As these before pictures will show, I had developed a “belly” and my sides were starting to grow. My physique was weak and I was well on my way to being a chubby tall guy… I knew I had to change. Starting in late December 2007, at the earlier mentioned 215 pounds, I started lifting weights and eating properly. My bodyfat diminished and I started to get bigger.

My newfound confidence and developing physique gave me the motivation I needed to push myself even further. By June 2008, I was up to 240 pounds, and I was leaner than when I started. By December 2008, just short of a year after I started, I was up to 265 pounds. The last progress pictures I took were when I weighed 257 pounds but the difference was negligible in the mirror so I didn’t bother to take new pictures.

The first three pictures are before I started lifting weights (215 pounds), the 4th picture is June 2008 (240 pounds), and the last two pictures are in December 2008 (257 pounds).

I emphasize that this was accomplished entirely without the use of steroids and was accomplished entirely through extremely consistent workouts and proper diet.

Ask yourself something: who do you hope to impress and what do you hope to accomplish by “dressing up” to go to the gym? As a male, you aren’t going to impress any females, as females generally don’t like to be approached in the gym anyway. They are underdressed (assuming they are dressed appropriately), sweaty, and many consider the gym their “private time.” As a female, dressing up for the gym is only going to get you gawked at. (more…)

1.) Squats in the Smith Machine

While anyone who knows what they are doing will heavily endorse the inclusion of squats in a workout regimen, performing them in the Smith Machine is not safe.  Squats provide myriad benefits as they stimulate the largest muscles in your body all at once, which releases large amounts of growth hormones into your body, stimulating muscles that aren’t even stimulated during the execution of the squat, while taxing and stimulating your core and duplicating a real world applicable movement.  However, (more…)

1.) Deadlifts

The deadlift is arguably the single best movement you can do; some professional bodybuilders have said that if you could only do one exercise, it should be the deadlift. It is the most compound movement you can do and is great for building mass and overall strength. The deadlift directly works (more…)

This statement has been the bane of trainers for years. Simply stated, you cannot “tone” or “bulk” muscles depending on your lifting scheme. Muscles either grow or they don’t. Muscle “tone” or “definition” is acquired by having some level of muscle mass while simultaneously having low body fat. There are only 3 goals related to fitness. One can either… (more…)