How I began my gym journey back in 2023
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Lost after high school
School gave me a structure - wake up, go to school, play football in the breaks, go home and do homework, sleep and repeat. This might sound a bit boring, but I spent all those moments with my friends - some of which I had known since I was 6 years old. I had a routine, I used to be active, I used to enjoy life despite the stress of school. And then I graduated in June 2022.
There was a 6-month gap between my graduation and the start of my mandatory civil services - and to be honest, the only thing I can remember from that time is seeing Messi win the World Cup in what was probably the best final of all time. I spent most of those 6 months at home, doing pretty much nothing at all. Along with the fact that I injured my knee right after graduating, I couldn't go and play football or cricket, so I really had nothing to do. I know I should've maybe found a part-time job or just done something with my life, but yeah...
The first step to getting somewhere is to decide you're not going to stay where you are. - J.P. Morgan
Going to the gym for the first time
I then randomly decided to go to the gym one day - not really because I didn't like the way I looked (I only started caring about my physique way later, but that's a topic for another time). I mainly wanted to get stronger, because I used to have quite solid stamina before my knee injury and wasn't too slow either. Strength, though, was never a strong point of mine. I was pretty clueless for the first few sessions, but I began to enjoy it more and more. The feeling of a proper pump, the feeling of getting stronger with each session - it made me keep coming back.
There were phases - often prolonged phases - where I stopped going to the gym after that. At times, life just got in the way. The main issue, though, was that I had no proper structure. I still didn't really know what I was doing. It was only from February 2024 onwards that I actually had a more in-depth look into how muscle growth works, what different training routines are and what proper nutrition looks like. And since then, I feel like my life has been revolving around the gym, with the desire to get as big and jacked as possible. And I don't see that as a bad thing at all. In fact, my faith and the gym keep me sane when the going gets tough. And it prevented me from ending up in a downward spiral at the end of 2022, where I could've become a couch potato and forgotten how to actually live life.