For those of you who gave up on their bodies

[Huffman]

Let me tell you it feels REALLY awesome when you go clothes shopping and the clerk gives you some tight or sleeveless shirt, which you NEVER THOUGHT OF wearing, and says "I really like this on you". (+if its a girl hehe)

Just sayin
I've been working out on and off over the last 3 years, but always thought I don't see any real results. I had injuries, broken bones, so I almost gave up - whats the point anyway?

But recently I noticed YES I have become bigger and stronger and YES it shows and YES people pick up on it. But my mind was still "I'm a scrawny guy", so I actually didn't notice until everyone around me was telling me!

So take heart, even if you think you're hitting a wall, the truth is probably that you ARE gaining but your mind won't let you notice.

 

[runner83]

I second this.

I started doing weights in March and went from 155 pounds up to about 185.

Formerly I used to do a LOT of running, and did a couple of marathons. Now I have a fairly muscular build and have still managed to keep about 80% of my aerobic fitness.

I think my mind has adapted to me as I am now, but reactions from people who haven't seen me since then show just how great the change has been. And I still get a good boost every time I look in the mirror.

I also live away from most of my family and have come back for the xmas break to visit, and the reactions to my change have been very satisfying.

Makes me wonder why I didn't start sooner.

 

[GoodButNotGreat]

yea im 22 and i recently started training (and finally EATING) seriously this summer, i used to work out off and on in the past but im truly seeing results with a dedicated workout routine, eating tons of clean food, and switching everything up. the attention i get from girls and compliments from everyone is wild

 

[Don Israel]

great post!

Although it's not encouraged, if one must take a 'workout break' just make sure it doesn't last too long...body mass decreases fast... and it also takes 5x more effort to get it back than if you were maintaining it...

 

[ChalengeGuyFan]

I second this.

I started doing weights in March and went from 155 pounds up to about 185.

Formerly I used to do a LOT of running, and did a couple of marathons. Now I have a fairly muscular build and have still managed to keep about 80% of my aerobic fitness.

I think my mind has adapted to me as I am now, but reactions from people who haven't seen me since then show just how great the change has been. And I still get a good boost every time I look in the mirror.

I also live away from most of my family and have come back for the xmas break to visit, and the reactions to my change have been very satisfying.

Makes me wonder why I didn't start sooner.

How did you gain muscle while keeping on running?

 

[runner83]

How did you gain muscle while keeping on running?

Well, actually this year, my running was a lot less.

Had a hamstring injury (not major) in May, so did only swimming and cycling after that for a couple of months, then another knee niggle in October, so just did cycling after that.

Personally, I want to maintain some fitness as well as gaining muscle, which is why I've kept up with the cardio exercises. But have kept it to no more than 30 - 40 minutes per session, since any more is a waste of time (and muscle!)

Probably the major change was in my eating program. Went from eating 3 meals a day to 6-7 a day and heaps more protein.

 

[DonGello]

How did you gain muscle while keeping on running?

I'm only in highschool and this might be a reason why this works for me?
But I had a very good bulking diet after I changed all my unhealthy eating habits to healthy ones (Mainly protein/low-medium carbs/some fats (good ones). I need to give you a little background info on me first though.

I've always eaten extreme amounts of food ever since I was little. To give you a rough estimate, when I was in freshman/sophmore year I would probably eat somewhere in the 6-8000 calorie range of junkfood without giving it a second thought. (I never became fat though because I have something ridiculous for a Metabolism)

Back to present day. I eat somewhere between 3-6000 caps depending on the day. Afterschool I hit the weight room with my lifting partners and we do about an hour-hour 15 min of a specified weight group. Then comes about 400 reps of various abs which we finish with planks and hollow-holds, and this usually takes us about 20-25 minutes. After this comes our cardio

We start off with 6, 50M sprints to get warmed up. Then we do 4 laps around a normal-sized track. Our 5,6 & 7th lap are accelerated pace laps, which pretty much means a slow run. Halfway through each of these we sprint the 2nd entire half of the track. After we finish up with these we head back into the school to a 3-flight set of stairs. We run up them doing the following: One foot each stair, two feet each stair, left leg hop, right leg hop, bunny hop, Karaoke's both left and right side, then finish it up with "powers" (as many stairs as you can get in each leap all the way to the top).

Our entire workout usually has us leaving our school at around 5:45-6:00
- 1-1.5 hours of lift
- 20-25 minutes of abs
- About 1 hour of high-intensity cardio.

The results? I have gained 11 lbs total (3 months of training) but my maxes have moved up from

Bench - 150 to 195
Pull ups (Biceps) - 16 to 29
Bicep Curl - 65 to 110
Reg. Fly - 30 to 45/50
Decline - (each arm) 40 to 75

Only ones I remember at the moment. (We do not lift legs/ does not mean we do not work legs. We are all joining wrestling next year so we have to keep our total weight down. We work legs everyday through our sprints and stairs.)

Finally, as for my fat %? I believe I have moved down 11 to 8% but have not been tested. If you would like progress pictures I wouldn't mind but I only have 2 at the moment.
~~~(Note: I also had the stomach flu in the middle of this and was out for a week and a half. I lost 15 lbs of god knows, and had to work my way back up to my current maxes)