Before the good must come the bad…
A bit of background on me. Ive always been a ‘stocky’ lad even from a young age but always been active, playing football, rugby etc. however, have gradually over time Ive put weight on but never kept track of my weight to speak off but started noticing jean sizes increasing.
At Uni I met my now wife Sarah who is slim (I was punching above my weight there ) so started playing 5 a side regularly with some lads and dropped a little bit of weight but my diet and eating habits stayed awful.
I think this is when I started to become aware of my weight and floated around 17st for a number of years.
7 years ago I tied the knot with Sarah and when she said Yes I went on the offensive and dropped my weight from 17st to 15 and a half stone when I got married.
I did this through the usual yo-yo diets of slimming world and 5:2 and all those other faddy commercial ideas but I also went to a local gym and did the usual half-hearted cardio and light weight routine……….effectively what I was told and the generic training plan the lazy trainers probably give everyone.
However, that and the diet did work. Over the past few years I have continued to play 5 a side (tried too) 3 times a week but old eating habits came back in and the weight started to increase back up towards 18st
Over these years I had become unhappy with my body and how I looked, it had driven my confidence down and I had become self-conscious about what to and what not to wear and yes people (arseholes) had made hurtful comments that put me into the spiral.
At this point your reading this and thinking why didn’t I just go to gym and start plugging away mind of body etc. I wanted to do that and did.
I joined a 9.99 a month gym, went by myself and when I go there just got into a rhythm of doing just enough (Ive done an hour at the gym so good job) but I didn’t have a clue how to train, how to focus what I should be doing and training by myself I could be slack.
So…….the good!
In November I decided enough was enough and saw the RT Facebook page and made contact in December and spoke to Sarah on the phone and immediately signed up for strip and rip and started in January.
I’d always wanted to do weight training but had never learnt how to do it and what to do and my goal was to lose weight 2st was the goal – no body fat target just the weight.
So I turned up on the first night, I had never ever done any weight training in the past.
I was feeling nervous and apprehensive thinking whats it going to be like?, they will be hench and lifting big weights? It was the complete opposite.
When I arrived I realised that everyone was the same as me and then starting to talk to the other guys realised that everyone had their own targets but there were NO EGO’s and I was immediately put at ease.
Ross and Sarah were awesome when I started. I turned up, got measured and got my eating profile set up (tracking what I eat…seemed alien) and just go straight on with it and I’ve never looked back.
In the first 8 weeks I made some unbelievable gains in my fitness levels and my knowledge of what to eat and what not to eat.
After 12 weeks I had gone from 17st 6lbs to 16st 4 lbs and reduced my body fat from 34% to 26% and I was astounded by the results while at the same time my gains in strength were far beyond what I thought and had hoped for.
Im now 6 months in (not gunna stop) I’ve made so many great gains (200Kg PB DEADLIFT, 162.5kg Squat). I love training!
My attitude to training and eating has changed dramatically (you will be surprised what you can eat for 2500 calories!!!).
Im now confident and don’t stress about my body appearance and I have now focused goals (I want to get below 20% body fat) I want to hit a certain PB or improve in my weak areas.
I no longer even look at my weight as its all about my body shape and my Body fat % (although if you haven’t seen Ross’s video about weighing in then please do…..this was me when I 1st started!!!)
If you’re thinking about joining a gym and you want the results you want and the support you need and you want to be part of something special with special people who genuinely care about you and want to see you achieve then the guys at RT (Sarah, Ross and Dan) are immense and are always guiding, helping and pushing you in every aspect they can to help you achieve your goals (that’s the important bit!!) .
Ive made some really good friends, its great crack and its just a joy and a honour to train with these guys and be part of RT fitness family.
If in Doubt – JFDI (Just Fucking Do it) You will not regret it.