A Brief History of my Fitness Journey so Far
I have been on and off training for years now. 2024 is going to be my 10th year of training and I still feel like I’m not as fit or as happy as I could be. It’s been ages, I should be in my dream shape. Surely I have had enough time by now to have achieved all my goals? Let’s go through each phase of my fitness journey from 2014 to the present day to see how I’ve progressed and to see what I’ve learnt.
2014 – 2016
I always used to be a skinny kid growing up. In 2014 at 16 years old I weighed around 62kg. I used to be one of those cool BMX lads for the years previous and cycling a lot made me very lean and athletic. When I started sixth form in 2014, I had outgrown the BMX life and didn’t have a hobby anymore. My friend suggested I join him and a few others in the gym after school. It was more for the social than anything else but it eased me into the gym in a fun way which wasn’t too intense. We would go three times a week, but didn’t have much understanding of how to train or how to diet. By the end of sixth form in 2016, at 18 years old, I had gained around 8kg in two years. I would be heading into my first year of university at 70kg and without any gym buddies.
2016 – 2017
Moving out for the first time is a lot, especially at 18, but I was determined. I joined the gym straight-away so I could bring some familiarity into my little freshman life. It was scary going into a big university gym alone. There were people with biceps bigger than my head. It was impossible not to compare myself to others. It wasn’t long until I got settled and over the year I began to gain an interest in fitness and started training 5 days a week. I didn’t feel like a skinny kid anymore. Please take a moment to amuse yourself at the cover photo of this blog which is me posing at the famous Muscle Beach California. Although I thought I was a big man, my understanding of training had not progressed much and I injured myself three times. I pulled my back deadlifting, strained my neck by pushing it into the seat on the leg press and yanked my shoulder back whilst shoulder pressing with dumbbells. Not to mention my diet hadn’t improved much either. This all changed as I headed into second year at 75kg at 19 years old.
2017 – 2019
Second and third year of university is where my fitness journey really changed. I befriended a bodybuilder at my uni gym and he taught me how to train more effectively. Over two years he improved key muscle building aspects such as technique, progressive overload, training to failure and my training split. I also learnt that to gain muscle I had to have a caloric surplus. I started a dirty bulk and ate as much as I could, never doing cardio as I wanted to gain as much weight as possible. At 20 years old I weighed 85kg and by 21 years old I peaked at 92kg. I was very strong and had come a long way from 62kg 5 years before. What I didn’t realise was being strong isn’t being fit and I had noticed just how unhealthy I had become.
2020 – 2021
Then COVID-19 came around. Months of drinking and playing Xbox with the boys ensued. During the day there was nothing else to do other than diet and exercise. I was lucky I had a bench with a few sand-filled plastic weights and a tree in the woods nearby perfect for pull ups. My dad used to be a boxer so I convinced him to teach me how to hit a bag and how to jump rope. Me and the boys downloaded Strava and would share our runs, competing against each other. I was training 7 days a week, driveway workouts in the morning, boxing, skipping and running most afternoons. When COVID-19 eased and life became a bit more normal I made sure to try and continue the new exercises I had learnt as best I could. By the end of the lockdowns at 23 years old I weighed 88kg.
2021 – 2023
When the UK government finally lifted travel restrictions, I secured a job working abroad in Greece. I knew I would be sacrificing my progress but I needed to get out the UK and travel. Over three summer seasons and a winter season, I would fluctuate in weight and strength. The poor diet and lack of a gym routine meant I did start losing my gains. During my winter season I dislocated my shoulder which would end up taking 9 months for me to fully recover to a lifting state. When I eventually returned home from my adventures, I was 25 years old and 80kg in weight.
2024
This year, I want to be more consistent with my training and diet. To help me achieve this I have set myself some goals. I want to get fitter, be more flexible, and gain weight. I have kept the goals broad for now to help me get the consistency back. I am aiming to strength train 5 days a week, complete a form of cardio once a week and to stretch every day.
Well, that’s my exciting life story so far. Looking back at the last 10 years of my fitness journey I can see lots of ups and downs. I thought my journey would be a linear line of progress but in fact it’s been all over the place. Using the metrics I’ve discussed throughout this story it’s evident that right now I’m not as strong, don’t weigh as much, nor am I as fit as I have been before. Although, I can say that I have the best technique and training knowledge that I’ve ever had. I can also say that am actually in a happy place with my body right now. Armed with the knowledge I’ve learnt over the years and the determination to be better, it’ll be interesting to see how far I can progress. Perhaps this is only just the beginning of my fitness journey?
Jimmy
