New Members

**Adonis** · May 15th, 2005, 11:28 AM

Welcome everyone, I'm not on this thread as much as I should be. Thanks for joining the EF community

**Manfred_Man** · May 15th, 2005, 12:39 PM

hey,wil! welcome to the EF community!

it's great to have young guys like you join us here! (btw, i'm 39 also... but i won't tell if you don't... wait a minute... you already did... i guess the secret's out!!!)

as far as diet is concerned, check out the forums on Weightloss & Nutrition, and on Food & Recipes for more ideas... feel free to post stuff, but make sure to do your searches before starting new threads, and adding to ones that already exist... makes for good ongoing dialogues!

enjoy the rest of your week-end, and we'll speak with you soon! hope to hear more from you!

Manfred_Man.

**engr** · May 16th, 2005, 06:31 AM

Welcome to the communioty Wil! I'm sure you'll get the answers you're looking for here. And don't worry, you're not the only one here who has some getting in shape to do!

Good advice from Adonis, Manfred Man and Old Fart. The only recomendation I would make is to do your cardio after your lifting if at all possible. That will help with the slimming down process.

**Bled_man** · May 16th, 2005, 07:29 AM

What's up everyone!! I am 24 years old and have been weight training off and on for about 10 years. Just graduated with my bachelor's degree this past weekend and will be starting a job in July when my graduate school research is done.

I have always been athletic so therefore my training was always focused on sports. I played football all through high school and for two years in college so I was doing squats and power cleans all the time. Now I have made the transition to bodybuilding-style training and I am just recently getting back into it full time. Don't get me wrong, I am not a bodybuilder, I'm just a guy trying to get back into shape.

Stats:
6'2"
235 lbs.
Trying to drop about 10-15 lbs over the course of the summer.

Good to be here.

**Old_Fart2** · May 16th, 2005, 07:34 AM

Welcome Bled-Man

You know, I've never considered myself a body builder or a power lifter. I'm just a guy who lifts weights.

I think you'll find that just about everyone here is either trying to get in shape, stay in shape of get in better shape!

Hopefully you'll learn a lot from the ongoing dialogues here and after 10 years of lifting, you should be able to make some valuable contributions of your own!

D00723 · May 17th, 2005, 12:14 PM

Newbie to the forum. I have been pouring through the thousands of posts and i have to say you guys a great and totally supportive. I look forward to becoming a part of the community.

personal stats

6'2 205 15% bf lost 40 lbs since january where bf was approximatley 30%

work out 3x a week eat clean take creatine b4 workout and betagen after also take two protein shakes a day one in the morning one after workout

goals

pack on lean muscle and cut down bf. id like to weigh around 225. I have a frame to carry it but i want bf around 5% this is a long term goal not looking to pack it on by tomorrow morning, like some others seem to be, lol, but any suggestions, critiques anything feel free. thanks again look forward to reading through the rest of the site

**Old_Fart2** · May 17th, 2005, 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by D00723

Newbie to the forum. I have been pouring through the thousands of posts and i have to say you guys a great and totally supportive. I look forward to becoming a part of the community.

personal stats

6'2 205 15% bf lost 40 lbs since january where bf was approximatley 30%

work out 3x a week eat clean take creatine b4 workout and betagen after also take two protein shakes a day one in the morning one after workout

goals

pack on lean muscle and cut down bf. id like to weigh around 225. I have a frame to carry it but i want bf around 5% this is a long term goal not looking to pack it on by tomorrow morning, like some others seem to be, lol, but any suggestions, critiques anything feel free. thanks again look forward to reading through the rest of the site

WELCOME ABOARD D00723!

Sounds like you're on your way to your goal!

Personally, I wouldn't recommend keeping your BF at 5%, I'd shoot for maintaining a 9-10% BF. Ultimately, that would be the best for overall health, I believe. If you're interested in competing, then starting your pre-contest diet at about 9% is fine.

**engr** · May 17th, 2005, 12:27 PM

D00723 and Bled Man Welcome to the forum! Although I am a git older than either of you, our body stats look about the same. Although D has about 15 lbs on me, good job losing the weight!

You will find good support and information here, don't be bashful!

**Manfred_Man** · May 17th, 2005, 12:48 PM

hey, Bled_man & D00723, welcome to the EF community!

glad you're both here, and if there's anything you need, post it here or PM someone!

Bled_man, i'm no bodybuilder by any means, but i'd like to think that i'm in great shape for the sports i play still (39 years young, and still active with basketball, volleyball, hockey - used to play football in highschool, too)... with that said, you're in the right place to help get you to your goals!

D00723, congratulations on the results! pretty impressive & encouraging!!! i agree with Old_Fart on the BF issue. but if that's your goal, we're here to help!

once again, welcome to the EF family!

ohiolifter · May 18th, 2005, 01:32 AM

I finally realized that Old_fart 2 PM'ed me about two weeks ago when i signed up and directed me to the introductions thread so here it goes.

Well i'm 25 years old and live in Ohio. I am 5'11" and currently weigh 203 lbs.
I have only been back into training consistently for not quite two months. So far my gains in strength have been solid and i've also added some weight and mass.
Although i've only been back in the game for 8 or 9 weeks I'm not new to the gym. I've been lifting on and off for about 11 years atleast. In High school i was a running back and and also a sprinter in track. I also played some football in college but did not finish my career. I had surgery on my elbow about a year ago to remove some bone fragments from an old injury. Until I had the surgery my training was pretty much derailed by pain when I did try to work out. The last time I really put any kind of consistent effort in the gym was about 3 1/2 years ago. I got about a solid 6 months of training in and then kinda got lazy. The years after that the elbow injury started nagging me and you know the rest. I was farily strong in high school. I broke 300 in bench when i was 16. I guess my motivation for hitting it hard again now is that I dont want to get old and not know what i could have done with my body. So i figured its do or die time while I'm still young enough to recover well, ect.

I work out at a fairly small but modern gym only a block away from where I live. If the weather is decent I usually walk over. I also train at strange times usally. Typically i work out at about 1 a.m. The gym is 24 hours.

My current routine is a 5 on, two off split training routine.
mon - legs
tuesday - chest
wednesday -back
thursday - shoulders
friday -triceps, biceps

I know i'm probably going to get called out for over training but it's working for me so far.

Supplementation wise I am taking creatine, protein powder, L-glutamine, iron mag labs anabolic matrix rx, and occasionally nitroxy 3.

Diet wise I am trying hard to eat clean but I do cheat from time to time. Drink pop occasionally, east fast food occasionally. My philosophy is that if you set too strict of limits and you mess up than it leads to just giving up all together. Right now I am happy with the way my training is progressing so until I start to get stale i'll just keep doing what i'm doing.

Right now my goals are to get my body weight to 215 and to bench press 350. I honestly think getting the bench goal will be easier to reach. I am trying to eat as much as possible but it seems hard for me to get beyond the low 200 range.

Well I guess thats enough for an intro any questions you can respond or PM.

OH and i found extreme fitness via search engine. Don't even remember what i was looking for but i'm glad i found it.

**Old_Fart2** · May 18th, 2005, 06:12 AM

GLAD TO HAVE YOU OHIO!!

I'm certainly not going to rag you about overtraining. Off course, if you're doing 20-30 sets per body part I might.

You want to be careful with that elbow and not overdo it too soon. I'd build up slow and easy.

As far as diet, my wife and I have always advised having a cheat day. Just make sure that doesn't turn into a cheat weekend and then start dragging out into the week. After a while, your cheat day will probably turn into a cheat meal.

jadedragon · May 19th, 2005, 05:41 PM

well I guess I am here to learn and hopefully change ......I vew working out as a spirtiual need as well as a physical one...working out seems to me to be the one truly important selfish thing that we all need to do.....

my issue is discipline mainly..I go go go and then get distracted...and that is why I never get to where I desire....but hopefully I can learn some things....and find out what works best for me...

so hello...and hope to be talking to alot of u soon..!!!

**Manfred_Man** · May 19th, 2005, 09:04 PM

hey, ohiolifter, glad to have you here, and a hearty
WELCOME TO THE EF COMMUNITY!

hope you'll enjoy all the encouragement, cameraderie & challenge that you'll find here!

feel free to post or PM! there's a lot of good guys here! (and a few great gals here once in a while...)

**Manfred_Man** · May 19th, 2005, 09:07 PM

hey, jadedragon!
welcome to the EF community, also!

feel free to PM or post any questions/comments you may have, and jump into some great discussions, too!

glad you're here, and hope to hear more from you!

**Old_Fart2** · May 20th, 2005, 06:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jadedragon

well I guess I am here to learn and hopefully change ......I vew working out as a spirtiual need as well as a physical one...working out seems to me to be the one truly important selfish thing that we all need to do.....

my issue is discipline mainly..I go go go and then get distracted...and that is why I never get to where I desire....but hopefully I can learn some things....and find out what works best for me...

so hello...and hope to be talking to alot of u soon..!!!

Welcome, Jadedragon!

Glad to have you aboard!

Maybe you're going at too hard and burning out. Or maybe you just need to introduce variety in your workouts to keep them interesting. Another good motivator is to find a good training partner.

You also might want to consider a training blog: Traing Blogs

I think it's a great way to stay motivated, knowing that someone is reading over you workouts. And I know that at least I read them all and so does Adonis.

Hopefully by participating in this forum we can help keep you going.

plo40 · May 25th, 2005, 02:06 PM

I'm fairly new here, so I thought I would join in the fun. I am 27 and live in SoCal. I have been working out since I was 15, with varying degrees of commitment. I have played basketball all my life, but unfortunately I am 5'11" so my "career" didn't get far.

Like a poster mentioned about having bodybuilding ADD, I have gone through periods of being very thin (165 lbs, could run all day and dunk with ease) and fairly thick (195 lbs is thick for me. But could I run? Not so much). I have always hovered between 5 and 12% bodyfat, though lately its a lot closer to 12, lol. After an amazing run of no surgeries, stitches, or broken bones, I have had surgery for a bilateral hernia last july and just last week I had my knee scoped. Guess I'm getting old...

Anyway, this surgery has prompted me to get off my ass and find something to work for. As soon as I am able, I have narrowed down my possible goals as:

1. getting back to dunking, which I haven't been able to do since I was 22-23 (thanks for the plyometrics articles! Also, until reading your articles, I have neglected squats, thinking they were hurting my knees when they might have prevented my last injury. Go figure)

2. starting boxing or other martial art (though not sure I can afford it as a graduate student. I am a very competitive person, it brings out the best in me physically)

3. getting my bench press back to 315+ without being fat (though I have had pain in both shoulders, again thanks for linking articles about this!)

4. I've never had an 8 pack before, never had the discipline...I think this is a goal I can reach along with one of the above goals. Gotta stay away from my archenemy--pizza.

Doc says I will be able to run in a month, and start training seriously in 6 weeks. I'll keep you posted if I actually reach 1+ of these goals!

**Old_Fart2** · May 25th, 2005, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by plo40

I'm fairly new here, so I thought I would join in the fun. I am 27 and live in SoCal. I have been working out since I was 15, with varying degrees of commitment. I have played basketball all my life, but unfortunately I am 5'11" so my "career" didn't get far.

Like a poster mentioned about having bodybuilding ADD, I have gone through periods of being very thin (165 lbs, could run all day and dunk with ease) and fairly thick (195 lbs is thick for me. But could I run? Not so much). I have always hovered between 5 and 12% bodyfat, though lately its a lot closer to 12, lol. After an amazing run of no surgeries, stitches, or broken bones, I have had surgery for a bilateral hernia last july and just last week I had my knee scoped. Guess I'm getting old...

Anyway, this surgery has prompted me to get off my ass and find something to work for. As soon as I am able, I have narrowed down my possible goals as:

1. getting back to dunking, which I haven't been able to do since I was 22-23 (thanks for the plyometrics articles! Also, until reading your articles, I have neglected squats, thinking they were hurting my knees when they might have prevented my last injury. Go figure)

2. starting boxing or other martial art (though not sure I can afford it as a graduate student. I am a very competitive person, it brings out the best in me physically)

3. getting my bench press back to 315+ without being fat (though I have had pain in both shoulders, again thanks for linking articles about this!)

4. I've never had an 8 pack before, never had the discipline...I think this is a goal I can reach along with one of the above goals. Gotta stay away from my archenemy--pizza.

Doc says I will be able to run in a month, and start training seriously in 6 weeks. I'll keep you posted if I actually reach 1+ of these goals!

Welcome, plo40!

You've set some ambitious goals for yourself. My advice at this point would be to take it slow and easy to avoid further injuries.

Check out all the stickies and let us know if you need any further advice (remembering, of course, the advice is only as good as what you have paid for it).

plo40 · May 25th, 2005, 02:27 PM

Lol, thanks for the advice OF. Many of my previous injuries have been from trying to come back too soon (sprained my ankles about 20 times because they never healed), so you are right. Doc told me my knee may swell a bit if I work it, but no real chance of injuring from pushing it. I'll give it a month then I'm going to kick some butt. I'm not ready to admit I'm past my prime just yet! Thanks again

**Old_Fart2** · May 25th, 2005, 02:55 PM

You're certainly not past your prime. Hell, you won't even reach your prime until you're pushing 40!

You'e got many good years ahead! (I just turned 53)

**Manfred_Man** · May 25th, 2005, 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by plo40

I'll keep you posted if I actually reach 1+ of these goals!

hey! welcome to the EF community, plo40!

btw, i'm 5'11" as well, and as far as i'm concerned, it ain't the size of the package that counts! strong fundamentals, great court sense, seeing the open lanes, and watching for who's open when you're driving, drawing or dishing...

as far as dunking, i'm 39 and i'm still grabbing the rim... plyometrics with weight-training is the way to go!

i look forward to your posts regarding your progress towards your goals!

hey, fart! so, i'm pushing my prime, eh?

i'm in my prime!