My Story:

I was always a chubby kid and never particularly physically active. I once ate 10 Carl's Jr. hamburgers in one sitting when I was a 4th grader. I was also infamous for finishing a Little Cesar's Bigfoot pizza all by myself on a couple occasions. My favorite activities were playing Nintendo games and watching cartoons. When I got into high school though, I realized that being a chubby good wasn't what I wanted for myself. The school nurse told me I needed to lose weight for the sake of my health, and over that summer and fall I lost around 25-30 pounds through cleaning up my diet and going on a few hikes every day.

Once I dropped that chub, I realized that I didn't like being thin either. I started to look up to bodybuilders and pro-wrestlers for the physiques they had. I started out doing basic bodyweight exercises, and then on my 17th birthday I started my first real weight training program. I hated it at first, but after a couple months I was hooked and I haven't looked back since. My love for training grew so strong that I am now studying exercise sciences in university, and I'm also a certified fitness trainer through the ISSA. In 2010 I launched a health/fitness site at pdxpumped.com.

Supplements:

My favorite supplements are whey protein, creatine monohydrate, pre-workout stimulants, fish oil, and flax seed. I definitely think some of the higher-end supplements can be quite fun and beneficial, but as a student I'm on a pretty limited budget.

Favorite Workout:

For several years I followed the Max-OT training principles. I loved the simplicity and the feeling of heavy weights. I really looked up to Jeff Willet and Skip LaCour, so naturally I wanted to train like they did. As the years went by I started incorporating more bodybuilding techniques like strip-sets and so on, but basic exercise with heavy weights still make up the bulk of my routine.

My favorite body part to train seems to change every 6 months or so. Recently I really like my chest, shoulders, and triceps day. Let's face it; it's awesome to look at yourself in the mirror with all those body parts fully pumped up! My favorite exercises for that particular workout are incline dumbbell presses, single-arm overhead triceps extensions, and lateral raises with a cable.

Hobbies:

When I'm not working out, you can usually find me doing homework, blogging, playing guitar (I love metal music), challenging friends to pinball, or spending time with my girlfriend. Oh, and I still play Nintendo.