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Preface: As you can see, there is a bit of info here. Sorry if it’s too much for you, you can just scroll down the pics. The reason is that I just want you to know what exactly Phil and myself had to work with to better appreciate the journey (still ongoing of course).
I’m 6’1, 38 years old.
I’m actually very embarrassed to post these before pics, but, I swallow my pride and share the below journey…
History and pride: Denial is powerful. For years, as long as I looked pretty good in my clothes then I was satisfied. I have a naturally wide shoulder girdle a “bird rib cage” and medium hips, so I could usually look half-way decent. Then, one day my Mom sent me a picture of myself jumping into the pool while holding my daughter… my stomach sticking out, not much muscle shape, reality finally “hit”… I didn’t want that for me, or for her… so I knew I needed to do things different.
This is tough, and related to above… I have a BS in Kinesiology, worked in a Human Performance Lab, worked with a Sports Physiatrist, and am now a nurse… and I let myself, I fooled myself into looking like CRAAAAAAAAP L I lost A LOT of good years L When it comes to anatomy, physiology, biomechanics, health, I don't mind saying I can "hold my own" quite well, but man, when it came to my physique and training, I LIED TO MYSELF so well
:banghead:
Do yourself a favor, seriously: take a photo of yourself in your skivvies, examine your diet, training and what kind, if any, progress you’ve made… it’s rather simply really- if you look like crap and haven’t made any improvements for awhile, well then, your program just ain’t working, so it needs to change… gee, how difficult is that huh? Please don’t lie to yourself.
Now, when I did my own training and diet, and was strict, I would make half-way decent gains… but I would either plateau or crash. So, I chose Phil.
Diet: I think we pretty much know Phil’s diet philosophy.
Supplements for health: Pretty much the “norm”- Coq10, nattokinase, baby aspirin, multi-v/m, vitamin d, niacin, milk thistle, fish oil, dhea, vitamin b-6
Supplements for muscle: kre-alkylyn (I know, some don’t like it)
Super supplements: I do feel I should address this as we all “know”, but of course, I have to use wisdom so please bear with me if this is too general for you… while this is a VERY subjective area, I would say only a “moderate” amount… nothing “exotic” and not much of “this and that”… just a couple of “basics”.
I pretty much had VERY LITTLE experience with super supplements before. A year prior I was on TRT and tried a couple of different compounds during different times “just to see” but that was it. This was the first year of “actual/real” SS use.
Fat burners: NO T3, NO clen… I would use E/C combo but only once or twice a day a few times a week.
Cardio: Pretty much none- If anything, I do only 10 minutes on the elliptical runner a few times a week, occasionally walk on the treadmill at a 10-12 degree incline.
Training: somewhat proprietary so I can’t share too much… but just the “basics”, 4-5 days a week. Only two different routines the past year… and again, same exercises, just different routines.
Physiology, genetics: I would have to say I had Metabolic syndrome when I started, http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4756 , I’m an ICU nurse and we love to self-diagnose ourselves but seriously, I think my insulin resistance was pretty bad, significant umbilical fat for years, like a couple inches. Besides which, when I first started training, my stomach was getting a lot smaller, but my abs weren’t showing, so my thinking is that I also had A LOT of visceral/organ fat.
I have a weird gene pool/result- Dad is 5’9, Mom is 5’2, I have three older brothers the tallest being 5’9, the shortest 5’6 and all fairly lean in build… I’m 6’1? Athleticsim is fairly strong in my family, but not muscle (I wanted to scan a picture of my brothers when they were younger, just skinny and scraggly, hahaha). Below is a pic of me at 18 at a drug-free contest… 6’1 and 178#! SKIIIIIIINY!
Results: In my opinion, while I am “satisfied” I also know I still could have looked A LOT better, but it’s MY FAULT… my diet this year was fairly decent, but not to what it should have been… falling of the wagon is OK sometimes, but I think I fell off too much and at times for too long… when I’m “ON” with my diet, WOW, results come FAST. Also, I’m fairly satisfied because again, our approach was fairly “basic”… I could have gotten here in a few months I suppose but the “low and slow” approach seems more wise and healthy. Don’t get me wrong, nothing wrong with an “all out frontal attack” actually (and I suppose that at some point I will try that once or twice… well, if Phil “let’s” me ), but at this stage for me this was the wise approach.
I don’t want to say how much I weight d/t the “illusion” aspect of bodybuilding, I will say that I’ve “only” lost about 25#… BUT, my strength is SIGNIFICANTLY increased, muscle mass has surely increased, and my fat-mass has significantly decreased (lost SEVERAL inches on my waist), so I have “re-comped” A LOT. You can’t see too well in the pics, but from a measurement status, my arms, chest and legs are about the same size, but now I have veins all the time in my arms, shoulders, calves and quads (veins in quads are cool! Hahah, yeah, I’m a dork). At this same weight, a couple years ago I had a pair of dress slacks that were quite uncomfortable to wear, today, the top had to “overlap” itself when I put on the belt they were so loose.
Labs: I got blood done a month ago, I was quite pleased. To be "real" I will say that my HDL was a bit low and that a couple liver enzymes were SLIGHTLY elevated, but all other numbers were spot on
Plans: THINKING of a Master’s show in mid-May, I will basically have to “grow into the show”… what do you guys think?
I will put the pics individually so you don't have to click on them, there's a few....
OH.... man, sorry for some of the blurriness... I feel so bad for my wife, she's VERY good at still life (flowers, etc) but bad at regular pics, I kept adjusting, have her shoot, then re-adjust, etc... I was getting so frustrated,, so sorry if a few are little "funky"
Phil, "sensei", thanks man, I've shared how hard outside of bodybuilding this year was a couple times, you are blessing man, I look forward to another year of the one single plan we have... "put on muscle, get leaner" hahahaha
Gear Depot- Thanks.
I’m 6’1, 38 years old.
I’m actually very embarrassed to post these before pics, but, I swallow my pride and share the below journey…
History and pride: Denial is powerful. For years, as long as I looked pretty good in my clothes then I was satisfied. I have a naturally wide shoulder girdle a “bird rib cage” and medium hips, so I could usually look half-way decent. Then, one day my Mom sent me a picture of myself jumping into the pool while holding my daughter… my stomach sticking out, not much muscle shape, reality finally “hit”… I didn’t want that for me, or for her… so I knew I needed to do things different.
This is tough, and related to above… I have a BS in Kinesiology, worked in a Human Performance Lab, worked with a Sports Physiatrist, and am now a nurse… and I let myself, I fooled myself into looking like CRAAAAAAAAP L I lost A LOT of good years L When it comes to anatomy, physiology, biomechanics, health, I don't mind saying I can "hold my own" quite well, but man, when it came to my physique and training, I LIED TO MYSELF so well
:banghead:Do yourself a favor, seriously: take a photo of yourself in your skivvies, examine your diet, training and what kind, if any, progress you’ve made… it’s rather simply really- if you look like crap and haven’t made any improvements for awhile, well then, your program just ain’t working, so it needs to change… gee, how difficult is that huh? Please don’t lie to yourself.
Now, when I did my own training and diet, and was strict, I would make half-way decent gains… but I would either plateau or crash. So, I chose Phil.
Diet: I think we pretty much know Phil’s diet philosophy.
Supplements for health: Pretty much the “norm”- Coq10, nattokinase, baby aspirin, multi-v/m, vitamin d, niacin, milk thistle, fish oil, dhea, vitamin b-6
Supplements for muscle: kre-alkylyn (I know, some don’t like it)
Super supplements: I do feel I should address this as we all “know”, but of course, I have to use wisdom so please bear with me if this is too general for you… while this is a VERY subjective area, I would say only a “moderate” amount… nothing “exotic” and not much of “this and that”… just a couple of “basics”.
I pretty much had VERY LITTLE experience with super supplements before. A year prior I was on TRT and tried a couple of different compounds during different times “just to see” but that was it. This was the first year of “actual/real” SS use.
Fat burners: NO T3, NO clen… I would use E/C combo but only once or twice a day a few times a week.
Cardio: Pretty much none- If anything, I do only 10 minutes on the elliptical runner a few times a week, occasionally walk on the treadmill at a 10-12 degree incline.
Training: somewhat proprietary so I can’t share too much… but just the “basics”, 4-5 days a week. Only two different routines the past year… and again, same exercises, just different routines.
Physiology, genetics: I would have to say I had Metabolic syndrome when I started, http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4756 , I’m an ICU nurse and we love to self-diagnose ourselves
but seriously, I think my insulin resistance was pretty bad, significant umbilical fat for years, like a couple inches. Besides which, when I first started training, my stomach was getting a lot smaller, but my abs weren’t showing, so my thinking is that I also had A LOT of visceral/organ fat.I have a weird gene pool/result- Dad is 5’9, Mom is 5’2, I have three older brothers the tallest being 5’9, the shortest 5’6 and all fairly lean in build… I’m 6’1? Athleticsim is fairly strong in my family, but not muscle (I wanted to scan a picture of my brothers when they were younger, just skinny and scraggly, hahaha). Below is a pic of me at 18 at a drug-free contest… 6’1 and 178#! SKIIIIIIINY!
Results: In my opinion, while I am “satisfied” I also know I still could have looked A LOT better, but it’s MY FAULT… my diet this year was fairly decent, but not to what it should have been… falling of the wagon is OK sometimes, but I think I fell off too much and at times for too long… when I’m “ON” with my diet, WOW, results come FAST. Also, I’m fairly satisfied because again, our approach was fairly “basic”… I could have gotten here in a few months I suppose but the “low and slow” approach seems more wise and healthy. Don’t get me wrong, nothing wrong with an “all out frontal attack” actually
(and I suppose that at some point I will try that once or twice… well, if Phil “let’s” me ), but at this stage for me this was the wise approach.I don’t want to say how much I weight d/t the “illusion” aspect of bodybuilding, I will say that I’ve “only” lost about 25#… BUT, my strength is SIGNIFICANTLY increased, muscle mass has surely increased, and my fat-mass has significantly decreased (lost SEVERAL inches on my waist), so I have “re-comped” A LOT. You can’t see too well in the pics, but from a measurement status, my arms, chest and legs are about the same size, but now I have veins all the time in my arms, shoulders, calves and quads (veins in quads are cool! Hahah, yeah, I’m a dork
). At this same weight, a couple years ago I had a pair of dress slacks that were quite uncomfortable to wear, today, the top had to “overlap” itself when I put on the belt they were so loose.Labs: I got blood done a month ago, I was quite pleased. To be "real" I will say that my HDL was a bit low and that a couple liver enzymes were SLIGHTLY elevated, but all other numbers were spot on
Plans: THINKING of a Master’s show in mid-May, I will basically have to “grow into the show”… what do you guys think?
I will put the pics individually so you don't have to click on them, there's a few....
OH.... man, sorry for some of the blurriness... I feel so bad for my wife, she's VERY good at still life (flowers, etc) but bad at regular pics, I kept adjusting, have her shoot, then re-adjust, etc... I was getting so frustrated,
, so sorry if a few are little "funky" Phil, "sensei", thanks man, I've shared how hard outside of bodybuilding this year was a couple times, you are blessing man, I look forward to another year of the one single plan we have... "put on muscle, get leaner" hahahaha
Gear Depot- Thanks.
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