Intro

[zdub]

Been lurking for a while and finally have a question to post, so here's my intro.

I'm a student studying business information technology (hoping to change it to International Studies soon). I grew up playing soccer but when I came to college, I stopped playing sports/working out COMPLETELY.

When I decided to go for the Marine Officer program back in the fall of 2010, I started working out and running to get in shape. Current goals:

Gain weight: Currently about 165 lbs, goal: at least 180 lbs. I'm an ectomorph, so I was always lanky growing up. Back in February I weighed in at 150 lbs which was the minimum for my height (6' 4").

20 dead-hang pullups - Currently at about 15. Started at 8 back in February.

50 pushups straight - I've always sucked at pushups.

300 PFT score - Just need to get my pullups to 20 and my 3-mile run down to 18 min (last one was 18:50).

I want to develop upper body strength and overall endurance through a combination of weight lifting and cardio (lots of HIIT).

Can't wait to meet some of you guys (and gals).

[The Purple Diane]

Welcome! It's great to have you here. Those are some awesome goals!

[Steve]

eat eat eat! and then keep eating!

When trying to get bigger, it's all about calories and protein.

If you want to get stronger, increase the difficulty on your exercises so you can only do sets up to 8-12 repetitions per set. Beyond that it's muscular endurance and won't necessarily help with strength or size.

And when you train for strength and power, it'll also build some endurance. I keep my sets and exercises down to 5-10 reps per set by doing very difficult exercises. Even though I haven't been specifically training for it, I can crank out 70 push ups in a row if necessary, because my body is prepped for it.

Lift heavy, and eat like a horse. Once you're at a size you're happy with, THEN add in the cardio and endurance stuff. trying to do both at the same time is detrimental to both size and endurance gains.

-S