I’m 37 years old. I started weight/strength training at 16 when I got a bench, a barbell, and some not so heavy weights. I had no clue. At 18 took a weight training class and learned how to seriously overtrain my upper body while devoting no time to leg development. The same was true of the weight training class I took in college. But just before my 23rd bday I stumbled onto ‘aerobics’, as it used to be called. I learned how cardio, or conditioning, or whatever you wanna call it when you get your heart rate way up for an extended period of time; could give me a leaner look, especially when combined with weight training.
Then I made a monumental discovery when I began learning the effect of diet. Within a few months I got pretty ripped by simply running in the mornin, workn out with weights for a couple hours a day, and eating lowfat high protein. I was kinda surprised that I could be that lean and strong in only about six months of somewhat ‘hard’ training. I was still studying martial arts at the time as well. I looked and felt incredible. - needeless to say I wasn’t doing everything ‘right’. I’d barely scratched the surface. But I did find a ‘template’ that I came back to over and over again throughout the years, tweaking aspects of it every time I learned a better way.
I was able to achieve some ‘decent’ strength and rippedness after a six month USMC deployment. I was around 135-140, and since my legs have always been my strongest bodypart, thus being how I measure strength, that was my peak. I was able to get 6 reps with great form doing the traditional back squat with 315 lbs. - I took 7 plus years off and returned in Winter '08. I wasn’t able to consistently train with weights 'til Dec. '09. At that time I did what I’d learned worked best for me, attempting to build size and muscle for a few months, then cutting it. This time I did it with no running. All my cardio was staggered within the weight training and all on the elliptical machine, and done only during the last month or so. Sho nuff, I was supershredded this time and back down to less than 135 lbs in only about 4 months time.
- I'd read Chad Waterbury's Huge In A Hurry, and even tried to apply it's principles within the framework of the program I'd designed for myself. So once I'd proved to myself again in April '10 that I could lean out well, I decided to give Waterbury's program 110% of my attention. I've been long-winded enough without the details of his ideas. Lets just say that I was never satisfied with my overall size no matter how ripped I've been. I'm not saying his methods and ideas are the ONLY ones that work. I am saying this: after doing 2 of his 16 week programs I've gained all my strength back( and more), I've gained 35 lbs, and I've never been thicker and fuller throughout my ENTIRE body.
This brings me to my point: today at the commercial gym where i train I was doin Incline Dumbbell Presses. After finishing a set, the guy next to me told me I needed to slow down my movements. Instead of turning his face into mush, I simply said, “No, I’ve done my research, and I’m specifically using explosive movement.” He replied that I learned about ROM in my research, right?, and that I needed to place the dumbbells in a closegrip position close to my chest. Again I chose simplicity and told him that I purposefully kept my hand in a vertical straight line above my elbow through the entire ROM. Next time, Sir, would you mind shutting the F up and just training? Do some more research, at least enough to realize there are many ways to train.