-MY 10 YEAR FITNESS TRANSFORMATION-
Health and fitness isn't a linear journey.
Starting my fitness journey during high school at around 100kg was a pivotal experience marked by transformative changes. I was obese and endured bullying due to my weight, even a single pushup wasn't possible. Despite neglecting physical activity during my school years, my life goal was to join the Australian Defence Force.
In 2014, I joined a gym, armed with no prior knowledge or guidance. I spent all my free time researching exercises and nutrition, relying heavily on online resources like Google and YouTube. Initially, my diet, based on taste alone, included daily indulgences in chips, ice cream, and soft drinks, contributing significantly to my weight gain throughout my school years.
Over the course of 10 dedicated months, I managed to shed 25kg through a complete overhaul of my diet, daily cardio, and resistance training. This laid the foundation for a baseline of fitness sufficient for ADF entry. The years 2015/16 saw sustainable development in positive lifestyle choices due to the demanding standards of infantry training.
However, in 2016/17 being stationed in Enoggera, Brisbane, resulted in a fitness slump during an 8-month period of limbo while awaiting placement in a platoon. This affected both my physical training and personal fitness standards. In January 2018, after returning from a two-week overseas trip, I was disappointed by what I had let myself become. It was at this point that I recommitted to my fitness journey.
Navigating a rocky relationship with food and overcoming ADF-induced injuries, including multiple prolapsed discs in my back, chronic nerve and joint pains, multiple spinal nerve injections and healing fractured shins presented additional challenges that still impact me today. Despite these obstacles, I managed to shed most of the gained weight over the next six months, utilising the knowledge and experience gained until that point. However, the year 2020 brought new hurdles, with lockdowns and gym closures leading to a lapse in discipline, my weight surged to its highest ever at 109kg.
Continued in comments ~
High Volume Quad Day!
- Warm up leg extensions, 3-4 sets, light weight for some basic quad activation and blood flow
- Belt Squat: 2 warm up sets, slightly increasing weight and adjusting form without too much pre fatigue into 4 heavy working sets of 10-12 followed by 1 drop set, Belt squat is great for loading hips/legs whilst reducing compressive Spinal force for someone such as myself with chronic back pain
- Hack Squat: 2 warm up sets working on knee flexion and drive out of the bottom half or the rep straight into 3 heavy sets of 8. People talk about tension being removed from the quad past 90° knee flexion but I find that if Im able to focus on that bottom half drive up im getting adequate activation along the full range of motion throughout allowing for consistent form and drive as weight increases
- Leg Extensions (not shown): 1 warm up into a slightly heavier sets, 4 by 12-15 reps, toes pointed slightly outwards for more VMO (teardrop) followed by 1 dropset to total failure
Superset
- Bodyweight Walking Lunges: 4 sets 40 reps slow and controlled focussing on heel drive, by this point youre probably already too fried to consider adding dummbells but if so use them till failure, drop them and keep going to finish the sets
- Horizontal Calf Raise: hits the Soleus, Achilles tendon attachment 4 sets till failure
Superset
- Standing Calf Raise: Hits the bulk of the calf, the gastrocnemius, 4 sets till failure
Face to Face sessions available at @wgbrendale and Online coaching available, DM for more info! Growth season, lets gooo!
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