Starting Over

I have a funny last name. Not funny in the traditional “ha ha”, side-splitting, laugh-your-arse-off way, but funny in the mean-people-can-make-a-thousand-dirty-variations-of-it way. So, in a way, my last name is a burden. Which is ironic, because my last name happens to be “Rock”.

We all know about rocks. They’re giant, heavy clumps of minerals that people sometimes keep as pets.

Clearly this is reflective of a healthy human mind

They’re often shapeless, formless and uninteresting. But, with the right tools and enough patience, a rock can be sculpted into a masterpiece. Marble, for instance, is used to create beautiful, aesthetically pleasing sculptures that amaze and astound to this day. I promise that this will all become relevant soon, but first some back story.

For a long time I’ve been struggling with my physical weight. I have this image in my head of what I want to look like, but the struggle to attain that has been very, very real. The best I’ve managed is to get myself to the “skinny”, fashion-model look, using an extremely low fat diet for four months.

Admittedly this picture was taken after a fasted HIIT session…so disclaimer?

However, I soon fell of that wagon due to my very stupid decision to start carb-cycling on top of this. The lure of carbs were too great for my malnourished body, and within 6 months I was back at my starting weight. In the years following this I experimented with many different ways to shape my body into what I wanted. I tried losing weight without exercising, by doing Tim Feriss’ 4 Hour Body Slow Carb diet. I’ve tried IIFYM and Intermittent Fasting, but nothing seemed to stick and life kept getting in the way.

In 2012 I made a commitment to continue going to the gym no matter what. I saw my lifts soar between 2012 and 2014. The highlight of this period was Squatting 300 lbs for 1 rep.

You can’t see it but half of the intensity on my face is from trying to will my calves into existence.

Unfortunately, life gave me a drop kick to my neck. In August of 2014 I pinched a nerve in my neck that made it virtually impossible to train. How do I know this? Because I tried training with it. And every time I step foot in the gym my neck would send me screaming out to my bed with a couple Tramacet for good measure. Since then, I’ve gotten a chiropractic adjustment and a few nights rest on a great vacation bed that seemed to help with the healing process.

So I decided to start gym sessions again.

Yes. Yes. I know. I must be insane. But remember all that writing about rocks in the beginning of this post? Well here’s where it becomes relevant. See? I keep my promises.

I’m sure we all know about Michelangelo’s sculpture, David. It’s the ideal male form (during cold weather amirite?) and possibly Michelangelo’s most famous work next to the Sistine chapel. However, there’s another statue of Michelangelo’s known as the David-Apollo. Historians surmise that this sculpture was started as David and then changed to Apollo as time went by. It won’t be known for sure though, because the statue is unfinished. One writer supposes that Michelangelo “may have been dissatisfied and realized it could not be completed. Rather than attempt a fix, he abandoned the piece which is why so much uncut stone remains on the figure’s back.” (Link)

Point is, I want to be a David, not a David-Apollo. I want to finish what I started. Sure I’m dissatisfied with my progress to date, but that’s no excuse to give up. This Rock will be carved into something spectacular and this blog is an invitation for anyone interested to come along for the journey.

See you next post.

Keep Chipping.