6-8 reps per set)

Pec Dec (3 sets x 8 reps per set) U probably don't have this, just substitute with flyes...

Incline Bench Cable Flyes (3 sets 8 reps per set)

 

 

 

Well that should be more than enough info to get you started somewhere on your own. Pm me if you have any questions or need more advice.. Train Hard!

 

Chest Day

[Zack]

How is doing 2 more reps going to help you cut? Cutting is all in the diet.

[phillipeb]

hmm do you think that it would create a balancing issue if i choose to only lift weights once a week. then do a bodyweight workout and a rockclimbing day?

 

I really about usable strength, even though egotistically i would like to look like some fitness model i have to be realistic as to what my body was made for. long distance endurance and agility.

[phillipeb]

P.s. thanks all for helping me evaluate my options. I have been working out constantly and improving because of your help. As some of you may have gleamed i am a bit weight assist-phobic. That is why i started my fitness experiment with a bodyweight workout. In two weeks-one month depending on when i reach my personal goals I will start incorporating weights. I just like to be prepared with everything possible to prepare with including ideas, routines, combination techniques.

 

any who thanks again.

 

just didn't want you guys to think i am like some of the forum members who ask for this advice and wont take it, rather than ask for the advice evaluate and then incorporate.

[phillipeb]

http://www.frontslc.com/images/standard/weights-IMG_1089-wweb.jpg

 

As an update to this. I had a chance to check it out, and whats not shown in the picture is a giant box i think to do step ups. and a large jungle gym type thing where you can do cable pull downs and what not. it has 4 sides and each has attachments. so im assuming they have everything to put together an awesome program.