Impetus

As I sit here watching Braveheart and contemplating my next 8 week training cycle, I decided to begin this blog.  My current long-standing obsession is with general health & fitness.  I am 6'4" tall and in the area of 235 lbs with a 35" waist and ~15% body fat.  I started out life as a thin child in the 70's who grew into a chunky couch potato existence as a teen in the 80's and an obese young adult in the 90's.  By the time I graduated high school I was 6'2" and weighed over 250 lbs.  In college I grew to my current height and my weight fluctuated a lot until I began my career in 2002.  During the first year of my career I got into the worst shape of my life.  My weight had gotten over 330 lbs (my scale topped out at 330 lbs & I buried the needle) and my waist was 48".  Unfortunately I don't have any pics of myself from this period in my life as I refused to be in pictures at that weight.

I decided, like so many others suffering from obesity, to lose weight by unrealistically altering my diet (carrot sticks & water sound familiar to anyone???) and exercising in the form of running.  I got limited results from this method & decided to begin lifting weights to accompany my cardio.  Through this combination (weights, cardio, all over the place reduced calorie diet), I got my weight down to 290 lbs.  The pics below are fuzzy, but show my basic shape at this point in my journey.

In 2004 I found myself back in southern California and joined the 4-Star Gym in El Segundo, where I began training for and competing in the sport of powerlifting.  Over 3 years I gained muscle & lost fat through a rigorous program of strength training that resulted in an AAU official 485 lb squat, 330 lb bench press, & 601 lb deadlift all at a bodyweight of 275 lbs.  The vids below show these three accomplishments.

My next move was to north Texas in 2007.  I was still very interested in competitive strength sports, but without training partners I lacked the drive & motivation to continue my powerlifting training.  I read about a local Strongman competition to be held in February, 2008, and decided to train for it.  I was already strong from powerlifting, but I knew there was much more to Strongman than just limit strength.  I didn't know what to expect so I just started moving weights in various planes of motion trying to mimic what I thought I'd face in the competition and this began my first foray into leanness.  In the 5 months I trained for that first competition I went from 280 lbs down to 230 lbs and competed in the lightweight division (less than 105 kg...231.4 lbs).  This was the first time I'd ever been considered a lightweight anything and I performed feats I never dreamed possible.  It was through training intensely to lift stones, pull trucks, and flip tires that it happened.  Channeling my strength into high-intensity, full body training helped me achieve a 225 lb body weight at a body fat percentage of around 10%.  Below are some pics of me at the Battle on the Bayou Strongman Competition, Baton Rouge, LA, 2008...1st place Lightweight Division.

I've also included olympic style weightlifting into my training over the years and tried competing in that sport as well (technically much more difficult than either of the other two strength sports I've competed in).  Here are some vids of me competing at the South Texas Open Weightlifting competition from 2010.  The first vid is a 75 kg (165 lbs) snatch & the second is a 110 kg (242 lbs) clean & jerk.  I placed 6th out of 10 competitors.

I've maintained this level of fitness (although I am a bit heavier now as I'm not competing) for 3 years and have added in flexibility, mobility, and functional movement exercises to cope with the ravages of intense strength training.  This will be covered in future blog posts.

So, that's it...intro done.