A couple of guys asked for a photo link. Here is the link: http://f2.pg.photos.yahoo.com/mdm24551

1st album are pics from today two weeks out.
2nd album are 8 weeks out.
3rd album is misc, inc some pics from last year.

I'll be in the over 40 Masters Div. POst contest goal for next year is to add at least another 10 lb of LBM while staying around 8-9% BF in the off-season.

VA MadDog

VA--

It says the album is empty. Try to figure out what you did wrong. Make sure you make it public too when you set it up. Probably why noone is responding...jason

Which album did you try to open? I can see/open them all and they were marked as public. The only one empty is called "my photos" which was the default album. I can try to delete that and see what happens.

VA MadDog

Strange - I had set them to public, but when I checked now they were private. I set them to public view again and I deleted the album that was empty. Try it again JT.

VA MadDog

thats great! Looking good. How is your diet like and what supplements you taking? As for training do you still train heavy around 6 to 8 reps.

If you have read the Mark Ritter Training and Nutritional Strategy my plan is based on that. (http://bodybuildingworld.com/vol8_2/aloha_mark.html

I have made a few changes to suit my schedule and exercise limitations but the basic approach is very similar to what Mark followed. When you look at the training plan you will see that it is a mix of higher rep sets and some in the 6-8 rep range, but the higher rep sets are still heavy sets.

Although I had pretty good results with this program I think that it may have been a little too close to overtraining for me. After this contest I'm planning on going to a three day/week M/W/F training plan to see if that might be better for me.

VA MadDog

Hey VA-

You are looking good this year. Looks like youve had a good offseason. Is this the leanest you've been? You look alot leaner from the photos where you had the green trunks on. I think your legs look bigger now than they did at 8 weeks out.

I do have a few suggestions on posing...take them for what they are worth. On the side chest...try to draw in as much air as possible and stand very upright with that outter chest very high. Then bring the back arm in to your torso so the pose it tight. There should be no gap. This will also bring the back chest up more. Then on the arm closest to the viewer bring it more forward or more in line with the torso. Look back at my photos or look at the links Kevin B. has posted. He is hitting that pose correctly in all his photos. Also dont forget to push the back hami of the front leg agains the back leg as that will give it more width. ALso check Kevins pics for an example. In my pic I had not learned this little trick yet and so my legs are more situated like yours are.

Lastly on the ab thigh pose Jeremiah taught me to bury my hands behind my head, not on top or in the judges view. And bring your arms in some this will show more chest and not make it so spread out which could make it get lost. Also check out my photos for that...Kevin and I have a nice one in my first photo album. Other than that your conditioning is looking good and the legs are looking nicely shaped. You should do well in the Masters. Good luck,

Jason--

JT -Thanks for the suggestions - I'll give them a try, I know how I want to hit the pose, just does not always turn out that way - lol, especially without a mirror. I wish that I had a posing coach here at my gym or in the local area - that would help a lot, but I don't so I'll just muddle through with long distance help from you and a few others. I bought the Perfect Posing tape and have watched that a couple of times, it's ok and makes some good points, but it is not a replacement for a live coach who can actually watch you hitting the poses and make corrections on the spot. - anyway - This year was a good year for both adding some LBM and staying lean. I think that my legs are one of the areas that have improved. I want to be 10-15 lbs heavier at this BF level eventually - might take another year or two. Never know how long this old body will keep cooperating - but for now I'm still in the game.

VA MadDog