145 to 185 , 2 years my story.

[playdate]

Just wanted to share with you guys the story on how I went from 145lbs to 185lbs in two years. I'm 6'2, and at 145lbs you can just picture what I looked like ekkkk.

I have had a mild curve in my spine my entire life, the doctors told me that I would have back problems my entire life, and I should just try not to lift anything heavy opps.

I started off in the gym without a clue to what I was doing, my first day benching I couldn't bench the bar, yes I couldn't get 45lbs up in the air, it was that bad. I stayed with it, got laughed at by my bigger friends, had girls say hmm you go to the gym? you don't look like it you skinny thing. I went to the gym at first beacuse I wanted to get laid more ( at least I'm honest). Btw I am a afc still just got into the game, so I thought the gym was my ticket to getting lays.


fast forward two years, I'm still not "big" by any means, but I no longer look like " i'm going to blow away in the wind" as a lovely girl once told me. What helped me put on this weight, food food and more food. I didn't notice any gains until I started eatting with a purpose. I'm not going to go into full details to what I ate, but for me to gain I ate around 4,000 calories a day of clean food. AKA oatmeal, lean cuts of beef, brown rice, grilled chicken, tuna, eggs, natural peanut butter etc. Lots of food, I didn't want to eat, felt sick to eat it sometimes but did it anyway. Like vapor ( I believe) said somewhere, 80% of gains/ weight lose is what you eat, and for me nothing happened if I ate candy and drank soda all day. If you want it that bad, after a few months you won't miss your old food, you'll just enjoy all the new confidence you have in yourself .


my advice on weight training,
Compound moves ( deadlifts!, squats, bench) put weight on me faster then any isolation move ever would.
For compound moves, 5-8 reps worked best for me, everyone is different so use lots of reps ranges to find what works for YOU.
I love training, if you enjoy going to the gym, and what it does for you, you won't ever want to stop it.



If anyone has an questions feel free to post, I am no where near an expert, or even certified, I'm just a guy that didn't want to be skinny, learned as much as I could about nutrition, and put my heart and emotions into lifting heavy weight. btw nothing feels better then when you find out your LTR cheated on you, so you go to the gym, loading up that bar, and doing some heavy deadlifts



ps, Ive been back pain free for two years !!!! silly doctors

[helicopter]

Good work dude, I'm going through a lean bulk atm too after dropping a lot of my weight off. 186 cm (about 6"1.5) and dropped from 79 kg (174 lb) down to 71.5 kg (157 lb) after I hurt my back at the gym and had 6 months off.

Hoping to put on 0.5 lb per week for the next 3 months. Already gained about 5 pounds : )

[Flanker]

I want to see before to after shots.

I tottaly agree with you about the gains coming from the change in your diet. I worked out hard and constatly always staying at 155 pounds for about a year. Same as you walking into the gym unable to push the bars, within two years I had zero weight gain but massive stregth gains pushing an 175lbs bench press and a 255lbs squat.

Once I took control of my eating adding protein shakes, making sure I ate like Butterbean I gained mass rapidly, another two years later and im walking around at 195 pounds and looking a hell of a lot healthier for it.

The only downside is I've got from a weight catagory where I had massive stregth advantages to one where im having to fight with some serious tough dudes.

For the guys that are wanting to makes gains I would strongly suggest using a good protein shake. I take one in the morning, after training and in the evening. The extra calories are a must have.

3 x Scoops Protein powder (Chocolate Mint)
2 x Bananas
1 x Cup of oatmeal (Do not put this in the evening shake)
1 x taplespoon flaxseed oil
1 x heaped table spoon Vanilla bio yogurt

Blend with skimmed milk. (Full fat milk lowers testosterone!)

[playdate]

Flanker, yea your situation sounds a lot like mine was, I just had to eat like a horse, to put on those pounds. I actually went from 145 to around 205 in a year in a half, gained a lot of fat in the process ( on purpose), but then when I cut back recently to 185 I was in the best shape of my life.

Originally Posted by Flanker

I want to see before to after shots.

I don't have any before shots except this one, which doesn't show you much of anything, but you can tell I'm a twig. When I get to my parents house I'll scan some before pics.


Before( I'll work on a better one)
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=jgkrps&s=3

After
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=w2jbd2&s=3


Like I said before I'm not big by any means, but have come a long way from my old twiggy self

[oreilly81]

Good job!

I'm in the process of reading Scrawny to Brawny to get a good workout, and it seems like you guys are right on the money. Lots of compound lifts, fewer isolation lifts, eating A LOT, protein shakes. I'm still reading, but the book did give good advice on changing some things for tall skinny guys.

For example, with the bench press: rather than having a wide grip, bring your hands closer together and don't let your elbows go below your hips. This should allow you to lift more weight. And with squats, keep your feet slightly wider than your shoulders and angle your feet outwards (11&1 o clock respectively) and that should help too. Anyways, read the book. Theres some decent advice and hopefully us skinny guys can bulk up.

Once again, great job on building the muscle.

[The Legend]

scrawny to brawny is good, look for a guy online called getlifted, he followed it to the letter and it worked. Also Nate Green did a good job on himself