Finally got around to making my Introduction

[Richard Duelley]

I just wanted to say hi to everyone and say thanks for all of the information everyone is sharing.

A little about me. . .

I am a first year graduate student at Virginia Tech studying aerodynamics. I have been practicing Parkour for about 2 years and love playing paintball and computer games.

Last May is when I started taking my physical fitness seriously. I visited a good friend of mine and my dads (an ex competitive power lifter/personal trainer) and he tested me and helped me set up a lifting program. Over the summer season I started on this program with great results. Just so you know how weak I was when I started, I could do 1 pull up, 10 dips and 10 pushups on a good day, and weighed in at 180lbs of flab. My asthma was pretty much controlling my life due to my lack of fitness.

So I started lifting program, my main lift was the snatch grip deadlift. I started my deadlifts at 100lbs. I didnt just do dead lifts, I GTG with pull ups and dips, did sandbag carries through the woods(I live on 4 acres and there are lots of horse trails where I live), wind sprints, and practiced handstands along with a few other supplementary lifting movements for the shoulder girdle. I also drastically improved my diet, sometimes I would even make a separate dinner from what the rest of my family was having!

By the end of the summer my deadlifts were at 185, and my weight was down to 155-160 lbs. Since August I have started training in gymnastics along with my lifting with great results. I currently weigh in at 165 (gained about 5 pounds!) at 6 feet tall I am happy with my 165 but I would like to get up to 175. My pullups have increased to 15 but I rarely max out so it might be more now. I now do weighted pull ups with 10 lbs and weighted dips with 25. I can do my 60 seconds of tuck planche in 4, 15 second holds and I have started working on the advanced tuck. I can hold L-sits on the floor and my handstands and Japanese hand stands are comming along nicely. I also participated in my first gymnastics meet two weekends ago! Virginia Tech has a club team so its all about having fun and no one is really that serious, we train hard but we have as much fun as possible! I competed on rings and p-bars. My ring routine consisted of in this order: Muscle up, L-sit, straddle-L, shoulder-stand, back to L-sit,roll backwards into a skin the cat, pull up to a back lever, pull back through to a dead hand and drop off the rings (no dismount yet =( ).. On the P-bars I did an L-sit, shoulder stand rolled forward, one arm elbow planche, and hopped off.

So my first meet was a lot of fun and I am really concentrating on my ring strength skills and my hand balancing.

I am currently on a push, pull rotation with dynamic strength training mixed in.

Ok, I think I will cut my self off here. 8)

Thanks again and I cant wait to get Coaches book and DVD's!

-Ricky

Virginia Tech Gymnastics Club