JAMES LARGEY

Male

22

United Kingdom (Great Britain)

STUDENT

Jan, 2004

I have always been an active member of many gyms and sports teams, althjough i started lifting weights at about 14-15 when i began to see that boxercise classes were making me look more manly and the girls were noticing it too! Then: Start of June 2006, I weighed in at a sturdy 12 stone. Which is when boxing came along; I was determined to shed this weight as soon as possible to achieve a aimed fighting weight of 69kg=10.12 stone. So I began my journey! Every morning run, from twenty to twenty five minutes of cardio, increasing to 1hour-2hour sessions on the cross trainer at night (boxing and weight training in between) Monday to Friday, backed up by a diet of starvation (air and water). Literally I was not eating. I was determined to get my weight down! Within a year and a half, I dropped to 9. 10 stone, the lightest I have been since the age of 12-13. feeling weak and fatigue 24/7 with a busy schedule off university training and work I began to look like a starving anorexic with less than 5% body fat, ripped up to the max, but with a massive drop in strength, and a huge increase in depression. (not helping that I continuously got prepared for a boxing bout only to be told on the day 10 times in a row that I would not be fighting due to fighters not showing, being over weight or no reason at all! And when I finally got the chance to start fighting I had dropped that much in weight, over a stone past my target weight…I was too fatigue to even fight, therefore ended up loosing a few bouts by points when I know I could have easily beat them at my natural weight and in my natural state of mind. A typical day: Run half marathon Go university Home for a couple of hours Boxing 6-8 Gym for weights of further cardio =MASSIVELY OVER TRAINING! People began commenting if I was actually sick which became a growing concern. Especially when my family got involved…. it took so much hard work, time, dedication, tears and sweat and pain to get where I had got, I couldn’t just leave it all behind now…could I? That’s when I took a long hard look at myself in the mirror and decided, enough is enough, I have to get back to the old me, if not the old me but a better old me, a much more wisely, me. I had lost that much weight that I had began eating away at my muscle! I was so drawn in the face I really did look ill. You learn from your mistakes and move on, so the next chapter of my life I have a Short-term goal, 70kgs lean (less than 10% body-fat), develop a stronger and more 'present' body, continually improve and learn. And if I decide to not continue the boxing I would like to go up to about 90kg of muscle! ? Mentally, I was/am still somewhat reluctant to increase calories/drop cardio sessions due to the positive side of my past (the ripped look) as I didn’t/don’t want to loose my 6 pack yet I must sacrifice some of this to gain the additional poundage! Ha. Now: 6 month on I am now floating about at 10.8. But I have been relying more by the mirror rather than the scales. Still training Monday to Saturday as I try to have at least one day rest, which I found hard due to my obsession and natural instinct of training every day twice sometimes 3 times, with very little rest. My workouts are modified slightly to include more mass building exercises, i.e presses etc. I used to train at higher rep range than most people in the gym to suit my boxing, but with the help of nick and a few other mates in the gym, along with sufficient research I have managed to reduce my rep range to 6-10 reps for the majority of my sessions Up until a couple of months ago, cardio was still on average 1 hour long 3-4 times a week. Mentally I needed to do this to prevent fat accumulation, yet after realising that I was burning all which I have achieved in muscle gains I knew I had to reduce both the time and the frequency if I wanted to see any change in size. I am not really a strong believer in the principles of gaining excessive weight quick, then cutting down, I am going to gain much slower trying to only gain muscle rather than fat, it will take a while but I am getting there slowly (culk!) After the summer is over I am planning to increase the calories, drop a cardio session a little more and see how I go with maximizing my gains a little bit more. The greatest thing about this new life style is I get to eat a hell of a lot more stuff, still clean food but shed loads of it! Ha-ha and a lot more carbohydrates which I feel help me massively when I want to put in that big session in the gym.

i love everything to do with the human body and how we function individually. thus why im taking a degree in exercise and health sciences

from knowing what and wehere i want to be, and the only way to acheive your goal is consistancy.

so far none to put on a CV but i have acheived less than 4% body fat in the past. which was extreamly difficult.

my journal http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?p=222393021#post222393021