Morphine's "Spartan Body" Build - WIP

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It will take a few weeks for your muscles to adapt to regular exercise - they're going to start to contain more water in order to be able to store more nutrients, which means they'll get a little bigger relatively quickly. Also, don't bother checking your weight at this point, or the body fat ratio.

As for ab exercises, I personally don't really believe in them... The main purpose of the lower torso's musculature is to stabilize the lower back when trying to exert any kind of force with the upper body. This means that if you're working with free weights, it will get exercised as much as it has to. Squats, front squats, standing presses, deadlifts, basically any kind of free weight exercises will all use it, doing extra sit-ups and crunches is not necessary. I've never really done such focused exercises and still my torso muscles developed a lot; although ab wheels are an interesting piece of equipment that we did use during circuit training.

Oh, and this topic shouldn't be frowned upon here, IMHO. Spartans are strong and healthy and everyone will look better in their armor if they aim for a good physique, too. Wouldn't like to offend anyone, but both underweight and overweight Spartans look a bit wrong... and this is something everyone can change, for the better.

Coming from a profession where physical fittness means life and death (U.S. Army Infantry), I can truly say that IMO ab workouts are a nessessity. Without a strong core (lower back, and abdomen) the rest of your workouts will definitly suffer. Yes, all of the different squats use tha abs and so do a lot of the free weights; but they only help out so much. Doing Ab-focused exercises help with the stabilizer muscles, and strengthen the core, which in turn allow the body to be able to handle a little extra weight, or the same weight for longer periods of time.
 
Getting a tan might make it look better....

As much as that'd be nice, I can't.

Why you say? Well you probably can't see it, but I've already had one sizable skin cancer removed on the left side at the bottom of my neck, which is about 5cms long. Removing that, was not pleasant. I've also had numerous moles removed all over my body by using what seemed to be a hole puncher, dry ice and burnt off with a torch. Unfortunately, I don't tan well , I burn instead (thank you half English heritage and being a ranga).

I'm not interested in fake tans either. I have to be careful when I'm out in the sun and make sure I have sunscreen on. The best I can get is my current tanned arms and legs from cycling, and that's from using sunscreen and the odd careless (and stupid) day not using sunscreen.

Besides, in armour, I'll hopefully have every inch of my skin covered up so you don't have to see my pastyness :D
 
Spartans are supposed to be pasty anyways, their skin never sees the sun :D. I've also considered something similar to what you are doing. Definitely subbed. Keep it up! It's hard to keep to a routine...at least for myself.
 
As much as that'd be nice, I can't.

Why you say? Well you probably can't see it, but I've already had one sizable skin cancer removed on the left side at the bottom of my neck, which is about 5cms long. Removing that, was not pleasant. I've also had numerous moles removed all over my body by using what seemed to be a hole puncher, dry ice and burnt off with a torch. Unfortunately, I don't tan well , I burn instead (thank you half English heritage and being a ranga).

I'm not interested in fake tans either. I have to be careful when I'm out in the sun and make sure I have sunscreen on. The best I can get is my current tanned arms and legs from cycling, and that's from using sunscreen and the odd careless (and stupid) day not using sunscreen.

Besides, in armour, I'll hopefully have every inch of my skin covered up so you don't have to see my pastyness :D

ohh didnt know that srry...:(
im pasty as well but iwould make a better elite than i would make a spartan ( im pretty tall )

spartans hanging out on the beaches of new mombasa cool idea ehhh?
 
No, this is not a necropost or reminiscing on days past: I've been hard at it for almost two years now even though I went silent! :D

I do apologise for the lack of updates and progression pics. Life seemed to have gotten in the way - I've struggled with a work/life balanced last year and have had bouts of flus and even glandular fever again. Managed to get married even!
There have been occasions that I've had to stop training and exercise as I was running myself into the ground and/or too sick do anything. This hasn't stopped me however and I've continued on with my goal of obtaining the "Spartan Build".
I would have liked to have provided regular progress so I can show a lanky skinny guy can start gaining mass: it takes dedication, hard work, commitment and a good diet.

I hope to have some pics together that I'll post this weekend and share some comparisons.

Long and short is that I still have alot of work to do to reach the size I'd like, although I've reached some nice milestones like being able to bench my own bodyweight (87kgs, 190 pounds) and deadlift it by almost x2.
I suck at deadlifts though, I'm still not quite happy with my technique!

I'm still pasty white, had another skin cancer removed (from my face, awesome :() but still going and I'm not stopping until hitting that goal.

Update to come very soon! :D
 
Subbed. I definitely need to get back to working out on a regular schedule. Getting the right proportions of food is my biggest issue right now.
 
Funnily enough, diet I've found to be the hardest to balance and I'm continually focused on it.

I eat around 6-7 times a day: breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, (post workout shake), dinner, bed time shake. This is on gym days anyway (take out the shakes for cardio / off days).

I'm trying to target 1.5-2 times my body weight in protein (approx 160 grams) and eat healthy. Still have the cheat meal, and sometimes turns into cheat day :(

For portions I'd look at a palm full of chicken for your serve if protein and then add 2-3 serves of veges. That's the base anyway, as mix it up a bit to keep it different and exciting. I keep a regiment with what I eat and when I eat (around every 2-3 hours) which helps with metabolism and feeding muscles through the course of the day.

Speaking for regiments, time to get some sleep! Hopefully a sizable update over the weekend to come!
 
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