Who is our biggest, most shredded member at Meso?

Work ethic all the way. That shit doesn't build itself.
In some ways work ethic kills me and has set me back again and again in the past and present. I just dont have the genetics to build a great physique and RECOVER with all the work i WANT to do. My mind is faaaar stronger than my body and its capabilities. When i look at some of my favorite lifters/bodybuilders and i see them ripping these long winded workouts 6 days a week and still GROW it pisses me off. I always found Arnolds encyclopedia of BB which is kinda like the bible out here to be useless and totally not for me. I always regress in that form of training. If work ethic alone was the primary key to building muscle id be alot farther ahead by now. And nothing could be more truthful than that. Genetics rule the day. And it sucks we dont get the key ingredients we all want.

I been really absorbing the Bpak stuff and really listening and soaking in what he says. Trying to correct my form and think outside the box for whats the best mechanical tension for MY body. Not what the machine or station dictates. Im different. We all are. Like he says makes no difference if your running as fast as you can in the wrong direction. Has helped me immensely
 
In some ways work ethic kills me and has set me back again and again in the past and present. I just dont have the genetics to build a great physique and RECOVER with all the work i WANT to do. My mind is faaaar stronger than my body and its capabilities. When i look at some of my favorite lifters/bodybuilders and i see them ripping these long winded workouts 6 days a week and still GROW it pisses me off. I always found Arnolds encyclopedia of BB which is kinda like the bible out here to be useless and totally not for me. I always regress in that form of training. If work ethic alone was the primary key to building muscle id be alot farther ahead by now. And nothing could be more truthful than that. Genetics rule the day. And it sucks we dont get the key ingredients we all want.

I been really absorbing the Bpak stuff and really listening and soaking in what he says. Trying to correct my form and think outside the box for whats the best mechanical tension for MY body. Not what the machine or station dictates. Im different. We all are. Like he says makes no difference if your running as fast as you can in the wrong direction. Has helped me immensely

I think your morphing into Bpak ! Keep going ! ;)
 
Dropped my volume training and re-took up HD training mentzer/yates style.
Reassuring to see that you prefer this
I recently switched back to yates program. I feel like I'll grow much better but man is it a mind fuck when you're used to doing so many exercises to do so few
 
Reassuring to see that you prefer this
I recently switched back to yates program. I feel like I'll grow much better but man is it a mind fuck when you're used to doing so many exercises to do so few
Just a culmination of experiences and styles ive picked up over the years. The hard part is knowing when enough is enough and switch it up. And to know when wiser men have some thing to say like Bpak and others and listen and critique your own failures and what can be done better. But i have a very near and dear place in my heart for heavy duty training. It most closely ressembles my natural tendencies any how. And i fucking love pain
 
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6'1 285
Ill worry about the fat later. Thats the easy part anyway.
For now ill be enjoying that fresh new 4x territory. At least for some of my shirts(LMAO) But ill take it lol

DAMN!!!!! You are a big man mr trukker, and you are no where near fat my friend. Awesome and impressive!!!
One question, in your current training with less volume but more intensity, what would say a bicep session look like also legs. I ask because i too am deff caught up in the work myself to death spiral. Ive taken a week off from the gym for the first time in maybe 2 years and cant believe how great i feel. My body is deff thanking me. Now im thinking of something diff, maybe similar to what your doing.
 
DAMN!!!!! You are a big man mr trukker, and you are no where near fat my friend. Awesome and impressive!!!
One question, in your current training with less volume but more intensity, what would say a bicep session look like also legs. I ask because i too am deff caught up in the work myself to death spiral. Ive taken a week off from the gym for the first time in maybe 2 years and cant believe how great i feel. My body is deff thanking me. Now im thinking of something diff, maybe similar to what your doing.
If u like look up mike mentzers HD training. Their are free portions online maybe even alot of free stuff. If not maybe buy his books? He an arthur jones are the originators. Then of course he trained yates which became more popular then. He has different variations hes tweaked over his evolving understanding of the concept. Ive done them all. Read them all. And ive tweaked it to my liking.
In general now days if i do it ill pick an iso movement then superset it w/ a compound movement. NO REST thats important. To utter failure in perfect form. Not till your tired. Not till you sweat. Not till you run out of breathe. Till every last phase of a movement has left you. The positive forces will go first. The static will go next and the negatives will remain till the bitter end. Then rest and do 1 more (different) iso movement for that part. Then call it a day.

Again thats my version of it these days
 
Wow. Guys.. if you’re ever feeling like you haven’t progressed.. take a look back at all these old photos.


Here’s an update for today...
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And below is a back shot from Tuesday’s workout..
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Here’s a another about 11 months apart
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5 months out... maybe...


Thanks for all my inspiration and motivation guys.. hopefully I can do the same for some of you.

Great work man -- looking SOLID and lean.
 
Between trukks back pics & bpak YouTube videos I feel tiny. Time to put some more work in, jesus christ I have a ways to go!

With the progress pics being posted I figured I'd toss a 6 month comparison up. 1st pic is at the begining of 2018. I was 240# and obviously feeling the holiday food! 2nd pic is yesterday and I'm hovering just above 250#

Have like 2.5 weeks of a cut that I'm doing and then I'm going to try a clean bulk after that. May be getting some sort of coaching for that. Nutritionally I feel like I'm ok but I need some advice on getting dem lats to explode.

Keep up the work guys, you're making me work harder every time you post!!

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Between trukks back pics & bpak YouTube videos I feel tiny. Time to put some more work in, jesus christ I have a ways to go!

With the progress pics being posted I figured I'd toss a 6 month comparison up. 1st pic is at the begining of 2018. I was 240# and obviously feeling the holiday food! 2nd pic is yesterday and I'm hovering just above 250#

Have like 2.5 weeks of a cut that I'm doing and then I'm going to try a clean bulk after that. May be getting some sort of coaching for that. Nutritionally I feel like I'm ok but I need some advice on getting dem lats to explode.

Keep up the work guys, you're making me work harder every time you post!!

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Bigger and leaner! Watch Seth Feroce newest video on back training where he talks about "holding guns in your hands" to target lats

Also if you want to spend a few bucks, get some MAG back attachments it's crazy how much better these work for activating your lats

At the end of your back workout hang some weight off a Dip belt and then use straps to hang from a pull up bar for 60 seconds

Also look up Rack chins, those work really well
 
Also if you want to spend a few bucks, get some MAG back attachments it's crazy how much better these work for activating your lats
a few of these are in the shopping cart once my feet are back under me. It's time to accumulate for a home gym anyway.

The basics, the fundamentals need to be cemented in stone. After watching a bunch if videos it's clear to me that I've done a tremendous amount of upper back work but not nearly enough lat work. I've always favored certain movements because of an injury that I work around. Time to fix that shit :)
 
Between trukks back pics & bpak YouTube videos I feel tiny. Time to put some more work in, jesus christ I have a ways to go!

With the progress pics being posted I figured I'd toss a 6 month comparison up. 1st pic is at the begining of 2018. I was 240# and obviously feeling the holiday food! 2nd pic is yesterday and I'm hovering just above 250#

Have like 2.5 weeks of a cut that I'm doing and then I'm going to try a clean bulk after that. May be getting some sort of coaching for that. Nutritionally I feel like I'm ok but I need some advice on getting dem lats to explode.

Keep up the work guys, you're making me work harder every time you post!!

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Retrain yourself
 
A good way to get those contractions down in the back is to practice cable pulldowns. Just practice "pulling" down w/o gripping the bar attachment. I just rest my palms on it and press down thru my palms w/o gripping it with my fingers and do that circling the pie pattern that engages the lats properly.

Another good movement for me to get the lats firing properly is to do cable lat pulldowns with a single D handle. So do them iso laterally. I dont sit on the seat. Too big for that. A smaller guy might get the proper stretch but i cant. The cable tops out in that position before i get a full stretch. I kneel on the floor and allow the weight to pull to a FULL stretch then initiate the movement going back down FIRST with the lats. I feel like a chicken being pulled apart. Let the lats take the brunt of the stretch. And finish the pull with the lats. Too easy to let the biceps take control. Doesnt take alot of weight if your lats are doing it especially at first. I do these supinated btw with the D handle
 
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