Hello everybody!!!

I have been reading through these forums for several months and thought it was high time to post up an introduction.

I am a 53 year old male who was once an avid lifter, over 20 years ago, and decided to get back into shape and back into the game. From the age of 25 til 33 I trained religiously and included AAS cycles for the last 2 years...test, anadrol, deca, primo, etc. I am 5'9" and at that time I weighed 210 @ 10%BF and my lifts were 350+bench, 500+ squats, 550+deadlifts.

Then, I got married...kids...work...bad eating habits...etc. You get the idea. Fast forward 20 years, to October of last year, and I was at 248lbs, on BP meds, and completely out of shape.

October 11th, 2012 I started dieting using the Keto/Paleo approach. I picked up a kitchen scale and weighed and calculated everything I ate...limiting carbs to under 20 net per day and calories set to 1600. In 5 months I had dropped 32lbs and decided it was time to get back in the gym.

I really liked the simplicity and slow progression of Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 program and decided on the triumvirate version for assistance work. I hired a personal trainer for one month to help get back into the swing of things and to help assess my 1 rep maxes on the main compound lifts. When I started with the trainer I weighed in at 216lbs @29%. Also, I kicked up my calories to 1800 per day, with 160 min of protein, and still kept carbs below 20g net per day. Supplementing diet with Omega 3s, magnesium, multivitamin, creatine, BCAA, and D3. I have been running intermittent fasting most days...whey shake after workout at noon and last meal at 7pm.

I am just finishing my 4th meso-cycle, have de-load week next week, and have been making great gains and progress. For cardio I walk, slow jog, and sprint up hills several times a week. I weigh 196lbs @21% bf and according to "biglifts", an app I use for tracking, my current 1 rep maxes for the main lifts are 246lbs squat, 199lbs bench, 283lbs deadlift, 130lbs overhead press. Yes, I am embarrassed :(

I am getting blood work done every 3 months and this past Monday I asked my doctor to run a hormone panel too. I will be getting the results back next week sometime and it will be interesting to those results. Oh, my BP is back to normal and my doctor told me to monitor my pressure and only use the pills if needed. So far I haven't used any and my pressure is stable.

According to progress so far, and looking to the future, I should be around 180lbs @ 13%bf on October 11th of this year...1 year progress. At that time I will evaluate if I want to do a simple AAS cycle or hold off until I drop a bit more BF. Of course, if my lab reports come in terrible I will go the TRT route now.

So, does anyone have any thoughts or ideas for an older gent getting back after such a long layoff? Anyone have a similar experience?

Thanks for reading.