Lifting goal ACHIEVED!!!!!!

[Ian]

yee haaaaaaaaaaa!

Ok, so heres the story. (ill make it short)

Ive always had trouble putting on muscle. My body type is an ectomorph, which basically means naturally you are supposed to be skinny and tall and really really hard to put on muscle and get that 'big' look.

I tried so much, and i even considered steriods. But i though 'no, because of my career, i cant be doin that ****'.

Begining of summer i was 6'1", 156lbs, and could bench press 180. Now thats good stats for anyone. Thats 115% of my body weight. Most people cant even do that. But i wanted more. I put a number in my head for the end of the summer before i went back to school and i wanted to achieve that.

I worked out 2 hours a day on a lifting cycle i designed, sometimes more. Took in about 150-175g of protein ON TOP of what i got from regular food. Drank tons of water. I also took a zinc suppliment. About a month ago i started using creatine for the first time in about a year.

I trained like this all summer.

Tonight, i weighed in at 163lbs, and cleaned 275lbs on the straight bar bench press, one rep.

I am so friggin happy right now. I go back to school tommorrow night. Goal succeeded.

Oh yea, im 20. [img]smile.gif[/img]

168% of body weight.

[Mighty Thor]

One thing about weight training. The longer you do it. The better you get.

One rep doesn't do much for muscle development. I've been to some powerlifting meet and seen guys that are either too skinny or too fat. Their chest is still flat.

Rep range of 6-8 will do more for you than you think.

[Ian]

yea, this is do know, i just try every once in a while to see what my max is.

this is my normal bench routine on my chest day:

Warm up with 145 x 10 real fast reps, 195 x 8 fairly fast, 230 x 6, 250 x 3, 260 x 1, 195 x 6, then i put 145 back on and bring the weight all the way down, half way up, all the way down again, then all the way up and count all that as one rep, and i do 10 of those.

i do inclined dumbbells also, and either seated hammerstrength bench, cable flyes, or some other chest thing, it varys.

i weigh 163, and have a 29.5" waist and a 43" chest, so im not a board up top lol......

[AlienInv8r]

Congrats man! That's awesome. Do protein supplements and creatine make that much difference (plus hard work obviously)?? I'm just startin up and been wondering if I should get some supplements.

But once again, congrats man. What's your next goal, heh.

[DARK SDE '02]

Why would you do fast reps on bench? Their are very few weight lifting exercises that should be done quickly, and chest is definitely NOT one of them. Don't hurt yourself man, a torn chest muscle hurts like a *****, trust me you won't be able to do anything for weeks if you push it.

But congrats on the success, 275lbs is good for someone your weight but whats the rest of your workout like? Are your arms, back, and legs in as good as shape as your chest? I personally have much better success with bicep/tricep workouts than bench because of my body type. Your chest workout is insane, you must be in there for hours! Must be nice having all that free time while some of us work 60hr weeks ;)

But goodluck man, keep us updated!

[Ian]

i do fast reps with 145 only. its my warmup. i just bust out like 10 reps in 10 seconds. no way with me doin 275 am i gonna tear something doin 145.

yes, the rest of me is in just as good shape, with the exception of my legs. i have just recently started working my legs, and only for about a month and a half. i need massive leg gains, and right now i hate they way they look.

Alieaninv8er, the suppliments help, but theh protein helps the most. you gotta have tons of it (seriously, tons of it) to grow. the creatine helps me do 2 or 3 reps more than i can normally, and i can really bust out some forced reps. it sorta just moves the 'wall' back a little for me. the ZMA helps a little with growth and recovery, but no energy help or anything.

i wouldnt take suppliments other than protein unless you are working out HARD core. you will just be wasting your money. trust me, for 2 years i tried suppliment after suppliment, and now growing. the whole time its cause i wasnt working hard enough.

i am on a 3 day split, 6 days a week, about 2 hours a day. m and th i do chest back shoulders, tu and friday i do arms, and w and sat i do legs.

[Mighty Thor]

Oh Ok, I see. That is awesome then.

Just that I knew some guys back then that trains like powerlifter thinking that they could be big fast.

How's your eating?

Remember, the foundation for muscular gain depends on 3 things: Training, Dieting, and Recuperation.

[skorpion317]

i used to be able to do 275...when i played football and wrestled. now i have to work, and i don't have time to lift anymore. although i do get some heavy lifting in at work. i'm the only big (not BIG big, i'm 5'10" 215 lbs.) guy that works in my section of the supermarket, the other guys are all skin and bones. so i usually have to lift all the heavy boxes and other ****.

[Ian]

Originally posted by Mighty Thor:
Oh Ok, I see. That is awesome then.

Just that I knew some guys back then that trains like powerlifter thinking that they could be big fast.

How's your eating?

Remember, the foundation for muscular gain depends on 3 things: Training, Dieting, and Recuperation.

diet is good. i dont do it TOO much in depth cause i do have a fairly high metabolism, but i eat a lot of chicken and other high protein meals, a lot of carbs, and drink a lot of water. i stay away from real bad stuff like fast food and fried anything.

i used to have a REAL hard time growing, and found out it was b/c i was overworking myself. i used to do a 2 day split, repeating my workouts every 48 hours. once i went to a 3 day split, the gains started happening real good.

all it takes is knowledge. hell, im STILL learning whats best for me, but i know sooooooooo much more than i used to.