Andrew Chang

Male

24

Author, Trainer, and Entrepreneur

Jul, 1997

There's something inherently appealing about the methodology and mythology of bodybuilding. I was a troubled youth, an overweight kid, and a bulimic teen until I found bodybuilding. I loved how I could forge my body through my will. I never believed in myself or trusted myself in the past, but through surprising myself with every moment I trained, I started to see things in myself that were never there before. People sometimes think faith is something you have before you began, but for me, faith was something that was created during the process. Just being able to do things I never thought I could do before, in the weight room and outside of it, was a miracle to me.

Bodybuilding started out as a way to shape the body that I hated. It was a church I prayed in when my life was falling apart. However, it has become much more than that. Everything I learned and created through bodybuilding has changed my life, be it the ability to risk myself, the confidence from facing a challenge, the passion from living a dream, or even just the determination and desire to carry out a plan and blaze a path. After years of training, wanting to give up, starting over, making something from nothing, I finally have a sense of tranquility, peace, and freedom. Instead of someone who fights great once a while, I was becoming a great fighter. Not in the sense that on a grand scale that I was any good, but in the small scheme of my life, the only sense that mattered, that I was the best I could be. And I know it. Every moment I train.

Desire. I think that is what matters more than anything. In the end, it is not the man with more skill, more talent, more knowledge, or even more opportunities that triumphs, but the man who has the hunger and will to do whatever he has to do, to endure whatever he must, and to overcome whatever stands in his past, that will ultimately be victorious. It's all too easy to get caught up in the glory and the legend that you forget who you are, what you want to be, and why you started. "We are told that talent creates its own opportunities. Yet, it sometimes seems that intense desire creates not only its own opportunities but also its own talents as well" -Bruce Lee "Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them -- a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill"-Ali

In the last summer before college, when everyone else enjoyed their time together, I sacrificed everything for my dream of being a professional martial arts fighter. I had three months to prove to myself, and to the world, I had what it took. If I didn’t make it, I had to get a degree and get a “real” job, like everyone else. I would rather live as a champion for just one moment than to exit an eternity as a slave. I went from being an average wrestler who trained 2 hours a day to an elite warrior who fought 7 hours a day, every single day. I gained over 30 pounds of muscle within 3 months. I went from 200 pound bench to 450; from 200 push up to 500; from 20 pull ups to 70; and from 6 minute miles to 5. An old man at the airport stopped me before my flight and said, “Hi Champion. I just wanted to wish you luck in the Olympic trials. You make us proud!” I cried…All my life I wanted to be somebody else, anyone else, and now…strangers on the street came up and thanked me for just being me…

Health, Wealth, Truth LLC. Get the Revolutionary Lifestyle Program: http://www.7hourschoolweek.com The Health Standard: http://www.healthwealthtruth.com Business and Personal Blog: http://www.andrewbchang.com/ Video: http://www.youtube.com/andrewbchang