Recent Progress

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

Tonight i finished my second training log, just a 200 page excercise book i write down my reps, sets, and excercises in, as well as a few personal notes. I started this one May 18th of last year, and i just want some opinions on how well you guys think im progressing. This October comming is the 3-year mark for me, in case anyone is wondering.

Squat - 4x295 to 5x375
Bench - 5x225 to 6x275
Overhead DP Press - 4x70lb to 4x100lb
Close Grip Bench - 3x225 to 5x250
Dips - 5xBW +70 to 6xBW +90
T-Bar Row - 8x225 to 8x270
Chin-Ups - 8xBW - 8xBW +45

These are just some excercises i have stayed fairly consistent with over the past 11 months. I havent been really training the deadlift a whole lot, but i have been doing different variations of it. Im not sure what my weight or measurements were prior, but right now im 5’9, 17 years old and about 205lb, with reasonable body fat (14-15% caliper). Sorry theres no pictures, but i do have a video or two i can dig up if you guys would like.

Thanks, PC

2

bump?

3

I’d say at that weight, at that BF, at your age and with those lifts, assuming you are natural, after just 2.5 years, you have a career in iron, whether it is powerlifting, bodybuilding or what…
my 2 penneth kenneth.

Joseph

4

[quote]Joe Brook wrote:
I’d say at that weight, at that BF, at your age and with those lifts, assuming you are natural, after just 2.5 years, you have a career in iron, whether it is powerlifting, bodybuilding or what…
my 2 penneth kenneth.

Joseph[/quote]

Yes, im all natural… i wouldn’t reallyc all myself gifted in the genetics area, either, i just eat alot (ALOT) of good food and lift damn hard.

Thanks Joseph

5

Good progress for a hard training guy your age. Those gains are nothing to complain about, don’t let yourself get complacent though.

6

you were squatting 295 and benching 225 at 14 years old???

;-_-

8

See what i mean? if this “lad” is for real, natural, that advanced in strength, he has a calling, wouldn’t you agree…?

as long as he works out harder than the rest.

Joe

9

I live in a pretty rural area, so training hard isn’t so hard to do concidering there are few distractions. All my life consists of right now is school, eat, and train. Its all there is to do… and i love it.

Here’s a video of me last june when i done my max DL:
http://www.T-Nation.com/tmagnum/readTopic.do?id=1612712

PC

10

[quote]Joe Brook wrote:
See what i mean? if this “lad” is for real, natural, that advanced in strength, he has a calling, wouldn’t you agree…?

as long as he works out harder than the rest.

Joe[/quote]

No offense, but not really.

Kids in Florida high schools, (I speak for them because thats where I’m from), football players, are stronger than ALOT of guys on this site. People don’t realize how many massively strong young folks there are in the sports that require weightlifting like football.

One of the top schools in my area (3 state championships in the last 5 years, and they lost to Tim Tebow’s team his senior year at Nease High School) had 24 guys benching over 315 my senior year.

Find 24 guys on this site that bench 315. (Yes I know there are, the point is, in football and such, these heavy weights at under the age 18, and natural, are not uncommon.)

Besides, weightlifting has a huge law of diminishing returns. You might get to 315 really young and think you have a gift. But each 100 pounds get extremely harder. So predicting a gift for weightlifting is virtually impossible.

11

I guess you are right, in the States you guys get to train properly in a gym for other sports, from a very young age.

Not here… it isn’t seen. Not till about 16 when we leave high school, we simply dont have the high school leagues you do, i believe high school football is as big as normal isnt it?

So in the UK a 17 year old that can bench more than 135lbs is a sight!
It really is a different world so i totally forget that your high school or college kids are often stronger than me…
I looked on a comparison article yesterday and my strength is equivalent to a high school leader!! lmao! shit… sniff.

But still, those are some fine lifts even for his age, i am not trying to fucking predict the future, but wouldn’t you agree he has a better chance than an average kid, or than i did at 17, or what about you, having the same culture, were your lifts better than his? Of course they were… :wink:

Most kids at 17, i’d go so far as to say the majority, cant be lifting more than that naturally, surely? Maybe the OP should answer that as he spends more time with 17 year olds than us (I hope!)

Joe

12

[quote]Joe Brook wrote:
I guess you are right, in the States you guys get to train properly in a gym for other sports, from a very young age.

Not here… it isn’t seen. Not till about 16 when we leave high school, we simply dont have the high school leagues you do, i believe high school football is as big as normal isnt it?

So in the UK a 17 year old that can bench more than 135lbs is a sight!
It really is a different world so i totally forget that your high school or college kids are often stronger than me…
I looked on a comparison article yesterday and my strength is equivalent to a high school leader!! lmao! shit… sniff.

But still, those are some fine lifts even for his age, i am not trying to fucking predict the future, but wouldn’t you agree he has a better chance than an average kid, or than i did at 17, or what about you, having the same culture, were your lifts better than his? Of course they were… :wink:

Most kids at 17, i’d go so far as to say the majority, cant be lifting more than that naturally, surely? Maybe the OP should answer that as he spends more time with 17 year olds than us (I hope!)

Joe[/quote]

Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t bashing you, and he still has great lifts for his age and training experience. Certainly worth being proud of.

I was just saying, many people, whether it be because they are in the U.K., or because they don’t know many football players/certain sport athletes etc, but many people on this site and just in the world in general vastly underestimate the amount of strength many training, and young training individuals possess.

Yes, they look strong to the general, non-training population, and they are strong, absolutely. But my point was that there are more and more and more strong ass young guys and people, for whatever reason, I honestly don’t have an answer for why, just underestimate how many there are.

Thats why so many people call bullshit on so many peoples lifts on this site. Sure, many e-numbers are bullshit, but thats apparant because of who’s posting them, not because they don’t exist among that age range.

My real point is that alot of guys just have the attitude is “no way a natural teenager is that strong”; but in reality, yes, there are many, you just have to look in teh right places, like good football programs, wrestling programs, high school weightlifting teams etc etc.

I would bet alot of people on this site got into training without having been around a “team” like in football or something, which is why they are surprised when there are so many. All they see is the people at their gym, and the average gym goer certainly isn’t that strong.

Having never been around an organization where weightlifting is a big component, they just don’t realize how many guys there really are out there putting up those numbers.

Thats all, no worries man I wasn’t really disagreeing with you, I was just saying alot of people underestimate the number of strong young guys in existence.

13

Most 17 years old dont lift that much no. He is still the stronger part of the crowd. And when I weight 260 at 17 years old. I benched 315, squatted about 395-405 with good form. And could pull 405 for one. I also power cleaned 255. That being said, I was a fatass, but I was a football player and that strength was simply lifting heavy shit 4 days a week for 4 years straight, and eating alot.

Now, my lifts are much lower, because I was a dumbass and did too much cardio and stupid dieting at the beginning of my weight loss (Last April, I’m down to 187.5 as of this morning, around 11% BF I’d say)

Fortunately, it has proven the existence of muscle memory to me as my gains are certainly coming faster (even while dieting) than they came first time around.

But yes, I was privileged forced to be in the weight room all time, and had good coaches who knew how to work on a progression plan. And the result was a group of abnormally strong oxen teenagers.

I think the real difference is the type of training football players get when they are starting out. Their lifts get so high, for their age, because they are constantly training for strength and power. This gets the very strong, doing big compound and olympic movements regularly with slim to no iso work.

Then in a few years they are big and strong for their age and if they get into bodybuilding, they can start bodypart splits and stuff to promote balance and symmetry and such.

But I’m sure you know, many and I’d say most guys who get into “bodybuilding” start with shit like 5-split routines and such when they are 14 years old and weigh 120lbs. That is simply not the fastest much efficient way to get strong when your starting out. So many gym-goers just do the old “emulate the pros routine and I’ll get big like them” mentality.

Wrong answer, these guys should train for performance (strength and power) and then when they are advanced enough worry about all these “mass gain hypertrophy” plans.

Young guys, I see it in my gym all the time, are trying to a million sets per bodypart to get big etc etc. And thats a great way to train, PROVIDED YOU HAVE A SOLID STRENGTH BASE TO START FROM.

And thats why these football players get stronger faster than teenagers who just get into lifting.

Because they train for power and strength for several years, whereas Joe fraternity boy starts out doing hypertrophy or high rep crap when he’s using frickin’ baby weights I think anyone who wants to get big quickly, needs to FIRST spend some serious time getting strong, training primarily for strength and power. Then they should worry about symmetry and hypertrophy.

Its hard to really induce hypertrophy on your chest when you has to use 135lbs to even hope for 10-12 reps.

14

[quote]Joe Brook wrote:

Most kids at 17, i’d go so far as to say the majority, cant be lifting more than that naturally, surely? Maybe the OP should answer that as he spends more time with 17 year olds than us (I hope!)

Joe[/quote]

To be completely honest with you, i think there are alot of 17 year olds out there that could do wh at i do and more provided they had the same nutrition, training, etc. as me. In grade 9-10 i was like 150 lbs, hell, my girlfriend has more muscle than i did at that time.

The problem however, is finding someone to have the willpower, or the motivation to do what i do. Sure, lots of guys have the physical potential, but not so many have their mental game secure enough to pull it off. Training hard all the time and keeping a strict clean diet can definately take it’s tole. Im sure nearly everyone on this site can relate to that.

PC

15

[quote]GetSwole wrote:
Joe Brook wrote:
I guess you are right, in the States you guys get to train properly in a gym for other sports, from a very young age.

Not here… it isn’t seen. Not till about 16 when we leave high school, we simply dont have the high school leagues you do, i believe high school football is as big as normal isnt it?

So in the UK a 17 year old that can bench more than 135lbs is a sight!
It really is a different world so i totally forget that your high school or college kids are often stronger than me…
I looked on a comparison article yesterday and my strength is equivalent to a high school leader!! lmao! shit… sniff.

But still, those are some fine lifts even for his age, i am not trying to fucking predict the future, but wouldn’t you agree he has a better chance than an average kid, or than i did at 17, or what about you, having the same culture, were your lifts better than his? Of course they were… :wink:

Most kids at 17, i’d go so far as to say the majority, cant be lifting more than that naturally, surely? Maybe the OP should answer that as he spends more time with 17 year olds than us (I hope!)

Joe

Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t bashing you, and he still has great lifts for his age and training experience. Certainly worth being proud of.

I was just saying, many people, whether it be because they are in the U.K., or because they don’t know many football players/certain sport athletes etc, but many people on this site and just in the world in general vastly underestimate the amount of strength many training, and young training individuals possess.

Yes, they look strong to the general, non-training population, and they are strong, absolutely. But my point was that there are more and more and more strong ass young guys and people, for whatever reason, I honestly don’t have an answer for why, just underestimate how many there are.

Thats why so many people call bullshit on so many peoples lifts on this site. Sure, many e-numbers are bullshit, but thats apparant because of who’s posting them, not because they don’t exist among that age range.

My real point is that alot of guys just have the attitude is “no way a natural teenager is that strong”; but in reality, yes, there are many, you just have to look in teh right places, like good football programs, wrestling programs, high school weightlifting teams etc etc.

I would bet alot of people on this site got into training without having been around a “team” like in football or something, which is why they are surprised when there are so many. All they see is the people at their gym, and the average gym goer certainly isn’t that strong.

Having never been around an organization where weightlifting is a big component, they just don’t realize how many guys there really are out there putting up those numbers.

Thats all, no worries man I wasn’t really disagreeing with you, I was just saying alot of people underestimate the number of strong young guys in existence. [/quote]

I agree! I am guilty of that too, i feel “sheltered” almost as i never see any kids putting up anything near me, and i aint strong by any means.

you are right i suspect though, and in the UK it is especially true, as like i said, we dont get to use external resistance as part of a team until over 16!! and probably not until 18 due to bone closure etc…

Joe

16

This thread has gone totally off topic… however, i just want to add that in the 2.5 years i have been training, i have done 2 maybe 3 different programs, all of which i made, and thats it. I ended up finding this site and i read parts 1, 2, and 3 of how to build a damn good program, and what i was doing was essentially exactly what they had there, i found it pretty ironic. I ended up making some minor changes here and there but for the most part my programs have stayed the same. It’s a huge misconception to have to change up “once every month” in order to see results… I personally think its bullshit. Some of you are gonna say now that its newbie gains and so on and so forth, however i vaguely disagree. As long as your moving up in weight there should be no need to make any major changes. If too many are made at once, hows anyone going to know what change worked and what one didn’t?

PC

17

I definitely knew some pretty freakishly strong guys in my high school, but that shouldn’t take anything away from the fact that your on of them! Kid’s a bit stronger than me and I have 5 years on him. I’d say be damn proud man! Good work. Keep it up and you could be one of the bigger guys in most gyms the rest of your life.

18

[quote]ProfessorCHAOS96 wrote:
This thread has gone totally off topic… however, i just want to add that in the 2.5 years i have been training, i have done 2 maybe 3 different programs, all of which i made, and thats it. I ended up finding this site and i read parts 1, 2, and 3 of how to build a damn good program, and what i was doing was essentially exactly what they had there, i found it pretty ironic. I ended up making some minor changes here and there but for the most part my programs have stayed the same. It’s a huge misconception to have to change up “once every month” in order to see results… I personally think its bullshit. Some of you are gonna say now that its newbie gains and so on and so forth, however i vaguely disagree. As long as your moving up in weight there should be no need to make any major changes. If too many are made at once, hows anyone going to know what change worked and what one didn’t?

PC[/quote]

That, to an extent, is true… You do need to stick to something long enough to see results. Around 10 weeks with little change is good for me, then all i need to change may just be the split and the volume a little…

However, while you are past “newbie gains” (is it just me or does everyone hate the term newbie?) you WILL see that when you hit a certain age/ training age - for you with, i will add, good genetics in strength this may be later rather than sooner - when you hit that age, you will stop gaining on that program, range - everything, and the gains you do make when the changes are made will be minimal. They will last a couple weeks per 8-10 week program, you will gain as little as 5-10lbs a year if lucky.

Then, can you guess what the majority do?

This is, JMO, but it is what i have noticed in talking to clients, acquaintances and on forums.

Joe