gSlasher327

Source: cpl of DiscussBodybuilding.com

Like many other people, I've been fitness minded for as long as I can remember. When I was about thirteen years old, I bought my first set of weights from a friend's garage sale- A barbell with two ten pound plates. I knew I wanted to be physically active, I wanted the benefits of exercise, and I wanted to work hard. Like too many other people, I had no idea how to go about it. Where does a thirteen year old learn how to workout? The same place a thirteen year old learns about just about anything in life- Their friends. The problem is, it turns out that's the same place many people of all ages learn how to work out. Sometimes, even the institutions we grow up in also provide us with misinformation when it comes to exercising, simply because that's the way it's been done for years.

Throughout junior high school, I lifted that thirty odd pound barbell as much as I could- Curls, reverse curls and overhead presses were about all I could do with just that. Of course, the thought of working my legs, back or abs was out of the question. My mind just didn't work like that. My routine, which I had gotten from the advice of my friends, consisted of five sets of ten reps for each exercise, every single day. No rest days, no changing up anything. Sure, it produced some results- Very limited ones, but sadly they were enough that other people noticed and would ask me how I got my muscles. I'd tell them what I did, creating more misinformed monsters along the way to spread bad information.

Once I was in high school, I was considered to be in good shape. I stood out in gym class, I was often called to the front to demonstrate proper pushups, sit ups, etc- It never occurred to anyone that even though I had defined arms, I couldn't do sit ups to save my life. I'd demonstrate them anyway, trying to keep the strain I felt off my face. People still came to me for advice, and I'd answer their questions- In my own defence, I never preached- People would ask me how I worked out, and I would tell them. Now, I see that was just as bad. The high school gym program wasn't much better than what I had been doing- We'd do cardio every day, but we'd also do pushups and situps every single day too. Once in a while, the teacher would let us see how many pullups we could do, but not often enough to consider it to be part of any routine. I joined the gymnastics team, and things still didn't change much. Their workout consisted of the same stuff, mainly to warm up for the gymnastics.

It was right out of high school that I signed up for the Army, which was where I found out I wasn't in such good shape after all. My cardio wasn't anywhere near their standards at first, and my situps were still lacking too- Under their routines, I caught up in those areas, and first began seeing the effects of proper nutrition on my body- I ate more healthy food while I was in the service than ever before. The problem was, even though they worked out hard, they still worked out wrong. Same thing, day in, day out. Pushups, situps, run. Everything was overtrained, so results were minimal- And all the food we ate seemed to give most people some extra weight. In fact, I was surprised at how many overweight people there were around me- And I was in an infantry unit. Don't get me wrong, the training helped- Some of those overweight men could outperform me, despite the extra weight- But the training never showed visible results for them, or me. I knew I was in good shape, but the actual shape didn't show.

After leaving the service, I took a few months off and did nothing. Then, I got myself a real set of weights, and decided to get back to work. I was one of those guys who did nothing but chest and arms, and I was still sticking to the same principles that had been beaten into me for years. Work everything out every day, go for as many reps as I could, as many sets as I could. I didn't think it was a good workout unless I couldn't lift my arms at the end of it. I had the determination, I was more than willing to do the work- But the information was still missing. I didn't know what I was doing wrong, and I started to become disheartened. I stopped working out again, this time it lasted for about a year.

When I finally picked up again, I decided to work out every muscle in my body. The way I saw it, if I couldn't get big (I was convinced that was impossible) then I'd just get lean and toned all over. The trouble with that was, I was still stuck using the same principles. I didn't eat right either- Maybe two actual meals a day, and not very healthy ones at that. So, I'd hit the weights every single day, trying to hit every muscle group with every exercise I could think of- It took hours, I was sore, and still seeing limited results. At this point, I was working out with some friends I worked with- And they were as clueless as I was. One of them was over six foot tall, very stocky- He was one of those guys who rarely worked out but was just naturally strong- But he was also forty or fifty pounds overweight. He would work out for five or six months at a time, and then give it up because he saw no results. He could bench 280, but couldn't lose a pound of that extra weight. Another coworker worked out every single day like I did- Doing the same thing every day, with minimal results. The fourth of our group switched things up a little- He would still work out the same muscles every day, only chest, arms and shoulders, but would do different exercises for them. We all overtrained, and none of us followed anything resembling a decent diet. Naturally, none of us saw results we were happy with.

Eventually, one of us bought Arnold's book, and it changed the way most of us worked out. Me, the big guy, and the the second coworker I mentioned started to follow the routines in the book, and we all started seeing those long sought after gains. The big guy started losing weight and getting stronger, the other guy and myself starting gaining some mass. The fourth person, however, stuck with his own routine. I think he was scared of lifting heavy weights- He had always been far behind the rest of us in terms of what he could lift, and seemed to get self conscious when he'd have to take plates off the bar after one of us did a set. No amount of reasoning with him helped. "Just lift what you can lift," we'd tell him. "This isn't a competition!" Eventually, he would only work out when we weren't near the weights.

After a few months of seeing some gains, I decided to do some more research. I realised that I had been doing things wrong for ages, wasting year after year on crackpot workouts that got me nowhere. I had the desire, I had put in endless amounts of effort, but now I knew I had been missing the most important aspect- The information. Luckily for me, I did a google search for bodybuilding forums and found DiscussBodybuilding.com- A relatively new site at the time, there weren't many members at all, but there were some very well informed people who were more than happy to share their knowledge. There were also others like me there- People who were more or less just getting started and wanted to be taught how to do it the right way. I was pointed in the right direction, and soon enough I was following the right kind of training program as well as the right kind of nutrition plan. I found out quickly that even though Arnold's book got me going, there was a lot of stuff in there that wasn't the best advice. The great information I found in these forums had been out there all along- It's just not readily available to the people who have a set of weights in their basement and some friends who are telling them how they should use them. Sure, anyone can log on to the internet and search for advice, or they can go to the bookstore and buy a book on lifting- But sadly, even if you do have the sense to go looking for the information, there's still a lot of misinformation out there, some of it even backed by the pros, doctors and so called experts trying to make some money by putting together the next new miracle workout. I was lucky enough to find this site and get the real deal- And now, I try my best to point others in the right direction. With the results I've been getting, more and more people ask me how they can see the same gains- The knowledge I share with them now doesn't come from years of expertise, it's quite the opposite. It comes from years of wasted training.

Master Of Puppets

I've seen cpl on those forums, but I've never heard his story. That's very cool. Oh, should I post up OldNavy's training journal?

MOP

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gSlasher327

Go ahead if it's a good read.