INTRO
My name is Rob and I'm from Philly. I've been an athlete my whole life and could never seem to gain the weight and get the body I always wanted. I'm a college student and I have a daughter, girlfriend and a part time job. I'm incredibly busy, but I find the time to work out. I'm an extremely dedicated person and I love to push my physical limits.
Now you’ve come to this blog to figure out how to gain weight. First off I want to say this; I am not a personal trainer. I’m not a fitness expect and I don’t study kinesiology. What I have done is tried since I was a teenager to gain weight and strength. Not just any kind of weight but lean muscle mass and functional strength. In this process I have taken a weight training class in college, I’ve read tons of articles and recently a few books on the subject. I’m also constantly in contact with people in the field gaining advice and tips.
GOALS of my BLOG
First- to keep me motivated.
Second- to help out those guys that are in the same boat I was in high school wanting to add pounds and just couldn’t get it done.
Third- to track my progress with my workouts.
MY BACK GROUND
I have been blessed with good genetics and growing up I was always one of the fastest kids on my sports teams. I have always had great balance and a strong base. I played football, baseball and basketball. I had a knack for climbing and flipping. I taught myself how to front flip and do hand springs. I could do some crazy stuff on the trampoline. Growing up I played running back and line backer/safety in football. In basketball forward or center. In baseball I mostly played the outfield. In high school I focused on baseball and football. I never came off the field playing football. The positions I played wide receiver, safety, strong safety, corner, punt returner, kick returner and that guy that runs down the punts. From that list you can conclude the only time I wasn’t on the field was when we kicked off. I had great endurance, I’m tough, and I never give up. The only thing I lacked was size. I was only 160lbs. In baseball I played the outfield because of my speed and strong arm. I was a great base runner and I could put the ball in play. As a baseball player I played for the RBI Phillies. This is basically an all star team in Philadelphia that plays in regional and national tournaments. I played center field. As a team we won the national championship my final year knocking off LA RBI team in Dodgers stadium. If you’re looking for more information on RBI (Reviving Baseball in the Inner City) you can check that out here. The most I ever weighed in HS was 168lbs before going into my senior season for baseball.
DURING COLLEGE
While I had the speed to play D-1 in football I didn’t have the size and couldn’t pack on the lean muscle mass I needed. I was unfortunate with football. My head coach didn’t help me or anyone else in my graduating class find a good football program. We couldn’t get game tapes or even our mail on time from colleges, but choosing a school was easy for me. I had my daughter and I wanted to stay close to home. So I stayed in the city. I was going to play baseball, but after attending practices decided I would rather work and pay off college as I go, which I continue to do to this day. My first semester of college I didn’t do much physically, I did great in school and work was good but I had no workout routine. I might have done something once or twice a week sometimes not doing anything for a few weeks. By my first winter break I was up to 170lbs. I had gained fat, started losing my six pack and decided I need to do something about it. My next semester I took up a gymnastic class and Aikido (which is a Japanese martial art, you can find more information about it here) just to keep me active. I also played baseball. These three activities easily helped me drop back down to my normal sustained weight of between 155-160lbs. I had decided before my fall sophomore semester I was going to try to walk on the football team. I picked up a weight training class as an easy class and to get me back in a workout routine.
INJURY
During the semester I was seeing some good results I was up to about 168lbs again. Mid way through the semester I was late for my train to get to school. I was running and slipped on the stairs. Instead of falling down the steps I hopped off and landed weird hyper extending my leg and tearing my ACL (anterior cruciate ligament). Worst part was it was a small jump, mere 6 foot drop. I’ve jumped off of things over twice that height. Because of the timing I had to wait until after the spring semester to get my knee repaired. I felt crippled, helpless and depressed. I was the guy who was voted most athletic by my senior class but now I couldn’t even run. I talked to my doctor and he explained I could still weight train and encouraged me to do so until my surgery in May.
With that I began an intensive weight training program I went from 154lbs in January of 2009 to May 10 weighing 178lbs, just before my surgery. I felt great going into surgery I was the strongest I ever was. I increased my squat by 105lbs and my bench press by 60 lbs. I was significantly stronger in every area. Also with putting on over 20lbs I kept my six pack.
I worked my ass off in rehab gaining my full range of motion back within 5 or 6 weeks by 3 months I was running and by 5 I could have been back to playing baseball, but I took it easy to ensure recovery.
Summer of 2010 I tried out the p90x and had no luck gaining weight with it and wouldn't recommend it for that purpose. I have another blog (which is extremely short) about my experience using the program. I also played baseball and had a decent season for coming back from ACL surgery I hit .353 and led the league in stolen bases.
My workouts after surgery were up and down. Overall I have increased my strength and my normal weight now even when my training/eating dwindles seems to be around 170lbs. Between school, work and life I haven't had much consistency in my workouts, nothing like the months leading up to my ACL surgery. While in college the beginning of semesters I'd have great workouts getting back to where I was, but then the semesters workload would pick up about the last 6 weeks and my workouts would dwindle for that time and I'd lose some of my gains.I graduated in May of 2011 and somehow my workouts stayed constant and I saw the best strength gains I had ever had. I was looking forward to the more consistent life I could have now that I was done college. Except 2011 was plagued by two injuries that directly affected my workouts, a grade 2 ankle sprain and a broken hand. By December I was getting back on track with my workouts.
THE PRESENT
Since the turn of the New Year my workouts have been fairly consistent. I'm hoping to continue with this and see some great results this year. Currently I’m 5’10” and around175lbs with 10-11% body fat. My goal is to weigh around 185lbs by May 12 then Dropping my body fat percentage to 7-8%
