How I got Bigger and Deffer

Here's the short version of how I got started in all of this strength and fitness stuff...

I'd been a fan of bodybuilding since I was in middle school, reading magazines like Muscle & Fitness, Flex, and Ironman every chance I could. An article about current wrestler Mark Henry in Muscle & Fitness introduced me to several years ago introduced me to the sports of powerlifting and weightlifting. I would work out sporadically, but never really stayed with it because I never really believed I could look like, or be as strong as any of the larger than life people I was reading about.

Fast forward to the end of 2002, or beginning of 2003. My wife of 1 year (at the time) and I were watching TV, and for LL Cool J's video for "Luv U Better" came on. Both of us watched in awe and thought the same thing - "Damn! He's in great shape" - me from a perspective of platonic respect, my salivating wife from, well, you know... Anyway, I told her that if I got up to 200 lbs. at about 8% bodyfat, I would look like LL (relatively speaking - I'm a little shorter than him). It took her a few minutes to stop laughing, but after a while, she pulled herself together, checked out my 5'8" 155lb. frame, looked me in the face and said "you can't do that". I asked her why not, to which she responded "Yeah right. I'd love to see you get up to 200 lbs., but you can't do that."

Here's a link to LL's video to jog your memory: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUOxYQhAE2E

That was it. I hit the weights like a madman and haven't looked back. I proved my wife wrong about 2 - 2 1/2 years ago when I hit a weight of 199 at around 10% bodyfat. Not as lean as my target, but I could see my abs without flexing, so it was good enough for both of us. I needed another challenge, and that's where powerlifting came in .

Right now, I'm training for my 3rd meet - the USAPL Richmond Open on April 11. This will be the first time I compete as a raw lifter (meaning just a singlet, belt, and wrist wraps). I'll do another post soon about my training and prep for the meet, general info, etc., but I just wanted to get this blog going with a little background info about myself. Thanks for coming along for the ride - peace!