I'd like to introduce myself, my name is Taleb from England. I've been a bit of lurker here... just reading the articles mostly and the odd threads here and there & just thought I'd share my story
I first started lifting in summer of 2001 aged 16, wanting to get a six-pack was my motivation
I suffered the dreaded skinny-fat syndrome & initially I decided to cut to get them..however, after 3 months of training and dieting.. I realised I had very little muscle mass
I weighed 140 lbs at 5'7" in the picture shown below (this was me after 3 months of training)
From then until mid 2004, I trained pretty consistently and managed to increase my bodyweight to 175 lbs and my lifts significantly
Unfortunately a lot of things changed in my life and I stopped training altogether and only resumed back in May 2006 and been training/dieting ever since and I have now reached my peak again as it were and I have ambitions to make 2007 the year for me
My new pics are a few weeks old and are basically 3 years worth of progression from the first one shown below
My lifting stats have also improved significantly
Starting 1RM's (2001 @ 140 lbs BW)
Bench - 90lbs
Squat - 132lbs
Deadlift - 132lbs
& my PR's (set in 2004 @ 75kg/165 lbs BW)
Bench - 100 kg / 220 lbs x 2 (raw)
Squat - 150 kg / 330 lbs x 10 and 160 kg / 352 lbs x 4(belt + knee wraps)
Deadlift - 225 kg / 495 lbs x 1 (belt)
Any questions/comments welcome and I'll do my best to answer them
Join date: Feb 2003
Location: Massachusetts, USA
Posts: 1673
Looking pretty good. Nice vascularity.
-Where are your legs?
-I'm a bit confused. How much do you weight NOW?
-Did you do anything physical to stay in shape in those two years that you didn't lift weights? That's some progress for somebody to start from scratch again last May, know what I mean?
Did you use steroids? You look EXTREMELY vascular.
Thanks, and no steroids to date.
I contemplating steroids a while back, but I decided against them since I haven't build a solid enough foundation yet and also my diet hasn't been perfect for most of the time
As for the vascularity, I am pumped in the pictures, the veins aren't as pronounced cold
BF Bullpup wrote:
Sorry, just saw your current weight and legs in successive posts. How do you plan to peak? Gain more mass, stay lean, or what?
I want to bulk up to 180lbs by the end of this year and see if I'm happy with that size
Also I like to lift heavy, so I want to set some good 1RM's this year as well
My diet has always been problematic (being a poor student doesn't help matters) so now I have the cashflow and more knowledge of how to construct a proper nutrition plan, I am sure this will enable me to progress further
Join date: Jan 2005
Location: California, USA
Posts: 10119
taleb wrote:
rrjc5488 wrote:
Good progress.
Did you use steroids? You look EXTREMELY vascular.
Thanks, and no steroids to date.
I contemplating steroids a while back, but I decided against them since I haven't build a solid enough foundation yet and also my diet hasn't been perfect for most of the time
As for the vascularity, I am pumped in the pictures, the veins aren't as pronounced cold
Join date: Apr 2006
Location: Texas, USA
Posts: 362
Very impressive looks and lifts. It was very smart of you to put off contemplating steroids because you recognized you needed to build more of a base. Hopefully with your future progress, you will not need them.
You've done a good job so far. You can do even better, no doubt. Three years from now, no one should be able to tell that first pic is the same person.
Professor X wrote:
taleb wrote:
Recent Pic (Jan 2007) - 165lbs @ 5'7"
You've done a good job so far. You can do even better, no doubt. Three years from now, no one should be able to tell that first pic is the same person.
Thanks Prof,
I've seen a lot of your posts, insightful and amusing
I have two main goals, physique wise Stan McQuay is the ideal for me, and he is the same height and similar structure
& as for strength my ultimate goal would be to deadlift 300kg (660 lbs) for a single and double BW bench and I'd be a happy man
probably won't occur in three years, but I will be ever closer
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