My fitness journey

I’ve always exercised in one form or another, although I wasn’t always consistent.

Yet, over time, I continued to gain weight, and it was always around the belly.  I was the classic skinny fat guy.

I was able to put that process on pause for a few years when I started training at a kung fu school.  I combined that training with having a decent home gym, and this kept me relatively fit.

However, I stopped my formal training in 2008, and then had to give up my gym equipment in 2010.  My fitness began to slow decline, and the weight gains returned.

For some reason, even after seeing not-so-flattering photos of myself over and over again, I remained in denial that I needed to change something.

In early 2020, my wife and I were finally able to purchase this small home in Rockville, Maryland.  One of the big selling points for me was the garage, as I knew I could get some fitness equipment in there.

In February 2020, just before the pandemic really hit, I was able to purchase the equipment I wanted.

Learning the Deadlift

The timing could not be better, as the demand for home gym equipment went through the roof when gyms were forced to close.

So, I put my power rack together threw up 135 pounds on the barbell and thought I would push up a few reps on the bench press.

A few was all I could manage, and this used to be my warm up weight!

What I hadn’t realized that, even though I would do some P90X for stretches, the lack of consistency over time, and my aging resulted in a loss of muscle.

So I got to work, and started making progress with my strength and overall fitness, but I really wasn’t seeing progress in the mirror.

What I was doing was exercising, but not really training.  And, I had not yet focused enough attention on diet.

About a year ago, I made two changes.

September 2022

First, I started paying much more attention to what and how much I was eating.

I determined how many calories I needed to maintain my weight, and kept track of how many I was consuming.

I also started paying more attention to how much protein I eat, since it is critical for building muscle.

Second, I purchased an indoor bike and started doing more Zone 2 cardio, which I’ll discuss down the road.

I began to immediately see results… I developed more energy and I really started to lose fat.

Over time, I’ve changed up my strength training routines, but earlier this year I started to increase the intensity a bit.

The end result is that I’ve probably made more progress in 2023 than I have at any time over the last 15 years.

Here are the primary keys to my process:

1. Lift weights
2. Do some cardio
3. Eat to live, don’t live to eat and drink
4. Train more kung fu

May 23, 2023

Given the improvement in my fitness, I’ve become quite passionate about helping others.

While I was going through my process, I came up with the idea of Practical Kung Fu.

One reason was that people close to me have lost substantial mobility. This is primarily due their lack of proper training over the years.

As we age, we lose muscle mass, and many people also lose bone density, particularly women.  As a result, if we live past 70, we start to lose mobility.

Another reason why I developed Practical Kung Fu is that the rate of obesity around the world is skyrocketing, and this is driving up the cost of healthcare.

The healthcare establishment is quite happy about this, as the issues that arise from obesity help to line their pockets with doctor visits, surgeries and prescription drugs.

The absolute best medicine is exercise, but most people don’t do nearly enough.

Therefore, it’s my goal to spread this message.  It’s really not that complicated, and not that difficult.

Most of us are willing to work our asses off at our jobs to make more money, and even put time and money into getting more educated, so we can make more money.

Yet, most people simply don’t invest in their own health.

I created Practical Kung Fu to address this issue in addition to the need for practical self protection training.

No matter your age, there is no time better than the present to get started.

Thanks for reading!