I got started originally with the goal to look my best when I got married. So about 6 months before I got married I started working out at Gold's Gym, and went from a soft 180lbs, to a solid 212. I looked great, felt great, and that was all good till I got married. Nothing to do with the marriage as I'm still happily married to my wife, and we have 2 boys. The problem was I set a goal of a timeline, and when I hit it I didn't set another goal. So I stopped working out so much, but kept eating like I was working out. Fast forward about 6 years and I found myself at 225ish, and around 28% body fat.
December of 2013 is when I started once again. Motivated by a wager amongst 5 friends and my wife I started out again to look my best by Halloween of 2014. Ultimate goal is to be a convincing Wolverine. With the help of BB.com this time is different. I know now that Halloween in just a point of time on my goal for fitness. Time will only be a point of reference for me to asses, adjust, and refine my approach to meet my goal.
Control. It's something I have complete control over. Sure there are factors that may make things difficult, such as kids, work, significant others, but those same things may also be your best support system. I control my level of involvement, my contribution, and my results. If I'm not seeing the gains I want, I know it is because I'm not working hard enough, or my nutrition is not dialed in enough. Not because I'm relying on someone else to bring me the gains. It's all because of me.In the end people that don't know me will say things like, he has good genes, or the body type for that. In reality it's because I put in the time, I did the work, I stuck to the diet, and I gained the knowledge to make this body. And that's the truth for everyone, whether your physique is good or bad.