Kit Naib's Lifting History

• Age 16 to 18
  The first ever lift I did was bench press, I recall getting 60kg for 6 reps very well. It was in a gym which is now closed in Braywick called Activate. I didn't train seriously here, which is why I don't count it in my years of training.
  
  I briefly went to university at 18 (Hertfordshire, studying computer science). I really wasn't interested in computer science - I already knew it. I trained at the local gym and hovered around a bench press of 100kg - i.e. entry level. I wasn't bothered about nutrition, macros, micros, or even training consistency.
• Age 19 to 25
  After quitting university with a 12% attendance record, I started to take lifting more seriously, but I decided to build a homegym instead of using public ones. Well, I call it a "gym" but it was a single car garage with a power rack. This is what I looked like at that point:
  
  
  At this point, I was spending a lot of time on the forum MuscleTalk. The guy who founded that now started Huel nutrition. The forum is dead. I had about 1200 posts on there as I was addicted to learning everything about training and nutrition.
  
  Back then, a popular training system was called Dinosaur Training (an old book written by Brooks Kubik). He was a national natural bench press champion who was insistent on only sticking to compound movements. The closest he ever did to isolation was a barbell curl.
  
  I recall his language to be very opinionated but convincing. I remember lines along the context of "what is a set of leg extensions going to do for a man who has just exhausted himself to the point of being sick by doing 5 sets of squats?"
  
  For strength, particuarly natural strength, this concept still remains true. If you're in a powerlifting weight division you wish to have a little muscle as possible but be able to lift the most.
  
  I followed this approach for many years. He lifted twice a week. I was busy building a tech empire, and so did I.
  
  These are a couple of videos from 2006. I was around 25. I was using the Dinosaur Training approach still. For some reason, I never got bored. Was I insanely strong? No, but I had a good power:weight ratio, and I was completely natural.
  
  
  
  
• Age 26 to 34
  
  I am not certain exactly what year I changed away from Dinosaur Training, but it was around the era when Jim Wendler wrote the book 531.
  
  I moved house and turned the 2000 square foot basement into a powerlifting gym with 2 power racks, barbells and pretty much nothing else:
  
  
  I developed a good power:weight ratio but had a blocky physique hovering around 10% body fat:
  
  
  Desite building a business, I trained religiously and was obsessive about macros, and a few years later I started competing in powerlifting in the BPU federation. In my first competition I pulled a 270kg deadlift at 87kg bodyweight - not world breaking but a great start.
  
  Eventually I won a qualifier for the nationals:
  
  and competed in the UK Nationals. Sadly, I was over-keen and maxed out the week before - a rookie error - hurting my rotator cuff, reducing my bench from target 170kg to 150kg, and even missing a 270kg deadlift which I had done multiple times in the run up. I was off that day and I took 3rd place.
  
• Age 35 to 36
  
  I moved to Ibiza for 6 months, where I continued to train. The gyms were limited here. With all the partying, clubbing and dancing, I trained "instinctively" to maintain a relatively decent physique. This was probably the first time I used exercises rather than the fundamental big 3 lifts.
  
• Age 37 to 38
  
  I moved to London, Kensington where I trained in Equinox gym. Here, I returned to powerlifting. I had no goals and felt like I was on a downward spiral with age. But I managed to set some PBs. My weight hovered around 82kg, and I pulled a 280kg deadlift.
  
  I was battling thyroid conditions, combined with a bit of recreational drug usage so didn't expect to progress much. I started to lose my goals.
  
  
  I always had a small waist (28 to 29 inches) when I was this age which would have been great for Men's Physique, but as I get older I am finding it hard to keep this in check. I will persist:
  
• Age 39 to 40
  
  This was the same time as the COVID lockdowns. I effectively gave up training entirely for a whole year and reverted (almost) back to my base physique. I had given up, I was depressed and had no long term goals with lifting. I was even considering giving it up for good.
  
  
  

  Oh dear - back to pretty much square one!

  
  I lost all my muscle and even got fat/podgy for one of the first times in my life:
  
• Age 40
  
  Lockdown as over and I snapped out of it. Or into it. Kind of like a mid-life crisis. I started back deadlifting, squatting and benching at my own home in Maidenhead. I had always wanted to compete on stage, but I had a feeling that I was too old. I never wanted to do "masters".
  
  After researching online, I found there were a whole slew of new federations offering Men's Physique Masters so, in a spur of the moment decision, I decided to enter my first competition with only 12 weeks to train for it.
  
  I considered it a long shot and I wasn't sure what I was getting myself in for.
  
  8 weeks out, I was fortunate enough to be approached on Instagram by a coach who knew the division who offered to take me on. I debated this in my head for a week (whether to do it DIY or whether I would be coachable and able to listen to someone else). I went with the coach, and I'm glad I did.
  
  See more details at my men's physique page
  
  OCTOBER 21, 2021:
  
  
  
• Age 41
  
  The show continues. I am planning to try my hardest to get into the best physical condition I've ever been in by focusing on bodybuilding style training instead of powerlifting.
  
  My goal is to do well against competition. The stage is something that is still alien to me, but I am starting to love it.
  
  Better shape - I worked on medial delts and did isolation exercises pretty much for the first time in my life:
  
  
  Getting that Men's physique taper - side delts, lats, trim waist - cold unpumped pic:
  41 I may be, but I intend to compete again this year. Let's see how I do.