Hi!I am glad I found about all the great info Kiefer is putting out, and only regret that i did not catch on to back-loading sooner.  I am 39 years old, 6'3", 240 lbs and in the Armed Forces.  I have deployed twice in the last three years (most recently to Afghanistan).  I have always been a solid athlete in all sports (except my kryptonite - swimming - I have an extreme negative buoyancy which was difficult to overcome when I came on active duty).  I got serious about lifting during my deployment in 2008-09.  I progressed nicely during the 15 months I was away from home.  I lifted heavy and ate everything in sight for 2 months and got to 260, then switched diet and workout routine to get to a lean 230, but lost a lot of the strength. I hit a wall with little to no gains for a long time.  During the most recent deployment, I just got lean doing a lot of push-ups, pull-ups, etc. due to the lack of good equipment at my location.  I decided I wanted to get stronger again, but wanted to avoid the extreme weight gain I experienced before.  I want to stay lean.  I started back-loading two weeks ago after reading the article in men's fitness.  I am impressed with the strength gains I have made - especially on bench and DL.  I had been doing carb nite for six weeks prior to that to lean out for my bi-anual fitness test.  My shoulders, back and chest are getting bigger and my waist is about the same.  Looking forward to the book and getting dialed-in on this thing to get some solid results in the months to come.