Names Tom and a 19 year old Welsh guy (think I might have posted an introduction thread ages ago but things have changed) and a regular reader of T-Nation articles. This might be quite a long intro so get comfy!
Lived most of my life in the ‘average’ category - was around 150lbs for most of my teens so was hardly what you would call a ‘good build’.
However, back at the end of November last year I suffered a DVT (blood clot) and was hospitalised. The odds of this happening to a teenager are apparently 100,000 to 1 - maybe I should start doing the lotto! Anyway, in the week I was in hospital I didn’t eat or sleep and lost a stone in under a week. When I was let out I had gone down to around 9st 10lbs and couldn’t stand up. In fact it was 2 weeks before I could stand up and over a month before I could walk without crutches. I came out with depression and was generally a state!
As I had lost all my fitness and couldn’t do any sort of cardio (I still can’t because of the pain) I joined my university gym and started lifting. I weighed the least I had done for years and needed to get back into any sort of shape. During the time I was off I read articles galore on the internet to gain information so I wouldn’t be wasting my time. That was at the start of February. I now weigh 12st 10lbs so thats a gain of around 52lbs with little fat (this is obviously some as I can’t burn it off as easily now).
As well as improving my weight my lifts have gone up as such:
Bench: 50kg > 80kg. I bench mostly with dumbells as I didn’t have a spotter and can do full sets with 35kg dumbells, but have done a set at 80kg.
Squat: 60kg > 130kg. This surprised me the most as my legs were the worst affected, but they have developed the most!
Deadlift: 60kg > 150kg for a triple.
My routine consists of:
Monday: Chest and Arms
Wednesday: Legs
Friday: Back
If you have noticed that I don’t work my shoulders I’m waiting to see a doctor about them as I believe I possibly have arthritis in them (I feel like the oldest 19 year there is!) as they tend to grind and pop during some movements and I don’t wish to risk them util I have had them seen to.
My diet is going good. Eat fairly clean with good protein (if a meal doesn’t contain much protein I’ll supplement it with a protein shake). I also drink lots of milk during the day (squats and milk FTW) and water which is pretty much all I drink. I might need to be boost my diet soon as I might have only achieved noobie gains but I’ll overcome that when I plataeu.
I don’t really have goals as such other than to keep growing and lifting heavier! I would prefer to squat twice my bodyweight than to walk around skinny with abs showing so I just have to keep eating, lifting and sleeping (especially the last one!). My one true goal though is to close the Captain of Crush #2 which I am now so close to closing I can taste it. It literally is mm.
Well, thats my story. Not sure why I posetd it but I have! Not likely to include any pictures as:
a) Don’t have any before ones so you guys can’t really see my progress
b) If I did it probably wouldn’t be much different to most you see here.
So now you kow about me, and I hope to learn more about you guys and the iron game in general. See you all around 