About

DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT A MEDICAL DOCTOR. The purpose of this blog is to inform, not medically diagnose. Though there are suggestions on my blog about nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle interventions, they are by no means instructions to change your life. Before embarking on any of the suggestions, CONSULT YOUR PRIMARY CARE PHYSICIAN or another qualified healthcare professional. I will not be held responsibility for any changes you make to your diet and life.

Who am I?

Greetings and salutations. My name is David and this is my blog. I will speak about fitness, nutrition, and life. I am my own author and do not have an editor, so there may be many typographical errors that you will just have to deal with; I am not a grammar dictator, but I will try with my best efforts to make the reading as painless as possible. 

I am 27 years old, work as a personal trainer at a commercial gym, and also do private training. I am a graduate of New York University with a Bachelors in Nutrition/Dietetics. Currently I am studying to become a Registered Dietitian. Some call me 'ambitious' and a 'dreamer'. I admit I do tend to dream and my goals sound preposterous, especially to my wife, and many times I have to modify or eradicate them. Nonetheless, I hold fast to my passions: fitness and nutrition. I was born in Baltimore, MD and currently live in New York with my wife, Ji Hee, and two dogs.

My overarching philosophy are the 3 Ps: Perform. Progress. Prevent. 

You Perform to bring down the house and raise the roof. 

You Progress to become better every day.

You Prevent to stay on top of your game in life, nutrition, and sport. 

Background

Unlike most involved in athletic training, I have a terrible athletic background and my genetic predisposition for athletics is severely lacking. I played various sports--baseball, football, soccer, track, Ultimate Frisbee, flag-football, softball, volleyball, and table tennis--but was only successful in a couple of them, table tennis being one. From 7, I cultivated a cannon arm, decent hand-eye coordination, and quick feet. I got the arm from playing wall ball with friends, hand-eye coordination by playing backyard basketball with a bottomless milk crate, and quick feet by running from stray dogs. The arm allowed me to once-upon-a-time throw 90 MPH fastballs; the hand-eye coordination once allowed me to succeed in table tennis and grab 2nd place in a local tournament; and the legs allowed me to run an unofficially timed 10.7 100M sprint. People used to say, "you're naturally athletic". I disagree fully. If you were with me from when I lived in Baltimore, exercise was a natural part of my daily life and that consistency was what forced physical adaptation. Becoming athletic for most is about consistency, effort, and patience.

Now, I lift heavy things and put them down. I love lifting and compete in powerlifting. I have been doing it for five years, from the time I decided to become strong and fit deliberately. When I was in the military, I became a bit lazy, became skinny-fat. I went from 129 pounds to 170, but most of the weight went straight to the gut. I could no longer run as fast as I could, was no longer as agile as I once was, and because I didn't practice throwing, I lost the arm. No matters, throwing hard and fast with reckless abandon would have led me down a path to shoulder surgery. But not running fast was something I sorely missed. Hence, I started lifting. This is the short story, but as this blog blossoms, I will talk about how I used to train. My training now nowhere resembles what I used to do because it is smarter, more efficient, and delivers more results.

My training philosophy revolves around 'fit strength'. My clients and the people I work with exhibit not only strength, but also athleticism. What does athleticism mean? The ability to carry tasks of daily living with little effort, maintaining a high quality of life, and displaying acts of agility, mobility, and strength. Strength is an individual term that signifies the ability to lift heavy things, that in turn contributes to athleticism.

My actual training consists of athletic movements: squats,deadlifts, swings, presses, bodyweight movements like chin-ups, pull-ups, push-ups, dips, and jumps.

As a result of my training, I currently hold the New York state powerlifting record with the World National Powerlifting Federation (WNPF). At a bodyweight of 148 lbs, I have officially posted a 425 squat (belt and knee wraps), a 265 bench press, and a 465 conventional deadlift (belt).