Advice for building physique

[bluewater]

Attached my current state. I'm looking for any suggestions/critique to boost my physique in the right direction. I would like to get abs. For that I used to do open legs dragonflag negatives but had a rib injury during bjj so have to wait (I currently avoid exercises like that to avoid aggravating the injury) until that is completely healed.

View attachment 1
Edit: height and weight: 177cm and 62kg
My last few gym sessions were as follows:
_____
28 June
Deadlift (Barbell)
kg reps
40 10
50 10
60 10
60 10
60 10
Squat (Barbell)
30 10
40 10
50 10
60 10
65 10
Leg Extension (Machine)
55 9
55 10
64 10
64 9
55 10
Seated Leg Curl (Machine)
50 10
55 10
55 9
55 7
50 9
Calf Extension (Machine)
77 10
77 10
77 10
77 10
_____

27 June
Incline Bench Press (Barbell)
kg reps
20 10
60 6

Bench Press (Barbell)
40 10
50 10
60 10
70 5
60 10

Seated Cable Row
45 10
55 8
50 10
45 10
45 10
45 8

Lateral Raise (Machine)
36 10
41 10
41 10
41 10
41 10

Butterfly (Pec Deck)
32 8
32 8
32 8
32 9

Rowing Machine
2.029km 10mins

Bicep Curl (Machine)
23 10
27 10
32 10
27 10

Seated Shoulder Press (Machine)
30 10
______

25 June
Bench Press (Barbell)
20 8
40 8
50 8
60 6
70 3
75 1
Pull Up
8
8
8
Seated Cable Row
45 10
55 10
55 10
64 10
64 10
Butterfly (Pec Deck)
27 10
32 8
32 8
32 8
32 8
Crunch (Machine)
41 10
50 10
59 8
54 10
54 10
Lateral Raise (Machine)
36 10
36 10
36 10
36 10
36 10
Rowing Machine
1.564km 8mins

 

[PinchePendejo]

You have a good, lean physique already. I suggest gaining more muscle while being on a slight caloric surplus. Your bench press, deadlift, and squat seem rather low in weight. Think you should give linear progression a try as that’ll get you stronger very quickly due to noob gains while also gaining size/muscle.

 

[bluewater]

Thanks for the reply PinchePendejo !
I should add that I've been lifting for more than 3 years so no noob gains left for me unfortunately. Lowkey addicted to gym haha.
During when covid started I tried stuffing my self with around 3500 daily calories but that did not help too much. When Andy released that video about carnivore diet, I thought I'd try and have been on it ever since. It has slightly removed some bellyfat. Although now I also add some fibrous fruits as well to avoid painful nights of constipation.

 

[Ocean]

Would be nice to know your height and how much you weight for better context on your numbers.

I think your physique looks good, I would keep the progressive overload and slowly gain some more weight and muscle for now.

 

[bluewater]

Thanks Ocean, for the response.
I'm 177cm and 62kg atm.

 

[Svadhishthana]

"Things are going great! Please help me screw it up."
- bluewater

You're looking good and I don't see any real problems with your program. If you just keep doing what you're doing, you'll get there.

There are thousands of ab exercises, and they're each going to be about as good as the next. You could just search the internet, and try each one until you find one that doesn't aggravate your injury. Off the top of my head - hallow hold/ hallow rock, plank, leg raise, front lever progression, ab wheel.

The best thing you could do would be to hire a weightlifting or bodybuilding coach. There might be technical issues with your lifts that need to be addressed. You might have a weakness that we can't see. You don't know what you don't know, and we don't know what we don't know. That's the value of hiring a professional who you keep an ongoing relationship with.

 

[bluewater]

Thanks Svadhishthana.

"Things are going great! Please help me screw it up."
- bluewater

I see what you're saying

Perhaps I should be patient. I did get a coach to fix my form last year but would probably book a few more sessions next month to keep on track.

 

[Drama]

Hey mate, you've got a good baseline physique to go off. And given that you've done BJJ as well, I'll assume that you're reasonably athletic and competent.

You mentioned you've been going to the gym for 3 years though - At that rate you should have a bigger frame. Your lift numbers tell me that something isn't quite right here. I don't mean to discourage you, but you should be bigger if you've been hitting the gym consistently and dilligently for that amount of time.

What you should really do is focus on building strength first and foremost - the Starting Strength program is ideal for this. Get your lifts up to a good level, forget about the machine exercises and just focus on compound lifts to build your frame.

But again, given that you've been at the gym for 3 years, I would say something's probably not aligned with your form/technique. Best advice would be to get a personal trainer - They'll be able to fix your form and set you on the right path.

After about a year of doing Starting Strength, then you can look at a bodybuilding routine and shaping out your body.

I'm about your height, but 20kg heavier and lower body fat. You can get to where I am with 2-3 years of hard work, I promise.

Good luck!

 

[bluewater]

Hey mate, you've got a good baseline physique to go off. And given that you've done BJJ as well, I'll assume that you're reasonably athletic and competent.

You mentioned you've been going to the gym for 3 years though - At that rate you should have a bigger frame. Your lift numbers tell me that something isn't quite right here. I don't mean to discourage you, but you should be bigger if you've been hitting the gym consistently and dilligently for that amount of time.

What you should really do is focus on building strength first and foremost - the Starting Strength program is ideal for this. Get your lifts up to a good level, forget about the machine exercises and just focus on compound lifts to build your frame.

But again, given that you've been at the gym for 3 years, I would say something's probably not aligned with your form/technique. Best advice would be to get a personal trainer - They'll be able to fix your form and set you on the right path.

After about a year of doing Starting Strength, then you can look at a bodybuilding routine and shaping out your body.

I'm about your height, but 20kg heavier and lower body fat. You can get to where I am with 2-3 years of hard work, I promise.

Good luck!

Thanks for the response! Yeah I'll minimise machine excersises, focus on compound, and will hire a coach again.
I think there is another factor which needs addressing: sleep. I pretty much always sleep past midnight and wake up late. Eg. sleep from 3am to 10am. That is 7 hours of sleep. But obviously the late timings might be affecting gains?

 

[Drama]

Thanks for the response! Yeah I'll minimise machine excersises, focus on compound, and will hire a coach again.
I think there is another factor which needs addressing: sleep. I pretty much always sleep past midnight and wake up late. Eg. sleep from 3am to 10am. That is 7 hours of sleep. But obviously the late timings might be affecting gains?

Yeah man, sleep is essential. I've had a 9.30/10 p.m. - 5.30/6 a.m. sleep schedule (with about 90% consistency) for the last few years and it's done me really well.

Three key pillars all go with each other - sleep, diet and exercise. None work without the other ones.