This is me at 23, I was underdeveloped, low on confidence, and stuck in a life that made me feel smaller every day. My dad had passed when I was 19, my mum was an alcoholic who had abandoned me years earlier, and my sister turned against me until I was eventually forced out of the house.
At work, I was exploited, made fun of, and humiliated. For a long time, I had nothing but myself — and I pretended that drifting and playing the victim was okay. But deep down, I knew I was lying to myself. I felt horrible, and the only way out was to face the truth.
The truth was simple: the way I was living wasn’t working. If I wanted different results, I had to start making different choices.
How I Started
By the time I was 27, my life was scattered in every direction. I was working 60-hour weeks in the kitchen, partying, drinking, trying to train, but never with real focus. I was everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
That pace eventually broke me. I had a meltdown. I knew I couldn’t keep living like that — burning myself out for a lifestyle that only felt good when I was high, but left me empty and angry when the high faded.
Around that time, I was lucky to meet someone who introduced me to the gym. He showed me the basics, and I loved how it made me feel — plus the “nooby gains” that show up fast when you’re new. But whenever he wasn’t there, I didn’t even have the confidence to go back.
That turning point forced me to choose: keep wasting myself on a path that was going nowhere, or invest in my health. I chose my health.
Then lockdown hit, and I made a promise: when this ends, no matter what happens, I’ll come out stronger. At first, I ran almost every day, pushing through 5Ks. Running had always been my weakness — I used to struggle just to breathe on long distances, my heart giving out as soon as it got uncomfortable. But I kept at it, and noticed the difference. At work in the hot, high-pressure kitchen, my heart and breath held up better. My stress tolerance improved. That was my first realization of what a healthy body really gives you.
Eventually, I injured my ankle from running so much. That’s when everything shifted. I couldn’t run anymore — so I poured everything into strength training.
I scraped together a cheap bench, a barbell, a couple of dumbbells, and eventually a pull-up bar for the doorframe. With that, I practiced the fundamentals over and over: pull-ups, bench press, squats, and deadlifts. They were efficient, gave me real results, but also taught me how demanding training can be on the body — especially the CNS (central nervous system) if overdone.
It wasn’t perfect — I injured myself more than once from pushing without proper knowledge — but those early years gave me my first real results. They also taught me one lesson that shaped everything after:
Consistency builds progress, even if the setup is far from perfect.
What Changed
At first, I thought training was just about lifting weights and putting in hours. But it didn’t take long to realize that progress stalls if you don’t look at the bigger picture.
I started to see that real growth wasn’t only about the workouts — it was about everything I fed myself physically, mentally, and emotionally. If I was eating poorly, staying up too late, or carrying stress, it showed in my training.
The gym wasn’t just building muscle — it was teaching me discipline. Every rep was a reminder that results come from structure, recovery, and respect for the process. My old life was about escaping reality. Training forced me to face it head-on.
That’s when it clicked: fitness wasn’t just something I did — it became the foundation for how I lived.
Where I Am Now
This is me at 35. Today, I’m in a better place than I ever imagined back then. I’ve gained the confidence to train in the gym, refine my physique, and strengthen my mindset. The results I have now didn’t come from luck. They came from choices.
Day after day, I chose structure, discipline, and to keep moving forward.What I’ve learned is this: mastering the basics and sticking with them builds more than muscle — it builds a foundation you can carry into every part of life.