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It was nearing the end of June 1999, when my weight lifting life was changed forever. I was reading the Q&A at a site I often visited, when I decided to look at the links. WWW.GETBIG.COM seemed interesting so I popped into the Q&A there. The first post was titled "Compounds for Mass," and under it was a very detailed answer by a man who has become very influential in my training, Sean "Squatmeister" Toohey. I felt a strong curiosity about this type of training right away, but I was still fairly skeptical, because I wasn't sure about the productivity and bodily balance of it. I again read this board a few days later, and there was a post about the results people had gotten through abbreviated training. I was soon sold on abbreviated training, and I needed a routine to begin on my journey to amazing gains. In the beginning of July Sean designed a program for me. All it consisted of was a 2 x 8 of Bent-Over Rows, a 2 x 8 of Dips and a 1 x 20 of Squats, twice a week! (Super Mass Workout #3).
I used this for a month, and went from 125 pounds at 5'6" to 130 pounds, and I wasn't even eating a lot of food! But, then again, at the time I didn't know about bulking. I had a lot to learn, and my adventure began. Soon, I found the Hardgainer web site, and joined the Round Table. There were floods of useful information, and in the beginning of August, I changed my routine to one which I have stuck with for almost 3 months... the longest ever for me. It was very much like Sean's, except that I did his 1x/week, and on the other day I did a 2 x 8 of each Bench Press, Chin-Ups, and Bent-Legged Deadlifts. I gained 10 more pounds, and yet I still wasn't even eating a lot! I was hardly even making maintenance, since I only gained 1 pound of fat with the 15 pounds of muscle.
A month before this point, I had found Cyberpump, and I devoured all of the information there, too. I especially liked the articles by Sean and P.J. Striet. By reading Sean's material, I have become an armchair expert on bulking, and am having great results with my first bulking cycle ever, but we'll Get to that later. Sean, as many know, is a huge advocate of 20-rep Squats. Through his recollections, I have read many real-life examples of the effectiveness of them, and now have super-motivation to work them HARD. Reading P.J.'s articles, I learned what it's like to train as a younger person, and specifically one who trains while participating in a sport, since he used to play on his high school basketball team. As well, P.J. stresses HIT training with very minimal rest between rests, which is quite different from the workout I have been doing with 4 minutes rest between sets.
Through constant visits to the Round Table, I have learned what foods to eat, and what to avoid, how many reps per set are best for a younger person, progression tactics such as 5 x 5, double progression, 2 x 8, among others, new bulking ideas, and the point of view of very experienced abbreviated trainees. These are only some of the pieces of information which have been of benefit to me remarkably. I have subscribed to Hardgainer Magazine, bought, and thoroughly studied Beyond Brawn and have greatly increased my overall knowledge of successful, drug-free training. I have learned a lot, and I feel confident enough to pass on a few things to my friends, many of who refuse to believe me, and pound away on bicep curls and bench presses, with no thought to legs or back. However, I am currently training 2 of my friends, and I told him he could increase his bench press from 100 pounds to 150 pounds by June, but he doesn't believe me. He will certainly be surprised when he reaches 150 pounds by the prescribed deadline! In the beginning of November, acting impulsively and stupidly, I changed my routine yet again, even though one of the things I have learned is that a routine must be kept for an extended period of time to produce optimal results. I am currently having my first experience with short rest periods between sets, and presetting the weights before training. The routine is centered around 20-rep Squats, with a set of chins, Close-Grip Bench Press, and Shrugs, all done for medium reps (Super Mass Workout #5). Since the beginning of November, when I began this routine, 5 weeks ago, combined with a bulking diet, I have gained 24 pounds, and no more than 5 pounds of them have been fat... I am sure of that just by looking in the mirror! While eating everything in site, I plan to weigh 165 pounds by Christmas of 1999. I currently weigh in at 160 pounds, 35 more pounds than I had when I began HIT/HG training in the beginning of July.
All I intend on doing for these next 2 weeks is to work my ass off in my workouts 2x/week, and plan on inserting everything I've learned so far to achieve that goal at it's deadline. It's so motivating to witness the weights go up, and my bodyweight increase almost daily, and certainly every workout, that I feel very happy to have found this method of training while still in my teenage years, and after only one year of slaving away conventionally. I have a workout tomorrow, going for a new PR (personal record) in Squats... ahhhhh, wish me luck!
Part 2 about the eating habits for gaining quick weight coming soon