My Own Story – Or How I Went From Scrawny to Brawny!

For the majority of my childhood my brother and I were exactly the same height and weight. The funny part was that he was 3 years younger than me! No doubt about it, I was a little guy.

Every year, my mother would tell me that I didn’t have to worry. “Someday, you’ll be just as big as your father,” she’d say. And every year I failed to live up to such high hopes.

But, the prospect of being as big as my Dad was appealing and strong and it got me through. My Dad was never one to rely on good genetics. He still works out, he runs, and he eats pretty healthy. He stands at just under 6 feet tall, he’s athletic, with strong arms, and broad shoulders.

Hey, what kid wouldn’t want to look like that!

The problem is that just waiting around was doing nothing to further the cause. I was small. I was not just short, I was skinny. I never minded being short – it’s actually kinda fun. (And safer! You never hit your head going down to the basement!)

But being skinny … THAT was a problem.

I wasn’t weak or nonathletic. I could run fast, like the other kids. I was rather good at arm-wrestling even, in spite of my size. But, I was small. Skinny and small.

So, even though I could run fast and was naturally athletic, I always got picked last for sports. The impression my body gave others was that I wasn’t capable, I wasn’t strong, and I wasn’t how I thought I should be.

Once I got into high school, I realized that I was never going to grow tall. I got my last growth spurt in 8th grade and reached the impressive height of 5 feet 6 inches tall (with shoes on!).

As I said before, I didn’t have a problem with this. Height is a bad indicator of manliness. Chimpanzees aren’t tall, but they are strong!

Strength and muscle size … those are great indicators of manliness. And I had neither of them!

When I began high school I was 5’6” and 118 pounds of scrawny. And wouldn’t you know it, I went and made it worse!

Because my older cousin was a state champion cross-country runner, I thought I’d give that a go. After all, I was skinny – I looked like a runner. But, as you might have guessed already …

… I sucked at running.

OK, I wasn’t the worst. And most of why I was bad was because I didn’t practice very hard. But, I hated it. Nothing about running long distances appealed to me. (Well … there are lots of girls in cross-country. I did like that.)

I wanted to be big and strong, and clearly running for 10 miles at a time was not the way to get there!

I had played around here and there with the weights my Dad used in the garage, but never seriously. I had no plan, and I wasn’t consistent.

But, finally, for the first time in my life, when I was 16 … I got a plan. Looking back, it was a crappy plan. It was one of those routines you pull out of a bodybuilding magazine. But, it was a plan. And as is true with every area of life: A bad plan is better than no plan.

I also got a nutrition plan: the see-food diet. Eat anything and everything you can get your hands on. I had just gotten my first job, so I had some extra dough to spend on food – good thing too, since my Dad was not about to pay double for my food budget!

And then a miracle occurred …

I gained 20 pounds in 2 months!

I had gained what I now call, “The freshman 20.” You see, as I know now, any moron can (and should be able to) gain 20 pounds in under 6 months when they first start training. If you DON’T gain 20 pounds of muscle in your first 6 months, you are doing something wrong. It’s gaining the next 20 to 50 pounds that’s hard.

But, I didn’t know about “the freshman 20” then. I thought I knew it all! I had found the secret: Do everything they tell you in the bodybuilding magazines and you’ll look just like they do.

It worked for me already, right? I was now a “bulky” 145 pounds of manly muscle!

Man was I wrong. I gained only an average of 2 pounds per year for the next 7 years. Oh, I got bigger and stronger. But, not at the rate I wanted. Not at the rate I knew I could gain at.

I’m now in my early 30′s and I’ve gained over 70 pounds of muscle since I started. I weigh 200 pounds and I’m loads stronger. I finally found the secret to physical success. And it has paid off BIG TIME.

Here are some of my best lifetime lifts:

  • Powerlifting Squat: 455 pounds.
  • Deadlift: 505 pounds
  • Clean and Jerk: 115 kilos (255 pounds)
  • Snatch: 90 kilos (198 pounds)
  • Front Squat: 330 pounds
  • Olympic Back Squat: 385 pounds
  • Bench Press: 360 pounds

These are not world-class lifts. But, these weights are bigger than most men who lift will get in a lifetime. The only people I know who are stronger than me are serious competitors in strength sports, college (and above) football players, etc. In other words, big dudes who lift like I do.

I began as a tiny little kid who grew up to be a short and skinny teenager. I’m still short. But, I’m strong as an ox and very muscular.

Over the years, I’ve learned what I need to learn to make that happen. And now I’m here to help you do the same thing.

The fact is, maximizing your strength training potential is not rocket science. But, it is Biology and Physics. There are scientific facts that have to be understood and mastered if you are going to get as big and strong as you want to be.

There are secrets that can save you years of lost time. Some plans are better than others. But, sifting through the BS is not easy.

I’ve developed my system based on sound science and years of experience to guarantee that you never have to make the mistakes that I did.

Here at PDX Weightlifting, you are going to get stronger than you ever thought possible. Seriously, you’re going to shock yourself! I’ve sure shocked myself! When I was in high school I could only dream of doing what I can do now in the gym. I became the big strong man I always wanted to be.

I’m here to help you become the strong man (or woman!) that you want to be.

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