Another New, Old Guy

Hey all,

My first post around here, so I’ll try to cover all the relevant basics.

Who I am: I’m 27, male, and healthy. (Disgustingly so, sayeth the doctor). I’ve lived in Florida most of my life and I’m in the process of testing to become a police officer (served 2 years in the Navy, now I’m a reservist). As of tonight, I’m 140lbs, 5’9" and I should come in somewhere between 8 and 11% BF.

Goals: In a word - SIZE. I have tried everything except doing things right. I got back into the weight room about a month and a half ago, sans ego. I started off with a simple 3-day Rippetoe split and it worked wonders when I did things correctly.

Resources: I put together my “macronutrient” numbers that seem to be universally agreed upon, and also made myself a food database in MS Excel for quick reference. Right now I’m on no supplementation (because I’m on an off-cycle). When I ramp back up, I’m looking at Jack3d, standard creatine mono, and MyoFusion as my “stack.” (as a note, I also take zinc, quercetin, and a multivitamin every day).

Some other things - I had to alter my original 3 day split (even though it was working) under doc’s orders. I was having a problem with some abdominal strain, and when I backed off squats 3x/week (at a constant set/rep/weight level) it subsided. Now, I’m kind of floundering. I’ll post my training split, but I’m more interested in my next step. I was looking into the Texas Method or some German Volume Training.

Most Importantly - Why I’m Here: I came over to T-Nation because I’m pretty much tired of fanboys with good genetics thinking they know everything, not listening, not helping, and basically contradicting themselves with every post. I’m not into looking at someone’s abs and telling them how rad they are. I wanted to find a concentration of real lifters that will joke, listen, and give real advice. I appreciate any time dedicated to my questions and hope not to get in anyone’s way.

Go with a split that breaks your workout up into three or more distinct days; i.e push/pull/legs, or a four or more day body building split.

These types of routines seem from all accounts to be best for size. Mark Rippetoe’s programs are popular because they are simple, and while simplicity is great for teaching a young kid how to lift, they aren’t really ideal for anything.

Whatever sort of routine you choose keep working compound lifts (bench, squat, deadlift, row etc.), and hit at least two or three accesory lifts per body part. Drop straight sets ala Rippetoe in exchange for ramping sets.

Eat at a caloric surplus with lots of protein, good fats and green veggies and you will grow.

As for supplements, keep things simple. A quality whey protein and creatine monohydrate are the base that most folks here work from. Pretty much everything else is a novelty in most cases. I normally tell people to get on vitamin D, but if you’re living in FL that shouldn’t be a problem.

If you’ve got any specific questions or concerns, ask away, there are a lot of very knowledgable and succesful lifters on this site.