Dan

Male

23

Chandler, Arizona, United States

Personal Trainer

Aug, 2006

I used to be a statistic. Through JR. High and the first two years of high school I was overweight, out of shape, and not happy with myself. Between my JR and SR years I went from 205lbs and almost 40% body fat to a trim 160, but with still 17% body fat. I had very little muscle whatsoever from the lack of physical activity. The most difficult part was eating right since all around me was temptation. The family would get fast food multiple times a week, sometimes even twice a day. Shortly after my SR year was over I joined the military. What little muscle I had put on after losing so much weight was quickly lost. I have a very fast metabolism and the way the military feeds you in basic was no where near what my body needed. I lost almost all the muscle I had gained and was back down to 156 with still around 14-15% bf but no muscle. All the way through the Army, doing the PT they have us do was not geared towards size, but endurance. For the most part army PT is dangerous, but that's a discussion for another time. My unit deployed to Iraq and that was when I finally put on some serious muscle. I read up on everything that I could and learned how to gain lean mass while managing fat stores. By the time we left theater, I was a trim 176 with nearly an 8 pack. However as soon as we got back to the states I lost 10 lbs from the twice a days we were doing. Figured out what I was doing wrong and fixed it. Today I'm bigger and stronger than I have ever been, while still maintaining a lean physique.

The gym is the one place where you don't compete against anyone else but yourself. I go in knowing what I did the week prior and strive to best myself each and every time.

To be as strong as possible for my weight.

Between JR and SR years of HS, lost 40 lbs. 15 months in Iraq, went from 156 with high BF% to 176 at 7% BF.