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| AGE 18 HEIGHT 5'11" WEIGHT 240 lbs BODY FAT 30% ARMS 13.5" |
AGE 19 HEIGHT 5'11" WEIGHT 168 lbs BODY FAT 10% ARMS 16" |
Why I Got Started
I was always overweight and never really bothered to do anything about it until my later days of high school. I worked out on and off in a strength and conditioning class in high school and always enjoyed improving on my lifts week to week. Growing up I have never been happy with the way I looked in mirror but, like I said, I never really attempted to change this. That is until I started seeing results from my strength and conditioning class; then it truly became an addiction.
Towards the end of high school a few of my friends decided to get gym memberships and I decided to step up and make a change, and from that day on I never looked back. I spent hours upon hours in the gym every week and it was arguably my favorite time of the day. I loved the competition I had with my friends seeing who could lift the most weight and make the biggest improvements every week.
Knowing that I can achieve a more aesthetic physique every day is what really pushes me; I found it unbelievable to see what your body could do day to day week to week. Working out has been the best decision I have made in my life not only for my health, but for my appearance and confidence as well!
Nothing feels better for me than looking back at my old pictures from high school, or seeing the looks on my friend's faces that I haven't seen in years, that is all the motivation I need.
How I Did It
When I first began working out I was doing a 3 day split that my P.E instructor taught me to do in high school. I used this split for the first few months of my lifting because I really didn't know anything else. Soon after I got my gym membership I found bodybuilding.com and started lurking in the forums on a daily basis.
My days began to consist of school, gym, and research. I began experimenting with various routines such as my 3 day split, 5 day splits, and even a few 6 day splits trying to bring up lagging body parts. I spent hours looking into proper nutrition and diet plans doing trial and error to see what worked best for me.
Soon after looking through the nutrition section I couldn't believe how much I had learned, and I applied as much of it as I could to my daily diet. Once I found out what worked best for me with diet and training I felt like nothing could stop me. The gym became the highlight of my day and I spent most of my morning getting prepared for the workouts.
Overall the biggest factor that added to my success was definitely my dedication, there were many nights where my friends would go out partying and I would stay in just to avoid the temptations of drinking. I also work in a restaurant where it was very hard at first for me to avoid eating the various foods that were around me during my shifts, so I began bringing bags of chicken breasts and almonds while all of my friends laughed at me, but that didn't bother me.
Consistency was key, once I got in a rhythm of healthy eating it was easy for me, it was all about turning good days into good weeks which made it hard for me to fall off my diet.
Suggestions For Others
- Consistency is KEY. (I'm not just saying this; all habits are hard to break good or bad. Try to get as many good ones as you can.)
- Take progress photos. (Take a photo of yourself at the start of every week to track your progress, you won't even notice unless you have something to compare it to.)
- Get a gym partner. (Competition always makes for better training, get a friend and start competing in the gym!)
- Diet is huge. (If you're just training and not actually eating properly to support this training you aren't getting everything you can out of it, diet plays the largest role in changing your physique.
- Sleep it up. (Nothing makes you feel unmotivated like sleeping in and missing half your day before it even began, get to bed at an earlier time and make sure you're getting your 8 hours in!)