Ten years is a very long time. Not sure how long it takes most people to lose as much as they are going to lose, but you were definitely there. How much weight did you lose during those 10 years, lean body mass you think?
Makes sense that you grew. I bet though if you think about your strength gains, most of it came during the first 2 or 3 months?
Thank you.
Ummmm....I'll try to remember best I can.
Originally 140-lb adult at 11-ishBF, Tiny tiny frame/ribcage/joints/muscles/etc, 5'8".
Lots of skeletal and muscle-insertion flaws. Bad natural proportions.
From the biggining, honest assessments, always spending much more time on flaws, than easier/better parts. Intensity was always 100%....I wasnt in there to look great/ego....I was in there to look normal. Whole different deal....intensity, work ethic came not from trying to build ego/looks, but from desperation.
In 1000 yrs when the archaeologist dig up my skeleton, they will think they found the grave of a 12 year old ballerina, lol. Cursed by God, in the genetics dept.
Anyways, worked hard/smart/experimented/etc for 10 yrs, consistent lean muscle growth. Did lots of experimenting, everything from lotta sets to Mentzer/Yates style, I remember I was always pyramidding to heavy. The poundage was important to me at that time, tried to move heavy weights
Finally got into the 190-195 area, 30-32" waist (genetic waist was 28" before weight training), 18"(pumped)arms, thick back/traps, chest, tris, OK legs, shredded but zero calves/forearms (cursed). Maybe 12-13%, had some visible abs. Then walked away from it.
almost 15 years later (quit in 1999 I think, came back in i think 2014), Came back at 192 @ approx 30%BF, 16" arms. Physical strength was at a zero.
1st month, Fixed diet and trained w/ 5-lb dumbbells, 10-lb barbell, trying to relearn movements, trying to reconnect mind-muscle.
2nd and 3rd month, lite-medium weights, Lotta pyramid warmups at 50% failure, to heat/blood muscle/joints.
1 set-per good-genetic muscles, 2-3 sets for bad genetic muscles till failure.
Tried to make first rep feel as hard as last, did not start to count reps until, pain set in. Always to and past failure. 1 bodypart per week.
Spent as much time doing painful/controlled/blissful fascial stretching, as I did actually moving weights.
If I was using a 50-lb barbell for curls on a regular, once in a while I would pick up a 100 and do it, if I started using a 60-lb barbell, I could then do a 120-lb if I wanted. so I was getting dramatically stronger through it all, even though I was working w/ light/medium weights, and super high reps (but again, I was making first rep hurt/hard)......I was definitional getting stronger, could have used more/twice weight, just didnt want to.
What I came away knowing, in regard to strength, was regardless of the lite weights I was using, the ability to use heavyier weights was quickly growing, even though I stayed away from anything other than lite/med weights. There was no correlation to gaining strength through having to use heavier weights. For me, w/in that time frame, anyways.
in three months I was at 196 @ approx 16-17%. Arms were are 17.5 pumped. All of my good bodyparts grew fast, all of my bad bodyparts grew slow....my genetics had never changed at all. I looked like a worse version of my previous version, same shape/structure/etc.
My physique had changed dramatically in those 3 months. My UGL friend who was obsessed w/ heavy weights & a million sets, thought I was using gear, because i was lifting baby weights and not doing many sets and body was changing fast..
I did NOT have good genetics, I had 10yrs of work-ethic/knowledge of my body, and MM. imho.
Got ill, had to stop. Had I not gotten ill, I believe I would have hit my old wt/Bf w/in the next 3-6 months. If so, then Less than a year to almost replicate 10 years worth of previous work.
Hope this helps, I have been as honest and as specific as I can remember.