In the gym.

I grew up playing baseball, so there was always some kind of training in my life. I started formally lifting in 2022, when I made myself a post-COVID promise that I was going to commit to something that actually bettered my health. I haven't stopped since.

I started the way most of us do, with my college roommates, chasing numbers the way "gym bros" chase numbers. By year two I'd hit a 385lb squat, 285lb bench, and 525lb deadlift. Back then I ran PPL + Arnold across six days, and honestly, I miss those arm days. There was a stretch early on where I'd spam arms for no good reason and it was the most fun I'd had in the gym. Eventually I realized I was babying my arms while the rest of me stalled, so I fixed it. These days I run a five-day push-pull-legs-upper-lower split. It's not my favorite on paper, but it's what I can actually keep up with now that work takes most of the week. Effective beats ideal.

I believe personal fitness is the anchor to everything else in your life. It keeps your mind sharp, and for me it's the one thing that's just mine. When I'm so deep in building that I start losing track of everything else, the gym is what separates my head from the work and keeps me sane when the stress stacks up. Nobody gets strong without putting in the work. Your body is honest about whether you locked in, and it doesn't care about your excuses. That lesson transfers into everything I do, and when times get rough, the gym is the consistency the rest of my life is built on.

There are times when it tips over into something less healthy. I've had weeks where I was lifting six days and still sneaking in a second session on some of them. I remember waking up one morning after a heavy squat and deadlift stretch, unable to get out of bed without a struggle. I took a few days off, put on a lifting belt, and went right back. Looking back, it was a bad call. But I also learned something about myself I wouldn't have learned any other way. I know exactly how much I'm willing to give to something I care about. That's useful information.