The Grind...

Bigger Stronger Leaner Over 35 Lifter
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Howdy folks. I’ve decided to set up a presence here so I can network with some other people like me… namely older lifters. As a suburban, professional, nearly 40, husband and father, my peer group tends to be overweight, golf-obsessed, borderline alcoholics with lower back problems.

Yeah, I don’t fit in. But I’m good with that. I’ve always been a bit on the AWESOME side.

My name is Kent, and by way of introductions, I’ll describe myself in numbers:
Age: 39.5 (which is NOT the same as 40, thank you very much)
Height: 5’-10
Weight: 185 lb
Bf: 9-10%
Squat 1RM: 305 lb
Bench 1RM: 250 lb

I call myself a bodybuilder. I’m currently doing 531 to get stronger, but really I’m only doing that as a vehicle to get bigger. Yup, the goal here is to go from above-average-big-ness to “Holy shit, LOOK at the guy!”. Some days it feels like I’m going there. Other days I feel like a skinny bitch. I’ve dieted hard and been as low as 5%, I’ve bulked kinda hard and been as high as 200lb. I’ve basically exhausted all the tricks I have in my own arsenal, and I’m hoping I can make some good relationships here to learn and grow both in mind and body.

I’m coming form the Precision Nutrition forums, where I can say I am a big fish in a small pond. Coming over here is intimidating as hell because this is basically where the “big guys” live. Still, it’s time for me to go outside my comfort zone.

I’m attaching a couple of pictures, mostly just to prove to myself that I have a right to be here. The first is my before/after photo from the end of my last bulk to the end of the subsequent diet (lost 38 pounds!). The second was me with my best washboard to date. I’m sad to say they are long gone now, as I’m eating to gain.

My next posts will be my training logs, and general musings about the iron game, gym life, the suckiness of not having 20-year-old joints, and the cosmic injustice of not learning how to do bodybuilding correctly until this late in life.

Cheers, folks. I’m glad to be here.

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I apparently don’t have the fine tuning of posting pictures done quite yet… bear with me.

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Welcome aboard.

Our goals are a little different, but I need to lean up over the next few months, and you look like you know what you are doing in that department. What’s your diet look like?

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Holy crap! This place is full of powerlifters!!! All of you muscle heads are deadlifting cars in the parking lot on your lunch breaks!!! That Steely Dan fellow just squatted my combined big 3 lifts. Are there no other puffy headed, self-obsessed bodybuilders here???

Ok fine! Be that way! I’m used to being the odd one out in the crowd, I can take it. Besides, much like bleeding herpes I am not easily gotten rid of.

JJ - My diet was simple, but excruciating. Basically bodyweight x10 in total calories, consisting of nothing but veggies and lean ground beef, a poopload of supplements and vitamins, and absolutely NOTHING ELSE! Painful, but it worked like a hot damn. I lost the 38 lbs in 3.5 months. But then again, I tend toward skinniness. Building muscle is seriously tough, shedding fat seems to be less trouble.

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I can totally relate to the not fitting in with your peer group. I joined so I could talk to like minded people too. Do you train at home btw?

Welcome and I’m sure I’ll be “tapping you up” for diet info soon.

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[quote]Canada_K wrote:
Holy crap! This place is full of powerlifters!!! All of you muscle heads are deadlifting cars in the parking lot on your lunch breaks!!! That Steely Dan fellow just squatted my combined big 3 lifts. Are there no other puffy headed, self-obsessed bodybuilders here???

Ok fine! Be that way! I’m used to being the odd one out in the crowd, I can take it. Besides, much like bleeding herpes I am not easily gotten rid of.

JJ - My diet was simple, but excruciating. Basically bodyweight x10 in total calories, consisting of nothing but veggies and lean ground beef, a poopload of supplements and vitamins, and absolutely NOTHING ELSE! Painful, but it worked like a hot damn. I lost the 38 lbs in 3.5 months. But then again, I tend toward skinniness. Building muscle is seriously tough, shedding fat seems to be less trouble.[/quote]

I had a feeling that was what you were going to write down on the diet, and I’m the one who is sobbing. Time to nut up, I guess.

Also, there are a lot of PL focused posters here, but everyone has their different goals, and meeting your goals is what is important, not that your goals conform to everyone else’s. I think pretty much everyone who regularly posts here would agree with this.

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Brett - You want to “tap me up”? That sounds so… rough. I was just over in your log fawning over the size of your … lifts. Happy to offer what teeny bits I know about dieting whenever the mood strikes you. Basically it involves crushing all the joy from eating and restricting carbs until you get overwhelmed by full-blown teenage-girl PMS.

I don’t train at home. If I don’t have to GO somewhere to lift I’d never do it. Besides, as a self-acclaimed bodybuilder I cannot train anywhere that doesn’t have floor-to-ceiling mirrors on all 4 walls so that I may bath in the glory of my stunning sexiness at all times.

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[quote]Canada_K wrote:
Holy crap! This place is full of powerlifters!!! All of you muscle heads are deadlifting cars in the parking lot on your lunch breaks!!! That Steely Dan fellow just squatted my combined big 3 lifts. Are there no other puffy headed, self-obsessed bodybuilders here???

[/quote]

Welcome, If it makes you feel less left out I use to BB in my younger days .Also so did “MEAT” have too use capitals out of respect LOL.

But we don’t discriminate here. Most of us are all beat up and too tired to care :slight_smile: Of course you might be required to do 5/3/1 on principle.

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Welcome. I’m another from the PL group although I’ve been drawn (in theory) to bodybuilding. Nice job on getting lean. It sounds tough but like anything you’re driven to do, you just do it.

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Welcome!

There are a LOT of knowledgable folks on this board. Though most of them tend to lean towards the heavy lifting, they have a lot of wisdom to impart. And while I definitely don’t have a physique worth showing right now, I’m on record as admitting that I want to look better with my shirt off. So don’t be surprised if I hit you up with questions from time to time.

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Hey another good-lookin’ Canadian boy! The lines between BB and powerlifting training are pretty blurry most times and everyone is vain in their own way. You’ll fit in just fine.

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welcome!

and sheesh the place is being overrun with canucks, or is that offensive? s’ok I’m a former redneck and current hillbilly, mountain man…

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[quote]Canada_K wrote:
I don’t train at home. If I don’t have to GO somewhere to lift I’d never do it. Besides, as a self-acclaimed bodybuilder I cannot train anywhere that doesn’t have floor-to-ceiling mirrors on all 4 walls so that I may bath in the glory of my stunning sexiness at all times.[/quote]

I think he fit right in here…

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[quote]Null wrote:

[quote]Canada_K wrote:
I don’t train at home. If I don’t have to GO somewhere to lift I’d never do it. Besides, as a self-acclaimed bodybuilder I cannot train anywhere that doesn’t have floor-to-ceiling mirrors on all 4 walls so that I may bath in the glory of my stunning sexiness at all times.[/quote]

I think he fit right in here…
[/quote]

So, what you’re saying is that you’d like to bathe in his stunning sexiness?

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All these canucks …

nice job on keeping a low body fat- welcome aboard

People here come from all kinds of backgrounds
very serious groups of lifters.

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WOW!

I got a much nicer recption than I was expecting. Based on what I’ve read in some of the other forums I was kinda expecting to get skewered… called a moron… accused of molesting barnyard anaimals… clearly my awesomeness is winning y’all over. I’ll start posting my training logs tomorrow. For now I just want to say thanks… and engage in some blatant ass-kissing.

kmcnyc - Staying lean seems to be something I’m good at… it helps sustain the awesomeness. It’s also probably keeping me from gaining the LBM I’m chasing.

Ms O - Well put. There’s a fire burning in my belly, and it’s NOT my smouldering sexiness. It’s a nearly all-consuming NEED to lift, be big, be strong, be powerful… like you said it has to be done so I do it.

Null - Of course I’ll fit in. In a crowd of misfits no one is out of place. I checked your log. You are a beast.

Soldog - Thanks, happy to be here. And, yes, with our superior banking strategies and exceptional hockey skills, Canada will eventually take over the world. Unless of course another country asks us not to.

Giterdone - Brutal looking back, dude. Yes I’m starting to appreciate that a bodybuilder has to train to be strong, and a powerlifter has to train to be big. Funny that. But why is it I feel like any one of you guys could snap me in half like a twig?

kinetic - Yes this is a congregation of PL people, but I will rise to the occasion! Ask me about diet anytime. The plan is dead simple. The execution is murder, and is as psychological as it is physical.

Bulldog - I’m actually doing 5/3/1 right now. So far I hate the low volume, but dammit it works. I will, therefore, stick with it until I am strong enough to wrestle one of your dogs and not be killed.

Thanks all of you for the welcome. You've no idea how nerve-wracking it was for me to post here and lay it all out. I appreciate it and will do my level best to pay it back with interest.
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[quote]Canada_K wrote:
Basically bodyweight x10 in total calories[/quote]

I’d starve.

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You’re going to fit in well here - even if you are a Canadan [sic] AND a bodybuilder.

Photo looks good.

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[quote]Canada_K wrote:
WOW!

I got a much nicer recption than I was expecting. Based on what I’ve read in some of the other forums I was kinda expecting to get skewered… called a moron… accused of molesting barnyard anaimals… clearly my awesomeness is winning y’all over. I’ll start posting my training logs tomorrow. For now I just want to say thanks… and engage in some blatant ass-kissing.

[/quote]

The over 35 forum is sorta like a lone island in a sea of crap. Yeah ,your not going to see allot of belittling one another in here. You will see some good nature ribbing from time to time. Other then that most in here don’t suffer from ego issues and feel the need to bash other to make themselves feel superior. Not allot of drama either (except when I go on one of my rants from time to time on my log). But you’ll fit in fine in here. Since you are doing 5/3/1 which I some how missed during my first read of your post. But again welcome.

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[quote]ouroboro_s wrote:
So, what you’re saying is that you’d like to bathe in his stunning sexiness?[/quote]

He IS rather cut…