Great thread. First time visiting it. A little about my setup. I lift five nights per week focusing on biceps and triceps and abs on Monday, bb squats, standing or seated calf raises, stiff leg DL on Tuesday, back and chest on Wednesday, shoulders on Thursday, and Bulgarian split squats, calves and glute/ham developer machine, abs on Fridays.
Aesthetically I think I look very good. I'm very muscular at 6'1 188 lbs. My goals are aesthetics and Type 1 diabetes control. A1Cs run in the 4.5-4.7 range which I primarily attribute to a high protein/ low carb diet and lifting.
My strength is okay for a 51 year old man, I guess. I maxed out a while ago on bench at 275, I squatted 290 on Tuesday in a set of two. This was a record for me as my legs are muscular but not very powerful. I have had a lot of success using Wendlers 5/3/1 program taking my squat max from 275 to something over 300 (290 twice tells me I should reasonably get something over 300). Lastly I do dead lifts in sets of five of 340 lbs.
I have my own gym here at my house and I just replaced my old cage and bought new equipment. I am a big fan of Rep equipment and most of my stuff is from them. I just purchased the 500 rack and Athena attachment from them which I absolutely love. My gym expenditure approaches $10,000 but I use it diligently so feel like I'm getting good value out of it.
Right now I struggle with a loss of grip strength and numbness in both arms from carpal and cubital tunnel syndrome which I attribute to weight lifting. I've had bone spur surgery in my right shoulder; I've had my ulnar nerve transposed in my right arm as well as my nerves rerouted in my right wrist. I need the same surgeries on my left arm, which sucks.
I bench these days using dumbbells as the barbell bench really bothers my wrists and shoulders. My Athena attachment has a functional trainer capability which has really caused some growth in my chest area. Due to my arm issues and horrible golfers elbow in my left arm, I stopped curling. Now my only exercise for biceps are chin ups with full extension (rack is 94 inches tall). This has caused my arms to blow up.
Goal now is to continue doing what I love while managing all the body issues (aches/pains/etc.) that come with it. Glad to join you guys and hope to learn from you.