tahoe

welcome! wow, this was like deju vu. I'm an ex-Philly boy and back when I was in college our stats are pretty darn close. I did the whole mentzer thing and if you recall cybergenics (holy crap that was painful)! The upside with your height and proportions you probably have strong legs for your size. I know I always did, leverage, psychological or whatever. I'm sure you'll get lots of other advice but I jumped from 160 to 175 while staying cut by getting back to basics. Before anyone says it for bodybuilders going from 160 to 175 not that impressive, but I was stuck for at least a year like this. First and foremost I went back to big movements, 5 sets of dropset squats (worked up to 405) or 90% max until positive failure strip down half the weight to 225, for example, and squat to positive failure, back out of the rack and squat without weight until you can't push yourself away from the floor, superset 2-3 sets of leg extension/curls (I did a triple drop on these if you have a spotter), 4 sets of calf raises. heavy bench and flyes (dropset the flyes). And the last thing that finally started adding weight...I added in deadlifts (I could only work up to 275lb), pullups, and bent rows. I did bi's and tri's every couple of weeks just for fun and to change up the routine. I eradicated any cable or pully movements during this 6 weeks. I cycled this 6 by 4 weeks of my old workout then 6 again. Yes it took about 16weeks for me to gain. I was also doing a lot of training for martial art tournaments and didn't bump my diet up. So lots of extra aerobics so you may pack on more than 15. I can't stress this part enough...do not break form. If you feel your form break I consider that reaching positive failure!! have fun - keep us posted.

I've been vegetarian for a couple of years and went "cold tofu" 2 days ago to become vegan. I've been weight training since after high school and went from 5'9 145lbs to 175 lbs, and about 6% body fat. I carried this physique through my twenties and thirties while becoming a 3rd degree black belt and instructor. Like many people that move into an office job, I made a lot of excuses and ballooned up to 210 (not a good "ballooned" more like a William Shatner ballooned!) I started real training for a half marathon about 5 months ago, added in kettlebell (I love Kenneth Jay's VO2Max protocols), and do some heavier iron for legs and chest. I'm 48 and finally heading back into the right direction. I'm back down to 180 and need to start cutting more fat and getting overall riptatude (shut up- it's a word.) I'm having a lot of fun focusing on new and exciting vegan foods, rice and soy proteins, and some go to protein bars. I live on the harbor in Baltimore Maryland and travel back and forth to Virgina Beach for work (rough life, I know) I'm looking forward to sharing, learning and showing people that vegans are huge too! tahoe