Where did your passion (or obsession š¬) of getting bigger/stronger/better start?
Did it start in your teens?
Did it start in your twentiesā¦ or later?
But can you pinpoint when your mass journey started?
I canā¦
It started in 1982.
I was 9-years-old and my grandparents were watching me as my parents went out to some functionā¦
And I somehow was able to talk them into letting me watch a movie on HBO called: Conan The Barbarian – starring some guy with a funny name and heavy accent.
It was in this movie that my passion to build a warriorās physique startedā¦
And where I learned what is good in life.
But, there was a problemā¦
I was 9.
How was a 4th grader going to start lifting so he could look like his 3rd hero behind Evel Knievel and Indiana Jones.
So, I waitedā¦
But never lost the idea of wanting to look like Conan – not the dude with the funny last name.
I REALLY got into Conan thoughā¦
Comics, books and the magazine-style black and white graphic novels called the Savage Sword of Conan – which had a bit more violence and a LOT more nudity than the colored comic version put out by Marvel.
If you saw 11 or 12-year-old Shawn walking or skateboarding around back thenā¦
Odds are – he was carrying around a Robert E. Howard Conan paperback in his back pocket.
I couldnāt then – and still canāt tell you what the appeal of the Cimmerian isā¦
Maybe it was the fact that I had an abusive step-father and wished I was a mighty warrior who could stand up to him – orā¦ maybe I liked how truly free Conan wasā¦
Regardless, this hugely muscled barbarian became my desired aesthetic.
As I moved into middle-school – I started messing with a 40 pound barbell my step dad had since he was in his twentiesā¦
It was better than nothing.
I also started buying bodybuilding magazines like Muscle and Fitness, FLEX and Muscular Developmentā¦
And while these guys were huge and shredded – I just KNEW they didnāt have the real warrior-look I was idealized.
So, I started lifting in high school at 14-years-oldā¦
Not for any aesthetic – but because I wanted to get bigger and stronger for my new passion: football.
I found I was pretty strong for a kid that never really lifted weights beforeā¦
First time on the bench I hit 225 for a double – and for the next 6 years – thatās the ONLY reason I lifted.
It was football, football, football – and nothing else.
First, high school – then for the Golden Knights of UCF – once I started playing footballā¦
Power, speed and strength were all I cared about – wellā¦ not speed so much as an interior D lineman, but quickness for sure.
But thenā¦
It all went away.
I got kicked off the team at UCF (another story for another day) – and floundered for a bitā¦
But the gym was always there.
After floundering for a few years – I stumbled into pro wrestling.
Now, THAT is an article all on its own – but for the 12 years in that whacky business – my lifting goals shifted from āgoā muscles – to āshowā musclesā¦
And never really making a lot of headway.
Looking back – I didnāt really change the way I lifted or ate – so, I really just ended up looking like a BIGGER football player as I ballooned up to 336 poundsā¦
But after spending a good chunk of my life chasing that brass ring – I would discover my TRUE passion.
Even though I knew about Brazilian jiu jitsu – it never entered my mind to start training in itā¦
I was wrestling all over Florida and Puerto Rico – I just didnāt have time for another hobby.
However, a buddy of mine was training with these two brothers – and talked me into going with him for a lesson – and from that day forward there hasnāt been a day where I havenāt trained, trained FOR or even thought about this beautiful sport.
It changed my life in more ways that I can countā¦
The biggest of which was that it helped me slim down over 50 pounds at one point (now about 40 š¬ā¦ donāt judge me) by adopting a healthier lifestyle.
Gone were the weekends stuck at home watching sportsā¦
I was out DOING something.
I no longer eat whatever I wanted – as I found that unlike football or pro wrestling – in bjjā¦ fat gets in the way.
Of courseā¦
Even through all of these iterations in my life – from football, to wrestling, to bjj – the one constant has always been the gym.
Lifting to get stronger and faster was always the goalā¦
But now that Iām getting a bit older – Iāve added a new bullet point to that agenda:
Longevity.
Even though you try to train as safe and as controlled as possible – accidents DO happenā¦
And if youāre not lifting to keep your muscles strong and flexible – youāll find yourself on the sidelines.
So, in order for me to keep training – I need to lift (and stretch) if Iām going to stay in the game.
Whatās funny about all this isā¦
Iām finally the warrior that I always wanted to be.
I may not look like Conanā¦
In fact, I look more like a bald viking just getting back from a raid of England – but that doesnāt mean Iāve lost that dream.
Iāll be 50 this year – and Iāve made myself a promise that this is the year that Iām finally going to get the physique that caught my imagination 41 years ago.
Iāve started the journeyā¦
I just have to have the discipline to finish it.
Where did it start for you?
Let me knowā¦
Drop me a line a editor@nutrex.com – would love to hear your story.
And donāt forget, Nutrex Famā¦
Crom is WATCHING!
āI never saw a man fight as Conan fought. He put his back to the courtyard wall, and before they overpowered him the dead men were strewn in heaps thigh-deep about him. But at last they dragged him down, a hundred against one.ā – Robert E. Howard
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