Let me start this success story with a brief training history: I've been working out very regularly since I was 13 years old. Being 37 now, that's 24 years of almost continuous working out. Over that period I've experimented with almost every technique and routine under the Sun. Starting out, my brother and I utilized workouts from a chart put out by the York Barbell company, then a 12 week course put out by Universal, followed by routines offered in different muscle magazines, and Mike Mentzer's original Heavy Duty routine. We also developed our own mix of exercises, things recommended by others, Bulgarian Training techniques, Larry Scott's personalized routine, Power Factor Training, the newer Heavy Duty II program by Mike Mentzer, the Body-For-Life routine and finally a routine derived from the principles learned through my certification with the IART. I'm sure I missed a few routines in there as well (Ellington Darden's High Intensity Training and Franco Columbo's books come to mind as fitting somewhere in the mix, but I can't remember where). Over that time my results varied but I never gave upwhen one thing stopped working or failed to work altogether I quickly switched to something new. At one time I worked each body part every other week, and another time I would work out 3 times in one day, 6 days a week!

Initially, when I was young, gains came somewhat easy. I was never a quick gainer but I did see results. Upon graduating high school I was 5'8" (and still am) and weighed a full 135 lbs with a 28" waist. Up until that point I mostly neglected working my legs, and so most of my weight was upper body, and the majority of that was back, biceps and triceps. After graduating and having my girlfriend complain that my butt was smaller than hers, I decided to go on a quest to gain weight. Unfortunately that journey lasted for many years and ended up adding lots of fat to my body with some muscle, but not near what I was looking for. I looked big in shirts but I dared not remove them or my cover would be blown and my flab exposed.
My weight and waist hit their highest numbers around 1993. I was close to 190 lbs and I had one pair of size 36 jeans that were getting a bit snug, and so I switched to wearing sweats and exercise pants (we all remember those baggy, brightly colored tapestries, don't we?) pretty much full time. My body image was distorted and I saw the flab but my quest for size acted as blinders and I convinced myself that there was lots of muscle with just a thin layer of fat there.

Sometime around 6 years ago or so I decided to try the fresh and latest Body For Life Challenge. I really watched my diet, worked out the required 6 days a week, took supplements and made incredible improvements. I was, at the time of completion, in the best shape of my life. Convinced that this was the "end all" to exercise routines, I continued it for a few years afterwards, religiously. The fact that my appearance was getting flat and I wasn't making improvements didn't dissuade me at first; this routine worked and I was going to continue with it.

After some time my eyes began to open and I searched for answers. This is when I stumbled across the I.A.R.T. Roundtable. I posted a few questions, read up on cycling training demands with "blitzes" and decided that I wanted to learn more and get certified. This wasn't my first certification; I had passed the ACE exam a few years before but let it lapse because I didn't find the information very helpful. Being a chiropractor and understanding how the body worked helped me to see how much logic there was in the I.A.R.T. books Prescribed Exercise and Apex and allowed me to apply the principles to myself successfully, as well as to pass the certification exam back in August 2001. After reading Prescribed Exercise I immediately took a couple of weeks off from training before testing for my muscles' response-to-exercise. After that step was completed it was time for me to work with my STATS journal (which is an extremely helpful and necessary tool!) to tailor a routine that worked for ME. I'm still making changes to my routine as needed, which will be indefinite due to the constant changes in the body.

A month or so ago I was a very lean 162 lbs. I was working out 3 times a week, working each body part once a week in the following split. Monday, Chest/Triceps/Shoulders, Tuesday, Legs/Calves/Abs/Forearms/Rotator Cuffs and Fridays, Back/Biceps. I changed my exercise and set variables every 3 weeks and was very happy with the results. My waist was a 30/32 depending on the pants (jeans needed relaxed fit or my legs wouldn't fit into them) and in some cases even a 30 needed a belt! My dress shirts are a 17-neck and needed to be athletic cut, and my t-shirts were all extra large.

It was at this point that I noticed while writing in my STATS journal that my weights didn't improve in many exercises for 2 workouts in a row. I switched exercises and set variables early than the usual 3-week deadline, but noticed the same problem again. I decided to keep working out 3 days a week but to split my body differently. I went to Monday/ Chest, Wednesday/Back/Forearms, Friday/Triceps/Biceps/Deltoids, Monday/Legs/Calves/Abs/Rotator Cuffs. This one little change, giving me more rest, over the course of a month, brought my weights up and my body weight went from 162 to 171 and is still climbing. My waist size is the same and I've gained close to a half-inch on my arm measurements (the only measurements I take) as of 2 weeks ago. My body fat has remained the same; I check it regularly with a Tanita scale. The number of exercises performed for each body part remained the same: Chest/5, Back/4+Traps/1+Low Back/1, Triceps/4, Biceps/3, Deltoids/3, Quads/2, Hamstrings/1, Calves/2, Abs/2, Rotator Cuff/1.

My workouts last a maximum of 30 minutes, some as short as 19 minutes. All sets are taken to failure and utilize a 3/3 cadence, with the last set for each body part incorporating some set variable. For aerobics I hit a heavy bag for 10-20 minutes, 2-3 times a week. My diet consists of 6-8 small meals a day and about 3 quarts of water. A meal can consist of a couple of yogurts, a protein bar, a protein shake made with juice (which I have upon rising and before bed), an egg and cheese sandwich, fruit and steak, etc. I have a cheat day on the weekend, sometimes two, when I eat what I want. I have soda, drink cappuccino, and occasionally toss down a few alcoholic beverages or a burgeryou know the routine. I probably have around 2000 calories a day on my regular days and I don't keep track of the cheat days.

I can say honestly that at 37 I'm in the best shape of my life and am still amazed and pleased that one little tweak in my routine could add almost 10 lbs of muscle to my frame in the course of a month even after training for as long as I have. In the past when I hit a plateau I would have changed routines completely or maybe even have added more exercises in the belief that if the weights go down, then I wasn't working hard or often enough. I guess with age (and I.A.R.T.) comes wisdom. It's nice to know that planning a routine is no longer guesswork, and although there is no silver bullet out there, I have enough ammunition in my arsenal to continually determine what works best for me.