I seriously might switch from OCB to WNBF for my next competition to get a real medal I'm beyond pissed.

I'm debuting in OCB and I'm really excited but this was super disappointing. I easily spent 700$ off my student minimum wage salary and they can't hire some art intern to design a proper medal.

For all the memes and jokes about skipping leg day, I don't think I've actually seen someone with such an unbalanced physique that I thought they were definitely skipping leg day. Usually, people either look like they lift (which includes legs) or they don't. I've never seen someone with a massive jacked upper body and extremely thin legs. Does anyone have examples of physiques of real people who actually train upper body all the time but never train legs? And if you have a physique like this, could you please share your photos?

i always heard of people (mostly begginers or some intermediates) being hesitant to cut because theyre afraid to lose overall size.

im not sure if its just me but i always thought I looked bigger when lean. when i gained a couple pounds back this month my mother literally asked if i was losing muscle.

just wanted to hear other opinions/thoughts

Show this weekend! 5'8 weighed in at 137.8 this AM. Avg 139 lbs - OCB Debut, ill be happy to make it to stage, this whole process has drained me. Desire to compete and train has faded, but Im doing the damn thing regardless.

I always track my lifts, so that I can see in the long run how I progress with my training. What counts as progress to me is when I increase the weight in the 8-12 rep range.

However, my joints are really bad and I’m prone to injuries / joint discomfort. On some lifts, my muscles are ready to increase the weight but my joints (especially wrists and lower back) hurt when I do so. Or maybe it’s my tendons and ligaments that are weak, I don’t know.

I know that there are several methods to increase training intensity other than increasing the weight: improving form, slowing down the negative, increasing ROM, isometric holds, partials, drop sets, decreasing rest between sets etc…

But how do these methods compare to simply increasing the weight in terms of hypertrophy?

Mine is cable rows. Stable, loads of fun (to me, at least), and really stretches your whole back, lats and traps included. If there's only one back exercise I could do, it would be this. Lat pulldowns aren't bad either but cable rows feel more natural to me

Welcome to the r/naturalbodybuilding Daily Discussion Thread. All are welcome to post here but please keep in mind that this sub is intended for intermediate to advanced level lifters so beginner level questions may not get answered.

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This question is directed towards the length of a bulk/cut cycle. Assuming all things are equal (effort, recovery, diet, etc.), is there an actual growth difference in muscle gain when bulking for 9 months and cutting compared to bulking for 3 months and cutting? In other words, is there an actual biological benefit in bulk months 4-9 compared to months 1-3 in a shorter cycle or is it more attributed to the mental aspect of staying in the same routine for longer and easier to mentally process?

Welcome to the r/naturalbodybuilding Daily Discussion Thread. All are welcome to post here but please keep in mind that this sub is intended for intermediate to advanced level lifters so beginner level questions may not get answered.

In order to minimize repetitive questions/topics please use the search function prior to posting to see if it has already been discussed or answered. Since the reddit search function isn't that good you can also use Google to search r/naturalbodybuilding by using the string "site:reddit.com/r/naturalbodybuildling" after your search topic.

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Welcome to the r/naturalbodybuilding Daily Discussion Thread. All are welcome to post here but please keep in mind that this sub is intended for intermediate to advanced level lifters so beginner level questions may not get answered.

In order to minimize repetitive questions/topics please use the search function prior to posting to see if it has already been discussed or answered. Since the reddit search function isn't that good you can also use Google to search r/naturalbodybuilding by using the string "site:reddit.com/r/naturalbodybuildling" after your search topic.

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Big changes from last up date “1st pic”, Mock peak week complete “2nd pic”, we’re doing this. Small… large cheat day after that photo yesterday 😂. Locked back in and taking this to the end. debut will be at OCB in Tampa in Nov. Anyone else competing there?

I’m a relatively advanced lifter who made the best progress training 5-6 days a week on a PPL or hybrid split. For life reasons I have been on upper/lower for 10 months or so and I haven’t made much progress and frankly I just don’t enjoy it much. Hard to fit in all the bodybuilding exercises I love without sessions getting too long. But now with family and additional cardio goals, I can’t really afford to train 5 or 6 days a week.

I have heard a few guys like Alex Leonidas and AJ Morris talk about running PPL as push, pull, off, legs, off and repeating and doing that or an Arnold split like that sounds appealing since I can hit muscle groups with more focus and use the off days for cardio.

Anyone done something like this?

Sitting at about 8% bodyfat in these photos 2 weeks out from my second ever bodybuilding show. Competing in men’s Phyique and classic physique. My legs are a full year behind the rest of my body, I started training them a year late but I’ve added some decent mass to my legs since my first show. Legs and my back have been my main focus of the last two years. Super excited to see the on stage look in 2 weeks🙏

I’m 2 weeks out from my second ever natural bodybuilding show and I’m super happy with the results! After 5.5 years of training, I’m super confident going into this show with an extra 2 years worth of muscle growth. I focused on back development, bicep peak, and leg development in these past 2 years. So hyped to finally step back on the natural bodybuilding stage💪

Welcome to the r/naturalbodybuilding Daily Discussion Thread. All are welcome to post here but please keep in mind that this sub is intended for intermediate to advanced level lifters so beginner level questions may not get answered.

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Thread for getting the word out about your amazingly awesome instagram or youtube page that everyone should follow, etc.

This time last year I competed in the NCOBB Belgian Championships and won both titles of Open Bodybuilding and classic Physique (as well as Best Poser). This time I am sitting it out.
The video is as of today. Currently sitting around 90kg at 186cm. (If I look a big crooked it’s because Wednesday I went through my back and slowly getting back to normal. )

For context, I have a BMR of about 2000 and that feels insane this close to a show. I'm pretty much fine on weight but would really like to lose a little more fat, as I've been losing as much muscle as fat this whole cut. I'm down from 2500 cals to 1600-1800, but I did this last year and came out so, so flat.

Stats: 6'3, 189, (down from 220), highly active, 1h weightlifting + at least 30m cardio daily. 1 rest day a week

TLDR;

How far below your BMR do you usually go just before a show?

Welcome to the r/naturalbodybuilding Daily Discussion Thread. All are welcome to post here but please keep in mind that this sub is intended for intermediate to advanced level lifters so beginner level questions may not get answered.

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When I was in my late teens and early twenties, a large part of my identity revolved around lifting and my physique. I consumed as much lifting-related media and information as I possibly could and much of my day centred around going to the gym.

As I've gone through grad school and started my professional career, I've gradually found myself caring less and less about this part of my life. I still go to the gym 2-4 times a week, but I view it more as a 'self-care' activity, rather than being motivated to get as jacked/shredded/strong as possible. I also find that I just don't find lifting content particularly engaging anymore. The minutiae of lifting used to really interest me, but now I just find a lot of it to be quite tedious.

I don't know if I'm falling out of love with this hobby or if this is just the natural course for a non-competitive, drug-free lifter. When you start out, you're excited about all of the possibilities that lifting brings; no longer being the skinny guy, the attention you'll get when you're shredded, the numbers you're gonna hit on certain lifts... and then once you've achieved those things, it's a bit like... okay, what do I do for the next 30 years?

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Cliff Wilson is a well-known natural (majority) bodybuilding coach, who seems to get people to develop impressive physiques. He is known for putting people on 'high-volume' programs.

However, his high volume doesn't seem to be from 5+ sets per exercise. What I see is that he has a big exercise selection pool for hitting muscles from 'all angles' with like 3-4 sets per exercise.

His clients do like 2+ hour workout sessions, so this may not be fully practical for everyone (even me), but I thought this would make an informative post still, if only to raise ideas.

These notes are from what I've seen his clients do specifically, as a pattern, from their Instagram pages.

Usually these people are doing some form of PPL split, with Push with Shoulders and Triceps, and Back and Biceps (and sometimes shoulders here instead). A session hitting a body part will have all the exercises listed under that body part hit once.

(I think) If someone has a lagging body part that one specific angle of an exercise hits, then they do a variation of that specific angle as another exercise in the same session. Eg: doing barbell shrugs then adding a dumbbell shrug after that in the same session.

# Chest:
Flat Press.
Incline Press.
Decline (I've only seen Dips so far).
Flat Fly and/or Flat Fly Press.
Incline Fly.

# Back:
High Row.
Neutral Row.
Low Row.
Pulldown or Pullup.
Lower Lat Angled Pulldown (unilateral).
Shrug.
Pullover

# Shoulders:
Shoulder Press.
Lateral Raise
Rear Delt Fly.
(Sometimes Facepulls).

# Biceps:
Standing Bilateral Bar Curl.
Hammer Curl.
Preacher Curl.
High Cable Curl.

# Triceps:
Overhead Extension.
Pushdown.
Dumbbell Kickbacks (Cliff Wilson seems to like these).
(Dips).

# Quads:
Squat Pattern(s).
Leg Extension.
Split Squat Pattern (or walking lunges).
Adductor.

# Hamstrings:
Leg Curl(s).
Hinge Pattern.

# Glutes:
Hip Thrust and/or Donkey Kickbacks.
Abductor.

# Calves:
Straight Leg Calf Raise.
Bent Leg Calf Raise.

# Remaining muscles IDK how/if he programs them:
Forearms, Neck, Erector-specific, Abs (, Obliques).

Most things are standard, but some (upper body stuff) stood out to me.

Title says it already; 4 days out of my first show this season (WNBF grand dutch naturals junior cp and open cp (WNBF Pro Qualifier)) and10 days out of the 2nd show being the NBW UKDFBA International championship Junior CP.

Fully flat shape as loading up started today. Feeling good about the look and excited to see how my body fills and freshens up over the coming days.

1.74cm, 73kg, 23 years old.

Coach: Finn Kelly (Natural Physique Coaching, UK)