slo-MO growth

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I'm 37, 5'11", haven't weighed myself in a while but probably between 175-185#. 43" chest, 36" waist, 14" biceps, 23" quads, 15" calves. I've gained about 2-3 lbs of muscle every year for the last 20 years, sort of a slow motion version of muscle growth. My goal is to be around 185 lbs. with single digit bodyfat, which I probably haven't had since high school.

To give you an idea of my growth, I had reached my present height about 21 years ago in high school, when I weighed about 129 lbs. The summer of my junior year, I was in a student exchange program. I went to Sri Lanka (ayubowan!) and got a stomach flu while I was there. When I returned to my home state of Missouri, I weighed a scant 119lbs! That means I've gained 60 lbs. of mostly muscle.

I worked out off and on throughout the years, at times quite seriously, though I would become discouraged after several weeks of not seeing major changes and I'd quit for a while. I was always an admirer of muscle and strength and knowing guys my age and younger with awesome bodies, I didn't realize the long-term commitment my body demanded. But I figured it out eventually. I noticed my body seemed to make the biggest gains after my discouragement led me to stop working out. I'd notice myself with a little more muscle in the mirror after a few weeks of rest. So I've incorporated that pattern into my workout schedule - giving myself up to several weeks of rest for a bodypart after one or several workouts, adding either weight, reps, or sets to any given exercise to make sure I always get stronger. I let my body's intuition lead me. Some bodyparts feel weak for a while after working out, and then one day, I'll just feel like doing legs, or chinups, or shoulders, and I'll find I have added strength by waiting.

I've really worked on chin-ups. When I was younger, I was unable to do more than one set of 5 to 8 reps. After that, I would be so exhausted that I would only be able to complete 1 or 2 reps in subsequent sets. Then, about 6 years ago, I got biceptial tendonitis in my right arm (luckily, I'm left-handed, but it was so painful, I hardly did anything for a year.) I didn't work out. I got weaker. Softer. I couldn't do a single chin up that year. When I finally healed the tendonitis (acupuncture, ice, stretching and resistance training for therapy) I eventually found I could do a chin up again. I had read about static contraction to increase strength, so, I'd hang at the top of my single chin up for a count of 8, drop my body about a quarter down and count to eight again, drop halfway, elbow at a right angle, count to eight, drop to three quarters, count to eight, and then drop to a straight arm and see how long my fingers would hold me. Eventually, I could do a few sets of these static holds, sometimes with a weighted backpack, and I started doing my chin ups again. My strength with these seems to take a long time to recharge, but last summer I performed my personal best of 4 sets of 7: 28 chins!

Even though I don't weight train 3x per week, I do stretch, yoga, some calisthenics, or other bodywarming technique (lately it's been a kung fu excercise called the Universal Form) to stay conditioned. It's worked for me, and I know as approach my ideal proportions that a little regular aerobic activity and dieting will bring my bodyfat down to a sexier percentage.

So that's my story. I'd love to meet another guy who's into muscle, dedicated to improving his body over the long-term, who might be into a little mutual muscle / strength worship. I read a story a few years back that I can't seem to find on this board (I thought it was called Jesse's HIT Workout) about a high school freshman kid who freaks out some older guys in the school gym by using their combined bodyweight as resistance for his pushups and chinups. Then he performed a single situp, crushing a keg between his knees and upperbody. This story probably touched on my personal version of the muscle fetish as well as anything ever has, focussing on just slightly unbelievable strength, using other bodies for weight, freakish muscle hardness, and how it can arouse others (particularly jocks who can't get over it). Maybe it's not here because it's about strength and not growth? It got a little violent at the end, which tends to dampen my horn, but I always wondered what else that kid could do and what else that writer might have done.

To finish this little introduction to me, here's a little pic of me in a wrestlers' bridge from October 2003.