I just wanted to say Hi to everyone on the forums and introduce myself. My name is Adrian, I am from Illinois. I am 6’0 weighing 190ilbs at 14%BF. Ive only been strength training for a little under 2 years. Before that I was a fat ass, weighing 280ilbs. I managed to lose the weight, and the self-discipline I learned from the dieting carried over to my life.
Moving from 280 to 170 was a big positive change. I was even able to play varsity soccer my senior year of high school because of it. Although I was alot more happier with my physique than when I was obese, I was kind of scrawny (or at least I thought I was, especially compared to being used to being huge) and wanted to gain some muscle (of course who dosn’t right?).
So it began. I started learning as much about weightlifting as I could by reading a shit load. Especially, a bunch of the articles here on T-Nation. With overall great advice from all of their authors, and especially from my favorite authors such as Dave Tate, Polquin, Thibaudeau I have been able to experience great results. I went from struggling to put up 95 on the bench press, to being able to put up 225. Not that impressive but a milestone for me on my way to 315. Raw Squat 315, and raw deadlift nearly 405 (lockout issues).
My training has been very diverse. It went from me owning two 30 pound dumbells and curling them every day. To a bodybuilder type split. Then I read about the 5x5 powerlifting training and of course I had to implement it. It lead to great strength gains. Recently, I have been doing some cluster sets, and rest-pause. Overall, now my training takes a periodization approach.
However, I mostly have been emphasizing 2 types: muscule gain, and CNS intensive. For gaining muscle, I will typically work out 4 or 5 days a week, twice a day. Hitting the same muscle group twice a day, and allowing 5-8 days before it is hit again. The rep range is usually 5-10, but I throw in plenty of rest-pause, drop sets, occasional partials, and im loving/hating isometric holds.
For CNS intensive I will usually work in the 1-3 rep range, working at 80%+ of my 1RM. And when I do both types I always try to throw in some athletic training, like box jumps, sprints in place of heavy lower body lifting, high knees, side shuffles, jump rope etc. Ive also done a bunch of boxing/mma/jiu jitsu, and try to use these as forms of cardio. I love playing tennis and soccer in the summer. I am also very fortunate to have a weider squat rack in my basment, where I do all of my working out when I am back at home(I am a college student), and do all my other working out at my school’s rec center.
Hope I didn’t put anyone asleep, and I look forward to chatting with you all.