New... Warrior?

[Razor]

Hi NF. FNG here, and a young one. Almost 20 male elf race. Been going to the gym about 3 days a week for 3 months now, so I'm still a beginner, but I've also done a lot of research. Discovered this site last week, and the concept is mind-blowingly brilliant. Can't wait to see how my quest here unfolds.

About me? 19 for 3 more months, college student (business major), renting an apartment with my best friend, and bulking up. For stats I'm 6 ft (Or 6'2 compared to everybody else in Florida, since literally every other man I know lies about his height), 147 pounds, ~7% bodyfat. I have asthma which makes cardio a nuisance, but it hasn't bothered me much lately (albeit I've been doing less cardio since I joined a gym). Currently doing weight training for 30-45 minutes 3 days a week, doing all the major compound exercises and splitting between upper/lower body days. I try to use dumb-bells for any exercise I can, since I feel like the stabilizer muscles put to work with dumb-bells give a more beneficial workout than with barbells. However I still use barbells for squats and deadlifting, since those are leg exercises and I'm still working leg/core stabilizers with either.

Although I don't see myself becoming super big, nor do I have any interest in oly stuff other than the deadlift (and even then I'm going to quit as soon as I get to a high enough weight for that), I guess I'll have to go with the Warrior's guild, since despite feeling more association to Ranger's fitness goals, they are given the association to paleo and crossfit (ew and more ew).

Current stats (Not 1RP, I do 5 reps minimum to count it as my actual stat. Again, feeling more like a ranger than a warrior but whatevs) :

Squat-85

DB flat press- 35

Deadlift-60

Overhead DB press (with good form)-20

So wish me luck! Looks like I'm too late to be a competitor for the current goals, but that's more than likely a good thing. If anybody has any tips on how to set appropriate six week goals (I've never used 6 weeks as a benchmark before), please let me know or drop me a PM. Carpe Diem, folks!

[Ghost]

What's wrong with Paleo?

Anyway, welcome aboard my Rebel brother!

I'll leave it to someone more experienced to give you all the details on challenges.

[Razor]

What's wrong with Paleo?

Anyway, welcome aboard my Rebel brother!

I'll leave it to someone more experienced to give you all the details on challenges.

Because I could not even BEGIN to imagine trying to bulking without greek yogurt, cottage cheese, or whey protein. It's already hard enough for me to gain weight!

Also, I use olive oil on everything I cook. I could never find a suitable replacement.

[iFirefight]

Hey man, welcome aboard!

I feel your pain in the "hard to put on weight" group. I wish I could give you a major success story with the paleo diet, but I'm just starting it myself. Just a word of caution though, take care with those deadlifts I know a couple of guys who claim their back pains are from doing so many.

But again, welcome!

[CyningaDena]

I don't eat paleo/primal, I've never stepped foot in a Crossfit box, and the Rangers haven't revoked my card yet. Paleo and Crossfit are the hip new thing right now (anyone remember Nautilus boxes?) so you'll hear a lot about them, but it's not like you have to drink the Kool-Aid to be a Ranger. Pick the guild that seems to match your goals the best. Everything else is just the window dressings.

[Razor]

Hey man, welcome aboard!

I feel your pain in the "hard to put on weight" group. I wish I could give you a major success story with the paleo diet, but I'm just starting it myself. Just a word of caution though, take care with those deadlifts I know a couple of guys who claim their back pains are from doing so many.

But again, welcome!

Really? Intriguing. Is there any way to become a hybrid later on, or evolve from one class to another? Currently my main fitness goal is to just improve strength on lifts, gain lean muscle mass and weight. However, I've never been one to practice one-rep maxes, and other than the deadlift I have no interest in oly lifts like cleans (Only reason I do the deadlift is because it's a great compound exercise and I need something other than squats on my legs day). I also like keeping at a lower bf, I only eat on a slight caloric surplus.

Guess I'll have to take a look at the ranger's guild too before I decide.