Why I love training!
This is my first blog post ever. To be honest, I'm not really sure HOW to write these properly. But, for this first post I'm going to tell you my story of how I fell in love with training and fitness.
If you're new here, allow me to [re]introduce myself! I'm Kevin and I'm a Registered Kinesiologist, Certified Personal Trainer, and a Certified Online Trainer! I love getting after it in the gym 3 - 4 times per week, I love playing and watching basketball. I love to eat, and explore different cuisines around Vancouver with my friends. I love hiking in the summer time, especially with my soon-to-be-wife, Nicole. I train clients in-person and online and I love helping people move and feel better, especially doing it pain-free!
If you read my "About" page, you already know that I already love movement and sports growing up. This is my extended story of how I really fell in love with the gym.
To be honest, when I first started lifting weights in grade 10, I HATED it. Flat out. I was 15 years old and I have to perform all these movements for an hour and twenty minutes? And I have to give it my best to get a good grade? Ugh. This is supposed to be Physical Education and all I wanted to do was play handball and chowderhead. If you're someone reading this from Carson Graham, you know what's up! Anyway, eventually I started to like it and it made an impact of how I played the game of basketball. To be even MORE honest, in my senior years of high school, I definitely did not give everything I had in class. Especially on game days, and I truly believe that it cost me a potential roster spot playing basketball at the university level. Side note, I may have fallen in love too so that might have something to do with my lack of efforts...
After high school, I shifted my training focus away from and one of my top goals (and along with every man on this planet) was to look great without a shirt on. I wanted that V-shape tapered shoulders all the way down to my waist. I wanted nice arms and a puffed out chest, the whole nine. Men, if you guys are reading this and you don't agree with that statement, I'm sorry but you are definitely lying to yourselves! In this day and age, and thanks so social media, you don't know what's real and what's not, but that at the time I wanted to look big, lean, athletic, and shredded (..I mean I still do today). Sound familiar to some of you? I would hope so! I trained hard, watched multiple videos online, read all the resources you could come across and I worked out every single day. I thought achieving six-pack abs was the pinnacle of health and fitness. WRONG. Let's not get it twisted, having a great-looking physique is awesome but it's definitely not the pinnacle.
I really wanted to know the ins and outs of the human body so I pursued a degree in Kinesiology. After 6 years of university, the answer to what's the pinnacle of fitness is... wait for it... IT DEPENDS! You must be thinking, "Gee Kevin, you went to school for 6 years and you can't give me a straight answer?" and you're right! But I am also right. It does depend. On a lot of factors. First and foremost, it ultimately depends on the goal you are trying to achieve. If your goal is to get six-pack abs then great! If your goal is lose 15 pounds, then losing 15 pounds is your pinnacle of health and fitness. Other factors include age, gender, height, any health issues, training age, frequency of training, intensity of training, consistency, effort, and so forth. This is another reason why I love training. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. It's dependent on the person and there is no one right answer for everything. It lets us experiment through trial and error in order to learn what works for our bodies and what doesn't! Me being able to do a barbell back squat does not necessarily mean Chris should too (that's for another post).
I can't really remember when, and I forgot what program I was on but there was one day where I very accomplished. I followed my training plan for about 8 weeks and I saw some major improvements in strength, how I looked, how I felt and better body composition. This taught me that consistency pays off. I didn't deviate too much from the plan. I did the same big compound exercises and tried to overload them
All things considered, what I love most about movement and training is ultimately how it makes me feel. Over the years I've pursued different goals --- some I've achieved, and some I have not, but that doesn't take away from how it makes me feel. Every time I hit a training session, my day ultimately gets better. I have more energy, I think better, I focus better, I want to eat better, I feel happier, I sleep better, the benefits are endless. I've gotten to a point where, if I haven't lifted weights in three to four days, my body actually "looks" for it and the itch won't be scratched until I get that workout in!
There are so many reasons to love training. Don't get me wrong, everyone loves having "toned" arms, toned legs, the six-pack, the wide shoulders, but that should not be the be-all end-all product of training. Everyone is going to have different reasons. Maybe you don't love training (but you still workout). If you're reading this, don't let what you see on social media, or in magazines fool you that you need to be at their level of fitness for you to feel happy. Don't let social media influence your decisions about what you want to achieve, in terms of health and fitness. Yes, you should train for general health, but more importantly find some form of activity or training regimen that you can adhere to. That way, you will be more consistent!
If you've made it this far, thank you for taking the time to support me! It does mean a lot! If any of this resonates with you I encourage you to share this post with someone! More importantly, I want you to reflect on your own health and fitness goals and think about all the things I've outlined above. From there, make a plan of attack and I hope you crush your goals this year!
See you in the next post!
If you need help with anything training related, don't be afraid to reach out!