It begins with the booming voice of Charlton Heston...

Long ago, in the faraway land of ancient Greece there was a golden age of powerful gods and extraordinary heroes. And the greatest and strongest of all these heroes was the mighty Hercules.

But what is the measure of a true hero?

So what is the measure of a true hero? Maybe I am getting ahead of myself. Maybe I should go back, because my mind has a bit of baggage on this topic.

It's 1997. I'm out of high school for about a year now. Disney released a new movie, part of the series of amazing movies they did in a row. The newest one was "Hercules", based on the mythological figure Hercules (based on the Roman adaptation, Heracles in the original Greek.) I was particularly excited because I always found Greek & Roman mythology particularly interesting, and I loved anything animated. (Wow, I really am a nerd.)

As someone who was a loner in school and didn't have many friends, I found the whole movie to be something I could connect with. I was this fat kid for my entire life and going into being a fat adult. "Herc" was a lanky kid who had to grow to become a hero. Aside from the variance there, it connected with me as I always felt like if I wasn't this fat dude, I would be able to connect with others. The idea of being a hero who came from zero was so appealing to me, because I felt like a total zero.

There was this particular sequence in the movie where Hercules is working with his trainer and begins to become bigger and stronger.

Thank goodness for home video, because I know I watched this scene and particular the part of his bicep busting the measuring tape more than once. In many ways, I think this cartoon solidified my body dysmorphic disorder that would be part of my life for a long time, and by long time I mean forever because Zeus know I still have it. (See what I did there? Where's my rimshot?)

I had the soundtrack. I would listen to "Go the Distance" frequently. I often dreamed of a far off place where a great warm welcome would be waiting for me. I always felt alone, a solitary person surrounded by people.

This movie is part of the reason why I started working out and lost weight the first time. It finally drove me as an inspiration to become the man I always wanted to be. I worked with a trainer, and dropped a substantial amount of weight. I got down to 185 pounds and 20% body fat, the thinnest I had ever been in my life. It felt incomplete, though. I was thinner, and I was a better person to be around, but I can't say I was happy. I certainly wasn't as miserable as I had used to be, but I wasn't happy.

Inevitably time and career would take its toll and my weight would rise. Before I knew it, I was over three hundred pounds again. As I barreled through life for almost a decade being fat and miserable.

In mid-2015, I was so miserable and deep in depression that my thoughts continually went to very dark places. It was a state of being that simply wasn't sustainable. In September 2015 I would begin down a path that would change everything.

I had my first tune-up with the man who would become my trainer, Andrew. After two "tune-up" sessions, I made the decision to work with him. Oddly enough, it was a week after watching Disney's Hercules on Netflix.

As I continued to work with the trainer, we were fixing mobility and flexibility issues and just getting me started. I certainly wasn't feeling like a hero.

It wasn't until April 2016 that I realized something really had to change. It was the first time I was being mobile and capable, and I realized there is more to life than what I was experiencing. It was driven by someone who saw something in me others hadn't seen before, a drive and a fire to improve myself and be more than I am.

During this time, I was also becoming more involved in the online Nerd Fitness community, and committed myself to attending their annual camp in the Atlanta area. It was another step towards a better me, a more outgoing me. It was another step in becoming a hero.

I began to really see changes over the next couple of the months, which greatly excited me. Come June, I committed myself to a full-on hardcore endeavor to drop body fat. It meant being in the gym 12+ hours a week, every week. I was fine with this, because the gym had turned from a place of dread to a place of happiness.

Suddenly I began lifting heavier and heavier weights, getting stronger and stronger. I was always a strong person, but didn't have the mobility to leverage it. I was still getting stronger, though. Something else was happening, though. I wasn't just getting physically stronger. I was becoming stronger inside and out.

My emotional state was becoming stronger as I saw my body changing. I started to become more joyful in my days. I remember this one moment when I walked in the gym and started my warm up. I went up to Andrew, ready to start my workout. He looks at me and says, "you're smiling!" It was this little moment that made me realize the changes were well underway. I was smiling. I was happy.

The muses began speaking to me and telling me that there was more to life, that life was worth living fully. I was becoming a hero.

I will beat the odds
I can go the distance
I will face the world
Fearless, proud and strong
I will please the gods
I can go the distance
Till I find my hero's welcome
Right where I belong

I started doing group coaching sessions for cardio, suddenly comfortable working out around other people when prior I was very solitary. When we did "teamwork" exercises, I was working well with others. I began joking around with the other people. It felt good, it was a different feeling than I had in the past.

Come September, I was off to Camp Nerd Fitness for 5 days of fun and excitement and fitness. What I learned was a lot of new things, and some things I had grown to know over the last few months.

So what it the measure of a true hero? A true hero is one that not only accepts himself for who he is, but drives to improve himself constantly. A hero is someone who cares for other people, going out of his way to help.

I AM A HERO.

Let me say it again. I AM A HERO. Holy self fulfillment, Batman, I AM A HERO.

So as 2016 winds down, and I move into 2017, what's next? Well, Muscle Dysmorphia is a real thing. I choose to accept it as part of me, and use it to my advantage. I've been using the word "swole" as a joke more and more, but the truth is every joke has some truth to it. I can fully admit I want to be "big" and "strong". These are not bad things to want to be, it is simply an extension of my goals of being more of a hero every day. After all, the measure of a true hero is someone who is always improving.

What matters in life is leading a fulfilled life, one that you enjoy living. I enjoy life because I've realized a life well lives is one worth living. The reality is, I've become a kid with his act down pat, a ZERO to HERO in no time flat, I've gone from ZERO to HERO just like that. (Just like that? A year of hardwork, dedication, commitment, and life changing behaviors, but who is counting?) I had the brains, and thanks to the changes in my life and the encouragement of my trainer and others around me, I now have the moxie and spunk.

I went from ZERO to HERO, who'd have thunk?

[youtube=://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDDaqNgdIXM&w=854&h=480]