Kenobibale's 2013 Halloween contest entry (proof pic added to first post)

Re: man of steel costume and physique

sheol, that is all solid advice and that is what this thread is all about. i actually have that arnold encyclopedia myself, that thing is huge. you could almost use it to do some curls lol. but it is full of good tips and no shortage of exercises in there to stop your routine from going stale.

sorry for the lack of updates in the thread been away on vacation so workouts sort of fell behind too. was actually at a new crossfit box that just opened in my home town. it was awesome, really great having a group of people doing the workout with you to encourage you to work that wee bit harder. i would love to commit to it but i dont have the time or money to make their schedule and cost. the trainer there was also a little closed minded in my opinion. now i will admit i can be too when it comes to certain exercise. but i was explaining to him i have had some back trouble in the past and was working on correcting it, and i think it has been working, i have noticed a fantastic improvement in my posture, people are commenting how i seem taller and more confident. but anyway i was explaining the work i was doing to isolate those muscles that are lagging behind and giving me poor posture and he basically wrote that off. he said why bother to do that when you can do one movement that will work all those muscles (a compound movement essentially) now i am not a trainer but i consider myself well informed in some aspects of exercise, i love to read about all this sort of stuff and in some depth too. and i couldn't believe what he was saying. maybe he misunderstood what i was talking about but he was criticizing it because it was too much like bodybuilding. but in my opinion my problem started because i over trained the so called "mirror muscles" and neglected my back and things like sitting at a desk etc led to poor posture and weak muscles. and other larger muscles in my back had to over compensate for the problem and without correcting that you would only be building on a poor foundation. you would of course still be training those weak muscles but not giving the attention they need to prevent over compensation by the other muscles thus not fixing the problem. perhaps making it worse. please excuse my rant, i just couldn't believe the trainer would ignore something like a muscle imbalance. it seemed like he was reading from a prepared script that was all about how crossfit is the answer to everything. now please dont think i am having a go at crossfit, i think its amazing and it works, no doubt about that it just seems he was drinking from the "koolaid" too much. other than that the class was very enjoyable and also pushed me to my limit. and the trainer was very good when it came to teaching form on the over head squat which is what we were doing that night.

i think though i will stick to my own routine, i can pick and choose and also focus on my own specific goals, but i think for anyone looking to just improve all aspects of their fitness, crossfit is a very good option. and i am sure it will take off in my town and people will think i am crazy for not sticking with it lol

now onto suit updates. as of today all of my suit samples have arrived. the first was from citrus rain in the uk. the second from rasmart, another uk company and the third and final was from fabric on demand.



on the left is rasmart, the middle is fabric on demand and the right is citrus rain.

the citrus rain sample i posted pics of in an earlier post so i wont post more, but i would like to compare the three of them. the citrus rain is the worst. it and the rasmart samples were both from carls mkI suit were as the fabric on demand is from the mkII (an awesome suit btw)
the citrus rain sample was very dark and lacked any great detail and citrus have yet to respond to my emails regarding it. they asked for a pic and they havent replied since, that is nearly 2 months ago. not great service in my opinion.

the rasmart sample is fantastic in terms of quality. it is so crystal clear.


and the print is saturated the whole way through the fabric


meaning when it is stretched there is none of the "whiting" out you sometimes see in the fabric like the elbows and knees of some suits including my raimi suit. the only problem is they mentioned they had some trouble getting the file printed, something to do with the print porcess and the sample itself looks distorted. the \s/ seems out of shape. almost like the fabric moved in the printer or something. also the fabric doesn't have as much stretch as the other samples. which might rule it out, the last thing you want is the suit becoming baggy every time you put it on.

which brings me to the fabric on demand sample.


it is very good, looks fantastic in real life. very clear print and has good stretch to it. it does seem to "white" out a bit when stretched. not sure if this will be a problem since it will be covered in puff paint. like i said this is off carls mkII suit so there are some awesome improvements. the piping looks more 3d, it actually fooled my dad, he reached out to touch it thinking it was an applied piece so that speaks volumes about carls efforts it achieving the look. the \s/ also looks better thanks to the bevel carl has added to the edge of it helping it give that raised look. also i cant say if this is fabric on demand or the file but i can also clearly see the chainmail detail on the \s/which i couldn't in the previous samples. it is almost non existent in the citrus rain sample. i added a shadow effect to the yellow parts of the shield to help look more like the original and that detail can be seen clearly too. hope it shows in the pics. i might over exaggerate the shadow for the full suit since i will be painting over it and the effect might become lost. another thing with the fabric on demand suit, it seems to have a bit of a green hue in the blue, at least to my eyes anyway. it doesnt really show up in photos but i will email them about it and see if there is something i can adjust in the suit to get the blue to be more "truer"

i started to paint the fabric on demand suit, it really starts to come alive with the paint added. it is a bit rough, but its is practice. might do what carl suggested and fully paint it then frame it and hang it on the wall. i might see if carl will consider doing a puff paint specific suit where the chainmail is a contrasting colour to the rest of the suit to make it easier to see. it can be hard to pick it out sometimes in the more shadowed areas leaving me to guess it a little bit.



all in all i think the suit is coming along way. i think i will go with fabric on demand for the full suit. they were fantastic with their customer service and the sample is very impressive and i know they are familiar with these sorts of prints. rasmart were fantastic with their customer service and i might go with them because their sample is incredible but their fabric i think will let them down, also their turnaround time was quite long, just over 2 months to get the sample, and it was an expensive sample too. if they could perfect the process and improve the fabric so it had more stretch i think i would go with them. i have some thinking to do lol

something i have been thinking about is how to make the cape. i still havent decided on the fabric yet, need better reference pics of it. cant decide if suede or velvet is closer. the velvet is def lighter and will probably move better in the breeze. but i think i have my pattern figured out. the problem will be the length. it is very long and i would like to achieve a seamless cape if possible.

sorry for the wait in the updates, was waiting until i had something to post.

hopefully i can kick the workouts up a notch and start posting progress pics and reports for that stuff too
 
Re: man of steel costume and physique

It's an amazing work on that suit. I've been a Superman fan since Reeve's movie came out. I even like Returns, nuff said... XD
You will puff paint the whole suit? Man, that will be sick! Really looking forward to see that. Will you make the S raised? In urethane maybe? I've read that flexbond and plastidip make wonders on foam regarding the wrists and waist stuff, but I don't know if that would restrain the suit since they won't be stretchable. I'm searching for silicone instead of puff paint for a raised details on my suit, similar to the Steel waist ones.

I supposed you knew quite much about training, but I thought that some may enter this thread and don't, hence my long post. Redundant for some, but for the unexperienced might be useful.
I also agree with you with some trainers at some gyms. The one on my gim has become a friend, but we always kinda argue about training. He studies modern training, and I admit I don't know a lot about that, but I always end the same: "ok, but how come I'm bigger than you?" and we laugh about it, but it's true. Modern bodybuilding has developed many new techniques as crossfit and similars, but I always think about it as a plus for shaping and fitting, not a train for mass gain.
I'm glad your back is better by the way. I once was injured on my back and I swam a lot. That awakes those inner muscles better than body building. Makes wonders. Have you tried? It's said my many, but it is a huge truth.

Anyway, I've always said that what works for many people doesn't have to work for you, and viceversa, so I encourage trying which exercise is better for each one. Nobody knows you more than yourself. go with the exercises you know they work better for you. Yes, sometimes trainers have a script, but not many experience. "Dude, that exercise does not work very well". For me it does, and if it does, that's it. I've been told that many times in the gym and then see others mimic those exercises.

Oh, I forgot something important: Some people tell me"Sometimes I don't find the motivation when I'm at the gym to train that hard and suffer as you do".
My answer is "Always train like if you have a date with Jessica Alba this Saturday" XDD

I'm really looking forward to see this Superman suit come toghether, really. I would help as much as I can. Keep it up!
 
Re: man of steel costume and physique

Hey Sheol,
any and all advice with fitness is welcome, that is the point of the thread. others will read it and hopefully get some good tips. yeah i used to swim alot, and it was fantastic, and i miss it so much but the pool in my town is terrible. i used to use the pool at my college gym.
yeah i am planning on puff painting the whole suit. was looking into other methods but i think it will come down to cost. puff paint is cheap, and although it takes ages it can give great results as the amazing spider-man guys have shown. not gonna do the \s/ as a raised piece. was originally thinking of casting it and i see others have started working on that but it comes down to maintenance. have rubber spiders on one of my raimi suits and it is such a pain having to reglue them all the time, plus people are constantly pulling at them, so annoying. just too much hassle. i am sure the people that apply the raised emblems will look awesome tho. i think once it is painted up it will look just fine. and props to carl for making such a great suit and symbol.

dont know what to do about the wrist cuffs and piping. was running a few ideas past mcl34n to get his input with it so i will see what results that yields. the big problem will be the boots.

trying to figure out the best way to do them. i have one idea but if it doesn't work it essentially ruins the whole print, so i need to do it first before i waste any time puff painting it.
 
Re: man of steel costume and physique

Ah the boots, they're always a pain in the ass...
I thought about them too, I came out with an idea:
Maybe with a pair of compression socks, like this Wiggle | Nike Elite Running Stability 2 Compression Socks | Running Socks
I thought about one size larger than yours, then add and glue on the inside of the sock a thin sole from some shoe new stylish phylon sole - Product Picture From Jinjiang Amason Sports Co., Ltd. (this is just an example), and then plastidip the whole thing with many coats. It's even possible then to add an invisible zipper, and there you have the rubber boots. I haven't tried this, but I don't see why it shouldn't work.

About the cuffs, I would go with rubber and a small zipper. Even neoprene if you don't want zippers.

About the pipping, I would be almost sure that what Mcl34n did for the Batman Beyond glove with silicone would be the best way. What he did there was amazing. I asked this about that silicone but had no response, if he answers you please share that point.
I don't think eva foam and plastidip would work there, since it wouldn't stretch and it would deform the suit imho.
Maybe the same urethane used on the raimi webbing would work even better, since it can be with sharp edges and silicone doesn't.
Maybe thin vinyl? I don't know...
 
Re: man of steel costume and physique

To add to sheols old post.

Yes rep ranges are important, but rep ranges won't mean crap without rest times.
30-45 seconds is "fat burning"/ calorie consumption.
60-90 amounts to more size, and a better swell
90-120-beyond is for pure strength, allowing mx recovery during sets.

Diet also plays a huge role in whatever you're going for.
 
Re: man of steel costume and physique

@enderx,
good point with the rest times. i never actually thought about that, unless i am doing timed circuits or tabata i am fairly loose with rest times and just go when i feel ready. maybe i will try being strict with rest times for a while and see what happens

@sheol,
that idea of using the soles is a good one. never saw soles for sale on their own before. more economic than buying a shoe only to cut most of it off. i will probably use and aqua sock like on my raimi suit. it has a thick enough sole and preserves the minimalist look of the boot
 
Re: man of steel costume and physique

Ah, I didn't knew about the aqua socks, I like it a lot, better indeed than the soles idea, sure.

I always rest a little more than enderx pointed for volume gain so I can feel more blood rush, but it may depend on everyone's stamina and lungs.

Keep it up man! I can't wait to see this suit!
 
Re: man of steel costume and physique

hello everyone,
sorry i haven't had any updates of late. been working on painting more of the sample. it is slow and tedious but it looks awesome. not looking forward to having to paint the whole suit :(
as far as workouts go, i had a great workout yesterday, the same one i did before consisting of push ups pull ups and legs. then today i did a little work on my posture. it has gotten better this last few weeks but still room for improvement. so todays routine was as follows
10 reps of band face rows, heaviest band
10 shrugs, manageable weight, making sure to get full rom and a isometric squeeze at the peak
10 reps high band crossover
10 reps of neck bridge
10 reps of lying head raise
20 reps of lying lateral rotation, both directions, both arms
10 reps low band crossover
20 rhomboid pushups

rinse and repeat

not a big heavy day or anything like that, just something to tighten up my posture.
tomorrow will be arms and hopefully a little more painting. have some paint on the way to paint the shield and hopefully give a nice effect
 
Re: man of steel costume and physique

hello everyone,
sorry i havent updated the thread in 2 weeks. lot going on. dont have much in way of fitness updates, just trying to stay motivated. as for the suit i have a few updates.
finished painting the blue sections so i can really get an idea of what the thing will look like fully painted up. i think it will look awesome



i also started painting the shield. i used some paint mixes to make the colours for the shield. i wanted it to have the metallic sheen seen in the film. only painted half the red in case the colour came out wrong, and the top part of the yellow was in a different mix to the bottom part, the top one had too much of a copper tone and too close to the red instead of a more golden colour which i think i got in the bottom section













now that the blue is painted i can see that the muscle shading will probably have to be adjusted to be seen under the paint, i think the highlights need to be made a bit lighter and the low lights need to be darkened alot. i think the darker the better because the paint is pretty dark as it is so the low lights would almost need to be black to show up. the muscles seem to show up better on camera than to my eye so it could just be me. the next step will be to finalise the mix for the yellow parts then start into the piping, then i will be ordering my full print from fod and setting to paint the whole thing.

one thing i noticed was it is easier to paint the mixed paints than it was the standard navy blue paint, they came out of the applicator with more control and in finer detail and dried more raised than the blue which soaked into the fabric more. anybody else experience this with just the tulip paint out of the bottle, not mixed?

hopefully will have more updates soon. think i found my footwear for the suit and might have sourced the fabric for the cape, i want a seamless cape so i had to find extra wide fabric.
 
Re: man of steel costume and physique

Oh boy, that is really sick work. I just couldn't do that.
Congratulations and keep it up!
 
Re: man of steel costume and physique

One trick I found with using the puff paint was to soak the bottle in warm water before applying, as it softens the paint and allows to flow out a lot better.
Looking great man!
 
Re: man of steel costume and physique

Searching a little in a great store near home, I found silicone sheets. I think they'd be great for the pippings, really great. It stretches a lot, and I don't think it would ruin the shape fo the suit when you move. Maybe you could search out there to look at.
And hurry man, we're almost in April! XDD JK, keep it up!
 
Re: man of steel costume and physique

@sheol, good tip on the silicone sheets, i didnt think of that. might work. they would need to be thick enough to stand higher than the paint to look right.
@carl9149, thanks for the tip on warming the paint, will try that next time. i have been looking into creating more of a iridescent effect for the \s/ to achieve that proper metallic look seen in some of the recent photos. my red and copper mix looks good but is not metallic enough. as far as the fitness goes, was at crossfit again last night, it was a different coach last night so i figured i would give it a go. it was pretty good, it was a aerobic conditioning workout instead of weights. man it was tough, was suppose to be double under skipping, sit ups and back extensions but i could only do single unders and that means i had to do 4 times as many as double unders, so i had three rounds of
200 single unders
50 situps
50 back extension

160 single unders
40 situps
40 back extensions

120 single unders
30 sit ups
30 back extensions

took me 18:47 and i was totally destroyed. it was alot of fun though. i stayed on after class for another class which was a gymnastics workshop. i dont think i will stick with the crossfit stuff because its too high risk low reward especially for achieving the man of steel kind of physique but i think i will keep up the gymnastic class, it was awesome. learning to handstand and some parkour style stuff. will come in handy for spider-man type stuff. thought i would post a pic of where i am body wise

be gentle
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/2606/p3250011.jpg

still a long way off but rome wasn't built in a day
 
Re: man of steel costume and physique

physique update
did shoulders and arms today, slightly modified version of the p90x routine. sub in some ring dips and got rid of upright rows, never liked them and there is debate on as to how safe they are seeing as they put you in the same position they use to check for nerve impingement in the shoulder :s did some good lateral raises instead, heavy lateral raises. have to bulk them shoulders up. was good. it reminded me what i like about bodybuilding as opposed to crossfit. you can feel the muscle working, you can focus on it and really make it work. and you can focus on your weakpoints also. plus the pump feels good, and i like having a structure to my routine so i can track my progress. like today i made an effort to up each weight 1kg (i live in ireland) from last week to push myself that wee bit. and even though i managed it on some, my reps went down in others but its all progress. and next week i will try to do the same

and it was a kick to see the veins in the biceps coming through just a little, cant wait to drop some bodyfat and really see them pop. pity they wont show through the suit :(

making aallll kinds of gains!! (hodge twin fans will get that)
 
Re: man of steel costume and physique

Nice, way to go!
It's really that simple. Muscles grow with heavy training. I can't enphatise more on that.

When in p90x, crossfit and similars, you need a huge amount of calories for the stress you put your body on. And the energy at that point comes for the fat only like a 20/30%, the rest comes from muscles, but you are not breaking them fibers to build up more later when you eat. They just won't grow.

Cut more carbs instead of making cardio or p90x or similars. Cut them dramatically. Not at all, there are low impact carbs you can eat until 7pm or so. But those, cut them really bad to the minimum. You will see your fat disappear.
Dumbbells are cheap, if you can't afford a gym, so you can train at home. And buy the ones you can add and take wheight, and buy extra wheight for them. I would go with a set of at least 20 kg in total per dumbbell, so you can add or take wheight depending on the exercise. Make the effort, you still have time. At least, kill your shoulders, arms, chest, back and quadriceps, go with 8-10 reps strict mode, and make many sets, so you feel the pump, and don't cheat! :)
It's Superman we're talking about :)
 
Re: man of steel costume and physique

sorry it has been a while, been waiting on some suit samples and they arrived today, from fabric on demand. after looking at the original samples and current high res photos of the suit, i decided 1: i wasn't happy with the colour of the sample and 2: i wasn't happy with the level of muscle shading. the muscle shading gets hidden once your puff paint over the suit, at least to my eyes it does. so after some chats with carl about how to approach this i opened the file in photoshop and went to town on the muscle shading. going for really really deep shadows and lowlights and really hitting the highlights. here is an example of how drastic i went
mos muscle shade watermarked.jpg i then started to take it further here
man of steel muscle shading watermarked.jpg

i started to get happy with the level of shading now it was time to change the colour. i am not too good at photoshop and i couldn't find a way to change to colour to a satisfying level without ruining the shading so i used multiple layers on top of one another to create the right colour to my eyes and to balance the muscle shading. i am pretty pleased with it now and i think the colour looks good too. i went really far on the muscles on the chest and torso more than the rest and i tried to make the arms standout a bit more. seeing as mr cavill has a sculpted muscle suit on underneath i needed to use the shading to really sell the illusion seeing as no matter how ripped i get it wont show through the fabric especially once painted
mos muscle shade upper mk1 watermarked.jpgmos muscle shade lower mk1 watermarked.jpg

here is the new sample next to the old painted one, you can see the difference in colour and the muscle shading.
P5010028.JPG

so carl and i agreed we had got it to a satisfactory look and i sent a sample of the chest and an arm off to fabric on demand to have printed. here is what arrived this morning
P5010024.JPGP5010021.JPG

i think it looks so good i am conflicted now as to whether or not to paint it. the painted one feels really different, stiffer or something. dont know how it will feel with a fully painted suit but on the other hand it really sells the look.
the one thing i was worried about was that now there are such dark shadowed areas that painting them has become very difficult. i tried painting the sample a bit today and it was very much guesswork in the shadowed parts and it is really sunny here today so i had the best light possible. i have started working on the file in photoshop to turn it into a strictly paintable suit, but i need to chat with carl to see if he thinks it will work.
again sorry for the lack of updates, hadn't much to update this last few weeks. i do think i found my cape fabric thought and it is extra wide so i hopefully will be able to do a seamless one piece cape.
and i have been working out regularly for the last 3 weeks and i am seeing some changes. and people have been noticing them too. especially people that haven't seen me in a few weeks have commented on how big my arms have gotten. but to me they seem small, to me they look like they will never be big enough where as i am happy with how my chest and back are coming along. i think it has to do with the fact that i am most worried about my arms in the suit. the muscle shading on the suit will help my torso and legs look ripped but it is harder to achieve that on the arms, so i have been hitting my shoulders twice a week and arms once a week not to mention all the pull ups and ring dips which helps.

the biggest thing i need to do is sort out my diet, i have been trying really hard but im not dropping the body fat like i would hope. just gotta be more strict. i'll keep trying i suppose.

let me know your thoughts about the suit samples.
sorry for the watermarks, i dont want to plaster images of carls pattern everywhere.
 
Re: man of steel costume and physique

so its been a while and i thought ii would offer a small update. painting the last batch of samples has been difficult. it is hard to see the chainmail pattern in some of the heavily shadowed areas. so after shooting carl a pm he agreed to send me the chainmail layer as a separate file. that way i could lay it on top of the whole suit and really make it stand out. well as it turns out getting the chainmail from the new layer to line up with th chainmail on the original suit was a real task. it would line up over 90 percent of the suit but be off the other 10 and it would just look off. in the end what i did was cut a piece of the chainmail pattern off in photoshop and then use that to replicate a line of it that i could lay over the suit one line at a time and make sure everything lined up. it took ages and some of it is still a fraction off for reasons i cant figure out but it has done the job. now i can isolate the chainmail and make it a contrasting colour so it stands out clearly from the rest of the suit and will provide a better guide over which to paint. this means that when the print arrives it wont look fully blue, the bulk of the colour will come from the chainmail but once painted will look correct. i also bumped up the muscles a bit more since they will be lost alot once painted over. i emailed fabric on demand and asked which colour would work best for the chainmail without interfering with the rest of the blue in the print and they suggested going for the lighter one. i have a test coming so i will see which looks best

chainmail test fob.jpg

should have an update on the cape and the piping within the next 2 weeks. currently doing tests.

and from a fitness point of view. i start a new diet on sunday, hopefully will yield the right results
 
Re: man of steel costume and physique

so i have finished working on carls print and i am about to send it off to the printers but before i do i wanted some input. i cut the legs off the print so i can add crotch zippers. just want to know if you all think this would work?
http://s22.postimg.org/jd7mbv8gx/sew_lines_for_zippers.jpg

other than that i have finished re-chainmailing carls print to make it easier to paint and i have finished enhancing the muscle pattern so it shows up better under a painted suit.

and i have stepped up the exercise and diet. i am into week 3 of the new diet and now that i am over the first week it is much much easier. hopefully will start leaning out, sitting at 16% now and hopefully within the next 4 months i can get down to 10 maybe 8
 
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