I’ve been lurking on the site for a few months now reading articles and browsing the forums so I figured it was about time I introduce myself and the beginner section seemed as good a spot as any.
I’ve been lifting hard for about nine months now. When I started lifting the only goal I had was to bench press 300 pounds. Yes, I was one of those guys who basically did bench and/or arms for every workout. Of course, my workouts lacked intensity, consistency, or focus so it wasn’t that taxing to bench once or twice a week and do nothing else. I had never done a squat or any kind of deadlift in my life so as I began learning more about lifting my goals changed to become more well rounded and evolved to include a goal of squatting 405 pounds and deadlifting 500 pounds.
In addition to lifting 5-6 times per week I changed my diet. With the goal of keeping things simple I simply decided to get 200 grams of protein per day from “real” food. To me that meant getting my protein from meat, eggs, and milk and not from shakes or supplements. While protein was the only thing I kept track of I also ate large amounts of fruits, vegetables, nuts, sweet potatos, rice, and Chipotle burritos.
At first it was hard for me to eat that much protein but after a while it has become very easy. At this point 200 grams is my minimum and it’s not uncommon when I look back at the end of the day that I’m at 300-350 grams of protein. I don’t take any supplements except a couple months ago I started taking a preworkout drink. I imagine that as I progress I may start keeping track of things beside protein but as a beginner I wanted to focus on what going to have the biggest impact for me without getting bogged down in the details.
I’m 5’11" and when I started this lifting journey I weighed about 205lbs. Right now I’m weighing in at about 216lbs. I haven’t achieved all the goals I’ve set out for but I’ve made great progress. I found that I was pretty good at deadlifts and was able to pull 500lbs about five months in, so I started focusing more on my bench and squat max and volume on deadlifts. My bench is currently at 280lbs, my squat is at 385lbs, and my deadlift is at 525lbs although I have pulled 475x5 and 500x3. I’ve also incorporated power cleans and am up to 245x5 on those. I expect to achieve my original three goals before the end of the year.
I know some things that have worked for me over the last 9-10 months but I’m still really new to this so I’m probably not qualified to give anyone advise but I’m looking forward to being more a part of T Nation and continuing to learn from those with more experience than me.