About eleven years ago, I accepted one of the greatest quests of my life. Though I’ve knocked out countless side missions and leveled up several times, I still haven’t completed this particular quest and now realize that I never will. But that’s only because it never ends – it just gets better and better. The quest? To build muscle and get stronger.
Quest Accepted: Become Strong and Muscular
For the first 27 years of my life, I never weighed more than 140 lbs. Standing at about 6′ tall, I was nothing but skin, bones, and some brains – or so I liked to think. I hated the way I looked and was incredibly self-conscious. Everything I wore was at least 2 sizes too big, baggy enough for me to delude myself into thinking that it made me look bigger.
2007 was a big year for me. That was the year my son was born. It’s also – non-coincidentally – the year I decided to get my shit together.
I made a lot of changes that year. One of the most significant was that I got my first gym membership. Just by walking into the gym on that first morning, I felt like I had somehow leveled up.
Congratulations! You have reached Fitness Level: 1.
I didn’t know what I was doing at all but I knew that, just by being there, I’d make progress. Some say that 80% of life is just showing up. Others say it’s 99% of life. I don’t know what percentage of life is just showing up but, it certainly seems, it’s a large one.
During the first 9 months of my fitness journey, I put on over 10 pounds of muscle. I still didn’t really know what I was doing, but I continued to show up and lift stuff, putting it down where I found it. My confidence was already starting to increase and I felt stronger than ever before.
Congratulations! You have reached Fitness Level: 2.
Confidence: +1
Strength: +1
After making some sweet noob gains in those first 9 months, my progress stalled. I continued to work out and my strength was slowly increasing, but I wasn’t putting on any more muscle. This was a problem, as the quest was to become both strong and muscular.
Strength: +1/2
Over a year went by and I still hadn’t gained any more muscle. I was working my ass off in the gym, so I knew that wasn’t the problem – but I knew what was. My diet consisted of mostly sugar, saturated fat, trans fat, and salt. I knew that had to change, but I didn’t know how. That’s when I started studying nutrition.
I began learning about the importance of protein for muscle building. I started looking at the nutritional information of the things I was putting in my body. I read about meal timing and low-carb diets. As soon as I started implementing what I’d learned, I started seeing results again.
Congratulations! You have reached Fitness Level: 3.
I continued to learn about nutrition and gradually made changes to my diet over the next several years. After 5 years of going to the gym, I’d put on over 30 pounds of lean muscle. My confidence was higher than it’d ever been and I was starting to like what I saw in the mirror – with one exception. It’s almost impossible to put on that much muscle without also gaining a bit of fat.
Congratulations! You have reached Fitness Level: 4.
Confidence: +1
Side Quest: Burn Some Fat
Burning fat without also burning muscle isn’t easy to do. You need to work out even more than usual while eating less food than your body uses every day. You’re hungry all the time, cranky, and constantly daydreaming about Pop Tarts and Mountain Dew.
Somehow, though, I managed to do it. I dieted for months and months until I could see my abs – so others could see my abs. I knew they were there the whole time but wanted others to know, too.
Congratulations! You have reached Fitness Level: 5.
Completed: Burn Some Fat
Confidence: +2
Charisma: +2
Finally, I could call myself “fit.” I wasn’t nearly as muscular as I wanted to be, yet, but I looked better than ever. My confidence soared, which allowed me to feel more at ease in social situations. The personality I’d been too self-conscious to unleash on the world was now starting to come out and the response was overwhelmingly positive.
Over the next few years, I continued to study fitness and nutrition, trying new diets and workout routines. I went to the gym at least four times a week, most weeks, doing martial arts and other cardio on the off days. I gained a couple more levels, completed a few more side quests, and gained some more skill points.
Congratulations! You have reached Fitness Level: 7.
Confidence: +1
Constitution: +2
Wisdom: +1
Strength: +1
Leveling up never felt so good!
Before I knew it, I’d been going to the gym for an entire decade. You wouldn’t think that hanging around a gym for that long would make you wiser, but I’ve learned many life lessons there. I’ve learned about discipline. I’ve learned how to motivate myself and stay motivated. And I’ve learned that it really fucking hurts when you drop a 45-pound plate on your foot.
Now, I’m about 190 lbs with visible abs. Over the past 11 years, I’ve put on about 50 pounds of lean muscle. And I went from barely being able to lift 100 lbs to being able to deadlift close to 500. It’s been a long, challenging process, but it’s also been one of the most worthwhile things I’ve ever done in my entire life.
Every time my lifts go up, every time I gain another pound or two of muscle, I feel like I’m leveling up. It takes a lot longer to level up in real life than it does in a video game but, man, is it that much more fulfilling.
The second you shut of a game, your level, your stats – all of it is immediately gone. But when you leave the gym, you take all those sweet gains with you!
(This is the first in a series of autobiographical posts with a LitRPG twist. I’m calling the series, LifeRPG. Join the Ellis Michaels Mailing List below to be the first to know when the next LifeRPG post is out.)
Click to accept the following quest:
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