Gained 106 pounds and still growing!

[Joel H]

Here is a pic of me from 10th grade, at 104 with current pic at 210. I scaled my nose and eyes identical on the 10th grade version, so it is an actual size comparison. Amazing how my jaw and face filled out, and the rest of me to be honest! I finished high school weighing 130 when I was about 19, so the rest was hard work in the gym.

[F W Nietszche]

Originally Posted by Joel H

Here is a pic of me from 10th grade, at 104 with current pic at 210. I scaled my nose and eyes identical on the 10th grade version, so it is an actual size comparison. Amazing how my jaw and face filled out, and the rest of me to be honest! I finished high school weighing 130 when I was about 19, so the rest was hard work in the gym.

Looks good

[sooner2002]

great progress!! be proud. and also thankful that styles of eyewear have improved over the years, hahaha.

[Joel H]

Originally Posted by sooner2002

great progress!! be proud. and also thankful that styles of eyewear have improved over the years, hahaha.

ROFL!!! Thanks bro. Yeah, those were my first pair of "photo gray" glasses in the 80's. I think I want to just get my eyes fixed with the laser surgery down the road and be done with glasses alltogether. My goal is 220 with a 6 pack. So I'm hoping gain another 20 pounds, then cut and be there.

[Ripped74]

Very cool comparison. Congrats on all your progress! How long have you been lifting?

[KIDRR]

Good to see stuff like that

[Joel H]

Off and on over the years. This last time I started in Dec, at about 180, screwed around until February, and got to 188. Then I haven't missed a workout since then, and I'm up to 210.

Thanks for the comments everyone!

[Dr.Green]

dam thats a huge change
from a floor mat to a chick killer

[ellipticer]

Dude, it looks like you ATE the old you for breakfast. Nice work.

[Joel H]

Originally Posted by Dr.Green

dam thats a huge change
from a floor mat to a chick killer

LOL, thanks! I definitely have 1000000x more self confidence now than back then. Too bad it took me 22 years, lol.

Originally Posted by ellipticer

Dude, it looks like you ATE the old you for breakfast. Nice work.

Heh, yeah, he's still inside me somewhere, lol. My skeleton I think

If you guys want I can post some in between pics.

[Polish Power]

Originally Posted by Joel H

LOL, thanks! I definitely have 1000000x more self confidence now than back then. Too bad it took me 22 years, lol.


Heh, yeah, he's still inside me somewhere, lol. My skeleton I think

If you guys want I can post some in between pics.

Definately post more pics. Nice job btw.

[Joel H]

Ok here's one at around 160 pounds, when I was around 23. The baby is about grown up now, its my oldest daughter, she'll be 16 this summer.

[Hasaki]

Nice progress man, people would have told you to give up back then :P

You also look almost exactly like my brother in-law now... lol.

[Joel H]

I don't have any between 21 and 30, but I did work out off and on, and get up to 175 for a while, but then I pretty much slacked and got skinny fat here in 98, weighing around 175, but lost my muscle and was skinny fat:

[ilovemawnie]

thats a lot of weight, but what was that like 40 years ago? Lol jk, looks like you came a long way keep it up

[Joel H]

Then I was fed up with being skinny fat so I started lifting and got here pretty fast, lost most the fat and started toning up.

[Joel H]

Crap, that isn't the one I wanted to post, here it is:

I was probably around 170-175 there.

[bendosia]

Very impressive man! You had a great transformation, the skies the limit with you! Congrats!

[Joel H]

Here I was starting to get a little bigger. This is where I started getting serious about my training, and had been lifting for about 6 months straight:
I was probably 175-180.

[Joel H]

I hit it hard all year, and was probably 185 in this pic 10 months later:

[Joel H]

Here is another one right around that area @ about 184 pounds.

[Joel H]

Pretty much stuck at 185 for quite a while, and grew frustrated. I got on the net and bought a program called MuscleNOW, which is a very good book. It helped me the most with my diet, but is a complete training program. I'm still using it today BTW. The author gives lifetime email personal training support which I still take full advantage of

Anyhow, I've plugged that in the thread in my sig, but here is another pic, probably looking worse than I did at 185 in the previous two, after trying to bulk up some more, I think I was about 188-190 here, and struggling to make gains, so I got the book, and that is where the rest of the pics come from:

[Joel H]

Here is a before after shot of my first 3 months on musclenow:

I followed the fat loss phase at first, getting down to 185 and lost 2" on my stomach, then I followed one mass phase and my end weight was 195 in the pic on the right, an all time high for me!

[Joel H]

Here is another from about that time at 195 pounds:

[Joel H]

Then I trained off and on, due to business pressures and then in 2004 I really slacked due to a bunch of personal and business problems, and shrunk down to 180. This is late November of 2004:

Pretty sad seeing all that hard work go to waste.

[Joel H]

I didn't really commit much, but I gained back 8 pounds, just lifting a couple times a week, then I'd take a week off, back at it. I worked out just enough to be sore all the time

Here I am Feb 7, 2005 at 188:

[Joel H]

Here I am 28th of february, at 198:

[Joel H]

Here I am April 5th, probably around 205-206.

[Joel H]

And finally here is an animated gif of the last 12 weeks of my training, going from 188 to 210:

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/attach...hmentid=201472

[Joel H]

Thanks for all the comments everyone! Anything is possible if you put your mind to it, and its never too late! If I can go from 104 to 210, anyone can. I plan on reaching 230, then cutting, hopefully being 215-220 and ripped when I'm done, with 18 to 19" arms.