Fabulous Woots

[Captain Fabulous]

Officially Overweight:

So, I've weighed between 125 and 145 lbs for most of the last 4 years. Starting last September I made a serious committment to gaining weight, which basically involved feeding myself like a king (currently making turkey burgers soaked in butter) and lifting all the heavy things. Over the past 7 months I've put on 26lbs and currently weigh in at 171lbs. WHICH, for my height, is just barely overweight according to the extraordinarily accurate and useful BMI scale (this is sarcasm). Since I'm currently "overweight" with visible abs, my next goal (in the next 4 years <.<) is to be "obese" with visible abs. Only 32 lbs to go <.<

Learning to slow down:


Noob gains, are awesome - but I've learned you have to slow down eventually. I managed to force myself to keep on stacking 10 extra lbs onto the bar every session until I was around 245lbs for my squats and deadlifts. I managed to keep on forcing myself to stack 10lbs a week onto the bar for my deadlift all the way up to 330 lbs, 10lbs away from 2x my bw. But, in order to "keep lifting more heavy things" I started "lifting heavy things with really, really bad form" (according to Exorcisto, my vertebrate will decorate a wall at some point). So I'm fairly proud of the fact that I've managed to drop 50lbs from my squat to work my way back up focusing on form and depth (Currently back to 270 from 295), and I've dropped 80lbs from my deadlift and I won't increase weight until I can do 5 at that weight with good form. I'm particularly proud of the fact that I convinced myself to not hit 340, because, frankly, it doesn't count until I do it with good form.

For the next year, I'm gong to try to take a "It doesn't matter where I end up next week, but where I end up next year" approach to weightlifting, and set (more) reasonable goals for myself for my lifts - like 2x my bodyweight for squats and 4 plates for a deadlift - instead of just trying to rush as high as I can as fast as I can.

---

One of my favorite exercises is weighted dips, and I managed to work myself up to 160lbs for reps - which I was very proud of, and then I hurt my elbow doing a lot of stupid stuff. I've managed to calm down enough to convince myself to take 6 weeks off from anything that hurts my elbows and then try to work my way up back from no added weight over 4 months. My form was starting to fall apart towards the end anyways, and I should have probably been doing 40lbs less weight - but I was too busy trying to add as much weight as I could.

I think that learning to slow down, focus on form, and listen to my body is something that's going to help me be the hulk I want to be in 4 years. Hopefully, because I'm going to smarter about the way that I workout - next year I'll get to share a:

340lb (2x BW) squat
405lb DL
180 lb weighted dip
115 lb weighted chin

with you guys. Let's see if I can keep not being an idiot!
 

[The Swedish Ninja]

I didn´t know that the Hulk was a member of the Community, but apparently he is

The chin and dips are impressive, hope you reach your goal of becoming obese

[Captain Fabulous]

Thanks! I would just like to point out that the numbers at the end are the goals I'm hoping to reach for next year. I'm about 20 to 25lbs away from both of those goals

[Guzzi]

That's fantastic. Really amazing to hear a success story the other way around for a change. I think that because so many of us have been overweight, we don't realise sometimes how hard it can be for people who struggle to put weight on. I'm so glad I read this.

Way to go on your progress so far (and the visible abs, of course!) and I'm looking forward to seeing how you get on over the course of the next 12 months. Woot woot!

[The Beard]

Best wishes for your goals!