It’s hard to believe it has been 18 months. It was 18 months ago that I received an award that was one of the proudest moments of my life.

I worked hard, kept a grueling schedule, but it was worth it. When my coach handed me that plaque and read those words, I knew that it was all worth it.

So what does it mean to be a “Phoenix”? In short, think about what a Phoenix does. When it dies, it turns to ashes. From those ashes it is reborn, once again soaring high and on fire.

Coming from a place where I used to be well beyond the threshold of morbidly obese to what I would call “strong” was a huge accomplishment. Coming from being sick, tired, and out of breath constantly to repping out 25 burpees without hesitation was a way to show I would do what it took to accomplish my goals.

This year has been rough, however. A new city, a new life. A new gym. A new coach. A new way of training. It was like nothing I had ever done before, even though it was all still very familiar. I switched to a hypertrophy-heavy style training. It was new, it was exciting, and it was something different than I had done.

In the end, it didn’t work for me. It just wasn’t the right fit for the style of fitness I wanted. I didn’t feel like it was going to serve me long term. It was fun, it was a nice change, but it just didn’t suit my body type or my overall objectives.

So then I started thinking… what are my goals? What am I trying to achieve in the gym? After all, I’ve done a lot but I’m still not “where I want to be” in my mind. There is so much I want to achiever, but defining those goals is critical to achieving them. So I sat back and thought to myself about what I really wanted to get to.

To figure this out, I went back to the beginning. I went back to Day 1 with Andrew in that gym in Connecticut across from the cow pasture that became my second home for over two years. It wasn’t the biggest gym, it didn’t have super-fancy equipment, but the people are what made it special, and it is the people that help me drive myself to be the best me I could be.

Day 1, Coach Andrew asked me what my goal was. “To be less fat.” It was a snarky answer from a grumpy man. An old friend of mine, Chermaya, used to use the term “Angry Fat Man”. I had been so fat for some long that I just felt like the world was against me. It sounded snarky, but it was the truth. “To be less fat” seemed like the best goal I could come up. I always had dreams of being one of those ‘athlete’ types but I had long dismissed that. Instead, “to be less fat”.

As time progressed, that changed. I remember when I pronounced to my coach “I want to be 15% body fat” in a very definitive tone. It was the first time I had ever stated a clear, defined goal. I think it made him happy because it meant I saw the possibilities beyond “not being dead” that we had spent six months getting over. As I look back, I am still amazed it took me six months to get to that point.

I did Powerlifting. I had a ton of fun. I never got to 15% body fat, but I enjoyed myself and felt a lot better about myself.

This brings me to today. What do I want? I’ve made fitness a huge part of my life, and I want to achieve some great goals. I’ve made the decision that “athlete” I wanted to be? I’m doing it! THE PHOENIX SHALL RISE so get ready for the fire.

What does this mean? It means I’m going to get severely aggressive in achieving my goals. I might be 41, but it doesn’t mean it has to slow me down. I can accept I am 41 chronologically and biologically, or I can work my ass off and prove that I am more than just the “middle aged guy”.

I am splitting this into four core goals:

• Bigger - Always been a goal of mine. We joked about “swole”, but now I’m like “why not?” So I’m going to make it happen. Build myself up. I’m doing this naturally, of course, because a true phoenix doesn’t take shortcuts; a true phoenix works hard, sets a blaze behind him, and soars high on his own merits.

• Stronger - Less focused on “powerlifting” from a powerlifting perspective, but more of “continually getting stronger”. I’ve been considering something like a strongman competition; ultimately, it’s about making myself as strong as I can get.

• Leaner - That 15% body fat goal? I’m hitting that in 2019 and maybe down to the low teens. I’ve never been that lean in my life, so it is a core objective so drive my athlete goals.

• Better - What does this mean? Endurance. Athleticism. Making myself into that true athlete I’ve always wanted to be. Repping out burpees. Pull ups. Plyo push ups. Things that true athletes do, and things that make my body work better overall. Making myself truly “athletic”.

So how do we get there? I have a new coach I have been working with for the last 3 months working out kinks in my systems. Now that we have a good base as a “powerbuilder” built, we can now push it to the next level. Hybridization of my training to strength, hypertrophy, and endurance to create the athlete.

My first coach built the foundation. He turned me from “obese and depressed”
tol “athletic and energized”. Now I have to push into the next level of being that true athlete I want to be.

Life is about honesty, positivity, and treating yourself and everyone around you the right way. It’s time to be honest about my goals, open the book, and let everyone know that nothing is going to stand in my way of achieving what I want to achieve.
Going forward, I won’t be embarrassed about my goals. I’ll put them in the front of me, showing what I want to achieve, holding myself accountable, and pushing myself further and further every single day.

Let’s do this! Time to get things done.