Just like everyone here, we all have our own journey that this thing called life has taken us on. My journey, no different from any of yours has been down the path to hell, spent sometime there and slowly trudging back from the gates as the demons are consistently pulling on my coat tail.
Brief background on how I ended up on this journey to powerlifting. I'll try not to be redundant from the introduce yourself post. I'm Rob, from Cincinnati, OH. Single father of two wonderful little boys. I played collegiate basketball here in Ohio, so I've always been in or around the gym. I really got in to lifting, when in '07 I almost dropped out of college to enlist in the Army, but instead found a better calling by joining the Marines. From there started soaking up as much knowledge about fitness, training, running, etc..You name it, my head was in it trying to absorb all I could. After graduating in 2010, is when my journey dove right down into the deepest pits of hell, my daughter was murdered in July, and from there began a whirlwind of shit in my life. I blew up to 290 lbs, drank to hide my pain, and just was a mess. My fiance ended up leaving me after being diagnosed and neither one of us knowing how to deal with it, we fell apart. Jan 2012, I decided I had enough, I needed to pick my shit up, because I had 2 little boys looking up to me, depending on me, and needing me. I walked back into church, re-establishing my relationship with God. Walked back into the gym and in 5 months was back on track so to speak.
This past year, I was training more for a "bodybuilding" physique, just to be in shape, and ready for the Corps when I can finish out my Officer training and report for Reserve duty, and all my training methods had been centered around there. Until, I found this little place, the FORVM. I immediately felt drawn here, the culture, balls-to-the-wall training, everything, I knew what I was to become, a pure unfiltered, uncaged powerlifter. Something directed me here, something said, this is you. After doing what I do best, researching, reading, and gaining knowledge for the past 4 months. I signed up for my first powerlifting meet 15DEC13. The thing I absolutely love about this sport, is that every fucking day, every fucking meet, it's a personal contest, it's always Me vs Me. When I step in the gym, I am the only one who matters, when I first step on to that platform in Dec, the only person there, is me. I eat, shit, and train for this.
My current training is a 6 day split as follows:
Sun- Off
Mon - Chest/Biceps
Tues - Back/Triceps
Wed - Legs/Shoulders
Thur - Chest/Biceps
Frid - Back/Triceps
Sat - Legs/Shoulders
For me and my body type, height, and size, this is the training split I've found to most successful. I played with a 1-off,2-on, 1-off, 3-on split, also played with the typical 5-day body part split, as well. However, hitting everything twice a week, personally I gain the most from this. I've read Brandon Lily's Cube Method, Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 method, in addition to The Westside Method. So with all of that, I've combined a rep scheme and training regiment that meets my needs and so far so good.
Welcome to my journey.