Thank You T-Nation - Swissrugby67

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
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I started lifting weights 3 years ago exactly (pretty much) with the help of Mens Health. I did their total body workout for 3 months and felt incredible. I was hooked. I started reading up about nutrition (within MH and various other health magazines) and pretty much just tried to eat regularly and balanced.

Following this I started watching the bigger guys at the gym. I would try and see what they were doing and ask them why. Eventually a few of them advised me on what I should be eating and how I should train to maximize results. I did this for about 9 months and then found T-Nation thanks to a friend. Looking back my training was far from great and my eat anthing I can find bulk diet lead me to a high teen bf %.

By this time I had gained nearly 25 lbs. On T-Nation I started posting on the BOI; AmsterdamAnimal was a real inspiration and TampaTerry was awesome with helping me nail my first “cut”. (I probably shouldn’t have done it but I did lose 8lbs of fat which gave me a lean base to clean bulk from). Over the next year I tried various training splits (programmes, set/rep ranges etc) and had my first protein shake.

After year 2 I had made an overall gain (since beginning) of 30 ish lbs and was mid teens BF %. It was only in my last year that I stopped doing any “programmes” of sorts. What I did (rep/set wise,excercises and body parts) was chosen when I got there depending on how I felt and what was available. The only goal was to lift more and/or heavier than last time. It worked!

3 months ago I did a 5/3/1 to kick off my switch from BB motivations to Strongman ambitions. Diet is 600g+ carbs a day and I know weigh just off 230lbs. A total gain of around 50lbs and still low teen BF%. Im pretty happy!

I had issues with shoulder dislocations before starting training and following the past 3 years of hard work I’ve more than doubled all my lifts (DL, Squat and Bench).

I’ve also seen vast improvements in other aspects of my life. The hard work I’ve had to put in helped me mature faster and apply similar techniques to professional and private life. Not only that but the information I’ve been able to access here will help me (I hope) in leading a long and healthy life (touch wood).

Thank you to the Authors (all of them) for their interesting articles even if I might not agree with some. Thank you to the veteran posters ( AA, TampaTerry, Meat, Modi, Prof X, SteelNation, WS4SB, Folly, MightyStu, OneMoreRep etc) for your insight over the years and also the “relatively new guys” (Waylanderxx, HolyMac etc).

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292×504 26.4 KB

Before

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After - Quads

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After - Front

Gained nearly 4 inches on arms. Approaching 18 inches.

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Side.

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wow… great progress Swiss!

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I don’t have any decent back pics but I’ll try and get some done ASAP.

Clearly I also thank all the other regular posting crew (too many to list) for making this place fun and worth coming back to.

OK - Enough of the soppy thank you’s.

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Good job man, looking solid.

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[quote]OctoberGirl wrote:

wow… great progress Swiss!

[/quote]

Thank you :slight_smile:

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Very nicely done, Swiss.

Have your disloaction/shoulder issues caused you difficulty with benching? Did you always have these problems, or are they due to an injury?

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[quote]pushmepullme wrote:
Very nicely done, Swiss.

Have your disloaction/shoulder issues caused you difficulty with benching? Did you always have these problems, or are they due to an injury?[/quote]

I was a winger (Rugby) and had in all 4-6 subluxations (alternate shoulders).

It’s taken a long time to get strong(er) shoulders and my max bench is still only 315 lbs (crap compared to my 500+lbs squat/DL). Its worse if I “tuck” my elbows in. I prefer benching BB style (Flaring elbows, T-shape).

I couldn’t do a full ROM pull up when I started because it felt as if my shoulder would pop out from the force of pulling up. I can now do sets of 8-10. (20 if Kroc style).

The most helpful thing I found is doing slow controlled movements for anything shoulder related and lots of dynamic stretches, face pulls and rotation stuff.

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You look amazing Swiss.

Hard work pays off and you clearly show that.

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[quote]swissrugby67 wrote:
pushmepullme wrote:
Very nicely done, Swiss.

Have your disloaction/shoulder issues caused you difficulty with benching? Did you always have these problems, or are they due to an injury?

I was a winger (Rugby) and had in all 4-6 subluxations (alternate shoulders).

It’s taken a long time to get strong(er) shoulders and my max bench is still only 315 lbs (crap compared to my 500+lbs squat/DL). Its worse if I “tuck” my elbows in. I prefer benching BB style (Flaring elbows, T-shape).

I couldn’t do a full ROM pull up when I started because it felt as if my shoulder would pop out from the force of pulling up. I can now do sets of 8-10. (20 if Kroc style).

The most helpful thing I found is doing slow controlled movements for anything shoulder related and lots of dynamic stretches, face pulls and rotation stuff.

[/quote]
What kinds of stretches are you doing for your shoulders?

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[quote]Artem wrote:

What kinds of stretches are you doing for your shoulders?
[/quote]

Well I like to start with arm swings (starting with large circles then scaling down to tiny ones and back again).

Then shoulder dislocations with bands or wooden bar

Scapular Wall slides

Band pull downs, Overhead BB shrugs (no weight) and loads of other variants that can be found here:

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[quote]swissrugby67 wrote:
Artem wrote:

What kinds of stretches are you doing for your shoulders?

Well I like to start with arm swings (starting with large circles then scaling down to tiny ones and back again).

Then shoulder dislocations with bands or wooden bar

Scapular Wall slides

Band pull downs, Overhead BB shrugs (no weight) and loads of other variants that can be found here:
scapular mobility work - YouTube [/quote]

Do you do this before/after the workout?
I’ve been thinking of designating an off day to stretching my entire body well and doing this type of crap.

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[quote]Artem wrote:
swissrugby67 wrote:
Artem wrote:

What kinds of stretches are you doing for your shoulders?

Well I like to start with arm swings (starting with large circles then scaling down to tiny ones and back again).

Then shoulder dislocations with bands or wooden bar

Scapular Wall slides

Band pull downs, Overhead BB shrugs (no weight) and loads of other variants that can be found here:

Do you do this before/after the workout?
I’ve been thinking of designating an off day to stretching my entire body well and doing this type of crap.[/quote]

I’ll do some for warm up on my bench and overhead press days.

If I’m particularly sore I might do it on a rest day.

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dude you look awesome. i’d definatly do a MMF threesome with you.

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Great job!

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[quote]HolyMacaroni wrote:
dude you look awesome. i’d definatly do a MMF threesome with you.[/quote]

…

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[quote]HolyMacaroni wrote:
dude you look awesome. i’d definatly do a MMF threesome with you.[/quote]

You… forgot the lols… and smiley faces…