I was inspired by my older brothers to start working out at the age of 8 because I saw the awesome results of sticking to a consistent weightlifting program with their athletic feats and functional fitness they always exhibited. My bros had put together a complete gym in our garage with the bench press, squat rack, pullup bar, and all the free weights I needed to get a great start on the path to optimal fitness. In high school, I joined the wrestling team and was reknown for having set more power/weight-lifting records than any athlete in the school's history and was also revered for my 'freakish' strength on the wrestling mat which helped me dominate opponents time and time again. In college, I continued to set records, and workout consistently while winning college contests ranging from the fastest rope climb to becoming the collegiate arm-wrestling champion. At the age of 25 I stopped hitting the gym on a daily basis while persuing my career in Information technology with my 60 hour weeks and slowly noticed the lbs & fat start to accumulate. By the start of my 30s, I was well over 50 lbs heavier than my college days (all fat) and last year, I fell into the abyss hitting my heaviest weight ever at almost 330+ lbs and realized while looking in the mirror that I hardly recognized the man that I'd slowly become after giving up the healthy habits from my youth. This is why I've decided to change and get back to my 'roots' to return to my true self and become even greater than I was through the transformation process. I'm looking forward to reinventing myself and discovering what I'm truly capable of since I know the sky is the limit!
Nothing else on this earth allows you to take total control of your destiny and reap the great rewards associated with optimal health than putting in a hard fought, daily workout! The positive energy, confidence, physical benefits, and mental focus I get from putting in my best efforts in my workout outweighs any required sacrifices I have to make. Even on my toughest, most stressful and tiring days that life can throw at me, it is always well worth the extra effort to overcome the challenges and in the process, I truly become a better person for it in all aspects of my life. Working out is one of those rare activities and investments in life where you can gain much more than you put in with consistency over time. Now it's up to me to yield a ten fold return on my investment with my renewed motivation and focus to become the man I aspire to be. Once I reach my initial fitness goals, I will strive to set new ones so I'm continually climbing higher and setting new PRs which is another reason why I love working out;.. you can never outgrow it!