So after about 9 years away from the gym..... Finally back at it.

[Lmg2701]

Those of you who know me know that I've been around this board since the start and that my avatar to the left is me in 2005. After a long time off I finally stopped drinking and carried my ass back to the gym. I've got a long ways to go, but when I put my mind to something I'm about as dedicated as you can get. Started back in the gym in early January. First pic is in February after a few weeks back. The other 2 are about 3 weeks old. Much more progress to come in the next 4 months.

[Mr I]

Coming in strong

What made you stop?

[Bouncer]

Good shit brother, you'll be back in no time. Muscle memory is a real thing. Plus you have the knowledge and experience to do what it takes. Glad you back at it.

[Lmg2701]

Coming in strong

What made you stop?

I was about to start my last semester in college and the gym became more of a job than enjoyment at that point. I should've just went in as a middle weight, but I dropped a ridiculous amount in a short time to make the light weights and I pretty much lost the love I had for the gym. Young and dumb.


Not necessarily trying to get back to that.... But it sure feels nice to call the gym home again and I've found my passion for lifting again.

[Lmg2701]

Good shit brother, you'll be back in no time. Muscle memory is a real thing. Plus you have the knowledge and experience to do what it takes. Glad you back at it.

Thanks B, feels great to have this type of life style back again. Without the drinking and being back in the gym it's like I found out how to live all over again. And muscle memory is definitely a real thing. I'll post more progress come around August.

[BEAST]

Glad to see you are getting back in to it.
And happy to see that you let it go worse than me. Lol. J/K brother. :D

[dna9488]

Glad to see the fire start back up. Hit it hard, keep humble, and don't look back

[rado]

Consistency is key and all,will follow, good job!

[Bouncer]

LMG, talk a bit about what you've done in terms of diet/cardio/hormones in order to make the transformation you plan on making. I'm sure there is plenty of people out there that would find it pretty inspiring and helpful to watch a guy go from the cookie monster (no offense :D ) to a lean mean machine!

[A$AP]

Good stuff bro. I agree with bouncer a lot of people myself included will find this inspiring! Start a log for your transformation

[chuckz28]

Hell of a foundation to start with bro. You'll be back to your former glory in no time. Hell of a good progress already!

[lipripper]

Good stuff. I was never built like you were but I was always in great shape all my life. Then I retired out of the Army after 20 years and stopped working out..doing anything in the gym.. I became a fat piece of shit. I went from 6'4 235 lbs with a 34 in waist to about 245 with a 42 in waist.. I was totally disgusted with myself.. about 4 years ago I got back on the stick and off my ass..I wont ever look back again... now I don't have the size I used to but Im healthy, stronger and again back down to a 34 in waist and setting at about 205. I'm good with it for my age!!.....go get it bro..never look back only move forward. Looking fwd to the progress pics!!

[Mr I]

I was about to start my last semester in college and the gym became more of a job than enjoyment at that point. I should've just went in as a middle weight, but I dropped a ridiculous amount in a short time to make the light weights and I pretty much lost the love I had for the gym. Young and dumb.


Not necessarily trying to get back to that.... But it sure feels nice to call the gym home again and I've found my passion for lifting again.

Fantastic

My only advice if I may is use the new found enthusiasm smartly. Tendons and ligaments will take time to adjust as will posture and flexibility. Train for completeness and balance and fitness from the inside out as opposed to just the cosmetic look and keep your ego in check.

[Lmg2701]

Okay, so here's the information on what I've been doing from the start of this new journey.

Back in early January I spent 2 weeks in the gym doing 1 workout for 4 sets 10-12 reps for each body part. I did this for 2 reasons..... Initial soreness can be a huge deterrent to push through in the very beginning and after such a long time off I wanted to just "wake up" the muscles so to speak.

Me and my brother decided to have a little competition of who could look the best by June 1. At this point I set my goal up as 6 pack abs by June 1. I tend to set the bar high and this is where I set it.

I was probably around 208-212 around 25-27% bf and I'm just over 5'7.

After the 2 weeks of full body workouts I joined a local gym. I train 5 days a week typically Mon-Fri Chest/Back/Tris/Bis/Shoulders. I was hitting Abs everyday.

Cardio was pretty much whatever I could handle walking on incline.

Also, I began to clean up the diet. Nothing extreme, but I started to keep a close eye on my carb and fat intake and no more fast food/fried food/etc....

The first 6 weeks were pretty hard to actually get a pump in my muscles. They've laid dormant for so long that no matter how concentrated the movement or how focused I was with each rep, the pump just wasn't there. I knew this would take time. Side note..... The only thing I've ever done for Abs are crunches while resting my lower back on a ball. It's always worked for me and when your back is positioned just right on the ball you can literally do crunches without putting a strain on any other muscle. At first this was also discouraging because it seemed like there just wasn't any muscle there and I was going through the motions.

Fast forward to the end of February. After consistently training I began to feel those muscles come alive again. The good soreness after hitting a muscle group started to come back. It was almost a feeling like muscle memory was finally starting to come back slowly. At this point I was doing 30-45 minutes of cardio at 3.0% incline and 3.5 mph. Diet stayed fairly clean although I knew I was going overboard with protein shakes through the addition of bananas and peanut butter..... Total caloric intake can skyrocket pretty quick if you're not watching what you're adding to your protein drinks; however, I still had 3 months left until June 1st. At this point I had my BF% checked using a 6 point caliper test and it came out to 22.4% bf. When the guy asked me what I thought it was my guess was 22..... Pretty close right? Here's the thing, I know my body well. I know how it reacts to certain food, training, sleep, and supplements through many years of logging these things.

Throughout march and some of april not much changed aside from cardio and caloric intake. I pushed my cardio up to 60 minutes per day with 3.5% incline at 3 mph 5 days a week. I dropped the peanut butter and bananas from shakes. I eliminated carbs as I saw fit while keeping protein pretty high. The day after and 2 day after soreness after hitting a particular muscle group was back. Doing concentrated movements now I could focus on each rep and feel the muscle contracting again. Same goes for abs. I guess I'd consider this the time where my muscles were actually starting to build a base again and get back into "game on" mode.


I moved in early april to a different state, but before I left Colorado I got my bf% checked again. In 5 weeks I had gone from 22.4% to 18.3%. Even through moving I kept my workout steady and my cardio on point.

Last month I upped cardio to 90-110 minutes 5 days per week @ a 4% incline and 3.7 mph. Started watching and lowering carbs more, but I still wasn't as disciplined with carbs as I should have been. I've never been one to try and train heavy, but in just this short amount of time I was back to lifting around what I've lifted before and I could definitely feel that my muscles were back in gear.


This month I will restrict carbs a LOT and keep my protein intake pretty high. A few things to note and I know I'm going to catch shit for this. I have not been working out legs. Yes.... I know..... I know that too...... Yes, I get it..... Fortunately for me I am genetically prone to having pretty good size quads and hamstrings and things will change after June 1st. Also, I know this is a shit ton of cardio and it can start to dip into the good storage that aids in building muscle. But through keeping my total caloric intake at just the right amount I find I'm able to dictate when it's too much. Typically my heart rate doesn't go above 135 during these 90 minute cardio sessions.

Supplements: None as of yet. As some of you may have seen I was having Cholesterol issues and until that gets in check I'm going to hold off (either way I wasn't going to jump back on a cycle right away until I got back into some form of decent shape). In fact one of the statin meds they put me on actually makes you retain water. It bothers the shit out of me and frankly I almost want to take a mild potassium sparing diuretic to see what happens. I may just try Taraxotone for a little while and see if that helps. I haven't checked my BF% since I moved to Cali and I probably won't until the end of this month. I know how much of an insane change can be made in 4 weeks and that's the plan for the month of May alone.

Come June 1st I will revisit bodyfat % and possible summer cycle which would be a Test 400 Cyp/Enat Blend, EQ, and Winny, this cycle can be seen in the anabolics section. I'll begin to up my carbs slowly, I'll drop the cardio to roughly 30 minutes 5 times a week to maintain, and I'll start hitting legs again. Come hell or high water I will have a 6 pack by late spring or this summer. It's my goal and it's going to fucking happen. I think if I can start this cycle June 2nd and do all the things I just stated then come mid-August I will be very pleased with where I'm at.

So that's about it for now. If anyone ever has any questions feel free to ask. I've always tried to log my training endeavors on here and I typically keep a monthly log at home that details what I worked out that day and how much cardio I did. One thing to note about me when it comes to dieting..... I can literally eat the same thing every day and not give a shit. So as of now I season a bunch of boneless and skinless chicken breast for the week and cook as necessary. The only carb intake I really have is from protein powders and milk. At this point no carbs after 6 PM at all and I try not to eat too heavy after that time all together, but my work schedule and gym schedule sometimes I eat pretty late but it consists of chicken breast only. Most mornings I'm around 203, but with dropping carbs and with water manipulation I have a feeling that # is going to start coming down quicker. Basically the goal is to get rid of all this mid section fat and start fresh like I'd be doing a very lean off season bulk. No plans to compete in the future just yet, just the plan I've set forth above. I'm loving the gym again and don't want to look at it as a job again anytime soon just and compete just to compete.

[Lmg2701]

Fantastic

My only advice if I may is use the new found enthusiasm smartly. Tendons and ligaments will take time to adjust as will posture and flexibility. Train for completeness and balance and fitness from the inside out as opposed to just the cosmetic look and keep your ego in check.

I train with moderate weight only and focus on controlled movements more than anything. I typically do train each muscle to exhaustion, but I consciously do it with my tendons and ligaments in mind. I know my body very well and I listen to it. When the time comes to go balls to the wall, my body will let me know. As for my goals right now, balls to the wall isn't required just yet when it comes to the amount of weight. But this is definitely a good tip for anyone that's just getting back into training.