Hedlesky's How to Get Fat and Strong

Training Training Logs
1021

[quote]kpsnap wrote:

[quote]StormTheBeach wrote:

[quote]kpsnap wrote:
I came here to get the answer to the question I posed in the PLing forum.

Men’s Nats and Raw Nats. Good for you.

Re: Men’s Nats, I know the Colorado boys in your weight class. Gage is formidable. Drew has pulled out.

I hope the stress in your life abates. For me, lifting is sanity.[/quote]

Sucks to hear about Drew. Gage is strong as hell. I need to hit PR’s on squat and bench just to be in the running. Then I probably will need to pull a new National records to get to the top 3. haha. Jesus.[/quote]

Things just weren’t going Drew’s way. Gage is a beast. I will tune in to watch the livestream. Listen for me rooting for you.
[/quote]

I will be all ears! Thanks for the support.

1022

[quote]DixiesFinest wrote:
Best of luck big dog. [/quote]

Thanks buddy.

1023

[quote]Spidey22 wrote:
I’ll be expecting the gift of flight in the next few days, assuming that you will embarrass Gravity so bad it’ll never show it’s face around these parts again.

But seriously, good luck to you man. Will be awaiting the videos. lol[/quote]

Haha, thanks man.

1024

Sunday-6-17-12-

AM- An hour of mobility

Was going to be done for the day. Work was dead later in the evening so:

Walked for 20mins on a 12 degree incline @ 2.7mph
Tabata push ups and 50lb bent over rows

Monday- 6-18-12-

Warmed up x a lot

Squats- 365x5x1
Pulls- 405x5x1

More fat scorching cardio later.

1025

My entire Tuesday- 6-19-12-

6am- Wake up, read some stuff online while chugging 2 k-cups of very strong coffee

7am- Get to gym
Benched 215x5x1 (50%)
Rowed 225x5x3
Scap Rows-225x3x5
Lateral Sh. Raises- Mini x 3x10

Tabata Calorie Row- 78. This is brutal conditioning.

8am-Client #1 cancelled on me this morning so I tractioned my shoulders, smashed my heel chords on a barbell for 5 minutes a leg, worked on ankle mobility for about 20minutes.

9am- Had a youth SAQ group. Today was active recovery for them which means:

PVC rolling
20min dynamic warm-up
Got 3 10yd dash times for all 15 kids
Reactive Triple Box Jumps- 12inches for 10x3
1 Leg SLDLs for 3x8 on each leg

Prowler- 50lbs for 6 trips of 130 feet with a turn around at 65. Rest was however long it took the others to push the thing.

I always feel bad when people throw up. Some of the kids work so damn hard, it is tough for them to have an ‘easy’ day. Pukey count this week was 2. This is a PR.

10:30am- Had my QL’s smashed to a fucking pulp, had my spine adjusted, and got my hip unlocked. Then I was hooked into a traction table turned up to 150lbs of pull for 10 minutes. The most I had done until today was 135. I thought 15 more pounds would not be a big difference and 150lbs sounded cooler anyway. After the 10 minutes, it took me 20 minutes to be able to stand. I think it tractioned my soul more than my spine.

11:15am- Venti Cafe Americano with 1/4 cup of heavy cream and 30g of whey isolate. Got back to Live Long Fitness and stretched my psoas/illicus/hip flexor complex for about 15 minutes (modified couch stretch).

12:00pm- Started with a new client last week… he is 6’4’’ and over 350lbs. I know this because our scale at the gym only goes to 350 and when he stood on it, the LED flashed error, a little robot arm appeared out of the side with a gun in its hands, and then it blew its brains out. I am guessing him at AT LEAST 380. He moves very well and tested above “shitty” on my movement analysis that I use on new athletes. I am very excited to work with this kid… yes, I said kid. He is 16.

1:00pm- Was running late for a client at another gym (a fitness center I currently manage). Called him to appologize, he said he forgot about the appointment but wants to give me a check for 10 more sessions (even though he is still good for 3 more) today so that I have more spending money at Nationals. These are the best kind of people to work with.

1:30- Got to the fitness center and thank god had time to shower, eat, and get more coffee.

2:00pm-9:00pm- Manage fitness. There is a local deli/food place right down the street that delivers. I plan on backloading like a maniac tonight while people on treadmills watch and then taking it easy until weigh-ins on Sunday. Weight was 262.2 this morning so I have a little breathing room.

I don’t know why I shared all of this today. Probably because I want to look like I am working so people won’t come up and ask me how the horizontal leg press machine can be adjusted. sigh. More tomorrow.

1026

I didn’t see any allotted time for fapping.

CS

1027

So your getting feaky lean huh :slight_smile:

Sorry if you said this but where are your upcoming meets?

1028

[quote]CSEagles1694 wrote:
I didn’t see any allotted time for fapping.

CS[/quote]

That is the majority of the time I am at the fitness center.

1029

[quote]ryanbCXG wrote:
So your getting feaky lean huh :slight_smile:

Sorry if you said this but where are your upcoming meets?[/quote]

Yea, I am. It’s fucking crazy. I havent been under 270 in a while and I am sitting around at 262-265 right now. People tell me I look skinny. haha. I know when I am around 275, my bf% is 17-20%. It is significantly lower than that. A couple years ago, I had Shelby Starnes get my diet on track for a meet and I went from 280 to 229. That was like skinny and depleted weight though. If I were to drop 10 more pounds right now, you’d be able to see my abs through my fucking shirt.

I really, REALLY don’t care about these things but it just goes to show how much bullshit there is in magezines and online. I really wouldn’t think it would be possible to be this lean and strong at this weight without steroids. But, I feel fucking awesome.

I’ve got Men’s Nationals this weekend, Raw Nats in august, hopefully World’s in Novemebr, hopefully th night of the licing dead in october, then I really have no idea.

1030

[quote]StormTheBeach wrote:

[quote]ryanbCXG wrote:
So your getting feaky lean huh :slight_smile:

Sorry if you said this but where are your upcoming meets?[/quote]

Yea, I am. It’s fucking crazy. I havent been under 270 in a while and I am sitting around at 262-265 right now. People tell me I look skinny. haha. I know when I am around 275, my bf% is 17-20%. It is significantly lower than that. A couple years ago, I had Shelby Starnes get my diet on track for a meet and I went from 280 to 229. That was like skinny and depleted weight though. If I were to drop 10 more pounds right now, you’d be able to see my abs through my fucking shirt.

I really, REALLY don’t care about these things but it just goes to show how much bullshit there is in magezines and online. I really wouldn’t think it would be possible to be this lean and strong at this weight without steroids. But, I feel fucking awesome.

I’ve got Men’s Nationals this weekend, Raw Nats in august, hopefully World’s in Novemebr, hopefully th night of the licing dead in october, then I really have no idea.[/quote]

Like a BAWS

Would be cool to see a pic if you get a chance…which i am sure you really arent into. What do you think is are big contributing factors to your level of size/leaness and strength? Do you think that being at such a high weight and moving the amount of weight you have helps? Seems like natural BBers struggle to attain a large amount of lean mass like that but would never watn to spend time at the size that you have. Or do you think there are other factors?Would love to hear your thoguhts on this

So where are these meets?

1031

[quote]ryanbCXG wrote:

[quote]StormTheBeach wrote:

[quote]ryanbCXG wrote:
So your getting feaky lean huh :slight_smile:

Sorry if you said this but where are your upcoming meets?[/quote]

Yea, I am. It’s fucking crazy. I havent been under 270 in a while and I am sitting around at 262-265 right now. People tell me I look skinny. haha. I know when I am around 275, my bf% is 17-20%. It is significantly lower than that. A couple years ago, I had Shelby Starnes get my diet on track for a meet and I went from 280 to 229. That was like skinny and depleted weight though. If I were to drop 10 more pounds right now, you’d be able to see my abs through my fucking shirt.

I really, REALLY don’t care about these things but it just goes to show how much bullshit there is in magezines and online. I really wouldn’t think it would be possible to be this lean and strong at this weight without steroids. But, I feel fucking awesome.

I’ve got Men’s Nationals this weekend, Raw Nats in august, hopefully World’s in Novemebr, hopefully th night of the licing dead in october, then I really have no idea.[/quote]

Like a BAWS

Would be cool to see a pic if you get a chance…which i am sure you really arent into. What do you think is are big contributing factors to your level of size/leaness and strength? Do you think that being at such a high weight and moving the amount of weight you have helps? Seems like natural BBers struggle to attain a large amount of lean mass like that but would never watn to spend time at the size that you have. Or do you think there are other factors?Would love to hear your thoguhts on this

So where are these meets?[/quote]

You should get in touch with V.Urbank. I hear he does pictures over the internet.

I think the biggest factor is training my ass of for almost 15 years straight. My 15th year aniversary with smashing fucking weights is this august. I am going to celebrate by continueing to do this for at least another 15 years. Natural bodybuilders who struggle to gain are either:

  1. on a terrible training program
  2. terrible with their nutrition
  3. both of those
  4. or just too young and inexperienced to get the gains they want.

There is a plethora of bullshit on the internet and that is all anyone reads anymore. I am a big fan of educating yourself. The problem is most sources of ‘education’ are selling heaping piles of bullshit with really no concern other than getting you hooked on something.

Here is the key, the ultimate secret to training for the gentically mal-gifted (like myself):

Work really fucking hard everyday. Talk to people stronger/bigger than you or people that have already attained the goals you have for yourself and start implementing some of the things they did to get there. Figure out what works, ditch the rest. Then, once you do those things for 10+ years then maybe there will be a hint of you taking a small step closer to you goal.

People can get on youtube, find guys their age and weight that genetic fucking anomalies, watch every vid they have on there, and then just feel terrible about themselves that thier gains arent as fast. Well, it won’t work like that for 99% of the population. All of these bright young stars of powerlifting we have had the last couple of years completely fizzle out before they do anything of value. It happens all the time. Some kid smashes 800 raw a meet then just disappears. Well, its the guys that have to get smarter to get stronger that stay around in the sport the longest. The guys that kinda sucked when they got started and got really fucking pissed off about it and decided to do something about it.

Anyway, got off on a little rant there. Sorry. The moral of the story:

If you really want these goals that you have set for yourself, you HAVE to do whatever it takes to get there. Usually, for guys like us and the 99% of the normal part of the human species, ‘whatever it takes to get there’ is actually however long it takes to get there.

I should write a fucking book. haha.

Hope this helped.

1032

[quote]StormTheBeach wrote:

[quote]ryanbCXG wrote:

[quote]StormTheBeach wrote:

[quote]ryanbCXG wrote:
So your getting feaky lean huh :slight_smile:

Sorry if you said this but where are your upcoming meets?[/quote]

Yea, I am. It’s fucking crazy. I havent been under 270 in a while and I am sitting around at 262-265 right now. People tell me I look skinny. haha. I know when I am around 275, my bf% is 17-20%. It is significantly lower than that. A couple years ago, I had Shelby Starnes get my diet on track for a meet and I went from 280 to 229. That was like skinny and depleted weight though. If I were to drop 10 more pounds right now, you’d be able to see my abs through my fucking shirt.

I really, REALLY don’t care about these things but it just goes to show how much bullshit there is in magezines and online. I really wouldn’t think it would be possible to be this lean and strong at this weight without steroids. But, I feel fucking awesome.

I’ve got Men’s Nationals this weekend, Raw Nats in august, hopefully World’s in Novemebr, hopefully th night of the licing dead in october, then I really have no idea.[/quote]

Like a BAWS

Would be cool to see a pic if you get a chance…which i am sure you really arent into. What do you think is are big contributing factors to your level of size/leaness and strength? Do you think that being at such a high weight and moving the amount of weight you have helps? Seems like natural BBers struggle to attain a large amount of lean mass like that but would never watn to spend time at the size that you have. Or do you think there are other factors?Would love to hear your thoguhts on this

So where are these meets?[/quote]

You should get in touch with V.Urbank. I hear he does pictures over the internet.

I think the biggest factor is training my ass of for almost 15 years straight. My 15th year aniversary with smashing fucking weights is this august. I am going to celebrate by continueing to do this for at least another 15 years. Natural bodybuilders who struggle to gain are either:

  1. on a terrible training program
  2. terrible with their nutrition
  3. both of those
  4. or just too young and inexperienced to get the gains they want.

There is a plethora of bullshit on the internet and that is all anyone reads anymore. I am a big fan of educating yourself. The problem is most sources of ‘education’ are selling heaping piles of bullshit with really no concern other than getting you hooked on something.

Here is the key, the ultimate secret to training for the gentically mal-gifted (like myself):

Work really fucking hard everyday. Talk to people stronger/bigger than you or people that have already attained the goals you have for yourself and start implementing some of the things they did to get there. Figure out what works, ditch the rest. Then, once you do those things for 10+ years then maybe there will be a hint of you taking a small step closer to you goal.

People can get on youtube, find guys their age and weight that genetic fucking anomalies, watch every vid they have on there, and then just feel terrible about themselves that thier gains arent as fast. Well, it won’t work like that for 99% of the population. All of these bright young stars of powerlifting we have had the last couple of years completely fizzle out before they do anything of value. It happens all the time. Some kid smashes 800 raw a meet then just disappears. Well, its the guys that have to get smarter to get stronger that stay around in the sport the longest. The guys that kinda sucked when they got started and got really fucking pissed off about it and decided to do something about it.

Anyway, got off on a little rant there. Sorry. The moral of the story:

If you really want these goals that you have set for yourself, you HAVE to do whatever it takes to get there. Usually, for guys like us and the 99% of the normal part of the human species, ‘whatever it takes to get there’ is actually however long it takes to get there.

I should write a fucking book. haha.

Hope this helped.[/quote]
Yes, plz write a book.

1033

[quote]StormTheBeach wrote:

[quote]ryanbCXG wrote:

[quote]StormTheBeach wrote:

[quote]ryanbCXG wrote:
So your getting feaky lean huh :slight_smile:

Sorry if you said this but where are your upcoming meets?[/quote]

Yea, I am. It’s fucking crazy. I havent been under 270 in a while and I am sitting around at 262-265 right now. People tell me I look skinny. haha. I know when I am around 275, my bf% is 17-20%. It is significantly lower than that. A couple years ago, I had Shelby Starnes get my diet on track for a meet and I went from 280 to 229. That was like skinny and depleted weight though. If I were to drop 10 more pounds right now, you’d be able to see my abs through my fucking shirt.

I really, REALLY don’t care about these things but it just goes to show how much bullshit there is in magezines and online. I really wouldn’t think it would be possible to be this lean and strong at this weight without steroids. But, I feel fucking awesome.

I’ve got Men’s Nationals this weekend, Raw Nats in august, hopefully World’s in Novemebr, hopefully th night of the licing dead in october, then I really have no idea.[/quote]

Like a BAWS

Would be cool to see a pic if you get a chance…which i am sure you really arent into. What do you think is are big contributing factors to your level of size/leaness and strength? Do you think that being at such a high weight and moving the amount of weight you have helps? Seems like natural BBers struggle to attain a large amount of lean mass like that but would never watn to spend time at the size that you have. Or do you think there are other factors?Would love to hear your thoguhts on this

So where are these meets?[/quote]

You should get in touch with V.Urbank. I hear he does pictures over the internet.
[/quote]
LMAO HAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA LOLOL

1034

[quote]spar4tee wrote:

[quote]StormTheBeach wrote:

[quote]ryanbCXG wrote:

[quote]StormTheBeach wrote:

[quote]ryanbCXG wrote:
So your getting feaky lean huh :slight_smile:

Sorry if you said this but where are your upcoming meets?[/quote]

Yea, I am. It’s fucking crazy. I havent been under 270 in a while and I am sitting around at 262-265 right now. People tell me I look skinny. haha. I know when I am around 275, my bf% is 17-20%. It is significantly lower than that. A couple years ago, I had Shelby Starnes get my diet on track for a meet and I went from 280 to 229. That was like skinny and depleted weight though. If I were to drop 10 more pounds right now, you’d be able to see my abs through my fucking shirt.

I really, REALLY don’t care about these things but it just goes to show how much bullshit there is in magezines and online. I really wouldn’t think it would be possible to be this lean and strong at this weight without steroids. But, I feel fucking awesome.

I’ve got Men’s Nationals this weekend, Raw Nats in august, hopefully World’s in Novemebr, hopefully th night of the licing dead in october, then I really have no idea.[/quote]

Like a BAWS

Would be cool to see a pic if you get a chance…which i am sure you really arent into. What do you think is are big contributing factors to your level of size/leaness and strength? Do you think that being at such a high weight and moving the amount of weight you have helps? Seems like natural BBers struggle to attain a large amount of lean mass like that but would never watn to spend time at the size that you have. Or do you think there are other factors?Would love to hear your thoguhts on this

So where are these meets?[/quote]

You should get in touch with V.Urbank. I hear he does pictures over the internet.

I think the biggest factor is training my ass of for almost 15 years straight. My 15th year aniversary with smashing fucking weights is this august. I am going to celebrate by continueing to do this for at least another 15 years. Natural bodybuilders who struggle to gain are either:

  1. on a terrible training program
  2. terrible with their nutrition
  3. both of those
  4. or just too young and inexperienced to get the gains they want.

There is a plethora of bullshit on the internet and that is all anyone reads anymore. I am a big fan of educating yourself. The problem is most sources of ‘education’ are selling heaping piles of bullshit with really no concern other than getting you hooked on something.

Here is the key, the ultimate secret to training for the gentically mal-gifted (like myself):

Work really fucking hard everyday. Talk to people stronger/bigger than you or people that have already attained the goals you have for yourself and start implementing some of the things they did to get there. Figure out what works, ditch the rest. Then, once you do those things for 10+ years then maybe there will be a hint of you taking a small step closer to you goal.

People can get on youtube, find guys their age and weight that genetic fucking anomalies, watch every vid they have on there, and then just feel terrible about themselves that thier gains arent as fast. Well, it won’t work like that for 99% of the population. All of these bright young stars of powerlifting we have had the last couple of years completely fizzle out before they do anything of value. It happens all the time. Some kid smashes 800 raw a meet then just disappears. Well, its the guys that have to get smarter to get stronger that stay around in the sport the longest. The guys that kinda sucked when they got started and got really fucking pissed off about it and decided to do something about it.

Anyway, got off on a little rant there. Sorry. The moral of the story:

If you really want these goals that you have set for yourself, you HAVE to do whatever it takes to get there. Usually, for guys like us and the 99% of the normal part of the human species, ‘whatever it takes to get there’ is actually however long it takes to get there.

I should write a fucking book. haha.

Hope this helped.[/quote]
Yes, plz write a book.[/quote]

x2

Also, you are the fucking man.

That is all.

1035

[quote]bigmac73nh wrote:

[quote]spar4tee wrote:

[quote]StormTheBeach wrote:

[quote]ryanbCXG wrote:

[quote]StormTheBeach wrote:

[quote]ryanbCXG wrote:
So your getting feaky lean huh :slight_smile:

Sorry if you said this but where are your upcoming meets?[/quote]

Yea, I am. It’s fucking crazy. I havent been under 270 in a while and I am sitting around at 262-265 right now. People tell me I look skinny. haha. I know when I am around 275, my bf% is 17-20%. It is significantly lower than that. A couple years ago, I had Shelby Starnes get my diet on track for a meet and I went from 280 to 229. That was like skinny and depleted weight though. If I were to drop 10 more pounds right now, you’d be able to see my abs through my fucking shirt.

I really, REALLY don’t care about these things but it just goes to show how much bullshit there is in magezines and online. I really wouldn’t think it would be possible to be this lean and strong at this weight without steroids. But, I feel fucking awesome.

I’ve got Men’s Nationals this weekend, Raw Nats in august, hopefully World’s in Novemebr, hopefully th night of the licing dead in october, then I really have no idea.[/quote]

Like a BAWS

Would be cool to see a pic if you get a chance…which i am sure you really arent into. What do you think is are big contributing factors to your level of size/leaness and strength? Do you think that being at such a high weight and moving the amount of weight you have helps? Seems like natural BBers struggle to attain a large amount of lean mass like that but would never watn to spend time at the size that you have. Or do you think there are other factors?Would love to hear your thoguhts on this

So where are these meets?[/quote]

You should get in touch with V.Urbank. I hear he does pictures over the internet.

I think the biggest factor is training my ass of for almost 15 years straight. My 15th year aniversary with smashing fucking weights is this august. I am going to celebrate by continueing to do this for at least another 15 years. Natural bodybuilders who struggle to gain are either:

  1. on a terrible training program
  2. terrible with their nutrition
  3. both of those
  4. or just too young and inexperienced to get the gains they want.

There is a plethora of bullshit on the internet and that is all anyone reads anymore. I am a big fan of educating yourself. The problem is most sources of ‘education’ are selling heaping piles of bullshit with really no concern other than getting you hooked on something.

Here is the key, the ultimate secret to training for the gentically mal-gifted (like myself):

Work really fucking hard everyday. Talk to people stronger/bigger than you or people that have already attained the goals you have for yourself and start implementing some of the things they did to get there. Figure out what works, ditch the rest. Then, once you do those things for 10+ years then maybe there will be a hint of you taking a small step closer to you goal.

People can get on youtube, find guys their age and weight that genetic fucking anomalies, watch every vid they have on there, and then just feel terrible about themselves that thier gains arent as fast. Well, it won’t work like that for 99% of the population. All of these bright young stars of powerlifting we have had the last couple of years completely fizzle out before they do anything of value. It happens all the time. Some kid smashes 800 raw a meet then just disappears. Well, its the guys that have to get smarter to get stronger that stay around in the sport the longest. The guys that kinda sucked when they got started and got really fucking pissed off about it and decided to do something about it.

Anyway, got off on a little rant there. Sorry. The moral of the story:

If you really want these goals that you have set for yourself, you HAVE to do whatever it takes to get there. Usually, for guys like us and the 99% of the normal part of the human species, ‘whatever it takes to get there’ is actually however long it takes to get there.

I should write a fucking book. haha.

Hope this helped.[/quote]
Yes, plz write a book.[/quote]

x2

Also, you are the fucking man.

That is all.[/quote]

x3
I would by a book by you. Your no Bull shit style is great. Plus your writing style is hilarious

Certainly hard these days to find someone who has been around the block gotten huge strong and lean that is not out to make a dime fucking with you or forgetting details as to how they got to where they are. ie only talking about what they are doing now, when they are huge strong and lean not what they did to get to that point. They like to forget steps.

I was not saying natural BBers sturggle to gain just many struggle to achieve what you have 260 with abs. Dunno if any natty BBers acheive that (not that i heavily follow it)

Either way great rant. Love reading this shit.

1036

I had a dream last night that you were at my gym and I was about to use the prowler, but then you came with a group of kids to train and I was all like “oh, can i still use this prowler??” And you were all like “Oh ya, that’s fine. We’ll use something else.”

Then you put a whole bunch of weight on it and pushed it to the otherside of the track, HAHA.

WTF, that is so rude.

1037

With the greatest of respect Sotrm, you talk about hard work compensating for bad genetics but where were you after 3 years of training. I’m guessing you started at age 13. So at age 16 what did your total look like?

After 3 years of training, at age 27 Im scraping a 1200lb total at 300lbs bw. Doesnt stop me trying

Would be great to have a year by year breakdown of where your numbers were along your training journey

1038

[quote]StormTheBeach wrote:

[quote]ryanbCXG wrote:
So your getting feaky lean huh :slight_smile:

Sorry if you said this but where are your upcoming meets?[/quote]

Yea, I am. It’s fucking crazy. I havent been under 270 in a while and I am sitting around at 262-265 right now. People tell me I look skinny. haha. I know when I am around 275, my bf% is 17-20%. It is significantly lower than that. A couple years ago, I had Shelby Starnes get my diet on track for a meet and I went from 280 to 229. That was like skinny and depleted weight though. If I were to drop 10 more pounds right now, you’d be able to see my abs through my fucking shirt.

I really, REALLY don’t care about these things but it just goes to show how much bullshit there is in magezines and online. I really wouldn’t think it would be possible to be this lean and strong at this weight without steroids. But, I feel fucking awesome.

I’ve got Men’s Nationals this weekend, Raw Nats in august, hopefully World’s in Novemebr, hopefully th night of the licing dead in october, then I really have no idea.[/quote]

I came for how to get fat and strong… what are you doing man haha

1039

[quote]Spock81 wrote:
I had a dream last night that you were at my gym and I was about to use the prowler, but then you came with a group of kids to train and I was all like “oh, can i still use this prowler??” And you were all like “Oh ya, that’s fine. We’ll use something else.”

Then you put a whole bunch of weight on it and pushed it to the otherside of the track, HAHA.

WTF, that is so rude. [/quote]

Must be a sign. I have a group of like 15 kids today and 3 prowlers to work with. Woohoo! Happy Prowler Thursday!

I totally wouldn’t take your prowler!

1040

[quote]ros1816 wrote:
With the greatest of respect Sotrm, you talk about hard work compensating for bad genetics but where were you after 3 years of training. I’m guessing you started at age 13. So at age 16 what did your total look like?

After 3 years of training, at age 27 Im scraping a 1200lb total at 300lbs bw. Doesnt stop me trying

Would be great to have a year by year breakdown of where your numbers were along your training journey[/quote]

Ok, I think it would make more sense to start when I was in 3rd grade. So, that was like 1993? 1994? I don’t know. Anyway, this was when I started working on my farm before and efter school. I could’nt do a whole lot when I got started but after a few months, I was shoveling shit and carrying haybales with little problem. Bags of bedding were the worst (no where to grip because it was packed tightly in stuff that felt like old newspaper) and each bag weighed about 50lbs.

At this same time I was playing soccer and basketball on rec teams all weekend and severl nights a week. this went all the way up to 8th grade when I decided I wanted to play football. There was an interest meeting at school so I attended. After the meeting, I asked the coach what I could do to help my chances to make the team. He said “You are skinny as a rail, start lifting and eating.” I told my parents about the meeting and they both agreed that I was going to get fucking killed if, by same blind twist of luck, I actually made the team. So, I got a gym membership.

The first time I touched a weight, I was 14 (1998) years old and it was a leg extension machine. Haha. I couldn’t figure out how anything else worked. So, I busted my ass all summer between 8th and 9th grade and ended up with a 165lb bench press at 165lbs. Also, I leg pressed 100bs 50 times (this was part of our weights testing). We lifted 2-3 times a week in season but I couldn’t participate because I broke my tailbone the first time I got hit in full pads. It took all season to heal.

Getting my ass, LITERALLY, handed to me made me get more into nutrition and lifting because I knew I was going to die if something didn’t change. I trained my ass off for the rest of high school. Sophomore year I came in at 210lbs, was a captain on JV, and the team went undefeated. Junior and Senior year my weight got up to 230, and I set all of the schools lifting records. I squatted 475 (badly) trap bar DL’ed 605 for 3, benched 275 (badly) and cleaned like 250-275.

2003-2007-College was a disaster. I had to leave training camp early due to a bone defect in my ankle that required immediate surgery (1). I couldn’t lift all season but I still hobbled and crutched to each session and did some upper body stuff. I got cleared for return to activity the first day of spring training. It just happen to be deadlift day. I pulled 225. 300lbs might of well have been stapled in the ground. It was the first time I used a straight bar. Spring weights testing I got a 475 squat again, same bench, a 300lb DL, and same powerclean. This was still good enough for 3rd best on the team.

Needed ankle surgery (#2) over the summer. Wasn’t out for as long because it was just a scope. The next year of training was pretty uneventful but I knew I wasn’t getting any stronger so I started researching some stuff on my own. A buddy of mine refferred me to the westside website and my life has been fucked ever since. A guy at a powerhouse gym (who I am still very good friends with today) gave a few of my non-football friends some applications for a PL meet in Standardsville Virginia.

I decided to go and compete because it was the middle of spring ball anyway and everything we were doing was stupid. So, my first meet was in August 2005 and I ended up going 485, 340, 640. From this point on, I fucking hated football. After the meet, I started reading everything I could get my hands one, bought every book louie recommended, and just surrounded myself with the strongest people I could find. I had to get 2 more surgeries in college, one to repair a hernia I had all my life and the other to fix a broken hand (there is an incredibly awesome story behind that one, haha). Played my junior year, finished my last spring weights testing with 565, 400, 700, 340(powerclean). Did another meet and totaled 1610, got voted a captain for football, quit football after summer training camp (a not so awesome story behind that one), did a couple more meets, graduated in 2007.

After that I decided to focus all of my energy on training. Had a few stupid jobs that sucked. Went back to school (was a GA Strength Coach so I got a free masters degree), graduated last year, and my numbers have slowly been climbing up. From that 1610 total to now (1880? is my best raw I think) took 5 years. MY first single ply meet, I think I got something like 1700 and pulled 740. Again, 5 years later, my best single ply total is 1923 and pull is 815.

Got on a little diatribe there but the moral of the story is:

This shit takes forever if you aren’t predisposed to be awesome at it. haha.