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You've got to start somewhere 💪

I just hit the 1.5-year mark on going to the gym consistently. I started at the end of September 2021 and somehow have managed to stay on track as we continue forth through 2023. My last update was about a month ago, so I figured now is a good time to talk about how things are going again.

There have been times when I lost motivation a bit, but there was always a reason behind it. It was either because of my old job making me feel exhausted and like I had no free time always. Then there were a couple of times that I got sick or was away on vacation. Neither one of those has happened in the past 6 months though. This means that I've been very consistent as of late.

I tend to go to the gym about 4 or 5 days a week. I usually spend anywhere from 90-100 minutes there. I have been trying to do an ab routine at the end of every workout. It's all going pretty well and I feel like I am getting stronger each month.

Along with that newfound strength comes a higher level of confidence. I've always been a fairly confident person, but I think there is room for improvement no matter how confident you think that you already are.

Not only am I more confident in the gym, but also outside of it. I don't feel intimidated to walk up and talk to a random person ever anymore, this includes women of course. I know that I look stronger than what I see in the mirror and I constantly have to remind myself that I'm no longer a thin boy unable to hold weight.

Not only do I enjoy working out and just being in a gym environment, but it has provided me with so many benefits. I feel like I'm even sleeping better because I'm expending so much energy during the mornings and I go to bed tired. More on my thoughts about sleep here.

When it comes to my body, I am trying to train everything equally. However, some areas seem to be stronger than others, especially in terms of looks. I think that my calves are by far the strongest part of my body and that has always been the case since I grew up playing soccer and basketball. Plus my dad and brother both have juicy calves, so I think it's in my blood.

My favorite thing to train outside of calves would most certainly be my arms. My triceps always feel so good when I focus on them, but I especially love getting a good bicep pump. As you can probably see in the thumbnail image of this post, my arms are finally starting to look fairly big.

One thing about all of this muscle I've put on is that a lot of it you cannot see. I certainly feel it though. The main reason that my muscles aren't popping out is that I have a decent layer of fat covering my body. This hides the strong muscle that is underneath. I also think that my tattoos make it extremely hard to see the details of my muscles. It's all like a big blog of inky skin to me.

The one thing I make sure of is to just stay focused on the goals and not care too much about how I look. I've had a few random people say that I look like I go to the gym. I've even had a guy walk up to me while I was on a date and squeeze my biceps in front of this random girl. Things like that are all I need as confirmation that changes are happening to my body that I may not be able to see. When you look at yourself in the mirror daily, it's hard to notice a change. Especially when you have been skinny almost all of your life, you cannot erase the visual.

I'm not going to try to tell you that you need to go to the gym. I will however say that you without a doubt do need to have some sort of fitness routine in your life. It doesn't have to be anything crazy, but the harder you push yourself the stronger and more confident you will become.

I'll end this with a little before and after photo for you.

The first image is from December 14, 2021
The second photo is from March 27th, 2023
My arms look totally different!