Things to do on a fitness journey

Part Three: Why should you listen to anything I have to say?

“Yo so are you a CPT (certified personal trainer)?”. No, I am not. I don’t have certs, or multiple degrees in exercise physiology, nutrition, or physical therapy, but don’t give up on me yet. I have been training in the gym since I was 16 years old (currently 23), and have been playing sports all of my life. Going to the gym, training outside, and making healthy progress is my favorite thing to do, and I’m slowly realizing that I could help people achieve their goals; nothing would satisfy me more as a person.

I have had two separate “fitness journeys” in my seven years of training. When I first started working out, my goal was to put on muscle and gain strength. I started at 175 lbs and not being able to bench press 75 lbs, I was painfully weak. By age 19 I had reached a solid 230 lbs in weight and was far from that initial pathetic bench press (my personal best is 425 lbs unassisted and fully paused at the bottom at age 22).

My second journey started this January when I got the flu. I lost almost 20 lbs in two weeks and ate maybe twice in that span. I felt horrible, losing all that I had worked for, but I saw it as an opportunity. I got back into the gym, started getting back to my roots of running and playing basketball, small and simple changes. I began eating healthier and mixed with cardio every single day, I lost a little over 72 lbs when it was all said and done.

Everyone asks for “stats”, so I’ll just provide them.

Age: 23

Height: 6 ft.

Weight: 192.3 (this morning after two meals)

Waist: 28 inches.

Current Goal: Lean Muscle Acquisition, Overall Health.

Current “Diet”: Chicken, mixed vegetables, brown rice with a touch of tomato sauce (4x daily), 6 eggs and 2 cup of oats in the morning, 2 tbsp of extra crunchy peanut butter every 3 hours as a snack.

Supplements: Creatine Monohydrate (no, it doesn’t kill), green tea extract (I also drink 3-4 cups of green tea daily, mixed with stevia sweetener at times), coffee and amino acid capsules before workout, and at gaspari nutrition aminolast during my workouts (2 scoops provides over 10 grams in aminos).

Strength/Fitness Feats: 425 lbs flat bench press, 635 raw deadlift, 415 decline bench @ bodyweight of 181.2 lbs (morning weight), 140 lbs one-arm dumbbell clean and press (done last week at 189 lbs). 140lbs dumbbell incline presses for 5 reps @ 182 lbs bodyweight, 180lbs weighted dips for 5 reps (4 45 lb plates wrapped around a weight belt), 150 decline pushups consecutively, 6:10 mile at 225 lbs bodyweight, 710 lbs rack pull (192 lbs), and 30 handstand pushups.

(These stats span over the seven years I have been focused on training). I started putting in body weight movements during the month of March (2013).

I didn’t post any pictures in this article because that just felt so self serving, but there are some progress pics I have on my instagram (addisteven).

Thanks for reading, any and all feedback is appreciated but most importantly I hope I can serve as some kind of motivation for someone to get out there and make their own incredible journey into a real life success story. Take care, all.