"Tall drink o' water"

One of the purposes of this blog is to track my physical transformation...

I've always been a "tall drink o' water" as they say - long, lanky, full of "fast-twitch" muscle fibers - an almost prototypical ectomorph, hard-gainer.
I've lifted weights off and on, mostly off, ever since 8th or 9th grade, but with zero consistency.
In high school I weighed around 155 or so. I was fast and could jump high and played basketball and baseball (by sr year and into college I was quite good at basketball, then I tore cartilage in my left knee and tore the ACL in the same knee).
Back in college ( Summer 1992 or so, after the knee problems started), I got on the cybergenics program and went at it real seriously for a month or two, but then school started again and I just stopped lifting regularly again... I've been real good at lifting irregularly, which is horrible on your muscles and joints...

Well, after college, I started taking weight gainer shakes and again lifted weights - and again, inconsistently. I put on weight, got to 180, then 200, but it wasn't exactly the weight that I wanted - it was around my mid-section. I purchased a soloflex right after I got married in 1997 and started being inconsistent yet again.

I had goals, but never had a solid plan. I'm a sucker for junk food, fast food, fried food...
With weight training, I've always been on again off again...

Last summer (2006), I was finally fed up and started reading up on gaining muscle weight the right way. I found Anthony Ellis' story and e-book (which I have yet to purchase), as well as this site - both of which are targeted at us "skinny guys," and got majorly motivated. But then softball season started and AGAIN I stopped the diet and training cold turkey.

This is a picture taken last April (4/11/06), my official "before"

Height: 6'3"
Weight: 205 lbs
Waist: 36/37
Body Fat: ugly
Biceps: attached
Chest: 44" and warped
Thigh: "chicken leg"

So now, here I sit, a year later, after having gotten seriously motivated again.
I've been eating a ton of good calories and working out hard for about 5 weeks now, and major improvements are happening...

stay tuned...