I'm on Google+ because Xanga seemed a little elitist

  Have you ever been sitting in your dad's basement reading fitness articles at 2 o'clock in the morning, avoiding that reflection paper I have to write for my Diversity in America class that is due next week and thought to yourself, "Hey, I could write a fitness blog!"  No?  Yeah, maybe a little too specific. 

  But for times sake let's pretend you have had that same sad experience.  And let's say you are so lucky as to have a very loving and supportive group of friends and family members that always encouraged you to do whatever it is you want to do.  Unless that thing you want to do is to become an active volcano.  Thanks mom.

I could have been someone, mom

  Well of course that would lead you to write a fitness blog on an almost completely irrelevant blog site.

^Previously mentioned irrelevant blog site 



  But since it's the only thing I know of it will have to do.  And while you are here I might as well extrapolate in excruciating detail my story, and how I have come to write about fitness and all things related.

  Being completely honest, I am pretty new to the fitness world.  I often get asked when at the gym, "What did you play in high school?  Football?  Did you wrestle?"  I love relish this question.  Only because I'm so narcissistic that I think my reply is hysterical.  And my reply is ALWAYS, "the saxophone."

Every bros reaction

  I'm actually still laughing to myself about that one.  But it is true.  I was not involved in organized sports after middle school.  I was too busy with choir, band, jazz band, all-state auditions, theater rehearsals.  If you look at that sentence carefully it actually says, "I was too busy being a nerd."

  And it gets worse. 

After I graduated from high school, I went on to major in being a nerd saxophone performance at the University of Northern Iowa.  This was a wonderful opportunity for me to learn about my passion at a school that allowed me to develop my own voice as a young musician.

Buuuuuut I didn't.

  My first attempt at college was more of an opportunity for me to eat lots of pizza rolls and develop my own affinity for Keystone Light.  Advisers always warn you about the "freshmen fifteen."  However they don't warn you that it isn't limited to fifteen pounds or your freshmen year.

I had a girlfriend then too.  Shame on her.

  I never said it was pretty.  I was 5 feet 9 inches short and weighed 190 lbs.  After two years of looking like that, and feeling even worse about it, I did what any lost 20 year old would do. I joined the Iowa National Guard.  Basic training is where my fitness journey really began.  It's a lot like a game of Candy Land really.  Except there is no candy because your meal plan limits your carbohydrate intake.  And instead of rainbow colored paths and bright inviting characters there was a lot of running, push ups, and big, scary drill sergeants yelling at me.  Just imagine Candy Land as a movie directed by David Fincher.

  By the time I graduated Basic Training I had lost 25 pounds and no longer looked like Gloppy the Molasses Monster's younger brother who pledged Sigma Alpha Epsilon.  (Seriously?  More Candy Land jokes?)  I had even put on a little muscle!

  I came home and found a gym immediately. Taking  the small amount of fitness knowledge I had acquired at Basic Training, I began to push myself physically.

  Glossing over the past five years of my fitness journey like a Rocky training montage, we arrive at where I am today with fitness.  Fitness has become a passion and a staple to my everyday life.  Ask anyone of my friends or read my Facebook posts and you are sure to be annoyed with how much I talk about fitness/working out.  I do this because it is a passion I want to share with everyone.  

  

  This blog is a stepping stone for me in becoming a fitness professional.  I am by no means a fitness professional yet.  I am even less of a professional writer!  (Just ask my community college Composition II professor)  So please bear with me as I grow as a fitness professional and a writer.  And by no means should you take what I have to say as gold.  I encourage you to read what I have to say, post hurtful comments about my poor writing skillz, and learn whatever you can about living a happier, healthier life.

With good health and strong hamstrings,

Mike