In the Beginning...

The road that I am on today was very difficult to discover. As far as fitness is concerned, I was virtually illiterate thru my school years. Little did I understand the science of working out or nutrition. The only thing I did better back then, which I should be doing more of now, is sleep. I think I managed to get a solid 9 or more hrs daily, not only skipping breakfast, but also miss morning class on a regular basis.

After recovering from brain surgery to save me from a near fatal car accident, overeating (often unhealthy) in fear of being the scrawnny kid I was growing up led to a very unhealthy Body Fat level of 29%. January 2008 , I embarked on a very strict diet & leaning phase, doing cardio for the first time. I was horrified by my pics and started this site to update progress regularly. However, the website is evolving to more than that. It channels my excitement and keeps me focused.

BIONIC a la BATISTA: 

This mission is my Quest for STRENGTH. After the coma & brain surgery, I worked out and came a very long way over 10 yrs, but there was still lots left to be desired. Upon starting the website in January 2008, I adopted the Animal mentality embarking on BIONIC a la BATISTA - a relentless uphill Journey envisioning the audacious WWE Superstar "The Animal" Dave Batista as a motivator. I set my mind to acquiring pro caliber Strength over 5 yrs and reducing body fat level to 10%. My progress has been good and consistently documented on YouTube. Hopefully my Quest will motivate others who don't believe in themselves.


STRUGGLES & SETBACKS: 

Fed up with being a skinny weakling, I entered the gym with a puny frame of 5'10 & 120 in my high school senior year (pic coming soon). After a few days of attempting the bench press, I managed to max out at 75 lbs. Feeling inferior to the strong guys around me, I got impatient to get to their levels. My approach was determined, albeit so stupid. I went to the gym almost every other day, performing only the bench press, attempting to max out EVERY time, lol. Being illiterate about nutrition and having little cash on hand from a minimum wage job, I thought I was doing well by feasting on 89 cent burgers & Cici's $2.99 pizza buffet. Despite the severely flawed approach, I made newbie gains and friends complimented me for putting some size onto my tiny frame. So I thought I was on the right path, continuing to bench every other day, attempting a max every single time. After a couple years of overeating and over training, I managed to get my bench max up to 125 lbs. I weighed a slightly chubby 170, but that felt so much better than being the scrawnny fool I always was. Over the next decade, I went thru a series of life altering events. Even though I worked out (uninformed & inconsistent), because of horrible nutrition, I ended up a fat 211 lbs with 29% Body Fat. Until then all I had wanted to do was grow bigger and bigger (despite adding more fat) since I had the complex of being the skinny guy my whole life. But being horrified by the disastrous pictures was finally a catalyst to start a lean down phase. Then it just got addicting!

THIRD Chance to LIVE: 

Working out gave me a new meaning to life. It gave me a reason to live. In actuality, it virtually saved my life, giving me a 3rd chance to live. What a 3rd chance to live means, is a long story, but if you are truly interested, read on.

My 1st chance to live was nothing unique; it came courtesy of mom & dad :)
Before I explain the 3rd chance to live, let me shed light on my 2nd chance to live.  

10 years back I suffered a near fatal car accident, causing a Traumatic brain injury. I underwent brain surgery and was in coma for nearly a month. I was confined to a wheel chair, had trouble speaking, and suffered diplopia. In a few months my conditions improved, but I had suffered significant muscle loss. During physical therapy, I came to the bitter realization that I had become extremely weak (could barely bench the 75 lbs I had started with initially) and had a monumental struggle ahead to satisfy my desire to be physically strong. This wasn't going to be a case of muscle memory being able to get me back to where I was. I had to rebuild from scratch.

I returned to college and tried playing my favorite sports to find that I could not make a lay-up, was flat-footed, had delayed reactions, and problems with coordination. Although a lot better, these problems still exist to an extent today.
Playing sports was terrible for my psyche and others thought I was just lazy because of my slow reactions. I didn’t bother making excuses because nobody would understand. My desire to keep playing quickly dwindled and I made the courageous effort to re-enter the small college gym to rise from my new rock bottom. Though I made some improvement, there too I was quickly disheartened as I sensed people chuckling at me. Because I looked healthy, I didn’t get the benefit of the doubt for moving slow and being uncoordinated while lifting feather weight. I knew nothing about training & nutrition and unknowingly sabotaged myself by trying to max out on the Bench Press every other day in frustration, getting nowhere. 

From then onwards, my lack of knowledge and some nervous system problems after the coma/brain surgery, resulted in snail's pace progress. Had I spent all those years with the knowledge I have now, I would have done far better.

Once I started the leaning phase, I set my mind to doing it right. I started educating myself and incorporated full body exercises into my workouts. My neurosurgeon had advised me to not perform Squats, and thats why I had always shyed away from them, but it was definitely high time to experiment on the smith machine. I have been getting better ever since and transitioning to free weight Squats when embarking on BIONIC a la BATISTA.
Finally, I am on the right track and will patiently stick to the pre-planned course outlined in my [StrengthLog] to attain eventual success, a max of 500 lbs by December 2012.

Ok that was my 2nd chance to live and you may now be wondering what I meant by a 3rd chance to live. Well, thats another story in itself. I may talk about it some other day.