I was an indoors kid growing up. I lived with my mother and my father passed away at 9, so I had no male figure in my life. I got tired of being known as 'that fat chubby guy that likes videogames and the internet,' so I started doing the only thing I knew how to do. Running. I didn't know anything about what I was doing. I'd take off wearing jeans and a sweater and hit the road, run til I ran out of breath, stopped to walk and then kept going. A friend recommend I buy shorts and sleeveless shirts, so I started doing that. After leaning up a bit I noticed, "Hey, I look nice. But I want to be strong too." I noticed I couldn't lift my bodyweight or lift heavy, so I read up and figured out that running is cardiovascular, and resistance and weight training builds muscle mass / endurance, depending on what you're training for and how you train with them.

After experimenting a while, I realised I was 19, working at a grocery store and just out of highschool. I wanted to do something with this new fitness level I achieved, so I joined the Army. Being from Mississippi and being an indoors kid, joining the army threw me into a HUGE shock. I had no social skills, no friends, and didn't know the FIRST thing about socialising! I've been in for 6 years now, made quite a few lifelong friends, and aside from military life and bodybuilding, I've also taken up art and webcomics, as I publish upon my personal page on Deviantart, as well as my personal domain at bottomlesspitstudios.com.

Over the years I started training for pure mass but my diet suffered a lot, I only cared about building strength and mass. I had a massive one rep max on barbell bench for 325 lbs., but I was fat. I weighed a whopping 265 lbs. as opposed to the lean 180 lbs. I had when I first joined the army. I was very close to being kicked out, but for the past year my superiors worked with me and gave me a chance to lose that fat I gained. As much as I hated to do it, I had to cut back on strength training and focus on fatloss, which is where I am now.

I've mostly focused on cardio, and low-weight high reps. Lately my workout is a 2 mile run followed by vigorous weights, but I'm only pushing 225 lbs. for 7 or 8 reps on the barbell bench. I plan to get lean mass and also to get my benchpress to over 500 lbs., but without gaining the bodyfat and having my cardiovascular fitness suffer, as that is CRUCIAL in army training to pass the fitness test.

So here I am, ready to learn and achieve my goals to excel in the military and wherever my ambition takes me from here.

Why? Because it gives you the power to TAKE CONTROL of your life. Your body is the only one you've got, and you only live once. If you believe in reincarnation, well, then you're only the person you are right now once. So why suffer or mope about how bad your body is, when you can simply take the initiative to change it, when the knowledge is clearly available to all? Instead of being mad at the world for being obese, take charge of your life. You got noone to blame but yourself, so pick up that notepad, study up and go to that gym. Cut out the junkfood and ignore the carnal desires of the flesh - because I as a Christian am taught that indulgence is a sin against your own body (not forcing religion on anybody so please take no offense!)

All in all it gives you the power to define who you are. YOU HAVE THE POWER!