So I bit the bullet, people.
Finally.
After years of considering it and thinking about it and all that goes with it, I finally realized that in order to take the next step in my physical evolution and my professional life.
I’m going to become a bodybuilder.
More specifically, I’m going to enter an intro-level bodybuilding competition. It’s about a year away, and it’s called the Coupe Espoir. The 2019 iteration was held Nov. 10, and I plan on entering my name in it.
Wow. I didn’t think I’d actually have the testicular fortitude to actually say it in public, but there it is.
I plan on keeping you all informed on my progress throughout my preparation and my journey. Most of not many of you were there for the first few legs of my journey, which entailed me dropping nearly 200 pounds and becoming a personal trainer. If you weren’t aware, you are now.
This year, I tore my quadriceps playing Oldtimers Hockey (don’t laugh. Some of those old guys are tough) and I was torn between a pair of fitness goals this year: do a triathlon for the first time or enter a bodybuilding competition. So, because I just had major surgery and running and swimming are not happening this year, it’s bodybuilding.
I’ll post a before photo here:
So, I decided I have to get over my fear of public shaming and force myself to get up on stage in what is essentially, my underwear, and stand in front of people and pose, unironically, with the idea I’m going to somehow convince the judges to make me the winner.
Some background on me: I have always, always been the fat guy. I’ve had a messed-up relationship with food for the better part of my life, and I was never, ever the guy who walked around looking like a bodybuilder. In fact, I might be the guy in life that you would have thought would be the absolute last one to take up a pastime whose practitioners consider themselves to be people of tremendous self-discipline -- and now, I've gone public. No better way to get me off the couch and into the gym again and again.
So, I’m going to try.
To do that, and to shake the fear that the more troll-minded amongst you will seek to knock me down a peg or three, ego-wise, I’m going to post daily shirtless photos to track my progress. Your blind support is appreciated in this difficult emotional time, and I do mean blind support, a la Stevie Wonder.
This was my first one, taken before the last one you just saw
So, one of my colleagues at Midtown Le Sanctuaire, Muna Breitem, has been doing this for some time, both prepping herself and others for intro competitions. She has already given me a tone of great advice and I will be consulting with her every step of the way. If you have feedback to deliver, I suggest NOT taking it up wth Muna. She’ll hurt ya.
I’m also planning another surprise, along the lines of my training philosophy, which is Better Every Day, and I hope to be able to be able to share that surprise with you, my lovely audience, just as soon as I can. Until then, keep following along and I'll hope to pleasantly surprise you with my progress.
The other day, a friend asked me why my fitness challenges had to be extreme one way or the other. That was one of the most incisive and most revealing questions I’ve ever had to answer. Frankly, I don’t think I know the answer, other than that it’s something I want to try. My self-discipline and willpower can be powerful weapons when properly directed.
Over the course of the next 12 months, I plan on seeing just how far I’m willing to go to prove that to be true.
Stay tuned.
You'll always be a hero to me