April 2024
Fitness
Journey
2007-2009
During junior high school, I joined the cross country and wrestling teams, more for social opportunities than any real sense of competition and self-improvement. I wasn’t very good at cross country, but I loved running through the woods, and I was a good sprinter (I tried to convince my teammates to ironically call me “The Flash”). Wrestling was fun when I could do things my way, but it ultimately turned out to be a pretty poor experience physically and socially. Running stayed with me, as a way to calm my mind and my body.
2009-2013
I started lifting weights in high school, as part of a “Power Training” curriculum. I really enjoyed lifting heavy, particularly the deadlift, but my form for bench and squat was terrible, and I injured myself pretty regularly when attempting single repetition maxes. In addition to lifting, I could also still outrun most of my peers (in the PT class). Injuries aside, I was very well-rounded, physically.
2013-2017
As I entered college, I lifted at a gym owned by my parents’ employer. In hindsight, it was probably the nicest gym I’ve ever used, but I had no direction, which resulted in minimal progression and frequent inconsistency.
In my later college years, I exercised less and focused more on my courses, internships, work, and some side jobs. I was moving around, but I was eating, drinking, and rarely lifting. When I attempted strength training, it was without direction or progression. I still ran and cycled when I could.
2017-2019
After years of decreasing physical activity, I joined the workforce full-time, living alone, more income than I was used to, and access to a seemingly unlimited array of food options (none of them particularly healthy). I started gaining weight, losing muscle, drinking more often, and feeling worse overall. I’m happy that I took advantage of that lifestyle when I could, but it caught up with me very quickly.
This was the first time I attempted a diet, which was both extreme and ineffective:
- Egg & spinach (just that) casserole for breakfast (thinking about it still makes me gag)
- Tuna packet or protein shake for lunch, sprinkled with tears for flavor
- Fast food or frozen pizza and peanut butter for dinner, because I deserved an excessive treat after depriving myself for hours
Eventually, I met someone at work - a part-time local bodybuilding trainer - who agreed to help me train at my apartment gym and set me up with a full-body program and some nutrition advice for $120. This reignited my training spirit, and it started my journey down the bodybuilding/powerbuilding path, with a path to progression guiding me for the first time ever. My diet was still poor, but I was lifting regularly and lifting my maxes from high school. I also started exploring the concepts of strength training and hypertrophy and fell in love with creating my own programs. Doing so impacted my progression, but I was having fun and lifting regularly, which was the most important thing.
2019-2023
We moved to Chandler, Arizona, and I started a new job with very different responsibilities. We had a lot of new experiences during this time, with a more demanding lifestyle than we were used to, and my training suffered for it. I tried to go to a Planet Fitness a few times a week, focusing on the nSuns program to build up my strength and - maybe, just maybe - muscle size. I ultimately found it unsustainable, though this was due more to my ignorance of recovery and nutrion needs at the time. I still made some significant gains, and it furthered my understanding of the core lifts that I have used for years since:
- Bench press / close grip bench press
- Overhead press
- Back squat /
front squat(actually, fuck front squat) - Deadlift / sumo deadlift
Then we bought a house and COVID-19 swept through the world just weeks later. I was living and working at home, and the idea of going a gym was laughable. But something about that isolation, and probably significantly less physical movement overall - spurred me to pick up training again with a pair of 25lb dumbbells that I bough at Walmart and a pull-up bar that I’d had since high school.
My main focus since 2020 has been strength-focused powerlifting routines. These are often simple to follow, and the progression helps keep me motivated. In August of 2023 I reached a personal goal of lifting 1,000 lbs across the 3 main powerlifting compounds: back squat (340), bench press (260), and deadlift (400). Since then, I’ve been exploring powerbuilding and bodybuilding programs, trying to improve my diet, and inconsistently integrating daily cardio sessions.
2024+
Log
Over time and between many programs, I’ve tried to log notes and learnings that improved my efficiency and/or results.
Programs
My current routine: 543
Regimens I’ve used or created.
Research
Reports on studies and articles I’ve found useful.