Well right off the bat, I wouldn't worry about measurements at all if you're going to take a serious approach to lifting and nutrition.
You're going to most likely go through a solid bulking phase, where you'll get bigger, most likely retain more water, and eventually go through your cutting phase, where you'll lose all of that and come up on your definition (depending on your nutrition and workouts).
The only measurements I would recommend doing would be before and after measurements if you're really interested in seeing where you've progressed too after your cutting phase. I highly recommend taking monthly photos though!
In regards to your diet, there is no specific diet out there. It's something I've found that is usually tuned to your body, and it takes a serious amount of trial and error to find what works best for you. By all means though, try cookie cutter diets and ideas in regards to bulking and cutting, but just go into it with an open mind and willingness to switch things up to better suit your needs.
When it comes to lifting (And you've already stated it), you're either concerned with overall strength, or aesthetics. With that being said, any lift that is utilizing multiple aspects of your body is a game changer. Deadlifts are largely ignored, but should be incorporated into your workouts as well as squats, cleans, pull ups etc. Kipping pullups have their use (Been doing CrossFit for a couple years now), and I would recommend incorporating both into your workouts. On the same token, since you're going for aesthetics, muscle isolation is going to get you where you want to go, albeit it's going to take time. I know you mentioned your dislike for "knees", and I assure you, those shouldn't be your issue if you're squatting correctly. Multi-movement exercises (Squat, cleans, deadlift etc) are not only fundamental, but your growth is going to be largely based off of those exercises. They open your body up for testosterone production exponentially when you start engaging your arms, your quads, hamstrings, glutes and back at the same time. Seriously, do not skip out of them because you dislike them.
From my experience, it's all nutrition though mate. 80% eating properly, 20% working out correctly. If you can get your diet down, you'll make leaps and bounds as far as progress goes. I've found that a lot of people put a lot of stock into your caloric intake, and from my experience you should only really be worrying about it being too low, depending on your level of activity and your goals. It's more about putting the correct foods into your body. At the end of the day if you're committed to the gym and consistently working out, your metabolism and level of activity is going to be able to handle 3-3500 calories without extreme fat gain. On that note, don't worry about any type of fat gain during your bulking phases, as your body needs it to absorb necessary nutrients vital to muscle production. It can always be dealt with later in your cutting phase.
For interest, and this was on deployment so nutrition wasn't optimal, here are a couple of my progress pictures.
Can't quite remember my specific weights that I was lifting at at the beginning, but they were horrendous.
I came back from deployment flat benching 5x350lbs, squatting 10x525lbs, deadlifting 8x525lbs, 50x dead hang pullups (25x weighted dead hang with 65lbs weight) and overall my strength had increased exponentially in all areas of exercise. My arms were just shy of 18 inches and I was sitting at 212lbs at the end of my cutting phase.
Hard work and dedication, and it makes you feel great having accomplished goals. If you have any questions regarding stuff, let me know!
For them not interested in seeing me half naked lol
Excuse the stupid faces
This post has been edited by Assail: 19 February 2013 - 11:03 AM
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