I realized I never posted these, they're from mid-October. As I noted somewhere in this blog recently, I don't think I'm topping this anytime. Maybe if I was 20 and at this level, but I turned 39 shortly before these pictures. Honestly, even I was 20 I don't know if I'd really want to get past this point. I'm about 192 in these pictures. Cutting down to that weight I was pretty much as low as I can get without completely losing my strength, and honestly it wears you down over time. I got to the level in these pics earlier in the summer, then kind of relaxed a bit for a few weeks to "regenerate" and then leaned out again in the few weeks preceding these pictures. The leaning out was only about 2 lbs, but still.
It took a lot of work to get to this point; consistent workouts, no real days off, incline walking four days per week in the mornings, not a lot of pizza, caffeine pretty much every day. My health was not compromised; I had a physical during this period and my bloodwork was fine. But I just found it somewhat of a grind, and frankly, I feel like shit when I use caffeine every day.
I do wonder what my genetic potential is; I'm 39 so it's obviously lower than when I was 19 or 29. The thing is though, I never really hit that potential at those ages. So there was always a gap above where I was, like extra I could have achieved. Now at 39, there still may be a gap above this level, but it's probably narrower since it descends as you get older. Then again, maybe I'll be 40 this coming year and posting similar photos to these....