My Progress

I first started training when I was 15. Didn't know shit, worked out in my school's weight room. Did mostly curls, bench, with some occasional dips. Think I was 160, 5'10'' or something around there. Relatively low bf since I ate below maintenance.  Almost exactly three ago from today. Max bench 135 for a few reps.

This was me about 3 months later.  I'd say I was about 175 here. Didn't diet and didn't lift consistently, on and off. Bench was 175 one rep max.

 Worked out in school during gym and joined a gym about 2 months before the pic above. Did a lot of iron gym. I was 16 here, sometime around late winter. Both pics above I'm 16.

17 year old, 2010 fall---few months after the pic above.

This is when I started becoming more involved with the gym. I never missed a day and had a solid routine, and tried to eat for size. I can't say for sure what weight I am here. This was after a workout, I'd say I was about 12%ish bf in the 180s, maybe 190 as a high. 5'11''

Spring 2011, 17 years old days before competing.
This was the result of some very good dieting and training from an ex Mr America. I was 5'11'' to 6foot and in the 170s. Bf is very low, can't say how low for sure, but lowest probably of my life, est 10%

Me during summer of 2011. On a bulk, of Madcow 1x5. About 200 lbs here, probably a little less. There was no workout pump or whatever. My legs were in great shape here, I didn't squat atg, instead I squatted heavy with focus on using my legs. I have gone back to doing this present day.

Ignore date again. This was during my trip in Jamaica, during January of 2012 I was about 215 lbs here. I look super bloated because I ate a lot and had a little bit of alcohol. This was when I was progressing very nicely and eating a lot. I hit a brick wall though from getting stomach viruses, a shit selection of food, having appetite problems etc. I'm back on track though, just a minor bump in the road.

I'm currently sitting at 204 I'd say right now. Bf officially tested, so 204 lbs at 14.3% bf. Pick will be up soon.
Goal is in a 130 days, to get up to 225 lbs  bodyweight, and to reach 315 bench press, 405 squat, 225 ohp and 500 deadlift.

Regarding Form and Range of Motion.

So many people have misconceptions about form and ROM with weightlifting. In particular, which forms are for what purposes, and which form/ROM(range of motion) create a risk of injury.

There are several lifts (in particular, squat, DB Shoulder Press, and DB Bench Press) I have messed up for the past few months that I feel I could have benefited more from had I done proper form. When one is doing the wrong form or ROM, it does not only mean you are not going low or deep enough like most people think, the converse is true as well. Most people only call people out on ROM that is too short making the lift easier, less beneficial and invalid. This is a reasonable gripe, however, I want to take a different angle and explain why ROM that is too deep can be a bad move. 

Squatting ATG (all the way down, ass to grass)

The balls deep ATG squat is a useful ROM (range of motion) for an olympic lifter, but not as much for a powerlifter or bodybuilder imo. Why? Because in powerlifting competitions, parallel is acceptable. If someone really wants to get a high number squat, you would certainly not go rock bottom, that's no good--you will certainly lift less weight. From a bodybuilding standpoint, squatting ATG you will be focusing on getting a stronger posterior chain (more glute and hamstring activation) and less quad. In my humble opinion, if you are trying to get bigger legs (especially quads), or plan  on training for strength/numbers, you are best off training mostly below or at parallel. Squatting parallel and above despite common belief puts a lot of strain on the knees, not the other way around.

Parallel squat:

Olympic squat:






Dumbbell benching and DB Shoulder Pressing.  For bodybuilding purposes I would advise not going deep on this as it increases risk of injury of the shoulders and is not conducive to building better chest/shoulders. You will get a better chest/shoulder workout stopping when your arms are about parallel or slightly below.  Whether you're overhead pressing or dumbbell pressing, you should not go past your arms being slightly below parallel. The exception to this is perhaps if you  are training for powerlifting and you want to train for strength at the bottom of your movements. I myself, however,  train at slightly below parallel when I use dumbbells for my assistance exercises for my Military Press and Bench Press main lifts. You can do whatever you like of course, but I think it would be the best option to not go balls deep on DB Chest/Shoulder press. Stop slightly below parallel. Just my opinion. Here's a video of good form with heavy weight on DB chest press:

One final word, I also strongly advise not going past slightly below parallel on dips. That is a real strain on the shoulders as well.

February update

So in case you were wondering why I haven't been posting, it's because I have not been progressing, have been sick with a stomach virus TWICE in the past month, and have had the appetite of a bird.

I have gone from 215---> 197. Yes a lot of it was water weight, but there was muscle there too. Back to being on task. Gonna approach BB this time with healthy meals. No mass gainers for a few months, just real food.

Expect some nice lean gains, and some nice strength gains in the future. LETS GO.