I’m a Chameleon!

I’m a chameleon!
What do I mean?
Well instead of changing colors with my environment, I have changed lifting styles with my experience.

Throughout my weightlifting career there isn’t too much I haven’t tried…

The important thing is that I got started, made progress, and advanced as boredom set in or the results stopped coming.

When I first started out the goal was to get stronger.

I was a baseball player and my coach said “son you have all the skills.  You work and practice hard.  However you have no talent”.

Ouch.

I think what he meant is that my mechanics and decision making were sound.  I simply couldn’t swing that bat all that hard, or throw the ball all that far, or run all that fast.

I’m a competitor so I dove deep into all the magazines and what the 2002 version of the internet could provide me on programs.

It worked.

I put on 20lbs of muscle and became an All-District player my senior year.

Going into college I had achieved the physique I set out for so I became complacent.

Here I did what the majority of most do.

I showed up to the gym and hit the weights but I didn’t actually have a plan or track my weights, exercise selection, reps, sets, rest, you name it.

BUT!!!

I showed up so I still made some progress from this “simple” step.

Post college I decided I wanted to become a professional trainer because of my interest in fitness.

I joined a local gym and being the nerd I am started following and learning from what I deemed the most successful trainers there.

They were all body builders and physique competitors so that is what I did.

Arnold here I come baby.

Made tons of gainz….

Then I blew my knee out in a game of basketball.

Turns out they call it “body building” and not “basketball baller building” for a reason.

I’m hard headed so I didn’t switch my workout style immediately and ended up pinching a nerve in my left shoulder.

Did I mention I’m hard headed?

Just to prove it I started working out my right arm only.

Pinched that nerve too.

Said I was hard headed right?

So here I sat with a torn ACL in my right knee and pinched nerves in my left and right shoulder.

This is when I went down the correctional exercise route.

Got certified as I was going through the rehab process.

I knew I didn’t want to get hurt again so stuck the body weight and band type stuff.

It worked……

My body started feeling good BUT I was losing muscle and gaining fat.

Not good ;\(

I decided to push it and went into more of a “cross fit” type workout; just minus the barbells.

Basically push the sled.

Do 1 million pushups.

Pull the sled.

Do 1 and ½ million Chinups.

Push the sled.

Repeat until throwing up sets in.

I got leaner but still not he physique I wanted……

Along the way I was reading and studying.

I ran across some awesome worldly recognized trainers.

Eric Cressey, Tony Gentilcore, Bret Contreras, amongst others.

Got on their programs.

Funnily enough they focused on getting stronger; only they had a much more refined technique to get there than 16 year old Nate did.

Today I’m in the best shape of my life at (nearly) 32.

What’s the point?

Get started.

Along the way I would say I was always “in shape”.

Maybe not the best plan in the world but that doesn’t matter.

Plans suck.

Execution rocks.

Get started with something you are interested in.

Commit to it.

Reap the rewards.

When plateaus or boredom set in try something else.

Commit to it.

Reap the rewards.

Again when plateaus or boredom set in…try something else.

Repeat.

The main thing is getting started, showing up, and THEN learning more.

Not “learn”, “learn”, “learn”, and never do a darn thing!

I apologize for the somewhat rambling thoughts; I just had to get this off my chest….

If I help even one person get started with this video/post then I feel it was worth it.

[youtube height=”HEIGHT” width=”WIDTH”]Phttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVDkbP9iwmE[/youtube]