My 1 Year Workout Results

[Matt Young 0]

As of today, it has been exactly one year since I started working out. Most people, even though close to me, gave me little to no chance of making it a habit, with the most generous estimate being that I would last 4 weeks. To them, I say, "Fuck you."

 

In that one year period, I have learned a lot. I was a complete fool as it pertains to exercise when I started out.

 

In the past year, I have gone from my starting body weight of 125 pounds to exactly 160 pounds as of today. That's a 35 pound gain of (mostly) muscle.

 

For those who are unfamiliar with the process, weightlifters go on bulking and cutting cycles. It is nearly impossible to gain mass and achieve that "ripped/shredded" look all at once. Right now, I am on a bulking cycle, consuming massive amounts of calories (3,000+) per day. Once I get to my desired size, probably another 30 pounds, I will enter a cutting cycle where I will consume fewer calories and do cardio to get more toned.

 

Nonetheless, I am very proud of the gains I have made. I could have done a whole lot better, considering the fact that during the first 6 months or so, I was able to eat once a day a lot of the time and got far fewer calories than I needed, along with the fact that I only switched from machines to free weights as of 3 months ago.

 

With all that said, here are my "before" pictures of me at 125 pounds, taken 2/21/2006:

 

 

Pretty pathetic, right? Well, finally, here are the pictures of me from today. I didn't have any pictures of my legs from before, but they were pencil thin, just for reference. Here you go:

 

 

Well, that's all of them. I have worked very hard, so I would greatly appreciate any and all comments from you guys.

 

Here's to another 30+ pounds in the next year!

[Failed Bridge 0]

I don't ever want to see your bare legs again.

 

That being said how tall are you? You don't want to add too much weight here unless you're trying for body builder magazine like looks. I'd say get to 175 and just tone like a motha'fucker.

[Failed Bridge 0]

by the way, are you doing any crunches? I ask because the gut is looking flabby and with your calorie intake I imagine alot of fat is being stored to the mid-section if you're just lifting weights and not doing crunches and things of that nature.

[Matt Young 0]

I know, my legs look pale and hairy.

 

I have been doing ab work, but I don't have much fat, and that will be atken care of when I cut. Actually, it probably looks that way because my ab muscles stick out from working them so much.

 

My height is 5'8".

[Failed Bridge 0]

then ya, don't go any higher than 175lbs. I'm 5'11' 198lbs and still pretty flabby. You hit 190lbs at your height its not going to be good.

 

Do military style crunches. Tuck your feet under something so those and your ass stay on the ground, from there cross your arms along the bottom of your rib cage in a fashion that you're holding an elbow with the opposite arm's hand. Lay back and then crunch up until your arms hit your thighs. You don't need to go all the way back down on your back, just until your shoulder blades touch the ground. Just keep doing them until you can't anymore...they get painful though.

[Art Sandusky 0]

Hey, it made all of your upper body hair fall out. You sure this is healthy?

[Black Lushus 0]

settle down Chris Masters!

[Fökai 0]

You might want to reconsider another 30 pounds. As Frigid said, you should probably stop at around 170-175 unless you're going to do more lower-body work.

[Guest Queen Leelee]

Matt, do you have a male yeast infection.

 

Be careful that you don't secrete BALLSTON.

[Matt Young 0]

LOL, I'm not sure exactly what Leena meant, but nonetheless, thanks for the (humorous) replies.

 

Since people on another forum asked about my routine, I have done 1 day on, 1 day off, alternating between chest/triceps/shoulders and back/biceps/legs. I do the 2 ab machines my gym has just about every day, which has served mainly to make my ab muscles bigger, but not necessarily toned.

 

I have not used any supplements, because I have not been able to afford them.

[Guest Queen Leelee]

That redness on your inner legs can be a yeast infection.

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

The greatest thing you accomplished was learning to wear pants that fit you.

[Smartly Pretty 0]

You need to grow that beard back.

[Guest Vitamin X]

A combination of my football, post-football, and Marine Corps training routine have worked for me. I'll talk to you later and tell you what I did. But I'm in the process of getting back in shape right now. My gym workouts are pretty simple but that's just because I'm getting back into it at the moment:

 

Run 1/2 mile

Do 3-5 different lifts. This depends on what I feel like doing that day. I don't believe in doing one day upper body, one day lower body or whatever. Even though this is common in many weightlifting circles and I did this in football, the best results I gained from doing a complete, total-body work out. So, for example, on Monday I'd do

3 sets of overhead tricep lifts

4 sets of leg presses

3 sets of bicep curls

3 sets of upright rows

Then I would run a mile, and finish it off with a half-hour on the bike (which for me would go on about 10-12 miles).

 

It's mostly conditioning, but that's because it's more difficult for me to burn off body fat than it is to bulk up. My muscles react very quickly to most lifts and without all the cardio, I can get back into muscley shape within a couple weeks, months, and then after that I'm just building off of that. What I like about this workout is that it's flexible and doesn't bore you into a routine. On the days I'm not hitting the gym, I might sometimes go out for a run, at this point I'm not able to do a whole lot, but in a couple months I'll be logging in about 10-15 miles a week (but this also includes the stuff I do at the gym). Oh, and I also wouldn't recommend shaving off all the body hair, either. You're just trying to be someone you're not. Get a personal groomer thingy at Target or Walmart for less than $15 and trim it from time to time if you think it's getting out of control.

[EricMM 0]

Why did you do all this?

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

You mean that literally, or in some kind of cosmic philosophical sense, Eric?

[EricMM 0]

I want to know specifically why he bulked up so much. To this extent.

 

But I would also like to know why he posts at TSM. And why he won't take that Mario Bros pic out of his sig.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

I want to know specifically why he bulked up so much. To this extent.

 

It's not like he's totally juiced up. He put some muscle on his scrawny frame. Good for him.

 

I've put on a solid 30-40 pounds of muscle in the last few years. Is there something weird about that?

[EricMM 0]

No, not at all.

 

I want to know his reasons, that's all.

 

Were you bulking, as well?

[Black Lushus 0]

I think Matt came a long way, good for him, now he just needs to work on getting some tone going. He still looks like Haley Joel Osment, though.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

No, not at all.

 

I want to know his reasons, that's all.

 

Were you bulking, as well?

 

Not necessarily. I played a lot of sports growing up and when I got near the end of college I started lifting as way to keep myself in shape and fill the void of athletic competition. Through improved diet and good lifting habits I was able to pack on the pounds. I was a skinny kid, so I really needed it.

 

Ideally now I would cut back on the lifting and tone up, but I enjoy my routine.

[EricMM 0]

I just hope that he wasn't doing this because of women.

 

And I think he did.

 

Plus he needs to do more leg work, methinks

[Guest Queen Leelee]

Don't suggest Matt show any more leg pics in the future.

 

I'll be Ms. Negative once again, but it seems very unhealthy to go from eating one meal a day, to consuming 3k calories per day.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

The unhealthy part was eating one meal a day. As an active lifter, 3,000 calories is probably fine.

[EricMM 0]

But he's just going to start cutting, which will mean 1-1.5k calories per day, with cardio.

 

I mean, he HAS to start cutting, because at 3k per day, he obviously could look better, as some people here have pronounced. He didn't say he is doing cardio, and I assume he isn't. So he IS eating way more calories than he is burning in an attempt to gain muscle mass. So then he'll want to get the cutting in.

 

Either way, he's not living at a general pace, he's body building. Which I find silly. Just eat your standard healthy meals and work on increasing your workout amount at whatever pace you want.

 

Ultimately my point in all this, is this: in my experience girls are not that impressed by gigantic biceps. And honestly, looking at his pics, he seems to be doing WAAAAAAAAY more work on his arms than his chest or legs, which are bigger and better muscles.

[Failed Bridge 0]

I've been told that body builders tend to eat many times a day at smaller portions. Also, apparently the body can only burn off 40g of protein every 4hrs and will store the rest and turn it to fat.

[EricMM 0]

He isn't looking to burn it off, he's using it to turn to muscle. Which the body can only do in a similar rate, AND people, at least Americans, get waaaaaaaay more protein than they need for this purpose everyday. On average.

 

But again, this is not even much about his regimine, it's about his reasonings.

[Black Lushus 0]

he needs to get cardio exercixes in EVERYDAY...on his off days, a mile or two jog would be more than enough in addition to the cardio exercises.

[Matt Young 0]

I'm doing this, Eric, because all my life (til age 19) I was fat, and then the last few years, I was told I was too skinny. That, and I always liked sports (and wrestling obviously) and wanted to have a decent physique.

 

I actually work my legs just as much as anything, which is why they have gone from stick thin to regular sized.

 

Lushus, if I didn all that cardio, I would shrink dramatically. I would burn off so many calories that I would be back at my old weight in a matter of months.

[EricMM 0]

I doubt that tremendously.