Coming out of the shell...

Well, I had never thought of doing this before, but after seeing Neil’s post I thought maybe it was time that I “introduce” myself also (I say that in quotes because I’ve been here a lot longer than most people think).

My name is Clint and I discovered T-mag through another (now non-existent) magazine called Mind and Muscle Power back in 1999. I was a senior in high school at the time and I just said “Dood, I just wanna do a buncha test and get HYOOOOGE!” Okay, no, I’m just playing, I never was one of those idiots. I actually remember T-mag when there were no forums and there was no such thing as the paper mag. I even remember when you had to use www.testosterone.net to get to the site (that address still works actually; kinda’ funny).

So I was just a young guy looking to improve my training and nutrition knowledge and from the first time I visited the site, I was hooked. The first Atomic Dog I read (somewhere around issue 50 or 60, I can’t remember exactly) about made me fall out of my chair with laughter, and the info was so…different than any other training mag I had ever read. It seemed like these guys actually knew what they were doing, rather than just telling you how to get “CANNONBALL DELTS AND BICEPS” over and over. I went back and looked at the past “issues”, soaking up as much knowledge as I could.

I can honestly say, T-mag had at least a little bit to do with the change in direction I took in my life. I entered college as a finance major, geared and ready to enter the market as a broker. But I started to realize that sitting behind a desk or running around on a trading floor 10 hours a day would drive me fuckin’ nuts. My love for working out had grown so much so, that I totally switched gears and became a Kinesiology major with an emphasis in Exercise Science. I am currently still an undergrad (I had to do a little backtracking, having switched majors) at the University of Kentucky, with the intent of going all the way for my doctorate in Exercise Physiology.

I’ve always been the kind of person that hates to ask questions (hence, my lack of participation in the forum over the years) because I like to find answers for myself. I love to read, research, pore over medical texts, studies and journals…extremely exciting shit like that. Seriously, though, I usually feel like if I can’t find the answer doing my own research, then it’s probably not there. That might sound a little arrogant, but I promise it’s not. I just never wanted to sound like someone that asks an ignorant question without doing any research of their own.

As for my training and diet goals, I’m just about like everybody else: trying to get stronger and bigger every day (oh yeah, and that whole “look good nekkid” thing that TC used to always ramble about :-)…just kiddin’ if you see this TC). I have been active my whole life, playing baseball, basketball, football, hockey, soccer, track…I about did it all. The only ting I played in high school was soccer, though (probably gonna’ get flamed for that one). The first weight I picked up was somewhere around the age of 11 or 12, with my dad’s old dumbbell and barbell set that he had at the house (my dad still works out to this day; he’s a warrior and a helluva role model). I’ve always been kind of small though, exactly the same body as my dad. It took me awhile to realize the truth to that whole “calories in vs. calories out” concept. And once I learned it, it took me even longer to actually apply it, with school, jobs, etc. always seeming to get in the way. I knew what I HAD to do; it was just a matter of DOING it. Lately I’ve gotten much more serious about my training than I ever had, putting on about 20 pounds in the last three or four months (I’m about 165-170 at 5’11’'). My strength has also improved every time I walk in the weight room. I have a long way to go, but one of these days I’ll post my results in the photo forum. I have some before photos that I took, so the after’s are just sitting around waiting on my ass to hurry up and grow :-).

So I guess that’s me in a nutshell. Just wanted to say “Howdy!”

What up, Clint?

Where ya’ been lately?

You’re going to have to make it over to Gold’s on RichRD in Fall and bang some iron with me bro! Either that or we can go eat some dead animal flesh [TM by EC].

BTW, I still want to hear about that swimming adventure…:wink:

PM me sometime: There are a few other KY T-Men.