I first started lifting in my early teens, to augment my swimming performance. Once I left high school, I decided to do "less" aerobic fitness work (swimming and running) and devote more time to gaining muscle, as 6'0" and 145 was far too skinny!
Over the course of the next 18 or so years, my muscle mass crept up until I had reached an all time high of 213 lbs, while still maintaining a sub 33" waist. An unexpected auto accident AND the Air Force's "return" to a "real" aerobic-based PT fitness program and testing put me back on a path of both aerobic fitness attainment AND a quest for musculature in early 2004.
Since that time, my fitness activity level has fluctuated greatly; a move to San Antonio, TX and new job that I initially hated, and the birth of my daughter led to new priorities and a resultant fitness deterioration; this downward trend wasn't shaken until a New Years resolution that I made to myself back in January 2007. Eighteen months later, 20 lbs lighter, and as strong as I had been since my early 20's, I was looking and feeling good again. Things took an immediate downturn, however, during my 30 day vacation / 6.5K mile move up to Alaska! Lot's of on-the-road eating and very little concurrent PT resulted in a 15 lb weight gain over 30 days!!!
Over the course of the next three years, I eventually got back into fairly decent shape (approximately 90% of where I had gotten back to in mid 2008), but then another move and a subsequent new job (with extremely long work hours) between mid 2011 and 2012 led to another, slow-but-steady fitness downturn.
The 2013 Bodybuilding.com Physical transformation challenge presented an opportunity for me to regain my fitness, however two subsequent promotions in the Spring and then again at the end of 2013 forced me to (once again) place my physical activity on the back burner for all of 2014, leaving me as unfit as I have ever been.
Since the beginning of 2015, I have slowly but surely reenergized my working out. Since the 1rst of the year, I have essentially doubled the number of days (per month) that I average working out, and have even taken on "counting calories" again. I pray that I can make physical maintenance a permanent fixture in my life again.