Andrew Shafranich

Male

21

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Student

Feb, 2007

I ran Cross Country and Track all throughout high school and I liked my figure. I was thin, yet I still had defined muscles. I didn't want to gain too much muscle because I was a distance runner. Normally only sprinters are advantageous from muscle mass. Anyway, after graduating I worked all summer and didn't run very often. When I got to college I felt lazy. When I went back to school after break I told myself that I need to start working out. So I began to run again and then started lifting to tone my muscles. Eventually I become addicted to lifting. I wanted to build more muscle than I had before. And thats how it happened.

We'll I loved the competition running brought on. Now that I've lost that I began to challenge myself in the gym seeing how much I could endure. Now I've made friends at the gym and its like a chance for me to bring back that competition, yet relax from my school work. It also helps to take out frustration.

I stay motivated by setting goals. I see different people who are built, and I say I want to look like that.

I hit a roadblock that has about a year and a half history. After three surgeries and about 8 months of doctors visits on and off, I was diagnosed with epithieliod sarcoma in the fall of '08. The tumor had been there for about a year. After my third surgery and two months of treatment (finally after they figured out what is was) I had to take almost 4 months off from doing anything. I am finally trying to get back to the gym and trying to get into shape again. I lost about 10 pounds of muscle, but I am hoping to be stronger than before without something holding me back.