I wanted to start this thread, start out with
Why: the reason why you started lifting ect…what was your tragic event
what you’ve accomplished:
you’re weakness:
for me:
Why: Towards the end in middle school I fel.l in love with a girl, now she’s gone forever. I ditched the lameass prep shits I hung out with, and found myself needing an idenity, enter squat rack hell.
Accomplished. adding 35 pounds to my scrawny frame in roughly a year.
Weakness: eating enough veggies///losing fat
how about you?
Tragic event: I had trained on and off for several years and finally flipped out when someone asked me if I lifted. How fucking embarassing is that if you think you have done something and nobody really knows. I had an “athletic” body, but not a bodybuilders. So…
What I did: I put on a good 46(but who’s counting right? haha) lbs past what my “newbie” gains had been in high school with all the stretch marks and new clothes to prove it. Acquantinces(sp?) wouldn’t ask me if I lifted, they asked me what the fuck I had been doing to get so much bigger.
Weakness: is definitly my mind, I have a lot of personal problems(we all do yadda yadda) that sometimes get in my way and I have to learn to control them. When all that crap is out of the way I have pretty lazer like focus, but when it is in the way I tend to fall apart. Working on it day by day though. But for a bodybuilding type thing, doing my cardio haha.
Why: had a rep as a waster, alcoholic, fat party guy, got sick of people not seeing any more than that. stopped drinking, started hurting myself in better ways!
what you’ve accomplished: 320 pounds down to 200 pounds. not being able to do a chin up, now do 3 sets of 15 twice a week. can see some abs.
you’re weakness: hot chocolate puddings with ice cream.
im unbelievably keyed up on fat loss, but im struggling to grasp a bulking ideology now. i need muscle but im a bit overwhelmed by how many options there are.
Why: I smoked for over 15 years, drank most of those years too. After seeing my Dad die at the ripe old age of 54 years old from the same habits, I knew I had to change my ways.
Accomplished: Got to 230lbs from 185lbs over last 3 years. Back to 210lbs right now just from cutting all carbs but fruits and veggies for a couple months to see if I have abs, I do indeed. Also gained tons of useful knowledge from T-Nation.
Weakness: Nutrition has always been the hardest part for me. There is just no way I can be sure to eat every 2-3 hours, but I stay as close as I can. Have a touch of workout ADD too.
God, reading the above post makes you realise your story is only miniscule in comparison to others and in a way a realisation of how lucky you are that it didn’t take something of that nature to get you into bodybuilding!!
Anyway, I was a bit messed up through out my teens, smoked, drank, and took a lot of shit that i completely regret.
A couple of new years eve’s ago I was walking home at about 5 in the morning after drinkin 6 cans and a the guts of a bottle of whiskey, these 5 lads (I think there was 5) said something cheeky wanting me to say something back…I did, and now I realise it was the best thing I’ve probably ever done!! I wouldn’t have changed my ways if it wasn’t for the beating I took that night, completely changed me as a person, haven’t smoked in 2 years, I might drink once every 3 months and at that have 4 beers max, drugs are 100% completely out of the question.
Bodybuilding and the lifestyle that goes with it has taken over my world, everything I do I have to see if it will interrupt or interfere with my training, diet or goals!
Its been a while since I read an article that I could relate to as well as The Phoenix Theory and I have to say at the end of it it made me realise just how much I LOVE BODYBUILDING!!!
Well my excuse for being fat was that i was a top HS lineman in my area. Well I was very disappointed to not get scholarship offers that had seemed very promising and that was very depressing for me. After that I realized I didn’t have a pass to be fat anymore cuz I didn’t play ball.
I also had nothing to compete in…I’d been an athlete all my life and now I was coming home after school fumbling around with nothing to do and no certain college future. Anyway long story short I was very depressed/unhappy and decided to change. Thanks to my great supporting cast of buddies at the gym I started reading nutrition articles and realized what i needed to do. I had been lifting for 4 years cuz of playing ball but i also started reading up on the science of it .
So I got my diet right and started doing cardio plus set date goals of when I wanted to be what weight. Well I was 263 pounds then in April. ( i guess i had a double phoenix cuz i realized how fat i looked in my prom tux). Now I am about 200 pounds with around 14% bf.
Another accomplishment for me was getting rid of a reputation. I high school I drank very heavily and very often and I was known for it. It also got me into some trouble and came close to getting me in alot more. I quit drinking almost entirely from april to september. And here I my first semester of COLLEGE I maybe drink once or twice a month and its very light. That i think is a great accomplishment. It just doesnt hold the appeal it used too.
Weakness: I’ve had trouble staying motivated becuz I’ve made so much progress but I STILL cant see my abs that great. Well i recently slapped myself in the face and said…“BITCH you havent been strict dieting or doing cardio wtf do you expect”. So i’m proud to announce I’m on my third day of using JB’s GET SHREDDED principles and starting back doing cardio to get me into that single digit range. I took some before’s so hopefully in four to six weeks or so I’ll have some excellent afters to show ya’ll ;} Good luck to me
Anyway…always making progress…I feel proud to call myself a phoenix.
My story:
When I was really young I was always the strongest, fastest and, in some ways, the best kid. If me and my friend tested our athletic abilities I would often come out as the winner. Then it changed and over the years I started eating unhealthy, drinking soda, and generally moving around less. Skip forward a few years.
I decided to change, and realized that I could regain the athleticism I had possessed in my younger years. Before I got myself a gym membership I found T-Nation, and I read as much as I could. I still do. Anyway, when I started I had a certain clue as of what to do, and a very strong will to get it done.
I started training, and like so many others I didn’t have much of a clue in the beginning. It started with benching mostly, even though I was never a fan of curls. Anyway, I kept reading and discovered the joys of deadlifting and squatting. I spent months teaching myself the technique, and eventually nailed it. From then on I just kept on lifting…
I quickly found out that it actually works, and that I had pretty damn decent genetics for strength training and muscle building. I was getting stronger and stronger, which gave me more motivation to keep on lifting. And here I am, still lifting and getting stronger.
Accomplishmens:
I’ve accomplished quite. I went from a bodyweight of around 70kg (155lbs) to 110kg ( 240lbs) in one and a half years of training.
My lifts are getting somewhere too, but there’s always room for improvement.
Weaknesses:
My nutrition could be better, don’t get me wrong. It’s fairly decent, I get my protein, enough calories etc. But I could get better at eating veggies and fruits.
Also, let me add that I feel blessed to have found such a great source of information at a young age. You know when someone writes “I wish there was a T-Nation when I was 15”. Well, I have that gift. And trust me, I don’t intend to waste it.
Wow such a range of stories!
Why?
One day i was with my brother and got picked on by some guy and i decided not not do anything (as i was a ‘pussy’ back then) and as soon as i turned my back he jumped me with his friends. i took a beating and so did my brother. but, it was the fact that i couldnt protect my brother that got to me, and so i started lifting! i then started getting bigger, but it wasn’t because of the lifting, but rather the fact ii was eating too much, as i believed that the more i eat while lifting (and let me tell you, my form, choice of exercises was poor) the stronger you get! and then the phoenix effect came in when i relised that i was not only fat, but i still had no chance of protecting myself, let alone my brother!
what you’ve accomplished?
ive gone down from 37" waist to 32" in about 7 months and am getting bigger and stronger everyday!
weakness?
still worried about bulking as im afriad of getting fat again, but i am getting better!
“Tragic Event” - Getting my balls continually busted about my body.
What I’ve Done - Cleaned up my diet. My training was always there but my nutrition was never dialed in.
What I’ve Accomplished - 7 Weeks in I’ve dropped 4% bodyfat.
[quote]zephead4747 wrote:
Why: Towards the end in middle school I fel.l in love with a girl, now she’s gone forever. I ditched the lameass prep shits I hung out with, and found myself needing an idenity, enter squat rack hell.
[/quote]
really?
[quote]Stronghold wrote:
zephead4747 wrote:
Why: Towards the end in middle school I fel.l in love with a girl, now she’s gone forever. I ditched the lameass prep shits I hung out with, and found myself needing an idenity, enter squat rack hell.
really?[/quote]
no, I was joking
duh…
Why? In January of this year I returned from holidays weighing in at 113kg (248lbs). In my holiday photos I hardly recognised myself and I was on a fast track to a heart attack because of my eating and drinking. On another note my wife has also been diagnosed as having osteoporosis and therefore “weight bearing” exercise was needed to improve her bone density. In the past I had “trained” with cardio and just got very bored, a friend of mine owned a gym and the rest is history.
What I’ve achieved? I started at 113kg and more than 30% BF - I now weight 96kg at 11.5%. My lifts have improved a little - Bench has gone from 95kg to 120kg, Squat from 130kg to 180kg and Deadlift from 160kg to 210kg (My squat technique was real bad in the beginning). I now follow a very structured diet that I love - if I want to cheat I will, though realistically this is once every two weeks. My life has changed dramatically, I have a new wardrobe and I am very motivated to keep lifting heavy.
Weakness? I still see myself as a “fat person” and beat myself up about it. Also, I still have issues with training failure as weight training is the only facet of my life where it is ok to accept failure - I’ll get over it…
why? Hated the way I looked, after a shoulder injury I went to 180 and 30%Bf at 5’6. Was always fat but seeing 30% was too much haha
Achieved? Still working on it. Lost alot of weight but still have a lot of body fat to loose before I can start my first clean bulk.
Weakness? I am going to say genetics? I eat clean 90% of the time so I dont get cravings for junk food yet I loose body fat very slowly, I am supposta be gainging weight right now (5# in 3 weeks) well I am still loosing weight instead, with the same bf#.
Why: I am an ecto, in my junior year, noticed freshmen lifting more than me, last year in track, a girl said " its funny to watch you sprint with your little arms pumping" Found T-Nation, started lifting
Achieved: a determination to grow, about 5 lbs gain in past month, weights increased on almost all lifts
Weakness: soda pop, i drink way too much, i can drink 5 cans a day and not feel anything, it goes down so smooth for me.
Why: I used to think I was in pretty good shape; then I saw some pictures of bodybuilders, adn realized I was pathetic. I went from “those guys are so gross” to “I want quads like that.”
Accomplished: My lifts are constantly going up ever so slowly, I actually have a body I’m proud of, not one I have to hide beneath the clothes. I also am the first one people think of when they need a jar opened, or something heavy moved 
Weakness: I need to get my squatting numbers up. period.
shameless plug
look and post in my thread for my story