Am I Progressing in Muscle Building?

[Toasty]

I know I post a lot in the Health & Wellbeing section of these forums and I'm starting to get self conscious about it lol, so this will probably be the last one in a while.

I've been lifting weights and what not for about 2 years, but I've never really been consistent about it. Recently, my brother suggested I take photos of myself and compare it to later times in the year to see if there's any differences. So I do this and I'm not sure if I've changed at all, so I'm going to go ahead and post some before and after pics:

Here I am late August this year:


Here I am now:


Like I said, I can't tell if I've made progress or not, so having your guys' inputs will be nice.

Also, I've been getting better with regularly lifting, but every now and then I skip a day or two. How bad is it to skip days from your schedule?

Also also, I'm not hiding my face because I'm shy in case any of you are wondering. I just don't know how revealing my identity on these forums will affect me, so I'm just going to avoid it for now.

Also also also, that back shot was really hard to get so that's why it's blurry. Any idea on how to get a good shot of my back?

Finally, I would really like to build a "bearish" body if that's possible. I know I probably won't have much body hair but that shouldn't matter. What should I do to build a bear-like body? Can I even build a bear-like body with my body?

I'm too tired to post my workout schedule so I'll post it tomorrow (Tuesday).

BTW, if this doesn't belong in the Health and Wellbeing section then I would appreciate it if a mod moves it. I just posted this here because it has to do with muscle building and working out.

 

[KaraBulut]

This is the appropriate forum- up in the Sticky section we have several fitness threads that members have contributed

Your brother is correct- pictures and a tape measure are the best ways to track your progress with your workout plan. There are some differences between the two sets of pictures. It's difficult to gauge how much because you had to lift your arms up to focus the camera (one of the unfortunate things about self-pics).

One thing that I observe is that the increased tone and fullness of your muscles seems to be lagging somewhat. Usually this is related to nutrition and lack of stress on the muscles. Can you post a bit about your diet and your workout routine?

 

[Corny]

get a cheap (spider) tripod to take proper pics

 

[palbert]

When I worked on muscles/mass/toning I did it 4 days a week, in rotation:

1. back
2. legs
3. arms and shoulders
5. chest and stomach

That may not be right for you, but consistent application helps

 

[Benvolio]

You will need to work out consistency to make progress. After warm up, do each set to failure i.e. until you cannot do another or until the muscle burns. It is best if you can find someone to workout with you. It helps to keep yourself going to the gym, even when you are not in the mood. And, he will help you to work hard. And it is just more fun, especially if he is attractive.

 

[Toasty]

This is the appropriate forum- up in the Sticky section we have several fitness threads that members have contributed

Your brother is correct- pictures and a tape measure are the best ways to track your progress with your workout plan. There are some differences between the two sets of pictures. It's difficult to gauge how much because you had to lift your arms up to focus the camera (one of the unfortunate things about self-pics).

One thing that I observe is that the increased tone and fullness of your muscles seems to be lagging somewhat. Usually this is related to nutrition and lack of stress on the muscles. Can you post a bit about your diet and your workout routine?

Oh, lifting your arms are bad? I did it to get a good shot of my torso. How should I position my arms if I want a good shot of my torso then?

Also, I'll post my diet and workout routine after I reply to the other posts.

get a cheap (spider) tripod to take proper pics

Oh, right. I don't know why I didn't think of that haha.

You will need to work out consistency to make progress. After warm up, do each set to failure i.e. until you cannot do another or until the muscle burns. It is best if you can find someone to workout with you. It helps to keep yourself going to the gym, even when you are not in the mood. And, he will help you to work hard. And it is just more fun, especially if he is attractive.

I often do it based on an amount of sets and reps. If I feel unsatisfied after a set I'll do it till failure. Also, I can see how having someone attractive as a workout partner can be motivating, although I don't know where I'll find such a person.

Anyway my workout schedule consists of three workouts a week and the days I do the workouts depends on how busy I am on certain days. 90% of the time I'll put a day of rest in between workouts.

Here's what I do for day 1:

5x6-12 Chest Press descending weight (meaning I lower the weight and increase reps after every set)
4x8-12 Inclined Chest Press desending weight
4x8-12 Shoulder Press ascending weight (vice versa of descending weight)
4x8-12 Chest Fly ascending weight
4x8-12 Bicep Curl ascending weight

Day 2:

4x8-12 Squats ascending weight
4x8-12 Leg Press ascending weight
4x12 Lower Leg Muscle exercises ascending weight (can't believe I forgot the muscle name)
4x8-12 Adductor exercises ascending weight
4x8-12 Abductor exercises ascending weight

Day 3:

4x8-12 Assisted Pull Ups descending assisted weight (meaning I progressively get less assistance)
4x8-12 Rows ascending weight
4x8-12 Shrugs ascending weight
3x12 One-armed Dumbbell Rows ascending weight
4x8-12 Tricep Extensions ascending weight

After every main work out for the day I do these exercises:

Back Extension with extra weight
Declined sit ups
Leg ups
This exercise I saw people doing where they hold a 45 plate in one hand and lean to the other side to exercise the obliques
Planks

For my diet, I don't have a strict diet going for me. I hate to say this, but I really just eat what my parents give me, and I never really ask them to buy anything specific. Really the only thing that I've kept consistent is eating 4 eggs scrambled, 2 of them only whites. Also, I try to eat an apple and banana every day. I also drink whey protein shakes after workouts, but only after workouts. Also, I've developed a habit of eating processed chicken nuggets from Costco almost every day, usually 8 of them. Everything else is just miscellaneous food. I mean, I also sandwiches comprised of random lunch meats and whole grain bread often, but it's "whole grain" and the meat usually comes from Costco.

 

[Benvolio]

Looks great. You should get some good results, but it is never as fast as you would like. Some would recommend that you do tris on your chest day and bis you back day. This is because chest exercises work the tris and back exercises work the bis, so your work outs are more focused and you are not working bis and tris every day. But there are as many theories as there are bodybuilders and the important thing is to keep at it. Your diet sounds OK. You seem to be getting plenty of protein and that is what is important.