Please tell us about your training. Great natural physique. This board is full of steroid fans that look like garbage without the assist. They can't comprehend that someone can look good without drugs. Is it really that hard to believe under 170 and ripped? If there isn't one person who could achieve that you might as well close all the gyms and say it's a waste of time to train.
Throughout high school my training primarily consisted of pressing and curling movements. All chest and biceps. I did incorporate half-ass delt/tricep/back workouts as an afterthought. I failed to grasp the importance of leg training, on top of other muscles groups beyond chest/biceps.
I was being looked at by a couple small division colleges to play outside linebacker around the beginning of my senior year in football, and was given a training program following my recruiting visit with Linfield College by the defensive coordinator. It consisted primarily of plyometrics, speed drills, and sprinting exercises. This helped contribute to SOME of my early leg development.
My father (a former football coach and semi-pro football player) emphasized the importance of weight training to improve my ability to excel on the field.
Instead of pursuing my $5,000 scholarship at Linfield (which wasn't much considering how much it cost to go to school there) I decided to attend the University of Oregon.
Upon my efforts to walk-on to the football program, I adopted their training principles that included a rigorous speed and conditioning regime, as well as an explosive 5x5 weight training program.
I ate and ate and ate........then lifted heavy and explosive as hell. Getting up to 240lbs (the heaviest I have ever been, and very fat), but was able to bench 315 x 8 reps, squat 325 x 8 reps, and deadlift 315 x 12 reps. (I have surpassed these lifts at a much lower bodyweight and better body composition, but were still quite significant for me at the time)
As I approached the beginning of my efforts towards bodybuilding, I started to adopt Layne Norton's Power/Hypertrophy split. I soon transitioned into Smolov and Sheiko powerlifting programs with the incorporation of hypertrophy exercises to boot.
I have also incoporated a few months of Wendler's 5/3/1 into my arsenal of training strategies, but have found the most significant gains in size and strength via a combination of Sheiko 37 and hypertrophy exercises added as accessory movements.
