My journey into the world of fitness started innocently enough—doing curls with my dad’s old dumbbells and knocking out push-ups as a kid. Sports were my first love and played throughout high school, but back then, I was just a short guy with a skinny frame and little to no confidence in myself.

Fast forward to college, and things got serious. My goal was simple: build muscle and look better, and hoping to build my confidence overall. I made some initial gains but soon hit roadblocks.

I was eager and impatient, trying to rush my progress all while comparing myself to others. I also worked out 7 days a week with poor recovery. This led to a series of overuse injuries, including a nagging case of shoulder tendonitis. I was also guilty of “random training,” jumping from one program to another without any clear strategy and having no specific goal in my training. And let’s not forget my diet experiments—some worked, but many didn’t.