Hi Reddit!
TRANSFORMATION
Height - 5'11"
Before - 230 LBS (age 21)
Now - 205 LBS (age 22)
WORKOUT REGIME
I started lifting weights freshmen year of highschool. I played football (LB/OL/TE, and even punter), and baseball (OF). During highschool, like many other "jocks", I was only focused on how much weight I could move in one direction. I graduated highschool in 2011 and went to try and walk-on at my university's football team. This is when I was my heaviest at around 230lbs.
For the majority of my lifting career, I stuck with a very basic 3-day gym split:
Monday: chest and tris
Wednesday: back, bis, and shoulders
Friday: legs
I have been plagued my injuries my entire life. I've had three ankle surgeries (bone defects in my joint) that keeps my front dead-lifting and squatting. Separated my left shoulder my junior year in highschool, tore my MCL once my sophomore year and once my senior year. After I tried out for the football team my freshmen year, actually the morning after the try-out, I woke up and just couldn't walk (this would become my third ankle surgery).
Before this, I cared null about nutrition. I was in non-weight bearing cast for 20 weeks and I knew that I was going to have to change something if I didn't want to fall out. This is when I started to learn about nutrition and started to get my diet in check. (My left calf, and consequentially my entire left posterior chain, was weakened because of this) So for the next two and half years, I lifted heavy, ate decent, did zero cardio, and pretty much was your typical gym bro. Doing half reps for most exercises in order to lift as much weight as I possibly could.
During the first three years of my college career, my lifts were around:
Bench: 405lbs - 1RM - Bench has always been the fastest thing to come to me, and also the fastest thing to go.
Hack Squat 4x15 (cannot get proper flexion in my ankle joint to squat properly): 450 lbs
OHP: 155lbs
Zero cardio
Honestly, I am not sure what the impetus was. Perhaps I was just getting bored with what I was doing? I started to run a lot. Like, a lot. For a then 220-230lb man, running was difficult at first, but I learned to love the mental grind it brings. Over the past 7-8 months, I have really been working hard, eating a lot, and enjoying life. I decided that I need to be strong, but I also need to be able to not be out of breath after a single lap around the gym. I want to be the strongest, most functional human being I can.
Routine looks something like this now:
Monday: Chest
Tuesday: Back
Thursday: Shoulders and arms
Friday: Legs
My best lifts (as of this week) to date are (at 205 pounds):
Bench: 315x2
Hack Squat: 4x15 - 500lbs
OHP: 140
Averaging around 15 miles a week for the past 6 weeks. Today, I just ran 6 miles (farthest run so far!), and then curled 135 pounds.
My weak points:
Abs, traps, calves, and my left bicep (consequence of my separated shoulder?) I know my tattoos are sort of crowding so please excuse them.
Everything in this album is from the first three years of college (18-21). Last couple pictures are very old ;)
Before. Everything in this album is from the past 6 months or so. I didn't plan on creating a post or anything, so the pictures are kinda scattered :)