Riku Packs On The Muscle!
* your first name: Riku
* your age: 19
* your height: 1.84cm
* your city and country: Kiel, Germany
* when the before and after pictures were taken: before ->01.December 2011 / after ->06.April 2013
* your before and after weight: before (72kg) / after (83kg)
About me:
Hey, I’m Riku. I am a 19 y/o student from Germany who discovered training or bodybuilding if you want to call it that way 2 years ago and fell in love with it. I used to be the typical skinny guy and had several medical issues due to my low body mass. When my quads weren’t able to hold my kneecap anymore correctly and I had to go to the hospital because of the pain I knew that something had to happen. I had to do physiotherapy for a few months but never wanted to work out seriously to get rid of my pain Few years ago my parents divorced and I somehow missed the point when normal teenagers start going out and have fun together (maybe even start drinking which isn’t good, but an important experience to be ‘social’ at some point). I started playing video games online at the computer. I spent COUNTLESS hours in front of the computer and still do up to this day (not that excessive anymore though). So I started gaming pretty much at age 12 (or somewhere around that age) and got used to sit hours and in front of the pc. That’s why my lower body was so incredible underdeveloped. I also have APT (anterior pelvic tilt) and a weak/hurting lower back which didn’t let me deadlift until some months ago. Strange enough I was never ‘bad’ at sports in school. I could sprint faster than every other non-fit guy in my class which was pretty strange, considering my low body mass. I think I was somewhere around 60kg at 14 (rough guess).
How I got into lifting:
Simple reason: I was skinny and wanted to impress girls. One day I was at the beach with a female friend of mine and she said that my body wasn’t looking bad (although I had the typical skeleton look), but suddenly I knew how I could gain girls’ attention. I wasn’t even thinking of all the positive benefits that I would get from lifting. I guess that’s where most of the teenage bodybuilding journeys start. But soon training became much much more than that. I already bought myself dumbbells 2009 but never used them, so I started lifting in 2010 after I discovered you Scooby. I stumbled across one of your videos and you were the first guy telling me that I could get just as ripped and muscular like everybody else if I just worked out. I started to do dumbbell flyes and bicep curls along with crunches every other day. Legendary routine, right? You can already imagine that along with my poor nutrition this would lead to nothing. This was by the end of 2010. After training for some months I finally had the guts to go to our local sports club to start karate. This was probably the first and most important success that came from lifting. I gained confidence for the first time in my life. This was the first step to a wonderful new life and I want to thank you Scooby for giving me this opportunity. I stopped lifting when I started Karate in February 2011 for some months because I wanted to focus on martial arts and didn’t want to be sore all the time. So in my before picture I already had little experience with weights and gained some pounds of muscle already.
To be honest, I think puberty has helped me quite a bit because there would be no way for an adult to gain 11kg of muscle in a little bit over a year naturally.
Training and Nutrition:
I read every article on your page, watched every video to prepare myself for the journey. It took hours and hours of research until I had a rough idea of what I have to do and I am still learning. I knew that I had a fairly fast metabolism that allows me to eat everything without putting on much fat. At first I was kind of concerned about getting fat because your nutritional tips are mostly for people who want to lose fat. I wasn’t sure if I should simply stuff my face or count everything. I started with really low calorie intake but in the end I just started to eat large amounts of food of my personal preference (but I count protein and kcals). Although I eat sometimes unhealthy food I never really go beyond 3k cals, so I guess I am doing something right.
My routine is kind of random. A workout routine that tells me what to do has never worked for me. I am doing a push/pull/legs split, but I have never given set/rep-ranges. I don’t need any numbers on a paper to push myself because I am always motivated enough to give 100%.
I never used anything but Whey and Creatine (for 3 months) as supplements. I try to get most out of my protein out of normal food.
What lifting gave me:
Parallel to gaining muscle and size I gained mostly confidence. My improved physical appearance started to have positive effects on my private life. I started to go out more often and meet friends and new people. So in the end it’s not about the physique, but about the mental transformation. I could go as far as saying that lifting has changed my life completely.
In my opinion your page and the AskScooby-forum are everything a person needs to get in shape!
Puh… I could write a whole book about my journey but thats everything for now :)
My Progress Diary:
http://www.askscooby.com/progress-diaries/getting-shredded-my-personal-progress-diary/
Hey Riku, congratulations! You are a great example of the benefits of bodybuilding for teens. The strength, the mass, but most of all – the confidence that makes all else possible. Thanks for sharing your success story so that other skinny teens who have little confidence can be inspired!