1) How do you know you were 9%?

2) It's only scrawny if you are really tall.

Not really. I don't "power lift," but I make it my goal to be stronger every year than I was the year before. Aesthetics are certainly second, but being stronger and fitter for soccer is my main goal.

That's really great! (honest)

Yoga is always a good idea.

How do you know what your body fat is?

For reference, I'm 5'11", and this is 9% bodyfat (measured by both a DEXA scan and a Bodpod) @ ~170 lbs. My scale told me I was 6% for about two weeks leading up to the real measurement, so it's not very accurate.

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...D4E68D1833.jpghttp://i247.photobucket.com/albums/g...D55AA3E9B0.jpg

I mean, if you're just ****ing around in the gym and doing whatever and you look like this, I'll just say congratulations to you on your awesome genetics and sit here being really jealous, because this took a shitload of hard work for me.

Just a guesstimation based on previous measurements and what they ended up being.

Like I said, I'm not really too hungup on the numbers, body fat included.

That looks and sounds about right. I'd have guessed 175 and 8-ish based on those pictures, but everybody carries it differently. That's about what I looked like when I dropped from 225 to 175 right after I went vegan. (Other than a lot more body hair.) I carry a bit more width on my chest/back/shoulders and lost a lot on my lower half. (Putting the muscle on the top half isn't a problem, but I'm working with genetics on skinny legs/calves. My brother got the tree trunks for legs and I got the arms.)

I don't consider what I'm doing as "screwing around in the gym." I'm just not going total anal retentive about writing every little detail down in order to make sure I'm getting those small gains in strength. I am busting tail. Puked one time last week after a workout actually.

Holy ****ing shit Silock. We are the exact same height and you are 16 lbs lighter than me. I was thinking 175 would be my goal but damn man I might just try 170.

Well, consider me jealous of your genetics.

I'm not saying it's a matter of effort. It is, however, a lack of training focus and specificity. Puking isn't a good thing at all, but it's good that you are doing work.

People *ALWAYS* underestimate how much they need to weigh to get the look they really want. Much like people ALWAYS overestimate their true bodyfat percentage (like saying they were 10%, when they're really more like 15%). People just don't really have a good idea of what it really takes and how much one actually weighs until they have actually done it and see how hard it is.

My problem with this for me is I'm not sure I can get to where I want to be with the current vegan diet. And I don't really want to come off the vegan diet because I'm feeling really good right about now.

However, most vegan that work out are pretty scrawny looking. But to get buff, I'm going to have to cut out a lot of the higher fat foods I'm currently engulfing in order to get below 10%. I'm probably going to have to make a compromise and start sucking in a Whey based protein supplement in order to try and make it work as the pure Vegan ones are so goddamn expensive and you have to eat so freaking much of it to equal what you are outputting in terms of a workout. I'm already eating everything I can get my hands on.

I'm not sure it can be done on a realistic basis.

And, to tell you the truth, I feel pretty scrawny when I'm at 180 or below. You don't wrestle grizzly bears on the side of mountains weighing 180.

You are putting way too much emphasis on your body weight... Why does it matter if you are 170 or 185 if you have the aesthetics you are looking for and can push the weight you want to be able to push?

Just gorgeous.

Lewdog are you still running 5/3/1? I'm curious as to how your setting up the circuit accessory work. I've been running Beyond 5/3/1 for a couple months now, and body weight is up to 236.5 as of this morning. So that's about a pound a week, I'm happy with that.

Anyway, this is how my days are arranged, let me know how your running the circuits as I may try to incorporate it.

monday: Squat 5/3/1, joker sets, first set last with 2 sec pause in the hole. Accessory: Glute ham raises 4-5 sets, reverse lunge from a box 4-5 sets, Prowler work for weight, not speed. hanging leg raises

tuesday: Bench 5/3/1, joker sets, first set last. All benching done with a full pause on chest. All benching super-set with weighted nuetral chins.
Accessory: low incline DB bench superset with either dumbell rows or chest supported rows, 4-5 sets. Shoulder circuit of rear delt movement and side laterals, 4-5 sets of 15-20 reps.

wed off

thurs: sumo deads 5/3/1, jokers & FSL.
accessory same as monday

friday: OHP 5/3/1, jokers & FSL. All pressing superset with weighted chins & rows like tuesday. same accessory work.

saturday: clean up day (arms & calves LOL)

sunday: off

Since I switched gyms to one that has about 40 yards of indoor turf set up for a prowler, i've been hitting it twice a week. Weight still going up and abs still visible. Goal is 250lbs. The work outs are the easy part.. its all the eating that is a real PITA :banghead:

Definitely change shoes. If you can try to talk to someone who knows wtf is going on when you try on the shoes.

Ice ice ice. Shin splints suck. And they don't go away overnight. Did you look into those wraps I posted? They won't fix it. But they will help you get out there sooner.

We've had a "who's the fittest?" competition going on at my gym over the last month or so and the finals were this weekend. I made it to the finals and lost to 3 personal trainers who are all in their mid-20s. I felt pretty good about that. (I was also up late drinking and watching bball the night before with friends & that didn't help)

What were the qualifications for being 'fit'?

Oh, ****. Here it comes....

They had a variety of competitions that we did each week. Usually a metcon workout for time. Fastest time won. For the final workout, they cleared out the lobby and had the 4 finalists in each division compete in front of everyone. The workout was:

3 rounds:

25 hand release pushups
100 air squats
35 straight leg situps
30 alternating DB snatches

Question (so I don't bug my personal trainer...again).

Still feeling that strain in the left side of my lower back. Today is supposed to be legs, which include barbell squats and leg presses. I'm thinking this sounds like a possible recipe for disaster. Any recommendations? Extra lunges and step ups instead? I'm going to try some goblet squats to see what happens. Supposed to row 2000m as well.

Horseshit. That guy puts in tons of time at the gym. He's in every bit as good of shape as The Rock is, just not as strong. Frankly, I'd almost murder to be in that good of shape.

I've known a bunch of skinny guys that were in terrible physical fitness and looked nothing like that guy.