Some background:
I started lifting with barbells seriously in early 2011 when I was 25 and came across Starting Strength. Over the next eight years, I did various programs, including a lot of Rippetoean stuff, Greyskull, 5/3/1, some type of upper/lower split - all your usual suspects. It's a bit embarrassing to admit how long I've been lifting, given how poor my lifts are and were compared to others of similar training age. I partially blame this on spending too long being gaslighted into doing SS/TM style programs for far longer than I care to admit, and partially just generally being a dumbass with my programming.
[EDIT]
I can't believe I forgot to mention that the main culprit for my lack of strength gains is the number of years I spent getting/staying lean. I got too chunky for my comfort around late 2011, and spent the next three years starting/stopping cutting until mid/late 2014 when I got down to a DEXA-verified bodyfat of around 6% at around 150-160lbs (see spoiler below for proof) , which I maintained for about a year. I know DEXA scans can be error-prone, but the point is that I was pretty damn lean, but not very strong at all. I finally made some decent strength gains in 2017-2018 when I stopped tracking calories and started hovering around 190-200lbs.
From 2019 into early 2020, I ran into some pretty major medical issues. Long story short, I had a massive flare-up of Crohn's disease (which had been mostly dormant for me since 2007), which resulted in several hospitalizations, losing about 80lbs (from about 200 down to 120), several rounds of biologic infusions (which did next to nothing for me), and eventually an emergency room visit due to my colon pretty much exploding (the medical term is "Toxic Megacolon" - Google at your own risk).
This resulted in a total colectomy and ileostomy - that is, my entire large intestine was removed and my small intestine was rerouted through my abdomen so waste could be deposited into an external bag.
After a month's stay in the hospital (during a fucking pandemic, of all times), I was completely detrained. Worse than detrained, really. I was around 119lbs when I got home, and it took over a month of PT before I was even able to think about lifting weights again. Even then, it was a struggle to even overhead press my girlfriend's 35 pound bar, and I couldn't even do a bodyweight squat because my hips were so weak. My first set of barbell squats were for 3 sets of 5 with the empty bar, and those were the hardest sets of my life, both physically and mentally.
At the present, I'm almost back to my old weight (I looked up Christian Bale's diet to gain weight between The Machinist and Batman Begins and did that - lots of pizza and ice cream), though my strength hasn't quite kept up with my weight gain, so I admit I overdid it a bit. Considering I was able to eat anything I wanted after months of eating little to nothing (and not even drinking fluids for a few weeks while I had an NG tube and was being fed through a TPN), though, I don't feel too bad about it. I intended to slow down the weight gain when I got to around 150 lbs, but I had trouble stopping the momentum.
I'm still at the point where I can make progress doing just about anything. I started just doing full body workouts every day, and eventually started doing a sort of GZCLP type of program, but as an upper/lower every day instead of full body workouts, and that's been working well so far. I'm still getting 10 reps pretty easily on my top sets, so I'll probably stick with that for a while, and then probably use the bench setup Hanley generously recommended to me here: viewtopic.php?p=241577#p241577
I also started getting interested in mountain biking about a year ago and am looking to get back into that as well. I was pretty terrible at it, just as I am at lifting, but I guess I find being bad at something highly motivating for some reason. Anyway, for now, I'm just taking casual rides around my neighborhood until my general fitness is a bit better and I feel more confident on the bike.
UPDATE:
Had ileostomy reversed in September 2020 (see viewtopic.php?p=250299#p250299), so I don't have to wear an ostomy bag anymore. Huzzah! Still no colon, though, but that guy was nothing but trouble anyway. As of January 2021, things are going well so far.
Stats:
Male, 34yrs old
~185lbs @ 5'9"
PRs (in pounds) in the B.C.* era
LB Squat: 365
Bench: 250 paused, 255 TNG
DL: 475 (long arms - at a Starting Strength seminar in 2016 Rip quipped that I had "Gibbon blood")
Press: 170
Best time around North Meck loop in Huntersville, NC: 24:18
*Before Colectomy
Latest PRs after layoff:
LB Squat: 155 for 10 reps
Bench: 140 for 10 reps
Deadlift: 200 for 10 reps
Press: 80 for 10 reps