Look how far You've come.

[POWERJIM]

After seeing the reasons behind being held back from achiving more, i would like us to step back and see just how much that you have achived since you started this insane sport of pumping iron.

[narcsarge]

??? Wha?

[POWERJIM]

Originally Posted by narcsarge

??? Wha?

What have you achived since starting weight training? have you done better than expected?

[narcsarge]

Got ya! Hells yeah! Through out my 20's and 30's I "played" at BBing. I say that because although I was at the gym religiously I had no concept of good nutrition, supplements, metabolism, etc. I had always been really skinny and struggled benchin 100 pounds. Then life happened and I did most of my exercising without a diet. Then, I quit working out and just lived. Reached my PEAK fatness @ 198lbs. Decided to get in the gym and lose it. Cleaned the diet, and watched with amazement my size and strength grow. I was lifting weights I never dreamed of in my 20's or 30's. I actually started to develope muscles that could be seen. That is when the fun began! I was like 'WOW!' Let's see where this can go... and here I am!

[howardalex]

Since I started I've gone from 210lb to 154lb (and grown 4 inches too )

[c4detonater]

I started at age 34, I am 36 now. I weighted 220 at 6' and wore size 40" pants. Now after losing 50 lbs then gaining back 15lbs of muscle I wear size 32" pants. That is the size I wore in high school when I weighted 150 lbs. lol.

I started squatting a max of 115, now I can do 285. My first deadlift was 135, now I do 385. My bench press was 115, now I can bench 235.

I feel like I am in better shape now and I am stronger than I every thought I would be.

I have surpassed my original goals but I have new ones to work toward now.

[POWERJIM]

Originally Posted by narcsarge

Got ya! Hells yeah! Through out my 20's and 30's I "played" at BBing. I say that because although I was at the gym religiously I had no concept of good nutrition, supplements, metabolism, etc. I had always been really skinny and struggled benchin 100 pounds. Then life happened and I did most of my exercising without a diet. Then, I quit working out and just lived. Reached my PEAK fatness @ 198lbs. Decided to get in the gym and lose it. Cleaned the diet, and watched with amazement my size and strength grow. I was lifting weights I never dreamed of in my 20's or 30's. I actually started to develope muscles that could be seen. That is when the fun began! I was like 'WOW!' Let's see where this can go... and here I am!

Thats very inspirational as youve achived something later on in life that you couldnt when you were in your 20s, nice going mate.

[CraigC]

Started lifting 3 years ago at 135lbs soaking wet. Lifted for a year with decent gains training everyday and with a crap diet. I have been training seriouslly for about 1.5 years and now weigh 170 lbs. I still have a long way to go though. My gains have stopped this summer although I did lose a bit of bodyfat and maintained weight. I want to gain another 15lbs in the next year or so although its going to be hard. I am going to shoot for a 1-2 pound gain per month while trying to stay fairly lean.

By the way POWERJIM, since you've been back you have really livened up these forums. Welcome back!!

[narcsarge]

Originally Posted by POWERJIM

Thats very inspirational as youve achived something later on in life that you couldnt when you were in your 20s, nice going mate.

C4 gets some love too PJ. Us old dogs, the guys that grew up on the Arnold, Frank, Lou battles and watched Creatine go through it's testing, can still put it together. The younger guys on these boards have advantages that we did not have. Like the Internet and these forums. Hopefully, those that can look at us older guys and say "man, they did 'X' at their age, I can certainly achieve 'Y'". At least that is what I hope...

[dog20]

I started dieting about 2 months ago. So far i've lost 16 pounds. Also about 3 weeks ago, I started getting active and began doing cardio 30 min. 3x a week. I feel much better now.

[POWERJIM]

I use electro Power to increase mass!

[dog20]

Originally Posted by POWERJIM

I use electro Power to increase mass!

You used weight gain 4000



How long are the before and after pics?

[POWERJIM]

Originally Posted by dog20

You used weight gain 4000



How long are the before and after pics?

Just over a year i think, over 100lb difference in pics.

[_SaVvY_]

i used to lift but no strength training an all was gone as i had a year not lifting an lost 4 stone

things are going OK, but they could be better, ive over doubled my strength overall an put on nearly half my original weight since i started strength training, thats decent..what im not happy about is that i gained body fat, im not happy because i had my body fat down, but then i got ill an gained 3%, which i didnt lose, an then i gained another 2% when i was getting burnt (3rd degree burns from sun burn), which i have not lost - kind of annoying because i know i could have been 5% less

Also i should be deadlifting in the 6's now, but im not, an i should be squatting in the 4's, but im not..plus my press strength is terrible - i have a long way to go, an i need to be doing better

[POWERJIM]

Originally Posted by _SaVvY_

i used to lift but no strength training an all was gone as i had a year not lifting an lost 4 stone

things are going OK, but they could be better, ive over doubled my strength overall an put on nearly half my original weight since i started strength training, thats decent..what im not happy about is that i gained body fat, im not happy because i had my body fat down, but then i got ill an gained 3%, which i didnt lose, an then i gained another 2% when i was getting burnt (3rd degree burns from sun burn), which i have not lost - kind of annoying because i know i could have been 5% less

Also i should be deadlifting in the 6's now, but im not, an i should be squatting in the 4's, but im not..plus my press strength is terrible - i have a long way to go, an i need to be doing better

Well your grip is so ahead of the game that your deadlift wont take much to improve, its always the same your either a presser or puller and my deadlift is my worse lift i think, i got short arms and short fingers which dont help.

[dog20]

savvy how did you get such a good grip? what type of exercises did you do?

[POWERJIM]

I think a good grip is something that you have or you havent, if you havent it takes some real hardcore work to improve it.

[_SaVvY_]

i think its the same for press strength, if you aint got it straight off its real hard to improve, ive had to change my rountines completely to get my press up, an still compared to some things it just dont move

tennis ball crush, plate wrist curl, wrist hold chin up, towel grip chin up, 1 arm hangs, grippers, dumbbell holds, finger tip push ups, behind the back wrist curls, reverse wrist curls - probably the main ones that have helped my grip, ive also done work on seperate fingers e.g wrist hold chin ups with 2 or 3 fingers, or index an thumb push ups

A big reason for my grip is work though, i work in a carpet store warehouse, im able to train my hands very well there, lots of finger work, an lots of pinch work involved, plus you have to have very strong wrists - its so good for the fingers an wrist that im close to a world record in plate wrist curl when ive only done it maybe 5 times, an i also hit top 50 in the world rankings on two handed plate pinch the first an only time ive tried it

[kovalaybolt17]

i started lifting around 2 and a half years ago.. doing back and legs only whenever i felt like it and my size and srrength gains suffered. untill about a year ago i smartened up and my gains are through the roof. i remember when i first started i was using 30lbs dumbells for db press now i go up as high as 90's. seated dumbell press i started at around 20-25's now im at 70-75's. squats are through the roof latley.. deadlifts are improving virtually every back day, its great. but mostly my weight went from a 162 to 195 with 1% higher bf%(ill be able to lose it easy). now i get comment like "your arms are huge" "lay off the steroids man" etc... haha its pretty cool.

[BiggerGuns=LongerDrives]

I think I have a achieved alot and in short time spans too.

When I first started to get serious about weight training,
I managed to take a soft and skinny 165 pound kid and turn him into
228 lbs of power, but I got cocky and got an injury and stopped lifting and lost it all.

After a long layoff (5-6 years off) I finally got back last year and I again was able to add muscle and weight very easily as I went from 190 lbs and got up to 237 lbs this time. Although this time around I am alot older and now alot more humble and appreciative of what it takes to make gains and what it takes to keep them

But all in all, I havent even scratched the surface as I have so much farther to go....this is the fun part, the journey and the process, so even though I have achieved some success, I still have a thousand miles to go. This is for life though, so I can be patient