but cmon man. you have to admit you're genetically gifted.
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I am the exact opposite of genetically gifted. I measured my arms after about a month of lifting and they were a little less than 13. It took me 2 years of eating 6-7 meals a day and training my ass off to get to everyone else's starting point (I went from 137 to 185 I think it was)....so after 2 years of training like a madman I looked like everyone else's "hey I just started lifting" point. Most people 6'1" arent below 140lbs as a man (19-20 years old)....I was really behind the curve. My mother was painfully skinny, as was her father and grandfather and I inherited those genetics. I dont think anyone could equal my determination in all this though. The best thing I ever did (I feel) was eke out as much as I possibly could naturally...and i really feel I did. Basically things went like this
a) started at 137, trained hard heavy and lower volume and ended up 185ish after 2 years (clean)...a tremendous amount of food taken in
b) kept going for another 1.5 years like that and got up to 206ish (clean)
c) Like a god damn idiot started to overthink everything and jump on pro routines (specifically rich gaspari's)...I was so freaking driven I did 3.5 hour leg workouts with 21 sets....volume training...just destroying myself in the gym (still while eating a boatload of food) because i wanted it so badly...just bombed away liked that, trained so damn hard.. coming home exhausted and pretty much went nowhere for years, gained minimal size...(still clean)
d) was going to school and had limited time so i stopped overthinking things and went back to what worked (low volume...get in, bomb away and get the hell out)....started gaining again...212, 216, 220, 224 (still clean)
e) Really pushed the food like no tommorow because things were slowing down...and got up to a smooth 238 (still clean.... 7 years training clean)
f) had gained 100lbs at that point clean...dieted back down to about 222 and looked pretty damn acceptable....then saw two guys who were behind me fly right by me in the gym over about a years time and got really pissed off by it and decided to do something about it (started 200mg of test cyp at that point after 7 years clean)...started another journey upward using the things I knew had worked (heavy weights, lower volume, alot of food) but then with sauce...hit 238 again (way better this time around), 246, 252, 258, 262, 272, 278, 283, 288, 293, 296, 303...I remember these bodyweights because I always had sticking points on the way up.
Thats me in the flannel shirt below (im not showing that haircut) near the time i started lifting and now a couple weeks ago in my driveway on TRT...that flannel shirt pic is just not a genetic elite... every bit of muscle mass Ive ever put on was an extreme effort....nothing ever came easy.