Been lurking for a while, checking for consistency in sources, etc. Wish I had known about this site several years ago, would have saved me several weeks of nail-biting wondering if Id been ripped off.

Anyway, history: been lifting for football since 14, got serious when I was 16 after having a shoulder injury repaired. Bounced back and my trainer encouraged me to do an NPC show for fun, cut for maybe 6 weeks, thought I looked pretty good, weighed in at 209 at 17yo and had an absolute blast (lets just say I thought I was more competitive than I was (-: ). Anyway, went away to university after losing senior season and scholarship to a back injury (Im apparently prone...) and discovered the wonderful concept of free gym and four free meals a day (on the uber moolah mealplan of course). Did a little studying on a proper bulking diet, trained probably 5 days a week and through fresh/soph year got to a smooth 261 (highest I ever saw on scale) probably around 12-13% bf. Decided to throw a little winstrol into the mix, cut out my drinking/partying and saw myself lose a few pounds, shred up, and strength shoot up. Now imagine a nice rip/tear sound as my other labrum gets ripped off the bone. I know what it is, dont even bother with diagnostic, go straight to ortho, hop into mri, bing bang boom, surgery and sit...and wait...and sit...and wait. Longest wait of my life (felt like, anyhow). Mass disappeared at an alarming rate, cuts became small scratches and eventually smoothed out. I guess my natural body weight is around 215, cuz thats where I retreated to in the six month recovery (extended by several alcohol-induced brawls). Did my first injection cycle after my recovery was over, but I allowed the loss of size/strength/cut to get into my brain and just rolled around at the gym, going through the motions.

Have since left university, started working outside, getting physical, add EMS/firefighting to that and I start to get back into shape a bit. Mind you, havent touched anything that even rhymes with barbell in months and months. Decided I was through being scrawny and hopped back into the gym in sept of last year. (Profile picture will give you an idea of where I was, that was taken mid-october.) Anyway, shits squared away, finances in order, got my connective tissues and joints back in the right mindset, time to play the game again. Intend to start a (albeit much slower) dirty bulk at the end of this week.

Thats my (short) story of iron. I like the community I see here: advice rather than dick-measuring and shouting. Looking forward to getting to know yall.