Do I Have Potential?

[LilDom]

Hello. I am 19 and I have been "working out" since I was like 13/14. The thing is I started with bodyweight but even then I had no idea what I was doing for the first year or so. I started to understand more but freshman year of high school but I had poor nutrition. Then once I started to get a decent diet I began to have little motivation because calisthenics bored me so much. By sophmore year I began to kind of hit certain parts of my body I never hit prior like my back or legs. (Yes I know... that means I have been doing calisthenics without pullups or squats...) Sophmore year was also the time I began running a lot which I loved. So I skipped legs a lot because of my running. (It made sense to me at the time.) Junior year was really when I began hitting back with pullups and started to hit legs a little with lunges and all outside of running. I was still running a lot junior year so I was real lean. I found that my chest was my dominant feature but that could be due to neglecting other body parts or it's actually a genetic strong point for me. During junior year I also began to have a lot of shoulder pain and I found that it was likely because I was stronger chest wise and weaker in my back as well as rear delts. At this point I was being careful and really focusing on form as well as hitting my back slightly more than my chest. I found it helped a lot but I still have slight clicking in my shoulder joints and very mild pain sometimes. I want to get rid of it entirely but I think it'll take time. Anyways... Senior year hit. I turned 18 and moved out. I spent like 2 months without working out which was the longest I went at the time. I was annoyed with myself but I FINALLY put it upon myself to get a gym membership. This was probably the happiest I've been working out as I could actually do what I wanted. I remember so sore and it was refreshing. I spent 6 months going to the gym until I went to basic training as I joined the military... That was 6 months of no gym or any weight lifting really. We barely did any pt (physical training) so I was upset. So I noticed I was getting weaker and even a little fatter during basic. Now it has been about a month after graduating basic and going to the gym this entire month.

So understanding my weight, here is approximately what my weight's history looked like. 8th grade/135ish lbs. 9th/140ish. 10th/145ish. 11th/150ish. 12th/160ish. I put on the most weight in 12th as I stopped running and started to try and bulk up a little. I ended up at 163 lbs right before basic and after 6 months of weightlifting. After basic, and 6 months of no real exercise I ended up at like 174 lbs. Of this last month of hitting the gym I lost like 4 lbs and am now about 170. Oh and I am about 5'9.5.

Things I want to know is do I look like I have potential for an interesting physique and what about strength? I haven't played a lot with heavy weight but I did bench 200x1 right before basic. My squat max is around 225x3 and my deadlift(conventional) before basic was about 245x2 or 3. Though I did lighter weight with deadlifts as I found it was harder to get the form down.

The pictures where I am leaner is from 10th grade and the ones where I am at my biggest are all within a week from today.

[SuffolkPunch]

Eveyone has potential - it's actually very rare that people can achieve nothing at all despite doing things right. It's equally rare to find genetically gifted people. Most of us are average in terms of genetic potential and can make big improvements through hard work (but correctly targetted) and persistence. Either way, you can't change your genetics so focus on the things you can influence.

[Maxxx17]

I think you have potential. And you're quite young. Everything is ahead of you and I sincerely wish you good luck.