This week is quite a big week. I’m putting #Glo out into the public for beta testing marking the first time anyone outside of close friends will be able to judge it. As well as that, this is also the week I finish a fitness competition I’ve been taking part in for the past 11 weeks (SB911). To complete the competition and be eligible for judgement I need to submit my “after” photos alongside an essay. I thought it would be nice to share this story with all of you…
For the most part of my life I have been someone who enjoys taking on challenges, but I can’t say I was ever truly motivated or driven enough to fully see many of these through. I have a number of achievements I am very proud of such as earning a Masters Degree in Software Engineering, progressing well in my career as a Software Engineer, meeting the love of my life and convincing her to marry me and starting our own family two years ago. However there are a number of interests I’ve had that I never really took anywhere. Such as going to the gym on and off, having a go at moving into website design and attempting to build a computer game.The first change to this pattern was when I started trying to get fit for our wedding four years ago. My brother in law told me about an infomercial fitness program he was on and how it was working out for him. It sounded appealing to me as something that would give structure and motivation to my work outs. The program was P90X. I started following it and comparing notes with my brother in law (who quit after three weeks). I found it really enjoyable and helpful for the first two months as I had never really worked out so consistently before. I was starting to see more definition in my body which was great. However after two months I started to notice that the progress was slowing and that in some respects I was losing muscle. As a matter of achievement I finished the last month of the program while adding in some bodybuilding techniques to maintain muscle mass. The results were good and I was in decent shape for my wedding.What this first program gave me was a realisation that I could stick to a strict workout routine and how consistency has a big impact on results. After getting married I fully intended to keep up with regular exercises. But buying a new house, getting comfortable and having a child meant that I let my exercise routine slip away. Around about that time I also developed a strong desire to break out of the rat race of doing a 9 – 5 job, so I decided to try and make a game for mobile devices in the hopes of finding a way of making a change to career. Without a proper direction or knowledge of how to go about this, those plans fell through about a month into development.After about a year of getting comfortable and falling back into old routines I found myself one day watching WWE and thinking the same thoughts I used to have when I was younger. I wish I had a body like that. The difference was; I now had an idea of what type of work is involved in achieving something like that rather than just thinking people are born that way. So I started looking at some exercise programs again, cleared out my garage and started to buy bits and bobs of exercise equipment, starting with a bench press. My detailed knowledge of working out was still very rusty and I didn’t really know that much about what was out there so I found myself looking at more of the infomercial programs. I worked through a couple of them but never had the same results I did the first time round. I even tried modifying them a bit but to no avail. So instead I started making up my own routines. I enjoyed this more as I had more control over how long the workouts were and the intensity involved.The good thing about the video programs was that there is a kind of motivation from the presenter, without that I was starting to lose a bit of interest. So I started looking for podcasts to listen to, to help motivate and inform me with my exercises. This is when I noticed the first Triple H interview on the Industrial Strength Show. I was nicely surprised to find a podcast that not only gives out solid exercise information but is every bit as much a motivational podcast. Stories of people’s success despite their circumstances, anecdotes of Joe’s life and transparency which instantly gave me a feeling of trust made for one of the most captivating shows I could have hoped for. I listened to the backlog of podcasts back to back on a daily basis and couldn’t get enough of it. I started to pick up tips for my workouts and started to look at life differently in terms of motivating myself.As I listened more I noticed mention of the West Side for Skinny Bastards programs (I’d also heard of Strong Bastard 911 but that sounded a bit too hardcore for me). Having worked out more randomly for about six months I decided it was time for another program. One which would hopefully help me pack on some elusive muscle. I completed the program at the back end of 2016 and felt really good about it! With WS4SB I was a bit more relaxed with what days I would do the workouts so I don’t think I got as much out of it as I could have. However, following a strength and conditioning program I felt a lot more legitimate in my work outs and I’d started to build muscle again finally.As 2017 started I continued using WS4SB as an overall template for my exercises. I also decided to give another go at creating a mobile game. I owe this solid level of motivation and focus entirely to the Industrial Strength Show podcast. Stories about doing what it takes, staying up till 4am, making time for exercise and doing what you love really excited me and I hoped that I would be able to find that true passion, that life calling, for something I could focus on.Thanks to this new positive direction I completed my first mobile game in February after a month of learning and solid work, whilst also fitting in my exercise, a full time job and being a husband and father (it’s amazing what I can do with my time now compared to 10 years ago when I had so little responsibility). Having released my game I started to try and promote but to no avail. I had a lot of friends support me but it amounted to only about 100 downloads and zero profit. But at this point the most amazing realisation came to me. I still loved every minute of making that game and couldn’t hold back from wanting to do another one. It was at this point I’d realised my true passion.After returning from a rollercoaster three week holiday in Florida, pun unintended, my wife and I came back on quite a low. We’d had the most amazing time with our now two year old son. However my wife suffered a miscarriage half way through the holiday. It was a very difficult and dark time, only lightened by our wonderful son who we fully intended to make sure enjoyed every single minute of the holiday, even after the set back. I still remember being in the hospital after we’d found out the news and the thought came to me “compared to what?”. Sure this moment sucked, but compared to what? We have our amazing son and we’re in the happiest place on earth. Things could be so much worse. Another example of the impact the Industrial Strength Show has had in my life.At this point it would have been easy to fall back into old habits and let time just go by. But my outlook was different now. Instead of wallowing in self-pity I realised life is too short. I didn’t want to spend most of it driving to and from the same 9 –5 job that I wasn’t really that interested in anymore. I wanted my time under my control. Doing the things I love and spending it with the people I love. At the same time the 3rd annual SB911 competition was being announced. Finally it didn’t seem so out of my league anymore.I started the SB911 program at the same time I decided to move into making PC games (a much more interesting market for a career and PC games made a large impact in my teen years). I posted about my entry into SB911 on Facebook to all my mates after remembering what Charlie Guthrie had said about accountability helping him through the program. Thus began two demanding but highly rewarding journeys.The first thing I noticed about SB911 was how instant the reward from the workouts felt. After that first day my body felt completely alive! I could feel my muscles in a way which made me realise how much I’d been slacking in my previous workouts. Each day after that was more of the same. I was feeling my quads and glutes again like when I first started working out. My pecs felt like they’d actually been engaged. And all the supplemental exercises were perfectly introduced to get that extra little bit out my efforts. The workouts were fresh and exciting and just as I would start to get used to them, three weeks would pass and I’d be onto the next phase. I was looking forward to getting up every morning to get stuck in. It would be exercise in the morning and game development at lunch and the evenings. And the best part is, none of it has ever felt like work!Being able to select my own exercises really made a difference. It meant that if I tried an exercise that didn’t really feel right for my body, I could easily switch it up the next time, therefore never having a part of the session I wasn’t looking forward to.I am writing this essay the day before I am releasing my PC game for beta testing. It’s quite special how both journeys have aligned so well. The most amazing thing is how these two seemingly different endeavours have shared so many parallels. They have helped each other in such a way that what I learnt in one has helped me in the other. Triple H’s words of how the gym room can translate to real life ring so true. It’s kind of special that in the same week I finish SB911 and submit my photos and essay for judgment I am also submitting the beta version of my game for judgment.What did I take away from SB911?First of all, a realisation that I can do it. “It” being anything I put my mind to. If you’d asked me even just a year ago about completing the whole SB911 program without missing a single workout I wouldn’t have believed you. Yet once I’d started I had no doubt I would achieve it.Second of all, what it actually takes to put the work in. Getting up every morning at 6am to workout hasn’t always been easy, especially after a late night. Yet I did it. I did it because I wanted to.I also learned the difference that a tight exercise program can make. Even though I thought I was working out efficiently it was a massive difference the moment I started SB911. And achieving PR’s I’ve been trying to hit for the past year really cemented that fact.Finally I’ve learned that this is a way of life. Ups and downs. Wins and losses. I’ve decided how I want to live my life and I will be following that dream from now on. I have completed the SB911 challenge but that is not the end of it. I can’t wait to get back into my next round of SB911 and will continue to do so. This is definitely a program for life (I have already recommended it to my wife). And if I don’t win this contest I’ll be entering again next year. The same goes for my PC game development. I’m doing everything I can to make my game a success, but more importantly I’m preparing for the long haul. I’ve now set up my business and have a long list of future projects. If things don’t work out first time I’ll just keep on doing what I love with passion and motivation because, just like I knew when I started SB911, I know I will succeed.