Name: Andrew
Age: 20
Stats: 6'2" 215lbs
Location: Upstate NY
Main interest/specialty: I'm just fascinated with the subject and try to learn as much as possible as a result. I find myself reading constantly to further my knowledge. The main thing I'm interested in is body recomp (in other words, looking good naked), including muscle gain and fat loss with a little bit more interest in the fat loss aspect. While the basic principles always remains the same, things change when dealing with individuals who are already fairly lean (10%) trying to get even leaner, especially with women who have problems with lower body fat. Though many men still have problems with low back and abdominal fat, and if they have quite a bit of lower body fat show the same problems women do. This is where my main interest lies.
Oh, and I like to lift heavy things.
Length of time: I started getting interested in the subject back in late 2005. I was a fat kid at around 265 pounds (mainly from sitting at the computer all day and liking food) and was looking to lose weight. However, with the vast majority of the information on the internet being either flat out wrong or completely unnecessary, I found it very difficult to become successful with my fat loss. I was under the impression that everything had to be perfect for my diet to work. I was under the impression due to all the reading I've done that I had to stick to certain foods, eat them at certain times, get my macronutrient ratios perfect, and then plan my meals out accordingly. Obviously as a high school kid who really can just eat what was available to him, this was difficult. This is why when you see me talk about fat loss I try to make it a bit more simple. Really when starting out I believe people should worry about a calorie deficit, protein intake and EFA's, and very little else. Experiment with other things later on, but get those basics down first.
I still ended up losing the weight getting down to about 185-190, but I was skinny-fat at that point. I had little muscle mass since I didn't really lift, and I didn't really pay attention to protein intake or anything, I just ate less. Since then I couldn't stand having absolutely no muscle mass I started getting into lifting.
Unfortunately I don't really have a picture with my shirt off, but
this picture was taken I believe late 2006/early 2007, after I lost the weight, but before I got into lifting. I played football since 7th grade so I did lift a bit, but unfortunately didn't take it very seriosly. It wasn' until the beginnning of my senior year in high school I got into lifting doing the Starting Strength routine. I got the book, learned the lifts, and saw a lot of strength gains, but didn't much size gains. I saw a little, but not much and this was due to my poor diet.
Here is a picture of around that point.
After that I started messing around with bodybuilding splits and didn't make much gains. I just didn't find it interesting I think was the main problem. Then I started Madcows 5x5 variation and started packing down a crap load of calories and protein. I saw very nice strength gains (405 squat, 275 bench, and 495 deadlift) and grew as a result. I did pack on more fat than I should have since I didn't really keep track of calories, but here is
the result.
At this point I figured it was time to cut and I messed around with PSMF's and this was the result (I've posted this one before):
http://img514.imageshack.us/im...812799b9f6ada744e1.jpg
Since then I unfortunately haven't made much of any progress. I've been on and off dieting pretty much. I'd gain fat, get lean, get fat. It wasn't until recently I started dieting again being a lot more flexible this time around and I plan on bulking slowly afterwards, only gaining 2-4 pounds a month. Since I just got out of a 1.5 year long relationship where most of my time was devoted to her, I have a lot more time to myself now to make this happen.
I am also currently working out a deal with another gym who is currently selling the place. If things go through my brother and I will be the new owners July 1st.
Future interests/goals: Get back on track with diet/exercise, which I've already began doing. Besides that I am currently enrolled at a community college for their physical education program, planning on transfering to another school once that is over with. At this point I'm not completely sure what though. Something to do with nutrition or exercise definitely, but not sure exactly what.
Oh, and I type too damn much.