I've been working out since late in high school, first with a little cheap home gym, then at the university gym at NCSU, and how at Gold's Pleasant Valley. I have a small frame and no real genetic predisposition to a lot of lean mass, but like most beginners, I did have decent gains at first. Once I got to a 'real gym' and probably started eating more (what college kid doesn't?), I put on some more size, into the 140s I'd say. But, any gains since then have been slower in coming.

A year ago or so, I managed to get up to around 160 lbs, with personal bests on exercises. But I tried to trim up for the summer and did a good job at losing weight (down into the 130s), but lean mass was shed as well. Now, I'm back up to 155-160lbs and back near my personal bests again - - and I'm trying to see if I can get past this plateau. So, I'm not going to worry about cutting up for the summer, I'm just going to try to keep my current lean mass foundation and not let my waist get much bigger than this. Which is tough to do.

I've tried plenty of different routines, but none too radical. I've done things like German Volume Training; more full-body-type workouts rather than split routines; 3-to-5-day split routines; I've dabbled in some routines heavy in negatives, higher reps, and isokinetics, but not majorly. I've worked out both with and without a partner.

I eat very cleanly for the most part, with a vegetarian diet heavy in dairy, whey, veggies, soy, and some fish. Besides protein powders, the only other siginficant supplements I've taken are creatine (monohydrate, and in prepared combination like Universal's Animal Pump), NO/arginine (via Universal's Animal Pump), Animal M-Stak, and I'm about to try Animal Test.

Anyone who might have any advice to help me along. I'm happy to share my experiences as well. I've read up on stuff, of course, but don't claim to be proficient in nutrition, anatomy, training, or sports med. But there's always something to learn, and maybe if someone else is out there with my body type and similar experiences, maybe there's something I haven't tried!

I'm always interested to meet other guys at my gym -- I tend to not be social at my gym (not chatty), but it's always nice to know some of the people around you.

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