I’m excited to see some photos of this once it has been completed!
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PT kicked my rear. She had me do more exercises than usual and guess what - we found more issues. Tight lats. Overactive erectors. Dang it.
The frustrating part is that I can’t seem to shut off my erectors during a cable pull through. I know what I’m supposed to do; I just can’t execute it. That is an irritating thing to experience.
On a happy note, I saved enough calories for some adult beverages! I just finished three ounces of Apple Crown and I can either have three more or two beers.
See? I’m enjoying myself and cutting is a second priority. Heck, a little dehydration might put me back in the 208s tomorrow. 
(sorry, @kleinhound)
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Haha all good my man! You’ve earned it
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This week I rediscovered sandwich thins. The knockoff version has 90 calories. I can do 6 oz of chicken, a slice of cheese, and some of my wife’s veganaise and have a tasty sandwich with less than 400 calories. It has 45 g of protein too!
I’m trying to decrease my carbs and increase my protein and today was a good day. I didn’t feel like I was dying and only ate 2000 calories. That’s rare for me.
I forgot to mention that I have a virus again and my throat is killing me. The Crown helped numb that for me.
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5.10.19
Woke at 209.0 lbs. I’ll be trying to sneak down to the gym for my lunch break again.
But first, I get to pee in a cup. I’ve been selected for a random drug test at work!
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Looks like your bosses were so impressed with your progress pics they’re questioning your natty status.
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Which random drug are they testing for?
I would think they’d question me getting bigger instead of smaller.
I have no idea. It’s the same company that does probation checks so it’s probably marijuana and whatever else is included with the cheapest option. I also had to do a breath test so it’s good I didn’t get carried away with the booze last night.
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Yeah when my Dad worked for the airlines they had a zero tolerance alcohol policy. If you registered .001 you were suspended. He didn’t use mouthwash for a long time. The union put out a flyer to avoid poppyseed bagels lol.
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Wtf you have a weird country, you should be the stand up guy everybody would look up to
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Dude you look fucking great in those photos. Nicely done man!
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I think it’s just part of working for the City. They sprinkle in random tests all throughout City employees. This is my first one. I don’t think I was singled out or anything; just my turn.
Thanks, Velvet! It’s been a long journey.
Best Damn W2 D5
PULL UPS (R/P)
2 x 6, 8-2-2
Still pausing at the top for a 1 count.
SIDE PLANK + ABDUCTION
2 x 15 ea
SL LYING LEG CURL
30 x 20
40 x 10 x 2 sets
This was way harder than I thought it would be…for both legs!
CABLE ROW (MYO REPS)
140 x 10
150 x 10
170 x 10-3-3-3-3-3
I just quit after five rounds. I could have going since I was using full body English.
SA REV CABLE FLY (21s)
20 x 10F/10T/10B x 2 sets
Ok, so my delts are absolutely crushed this week. Lat raises with mTor reps Tuesday, Wendler Rows w/ mTor reps Wednesday, and then Smith OHP mTor reps + a Lat raise drop set yesterday has taken its toll. I didn’t need to do reverse fly’s but I battled through two sets. My delts have kind of felt pumped for about two days now. They are also tender to touch like they’re bruised. I think they’ve had enough. I’ll try to remember to take it easy on tomorrow’s push workout.
SA CABLE CURL (21s)
40 x 10F/10T/10B
40 x 8F/8T/8B
DECLINE DB CRUNCH
50 x 12, 10
CABLE CRUNCH
100 x 10 x 2 sets
Done in 33 minutes. I went back into the locker room to get ready and just felt like my mid-back wasn’t properly trained. I saw Paul Carter’s Smith Machine Rows in Instagram this morning and decided to go try those.
SMITH MACHINE ROW (350 SET)
115 x 25, 17, 13
Now, I’m done. 
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you just believe in that J… you won’t take it easy on a push day
I like 350 sets
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I have a feeling that my OHP sets are going to be tough. I think I’m due to switch to 3x5 and 5x5 this week on OHP and DB Bench. I think I’m supposed to do 3x5 on OHP, 3x5 on DB Bench, and then lat cable raises, cable fly’s, and triceps. And, of course, some rehab stuff for my legs.
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Looking huge and lean, brother!
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X3. Both of you have made a significant impact on my training, thank you
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@Frank_C Would you mind giving me a quick background on your lifting history/years under the bar/nutrition? I’d love to get to your level some day. A lean 200 is the dream!
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Oh, boy… a background… Here goes…
I’m 34 years old; I’ll be 35 in September.
I started lifting as a child with my dad. He had me do 3x15 on his total body machine that he still uses to this day. I can remember doing those full body workouts all the way back in 4th grade. I wasn’t a young Hercules by any means but it exposed me to lifting.
In junior high we’d go lift at the high school in the summers for football (like most football programs). I wasn’t able to take weight lifting as a class until sophomore year (10th grade). We did block scheduling so it was only every other school day so some weeks it was MWF and others it was Tue/Thurs. I just lifted at school like that during most of high school making a little progress.
The real training started when I was 17. The summer between junior and senior year I started drinking a mass gainer and training with my older brother. I didn’t attend the high school football team’s summer program. My brother put me on a bodybuilding split: chest/tri’s, back/bi’s/shoulders, and legs. I did it twice a week and never missed a day except for one week in Steamboat Springs for a baseball tournament. I started the summer at 204 lbs and ended it at 222 lbs.
For the first time ever, I had some muscle definition. I was hooked. I’ve been training on my own ever since. I’d say my longest break from the gym has been two weeks tops. Even when I have surgery, I still train. I did it last year with my hip surgery and I’ll do it again this summer after shoulder surgery.
In college I got up to 240 lbs but it was a little soft. I looked like most meat heads who drank a lot of beer and ate bad food. I got a B. A. in Exercise Science and I’m still a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist through the NSCA. I also hold their Tactical Strength & Conditioning Facilitator certification. I don’t use these things at the moment, but I thought I’d need the credentials to convince my Department to let me start a wellness or fitness program (still waiting).
I would say that my current physique is probably the best I’ve ever looked. And to be honest, it kind of snuck up on me. I had hip surgery in December of 2017. I weighed 217 that week. I spent all of last year “bulking”. I topped out at 250 in October. There are plenty of photos further up my log. I think I posted some shots of my entire journey back in April. Here they are.
I’ve been cutting since October. I hit 210 lbs back in April for one day and called my cut quits. I took a break until last week. I topped out at 217 the week after Easter just from eating too much candy and desserts. I decided to clean up my diet again just to get back close to 210 and here I am continuing down to 205.
This is the first time I’ve been this light on purpose since I gained weight in high school. My old default weight was 220-225. 235 was my fat weight. 215 or below was my skinny and frail weight.
It’s been tough to adjust my brain. I’ve always thought I should be able to get to 230 or 235 with the level of leanness I have now. I guess I think that due to all of the “gurus” who preach it along with the fitness industry. They don’t tell us that the “average” looking dudes on the cover of M&F are on PED’s. They want us to believe it’s hard work and whatever supplement they’re selling. Well, they’ve fooled me for years and I’ve spent a lot of time beating myself up because of it.
I was fooling around the other night before bed and I busted out a side chest pose. I was shocked by what I saw in the mirror. I thought “Damn, I’m actually pretty ripped and muscular.” I’m no physique competitor but I was surprised by my size and definition. I’ve been looking at myself in the mirror every day for 34+ years and never seen that in my reflection. I think I’ve always battled a bit of body dysmorphia (who among us doesn’t?).
I’m pretty darn happy with where I’m at and I intend to maintain this moving forward. I don’t care about getting bigger; I don’t think I’ll go on any official “bulks” again. I’ll always want to add some muscle but it’s going to be done slowly over years. I can’t do it in months.
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I really appreciate you taking the time to write this out, man. Very cool to hear about your journey and see how far you’ve progressed!
I have to say, I’ve always envied guys who get an early start like this – exposed to lifting through their dad, then through football, etc. I didn’t discover it until early in college. Sounds like you started learning the fundamentals early (and were quite committed early, too). When you went from 204-222, how quality was the mass? I’m guessing it was nearly all lean mass (newbie gains + metabolism).
Same here, man. I recently made myself take 7 days off. It was my longest break since I was 18 and felt way too long.
I’m going to guess, based on your photos now, you’re being harsh and looked a lot better than most of those guys when you were 240.
Bulking in quotes because you didn’t intend to, but just overconsumed, or because it went way too far? How did you feel at the time – did you realize how big you were getting?
You’re well on your way to that, man. You’ll be there in no time, if you want it.
Man, I think looking good as a natural who’s +200 without any PEDs is incredibly rare. You almost never see it. Do you not use anything (current or former)? That’s surprising, given your physique.
Yeah, I think most of us around these parts have it or had it. It’s pretty cool to feel yourself breaking free from it and actually seeing yourself objectively. So liberating.
You should be! You’re in the 1% club.
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It was quality mass. I was lucky - I think I fully committed to training when my hormones were high. It was a struggle though. From the end of school til mid July I only got up to 212. I stopped training and took a week off for that tournament and lost four pounds. I returned to the gym at 208 and was 218 by the end of the week! It was obviously not all muscle but that jump started the scale again.
I played football that year at 220ish. I injured my knee the first game of regionals (week 7 of our season). I wasn’t able to train my right leg for like two months but I keep training and eating and I got up to 236! The assistant basketball coach didn’t believe the scale so we used the wrestling scale and confirmed it. I decided to back off a bit then because I knew I needed to be agile for basketball season.
At that time, I took a 900+ calorie mass gainer twice a day and creatine monohydrate. The creatine made me retain water and was the reason for some of the weight gain.
I feel like I just got fatter. Looking back at the pre-bulk pictures compared to now have me thinking I might’ve added a few pounds of muscle. I don’t think I needed to go that far though. It was an intentional bulk though. The goal was 1.5 pounds per month… I think.
I’ve never used anything other than creatine, pre-workouts, and the nitric oxide volume/pump products. I’m too scared to cross over to PEDs. If I needed TRT to be normal then I’d definitely do a test blast. If you’re already on hormone therapy then you might as well have fun with it, right?
I’m 6’4" so I don’t think my size is anything special. I’m still a long ways from stage weight and I’m sure that would put me well under 200 lbs. I would never compete, but I still compare myself to the fitness models for some reason. It’s hard not to when their images are in every article I read - even here.
I have nothing against PEDs. It just frustrates me when people are dishonest about it.
Thanks, man! I wouldn’t consider myself special. There are a lot of guys around here that I think are better than me.
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