Ok, here’s my story. I used to be really small and started lifting to have an edge in sports (soccer tennis and b-ball) and stop getting picked on. So from november 2002 to january 2004 I basically did 20x3 pushups,10x3 db concentration curls with 10 lb dbs, 20 reverse situps, and later added hyperextension off the floor with a pillow under me so as to not become impotent. I knew nothing about proper nutrition and exercise, so it wasn’t until january of last year that my dad reassembled his old soloflex and gave me his 160 lb weider bb/db set to use. So from that point on until last summer I did your average 5 day split without going to failure for lack of a spotter (so I guess non-failure training is about the only thing I did right).
I started reading up on the web. I devoured everything I came across, started paying attention to my diet, tweaked my training, and during the summer I moved to Riverside, CA and did PE in summer school to catch up on credits. It was 5 1/2 hours a day 4x a week for 3 weeks of paradise, with nonstop swimming, soccer, b-ball, etc. and we did a upper/lower/uppper/lower 5x5 training routine that I was too dumb to follow since I thought I knew better.
Followed John Bernardi’s massive eating program, and in january of this year I started my first real program, doing needsize’s 5x5 routine (off the steroidology forums), and saw awsome increases in strength (my main concern). I recently found this site and started reading up on all the programs and diets (though I’d already read most of JB’s nutrition articles). Since I finished it a month ago I took a couple of weeks off and decided to do an HST cycle, so I spent the last 2 weeks figuring out my maxes for the routine. The thing is though that I’m having surgery on my left forearm this friday to remove a 2-inch piece of glass that’s been stuck there for 1 1/2 years. The doctor told me that it depends on how the surgery goes as to how long it’ll be before I can use it again to lift, but the most likely thing is that it’ll be a month before I lift, and at least 3 weeks before I do any physical activity (I’m on a soccer team and do HIIT 2x a week). So I’m wondering if there’s any way to preserve my mass/strength and prevent atrophy during this time. I’m not going to rush into anything or say ‘f*ck it, I’m hardcore’ and lift, as I’d rather still have my arm ten years from now.
I’m going to maintain a clean diet, but I don’t know if there’s anything else I can do. I’m 16, 160 lbs at an estimated 12% bf at 5’11". My supplements are whey, multi, fish oil capsules, and gren tea. I make a homeade Surge-like drink pwo (25 grams whey, 32 grams gatorade dextrose, 1/2 serving oatmeal, 1 tbsp honey, bcaas for l-leucine). I’m also wondering if I should switch from HST to TBT whe I return from my layoff, as I like near-failure training more (and the reasonsI’m doing a hypertrophy progam are: summer, and more mass to be more physical). All help is appreciated.