Sculpting Mike

Mike came to me as a very busy and low energy person. He is a father of two children and works hard 6 days a week to support his family.

If you saw him back in 2021 you would probably say he was fat, out of shape, lacking confidence, lacking intensity, and vigor. His posture was bad from continually carrying himself smaller than he is.

If you saw him today you would not even recognize him. He has a 6 pack, he is so lean his forearm veins are always popping, he shows up and carries himself with confidence, is always cracking a good joke, and has an intensity and directedness to his energy. He is a hero to his kids who want abs like their dad.

This is the true transformational power of working out.

This is something that’s attainable for you too.

Here is Mike’s Journey:

Mike had toyed with the idea of working out for years. Briefly starting but like many others found himself distracted quickly by other things in life that conveniently were more comfortable. Excessive eating, television, and just a busy lifestyle of lethargy slowly added up to the point where he felt he was in unacceptable shape. These cycles of not holding yourself accountable to your goals while letting your health slip away take a toll on your mental health and mike found himself starting to feel lost, deflated, and low energy.

So he finally turned the stone he had been thinking about for years and hired me as a trainer.

It’s always like getting a bucket of cold water dumped on your head when you first start at the gym. It’s an intense transition especially when you live a busy lifestyle.

We kept our goals really simple with Mike when he started….Just show up.

For most people a bucket of cold water is more than enough of a shock, something resembling a titanic plunge into the ocean wouldn’t be survivable for most people and would scare them away from the gym.  

Just show up…

And he did.

He committed to working out a few days a week and started to see some strength progress. He started learning how to exercise with good technique and began improving his posture. He liked the “bro” exercises, benchpress and bicep curls. This was exciting for him he realized it wasn’t so hard or terrible to exercise; it could actually be fun and enjoyable.

This was the beginning of a seed that would soon grow into a fruitful tree because in Mike’s mind was what I consider the fertile earth that everyone has inside of them. The desire to be better, self pride that comes with holding yourself accountable to doing that tasks that you know better yourself, the hunger for more positive feelings, and the joy that comes from loving yourself for a concrete reason.

Soon Mike was looking forward to the gym most during his week. He would rush from work to get there early then rush from the gym to pick up his kids from school. His benchpress started to get stronger and stronger; he started to close in on the elusive 2 plate bench (225 lbs). With his enjoyment of the gym growing he found himself looking for more opportunities to workout. Suddenly time he couldn’t find in his schedule to workout before started to become available and he even started to build out his own home gym so he could fit extra workouts in.

Up until this point Mike had only in passing floated out a few questions towards me about food and diet but was over all not interested in dieting. He was fairly content with just making strength progress. As his confidence and commitment to the gym started to rise I could feel the idea of dieting itching him more and more often. He was starting to analyze his food a little more and ask me about losing fat more often and how people go about it.

Despite his desire, He didn’t want to enter a full diet. He was scared it would be too much work to track calories. Too time consuming, too much stress on his family meal plans.

When you don’t measure something its hard to get progress and despite Mikes gym numbers continuing to climb he wasn’t losing the weight that he wanted to. He did hit 225lbs on the bench though!

Finally when his weight loss frustration peaked and it was pointed out to him that what he was doing up until now diet wise wasn’t working and that he had nothing to lose by starting to track calories (at least for 2 months).

He finally started tracking calories.

Something shocking to everyone that knew Mike happened here that would change him completely.

He starting seeing the fruits of his labor. When you start tracking calories your entire relationship with food changes. You learn what the different foods you’ve been eating consist of (the protein, carbs, and fat ratios). The calories in the quantity of the food that you eat. It’s like getting a hands on apprenticeship into the world of nutrition, there is no better way to learn. With this new diet knowledge and tracking along with a little cardio came a big change that immediately started peeling fat off of Mike.

By one month he losing weight and was committed.

By two months he was addicted and driven.

By 3 months he had a 6 pack. Something he always dreamed of but thought he couldn’t get

He lost 25 pounds.

Oh and btw, after the first few weeks he didn’t complain once that tracking calories was difficult.

When you see success with your strength, with your numbers on the weight scale, with your image in the mirror, with your energy levels, and posture it starts a perfect storm to turn you into the best version of yourself. You just need the right steps to get you there

Mike transformed into his best version and in the process became his kid’s hero.

He now works out 5 days a week, has maintained his 6 pack, and is going through phases of slow bulking and cutting while keeping his 6 pack to slowly put on more muscle mass to sculpt his ideal aesthetic.

This is a transformation that you too can undertake. What was in Mike is in everyone of us when put into the right environment.

Let me foster that environment for you and put you in it, I want to see you reach your goals and know how to take you there. Just like Mike.

Embody the best version of yourself!