I posted the following at the StrongFirst Forum:
Male/Chinese/Programmer/45 yr/5'7"/145lbs
At age 40, I looked like a typical Silicon Valley computer programmer. I had a
PhD degree in computer science and 20 years of screen-staring under my belt. At
5'7" and 195 lbs, I had internally rotated shoulders, a forward head, slightly
hunched back, and a protruding belly. Decades of ignoring nutrition and health
had done its damage until one day my guardian angel (a nurse) called and told me
I was also pre-diabetic. So, I was literally fat, sick, and nearly dead.
Somehow, that phone call hit the spot and became the turning point. Thank God!
Fast-forward two years. I lost 50 lbs through diet and walking/jogging. Armed with
Pavel's Simple and Sinister, I started swinging a 16kg kettlebell (I had to buy
a 12kg for the Turkish Getup) early 2015 and achieved the Simple goal in the
sunny afternoon of Sat Jan 13, 2018. My weight and height stayed the same, my
body morphed and became more than twice as strong. It was like a dream.
Looking back, that book was one of the best deals I had in my life.
The biggest idea I learnt from Pavel (from his Tim Ferriss podcast) was the
concept of "practice." No need to worry about progress and obsess with goals;
just train and they will come. It's liberating. Not only has it helped me in
achieving Simple, I have successfully applied that idea in almost everything in
my life ever since. It's a magic word. I think I first saw it in college.
I took a mobility evaluation early 2016 with Mark Reifkind and went through a
one-day kettlebell course with Ric Garcia that summer. Both were great. Among
other things, I learnt about my posture problems. They hit when I started to
swing the 32kg a year ago.
Education also came in the form of reading the posts and early articles at
StrongFirst and I was inspired by people including Pavel, Rif, Steve Maxwell,
Steve Freides, Gabby Eborall, Pavel Macek, and so many others.
During kettlebell training, I made the happy discovery that I had a one-track
mind. So the next goal is Sinister. 48kg is unthinkable at the moment but so was
32kg three years ago.
