My Journey To Muscle Club
I've been fascinated about strength since my early days. As the son of an NRL coach I spent a lot of my youth around strong men. Thing is, I was a runt. I started lifting weights at 15 with programs from NRL Strength Coaches and finished high-school weighing 65kg.
I'd also been "diagnosed" with irritable bowel and was on long course antibiotics. I'd has a nuclear isotope scan on my kidneys, was taking anti-inflammatories and using a topical cream, lathered on, I also had various vaccines during this time... and I was following the sports dieticians advice (cereal, milo / sustagen / cordial / noodles etc).
Through university I got to 75kg as I became a part-time alcoholic and completely lost direction in life and hope for the future.
Leaving university early was one of the best decisions I made. I graduated from the 3 year degree instead of the 4 and moved to England.
When I got there I wanted to weigh 80kg.
I don't know why exactly but I loved muscle and strength and I didn't have much of either. I'd bench pressed 110kg and cleaned 100kg by that time but really I didn't have much of an understanding of strength training at this point.
I ate jam doughnuts and heavy cream and soon enough I was 80kg. Finally.
Over the next 7 years I travelled the world and did what I could whenever I had some stability in my life to make some strength gains.
When I got the roles as Head of Performance (strength and conditioning) of the Catalans Dragons I got serious about my training again...
The only problem was I had adrenal / chronic fatigue / irritable bowel ... basically I was a wreck after 7 years travel and not taking care of myself very well.
Training destroyed me mentally and physically but I did it anyway. Not everyday was bad but there were many when I struggled to hold it together through headaches, body aches and mental instability.
Still in those 2 years I made some solid gains and the team did well which gave me the opportunity to join the Roosters.
I had the best training of my life there in 2014 doing Dense Strength and training with Pat Lane and Sam Kennedy while planning for life after NRL with Real MVMT.
I'd gained some confidence over those 4 years but not a lot of mass. I was still prone to digestive challenges and fluctuated between 81-83kg regardless of what I did.
In 2017 I'd had enough again. I was still getting hay-fever which started around the time of all the medical interventions in my teens. Shawn Baker had the courage to go on Joe Rogan and say that all meat was better for him than Keto and Paleo.
It sounded ODD... What did I have to lose?
I'm an early adopter. I love experiential learning. I started eating just meat.
The first few days I was super irritable. My guy was good. In the next almost 3 years I've finally added some muscle. I'm 95% carnivore and I know whenever my gut or brain isn't right I can reset. My muscle number is around 95 which around 1 BMI point from the "Natty Number" of 100 which is kind of an "Average Maximum" muscle level. I've also been able to get down to 6.7% and recently 7% bodyfat with 2-4 weeks of dieting from where I usually sit 8-10% (on the Skulpt device).
Why do I share all this? It's my journey.
Most people in the modern world are interested in physical transformation and progression.
I think it's partly brain washing > whatever Hollywood is talking about is what we're being brain washed into (this Arnie, Sly, The Rock etc.)...
Part human nature. We want to be our best.
The distortions of drugs can ruin the fun for those who don't want to walk that path.
Still natural strength and physique development should really be a personal journey where you draw inspiration and knowledge from the journey of others but you take responsibility for your own dreams
Last week I weighed 83kg at 7.0% (in the photo below) then 87kg at 9.0% later in the week. Both of these are new bests.
What helped me to hit new bests at 37?
There are over 500 coaches in the RealMVMT mentorship now. That motivates me to keep being a product of this product.
We have a tight inner circle of guys who are extra focussed and doing the work that encourage me even more.
I'm using Dense Strength Method. I've always had great muscle gains on this super simple protocol.
My gut is under my control more than ever.