PART ONE.

I was always very skinny. Since the moment I became conscious of myself and everyone around me, the common theme has been ridicules from people towards my pathetic bony frame. Even to the other skinny Vietnamese, I was always the skinniest. Emancipated if you will.

Like everyone else, I picked up working out randomly and without any clear goals. You know, just followed some friends to the gym and did some bench press and bicep curls day after day. The first month or two I gained around 6 pounds of muscle (from 125 to 131 pounds, 5 feet 10). For the next two years, I gained from 131 pounds to 146 pounds (15 pounds, 10 of which was belly fat from drinking too much freshman year). Then, I saw an infomercial of the P90X program. That was the first time I saw an infomercial in my life, and I had to say: it was hell of a great infomercial. I got the whole program, and made a risky decision: spend the whole 3 months of summer following that program. No job, no internship, no anything. My one and only goal for the summer was to see that program to the END… and to gain 15 pounds.

Looking back, I realize all the things that I did wrong. However, I am glad that I have made that decision. Even though the program was not for massive muscle gain (it was actually for shedding fat), it was an extremely tough program that transformed me into a MAN mentally. Every single day for the whole summer, I had to endure pain, and I could not miss a single workout. Not a SINGLE workout for the whole 90 days. I was totally focused on finishing the program. Even though the program selection was wrong, at least at the time I had faith in it. The fact that I had a program to work with for the whole summer helped start me off on my journey without hesitation. Even though the program selection was wrong, I was given two very clearly defined goals for the summer: 1. Finish the program. 2. Gain 15 pounds. And that was all that mattered.

Fast forward three months, I did finish the program, and I did gain exactly 15 pounds. Even though I lost a ton of money on food and from not having a job, it was totally worth it for me. The fact that I set two big goals and actually achieved them (finished an extremely tough program and gained 15 pounds (for an ectomorph, that was like a dream)) was a great source of self-confidence for me. Think about it, how many people in the world have been able to set a goal of that magnitude and actually reach it? Not many I would say.

Of course there was some down sides: I gained 8 pounds of muscle all in my lower body and 7 pounds of fat. It turned out the program was great for lower body, but did not work so well for upper body (I could not really blame it anyway; the program was not for gaining muscle mass). Also, afraid that I would not reach my weight gain goal, I ate more than I should have. On the other hand, I learnt a few important lessons:

• I got down the basics of eating to gain weights for an ectomorph
• I was confident that no program from then on could be more extreme than P90X.
• Training had become my habit and my mindset. I knew how to schedule everything so that I would not miss a single session or any meal.

Now that I had gone through the whole summer of solely extreme training, I was so ready to find a new appropriate program and to incorporate training into my busy college life.

Read “About me. Part two.”