SS for 5 months, and I'm now bottom-heavy! :(

[notetaker888]

Hi,

I've been following SS for about 5 months now, and I'm making some great progress.

I feel stronger, and I'm finding myself being more solid during my lifts (even though I'm still lousy on my power cleans).

I've had a lot of feedback over the last three weeks about being too bottom-heavy, even though I'm 194cm tall, and my weight is 98kg, so much so that I'm also known as 'J-LO'.

I'm thinking whether I ease up on the squats, or move to a 5/3/1 style program, as my initial goals were to gain strength, and size, and now I think I have to re-evaluate my goals.

My chest still seems quite flat, with a lot of belly fat, and then the J-LO conundrum, so I guess I'm a skinny fat man.

I'm in my thirties if that's any help with any advice offered

What would you recommend I do at the moment?

Thanks in advance!

[DJC416]

What was your weight before/after SS, as well as your lifts?

SS is very squat heavy and will turn anyone into J-Lo, which most people don't desire.. So perhaps consider this a learning experience as to maybe examine/question any program and if it suits your goals. Squatting 3x a week is definitely not one of mine or any of my male training partners lol. On the bright side, now you can work harder on your upper body to catch up to your mammoth butt ;- )

[Les Hahn]

What was your weight before/after SS, as well as your lifts?

SS is very squat heavy and will turn anyone into J-Lo, which most people don't desire.. So perhaps consider this a learning experience as to maybe examine/question any program and if it suits your goals. Squatting 3x a week is definitely not one of mine or any of my male training partners lol. On the bright side, now you can work harder on your upper body to catch up to your mammoth butt ;- )

Hehe. :-)

I pretty much agree. Now you can move onto a program like 5/3/1 which is a 4 day split of sorts. You will have two upper body days where you can hit a good deal of assistance lifts after the main lift. This will help you bulk up your shoulders and back a bit. That should create the balance you are looking for.

Best of luck!

[gtl]

You look like J-LO because I am assuming you store fat more in the lower region.
You have a belly, as you stated.

I would drop some fat before doing anything. Clean up your diet and add 1-2 conditioning days. AirDyne Sprints. Prowler Pushes. Those will target your legs. Spot reduction has been partially debunked, but there are studies showing that both of these will actually generate more fat loss in the legs.

[FatButWeak]

Although I never became J-Lo, I have been pretty impressed by my leg growth on the standard SS A-B program, including lower leg vascularity, quad seperation, etc. Comparitively, my upper body lagged. I attributed it to the amount of volume (especially warm-up sets) I do for legs. I spend a fair amount of time warming up my old stems before my work sets. So, I recently decided to incorporate more backoff sets to have my upper body volume equal my lower body volume. So, after my presses (for example) I now do 10 sets of 2 reps with 135; after bench I do two sets of 6 with 135; and after curls, I curl the bar only for a set of 30. I recently became lean enough to do chins, and am hoping that chins will increase my arm and upper body thickness, as well.

My goal is to have the increased result in increased size without interferring with my strngth sets.

[ecj]

It's a question of fat. I'd almost guarantee it.

Get your bodyfat down in the 10-15% region, and there's no way you're going to look "bottom-heavy".

[Mike Mantzouris]

It's a question of fat. I'd almost guarantee it.

Get your bodyfat down in the 10-15% region, and there's no way you're going to look "bottom-heavy".

I agree with ecj. If you want some suggestions about how to eat to lose bodyfat, I have two books that I recommend. First is an ebook by Tom Venuto called, "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle" Second is a Kindle/Hardcover book called, "The Fat Loss Bible" by Anthony Colpo. I have read these and they are both pretty similar in their plan. Plus both the authors are pretty jacked by following their own programs.

[melody]

Just grow an excellent yoke and it will even out.

[Tom Campitelli]

SS is very squat heavy and will turn anyone into J-Lo, which most people don't desire..

This was funny.

[notetaker888]

Thanks for all of the feedback!

I guess the J-LO experience can be quite enticing to some, and your right that I have to re-evaluate my goals.

I'll take a look at my diet again, as I was generally eating well, on top of doing half a GOMAD everyday.

I went from 86kg to 98kg, and although my lifts aren't great, they did come along way; squats 90kg, deadlifts 100kg, bench 80kg, press 50kg, power clean 50kg

Would 5/3/1 suffice now, or should I clean up my diet first, Are there any types of program's that I should follow aside from 5/3/1 or would that suffice for keeping up the strength, whilst at the same time fixing the symmetrical side (as my quite flat chested).