I started my lifting journey after I got bullied on the court playing basketball. I didn’t like getting pushed around. If I could put on muscle, then I could prevent this from happening again. The only lifts I knew were push ups, dumbbell curls and overhead press. So I did a lot of reps of those exercises on a daily basis. Even with a trash routine, I was able to put on some muscle and get positive affirmation for the changes that took place. It was an early introduction into the concept of cause and effect. If you make this change and continue to do it, you’ll get results.
When I got to high school 50 Cent released “In da Club.” I wanted to look like 50 so I did more pec dec than any person should ever do. Vanity was my source of motivation, but my body continued to change. Putting on muscle built confidence and it was nice to see loads and reps increase. It’s nice to be able to see progress. Putting on muscle is relatively easy when you’re going through puberty, have relatively low stress and a lot of hormones. Our high school had a lifting board and I was determined to get on that board for social status. I tried benching 250 to get on the board as a freshman. I bounced it as hard as possible off my chest, dropped the bar on my face and bit through my lip. Had I not had a permanent retainer, I would have probably knocked out my teeth. As dumb as my training was, it supported athletic performance enough to have a successful prep career. This opened doors and provided multiple options for athletics in college. It provided a positive outlet when life wasn’t going well. The simple lesson that I learned, when I trained, I felt better.
When I got to college our lacrosse team captain was into powerlifting and recommended I work a part time job as a strength coach. This caused me to believe that strength was the most important factor regarding athletic performance. This is wrong, the real key to performance is specificity – ie do more of what you’re trying to be good at. My early lifting and fitness education was all through T-Nation articles.I thought I knew everything about strength and conditioning by reading this website. There were some excellent writers on this site – Erik Hernandez, Dan John, Jim Wendler, & TC Luma. At school, we had a wonderful strength coach, Mark Watts. He had seemingly unlimited knowledge on strength, was one of the most genuine people I’ve ever met and was filled with passion. We took a couple of the student coaches to meet Jim Wendler at EliteFTS. Jim named off several books on strength that I’ve never heard of and I realized my knowledge was dog shit. This pushed me to read authors like Bompa, Siff, Rippitoe, and Zatsiorsky. College was the peak and the valley on the Drunning-Kruger curve.
The student strength coach experience allowed for me to meet wonderful people. We ran and participated in strongman competitions, ate a lot of chipotle, would go to the Arnold, and discuss strength. We were blessed to have resources like Tendo units to run experiments, technology to develop customized programs for large numbers of athletes, and enough equipment to do absolutely dumb lifts – deadlifts with a safety squat bar on our back with bands. As dumb as it was, we all got stronger.
After college, I still wanted to do something athletic so I decided to compete in powerlifting. Several of my friends were training at Westside Barbell, and Louie Simmons was a prophet of strength. The downside was when you try to be like a Westside lifter you gain a bunch of weight, but you do get stronger. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise, but I never had fun participating in powerlifting. Lifting was my outlet in medical school, like pretty much all other times in my life. I was stressed, and to relax at night I started reading about strength. This started my love for reading and learning. This love for learning is likely the biggest blessing I ever got from strength training, outside of the relationships I developed. I read Strong Enough by Mark Rippetoe and Dan John’s Never Let Go. Dan in his infinite wisdom put a recommended reading list at the end of his book this altered the course of my life. Strength training requires knowledge of physics, nutrition and energy systems, stress management, and recovery. Learning about peak performance can teach you the factors that determine health.
I didn’t know if I liked medicine and was considering doing an internship at Westside Barbell between my first and second years of medical school. An old friend from college invited me out to train at Old School Gym in Pataskala where the owner was starting a new supplement company and there was a poster on the wall about a doctor who was into strength training and supplement formulation. He was local, so I blindly reached out to Dr. Eric Serrano to see if I could shadow him that summer. This experience changed my life. Serrano had/has a different and unapologetic view of the world – training, nutrition, hormones. He never stops learning. He would assign me a chapter a night to read and I had to present the chapter the next day. Eric has been a second father figure in my life and is one of the most generous people I’ve ever met.
My third and fourth years of medical school I lived in Youngstown, Ohio. I blindly reached out to the owner of a powerlifting gym I searched on Google. The owner was Mike Bartos (https://www.mbpowercenter.com/), who has developed multiple specialty pieces of equipment. He is one of three people in my life who the first question they asked me was what’s your total. The other two were Louie Simmons (Westside Barbell) and Greg Nuckols (MASS, Juggernaut, Stronger by Science, Macrofactor). That’s good company to be in. His gym had the strongest group of young guys I’ve ever trained with. Dan Kyser and Jon Lyras went first and second at nationals and were totaling over 2000lb raw at 198 and 242. Chris Hepler was squatting well over 800 in knee sleeves and Bartos was deadlifting around 800lb at 220lb. Craig Stock let me live in his house during rotations and was a wonderful friend. Craig ended up passing unexpectedly and his cousin broke the news to me at the start of a lift. This group showed me what it takes to be elite. They were gifted athletes with what felt like an insane ability to not give a shit and just hit big weights. The were great friends. I competed a couple more times in powerlifting and it never became fun. I loved helping the guys with their health and recovery. I enjoyed coaching more than competing. Mike was a great friend who pushed me mentally and in continued learning. I still think Youngstown has the best food and is a special place.
In residency, I continued being an idiot and thought I could do everything. I was doing BJJ, working 80+ hours a week, running and still trying to get stronger. I did a high volume program and tore my hip labrum. Being an idiot I didn’t do physical therapy, I never saw a physician, never got imaging and kept training. I just kept doing high box squats for 2 years, so I wouldn’t have pain and kept pushing. I couldn’t conventional deadlift for the same amount of time and felt like my training didn’t make much progress. During this phase, I just learned that even if you can’t do everything you can do something.
During fellowship, I knew my Army commitment was going to start. I wanted to max out my PT test and this meant I had to run more. I started following Alex Viada’s Hybrid athlete template and doing his bodybuilding and triathlon program. I leaned out and my body felt awesome. I was in the best shape of my life and my strength proportionally continued to climb. I was forty pounds lighter than when I was competing and just as strong. I learned that you don’t have to be big to lift big weights. Concurrent training definitely has its benefits and you just need to learn to manage stress.
Now my fitness is broken down into three categories. BJJ, lifting and running. My challenge is managing the volume from all three. I do BJJ for mobility and to be social. I love helping the guys at my gym stay on the mats. I love programing for those who have the goal of winning world championships. I run because the government wants me to. I still think low steady state running is one of the most effective ways to build endurance. It’s also very high risk for injury if form, strength and body composition isn’t locked in. I lift because it’s meditation. I train three times a week and it’s my time to myself. I don’t train with anyone else and I don’t want to. It’s just myself and the weights. I love working through programs and experimenting. I love seeing the impact of different intensities, densities, rep schemes, and nutritional protocols.
Lifting has opened doors and brought me lifelong friendships. I’ve had multiple training partners die – suicide and overdose. It’s beat up my body, doesn’t get any easier, and brought on a lot of pain. I am who I am because of the weight room. My fascination and appreciation of performance, the human body, the mysteries of nutrition, goals and achievement, lifelong progress, continuous learning all came from the weight room. Lifting, sports, competition, and general fitness can change your life. Once you get the addiction you will be a changed person. If you can translate the lessons of strength into your life you will find success. I’ve only started to understand Dan John’s quote from his coach, “little and often over the long haul.” My why for lifting has changed over the past 20 years, but I lift because it’s part of who I am.
Seeking Progress 