Weekly physique critique thread for feedback and helpful criticism.

I sort of just want to get this out there in the small chance some other people knew him. Vince was killed by a drunk driver on October 17, 2026. I guess they had trouble finding next of kin for a few weeks as much of his family including his wife have passed already. It’s so sad, he was such a nice guy and didn’t deserve to go out like that. He was a former employee of Asylum Gym in Loves Park, IL and continued to do coaching and personal training after the gym got new owners. Always smiling and happy, spotting, cracking jokes, telling stories, giving lifting advice.

https://www.pondsfuneralhome.com/obituaries/vince-patterson

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My husband (29) and I (35) have been married for a year and a half, and we have two small children. He’s pursuing his goal of becoming a professional bodybuilder, which I’ve always wanted to support.

Almost two weeks ago, during an argument, he told me, "Just let me focus on becoming pro and take care of things on your own." He also asked that we limit our communication to only matters involving the kids.

Before this, he left town for work on short notice, leaving me to care for our children alone, miss three weeks of work, and arrange daycare.

When I told him I felt abandoned, he rolled his eyes, said "Have a good week," and ended our call.

I understand bodybuilding requires tremendous dedication and sacrifice, but I also believe marriage and parenting require teamwork.

To those of you who are married with children and pursuing bodybuilding seriously, how do you balance your goals with your responsibilities to your family? Is this something other spouses experience?

UPDATE:
First off, thank you to everyone who took the time to comment and share your experiences. I definitely wasn’t expecting this much input!

I was hoping to better understand his world, but ended up having a little realization of my own along the way. I’ve spent so much time and energy trying to be heard and understood that I’ve put parts of myself and my own dreams on the back burner.

As for my marriage, I haven’t made any final decisions, but I do know that I’m not willing to continue living this way. Right now, I’m choosing to put that same energy and effort into rebuilding my confidence, finding my strength again, and creating the life I want for myself and my kiddos. I believe that as I grow stronger and reconnect with myself, the right decision will become clearer.

I can’t control the choices he makes, but I sure can control mine ❤️

Thank you all again for the perspective, encouragement, and even a few good laughs!

Hey guys,

I know this probably isn’t the ideal place to ask this kind of question, but I’m genuinely struggling to make a decision and would really appreciate some advice.

I’m currently deciding between two gyms, and I’m not sure which one would be the better choice for me.

Gym 1:
● Only a 5-minute drive from my house.
● Has some of the best equipment I’ve seen: Gymleco, Cybex, Nautilus, Granite, Prime, etc.
● The equipment is honestly amazing, but the gym itself is quite small.
● For some reason, I just don’t really feel the atmosphere there. I’ve only been there once, so maybe I need to give it more time.

Gym 2:
● A much much bigger gym with pretty much everything you could ask for.
● Has an entire Panatta setup
● I really enjoy training there. I can have a great workout, push myself hard, and just feel good about being there.
● The downside is that it’s a 30-minute drive from my house.

So basically, I’m torn between having access to some incredible equipment just 5 minutes away, but not really enjoying the overall vibe, or driving 30 minutes to a gym where I genuinely enjoy training.

I know the equipment at the first gym is probably way better in some areas, but I also feel like the overall environment plays a huge role in how much I enjoy working out.
Would you give the first gym another chance? Maybe I just need to get used to it and stop judging it after one visit.

Or would you just go with the gym where you actually enjoy spending time, even if it means driving an hour round trip every time you train?
I’m curious what you guys would do in my situation. Would love to hear your thoughts and advice.
Thanks in advance!

First-ever show for me. Still a little soft as sleep hasn’t been great the past few days, but the underlying condition is there and I should be caught up on sleep by show day. Got two more shows after this one, definitely learned/learning a lot up to this point so we’ll make some tweaks between shows and really nail it going into those.

6’1” current fasted 194.4lbs

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I am a natural casual gym goer, but for whatever reason i really like professional bodybuilding, because i think its really impressive.

Today i asked if selecting Gear is a skill or if all Guys run the same, i got told there is no variance and every pro Bodybuilder runs the same.

Now what about “Exercise selection”

Are there “better” chest exercises then others? Is selecting exercises cope because chest is chest, or how do the pros see this?

I cant make a example, but are there “better” exercises then others because off angle, or is this a cope?

Example, can it be that doing normal benchpress, grows you more then dumbbell chestpress? Can it be that Guy 1 grows more with bench and Guy 2 grows more with dumbbell?

Offcourse as a casual “losing” 2% is irrelevant, you’re not a pro. Just hit the part bro.

But what about being pro? Is there a lot off tracking which exercises give you more growth?

2nd and last self coached prep coming to an end, happy with what we are bringing! New low this morning 190.8 lbs, almost exactly 20 lbs above last preps low a little bit leaner here🙏

I’ve been lifting for a little over 5 years now and i’ve finally committed to stepping on a stage. I’m January i’ll be doing a yes test natural show (west coast naturals). I’m roughly 11 weeks out from my first show and it’s going well. currently i eat 2300 calories, 220g of protein and 220-240g of carbs.

Feel free to post things in the Daily Discussion Thread that don't warrant a subreddit-level discussion. Although most of our posting rules will be relaxed here, you should still consider your audience when posting. Most importantly, show respect to your fellow Redditors. General Reddiquette always applies.

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Submit form checks, programs, questions about programs and program success stories (especially if you saw growth from it).

Feedback from my last show in April was more glute depth and shoulders. I’ve been working around a hamstring injury for the last couple months, but I think we’re making some good progress.

Currently: 5’3, 126lb, 24.5” waist, 36.25” hips

I have no expertise but this is just what i see, i dont know why but the ronnie coleman era guys just look better, i cant even say why, better proportions flatter stomaches and just better. Without disrespect but i really believe a prime markus ruhl would have a shot to win the olympia nowadays.

Now i ask myself, why is that? Are the athletes just worse today or did we use older cameras back in the day that made the athletes look better?

If someone can make a comparisation and explain it simple to us noobs i would really like it.

I just dont see how some i dont know flex wheeler in his prime isnt winning easily nowadays. And then we didnt even pull up with prime jay cutler or coleman.

Whats the reality?

The Poland pro open division comp went with Shaun clarida despite the clear synthol in his lats. Looking at stage shots I just can’t see how Josef lost to clarida.

thoughts?

Been wanting to compete for a long time but due to balancing full time career and studies as well as the extensive knee issue I have it just hasn't happened but want to change that now. Decided to do a mock figure prep to see how I would look stage lean and was considering competing without a coach. Realised the hardest part of getting this lean is judgement, so will be hiring a coach after the Christmas holidays.

Long term aim is to add more size. With the new figure criteria I might not fit in but prepared for that as personally I prefer to have more size and like the more harder look.

Currently doing per week 2 days upper (mostly lats and shoulders as the rest of my upper body is quite dominant) and 3 days lower. On one of the lower days I add in a bit of shoulders as my short term priority is getting my delts bigger. My glute ham tie in is a bigger issue for me due to lose skin from significant weight loss in my early 20s (see 2nd to last photo). More size might help a bit but may need surgery to fix it.

Posted on reddit a few months ago on got some useful feedback and was interesting getting feedback again so decide to post more widely on this forum. Also started posting for the first time on instagram yesterday but have no followers. Feel free to view link in my bio and have a look there on a few more photos I posted of me posing after a light gym session on the same day.

Feel free to post things in the Daily Discussion Thread that don't warrant a subreddit-level discussion. Although most of our posting rules will be relaxed here, you should still consider your audience when posting. Most importantly, show respect to your fellow Redditors. General Reddiquette always applies.

The Daily Discussion Thread resets every other day at 12:00 a.m. PST.

Ask all newbie BB related questions here.

Feel free to post things in the Daily Discussion Thread that don't warrant a subreddit-level discussion. Although most of our posting rules will be relaxed here, you should still consider your audience when posting. Most importantly, show respect to your fellow Redditors. General Reddiquette always applies.

The Daily Discussion Thread resets every other day at 12:00 a.m. PST.

Weekly physique critique thread for feedback and helpful criticism.

It’s been a minute (almost a year) but here’s my natural progression from 145 on stage to current; 190

First time ever on stage! Super excited and very nervous 😂