When I was 19 years old, I made the decision to start strength training to supplement my martial arts training and to improve my confidence.  It was the age before the internet became mainstream.

All information came either through word of mouth, or from the magazines.  I was enthusiastic to learn as much as I could in the quest to gain a stronger heathier body.  In the 3 or so years of training, I made very little progress.

It wasn’t till I met an older, more experienced trainer that I truly learnt about hard training.  I didn’t know what intensity was till I started training under my new trainer.

Building the Foundation

Training was all about the basics, x20 rep squats, 5×5 on the deadlift, barbell bench press, barbell shoulder press, triceps dips and barbell curls.  I was ready to give up after 6 months of training.  I was getting a lot stronger, but no muscle mass.  A day after 6 months of training, I woke up mysteriously 6 kilograms heavier.  I noticed significant size in my legs and shoulders.

I thought, this is fantastic.  This gave me more motivation to keep training, over the next 3 and a half years I gained an additional 12 kilograms of muscle mass.  I did this and kept up my martial arts training and graduated from university.  The wonders it did for my confidence was amazing.  People started paying more attention to me, which was great.

Training Evolution

When I completed my studies, I left the city where I studied and moved to a bigger town.  Training started to take a back seat, and work started to take priority.  I trained when time would allow, life also presented various challenges, I was no longer the carefree student.

Even as I changed jobs, travelled, and got married and relocated to a different country, I still had that desire to train.  I met different people and started to train in different activities.

I started training in western military close quarter combat, Chen style tai chi, kettlebells, and bodyweight training.  I also started to take an interest in nutrition, cooking, rehabilitation, and skills training.  

From those interests I was thinking, how could I create a total health and wellbeing system that contains the best modalities from the past, East and West combined to assist busy people in todays fast paced modern world to become healthier better versions of themselves?

This was borne out of my experiences working for various businesses, training, and travel around the world.  It has taken me a few challenging years to work this out how to design and build the products along with the outline from start to finish.

Now, it is about sharing my knowledge and experience with the world while still training and maintaining a beginner’s mindset open to learning and new ideas.  If this is something that interests you, then don’t hesitate to start your journey to becoming a better healthier version of yourself.