How fitness changed my life

[MousemanLV]

Hello. My name is Elvis and you might know me as MousemanLV. I've been playing LFS since 2007. I've been fortunate enough to still be a member of the TC community despite my toxic attitude throughout the years and the lack of ability to maintain what I set out to do in the first place.
I decided to leave a rather long message on this forum because I hope I can inspire someone to change their life as well.

I've been a victim of bullying from a young age and I have only opened to a few people in my life about it. I decided to share a little insight on TC forums because I have met some awesome and genuine people here and I'm thankful that I'm still not banned despite my attitude. Thank you.

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This is my story on how fitness, calisthenics and street workout in particular changed my life below.

Spoiler (Click to View)

Throughout elementary school I was known as the nerd. Even up to this day I have a very good memory of how my classmates treated me. I was bullied, daily. It destroyed my confidence and I was very, very shy. I did not tell my parents about it and even the teachers did not bother about it much.
I had no interest to go to school, I was in fact terrified to go to school because I was made fun of every single day. I felt very bad about myself back then and I did not want to live. It was one of my worst experiences in my life.
Such attitude from the people around you can really destroy you. When I say I was terrified to go to school, I really mean it. My grades were poor, I had no interest to learn or participate in anything.

I later found how gaming would improve my mood. I had something actually to do on my free time. Gaming made me forget about everything else outside my home. Although, it began my computer addiction. For 2 years straight every single day I sat a minimum of 4-8 hours behind the screen. I felt depressed, I was depressed. Even when I was bullied and had no PC, I had one or two friends I could contact and go out with, but once I got my hands on a PC, I never did..for those two years, I did not go outside much, or at all. I felt sad, very sad about myself, but I just kept playing games for those 2 years straight. It was one of those things that kept me somewhat alive, I found some people that would actually communicate with me. It was also the foundation for my English - I had rather poor grades in school when it came to foreign languages, but thanks to GTAA (SAMP in particular) it helped me learn English a lot quicker and for the first time in my life I was excelling somewhere in school, I was getting good grades and I was getting recognized for something.

When I got into highschool, my confidence was still very low. Fortunately enough, I got in a new class where I didn't know anyone. It turned I made some good friends over my highschool time that I still communicate with up to this day. Thanks to them, I felt slightly better about myself.

Summer of 2015 - that was when I graduated high school and exactly when I began street workout / calisthenics - discipline where you use your own bodyweight to train. I used to visit my local park to train on bars (pull up bars, dip bars), but I did not like the idea to travel every single day back and forth in order to train. So..I built my own bars in my backyard.
At the very beginning I was VERY bad at calisthenics. Every single basic movement you could think of - I was really bad at them. It took me such a long time to get my first dips and my first proper pull ups.

Since I used to do running before I began street workout, I had the mindset of ''go hard or go home'' and that's what kept me going. I did not know what I was doing, I was just performing moves that I knew. After doing some research on the web and finding communities like HASfit, Bar Brothers, AthleanX, I had more information than ever. Thanks to them I made my own routines and have been using them ever since.

The hardest part was the first winter. Since I've been very dependent on having bars, I had to train outside no matter the conditions. Since it does get as cold as -25 degree C, I still trained despite how uncomfortable I felt. Not to mention the fact I was then studying Logistics and I would get up at 4;30 / 5;00 am to train when it was freezing cold just to get my training sessions in. I had the silliest excuses to get back to sleep, but I DID NOT. I never felt like waking up and training while everyone else was sleeping, but I've always kept the anger inside of me. The people who bullied me are still in my mind. Sadly, I cannot forgive them, I simply cannot forgive what they did and that's what really keeps me going. As Brandon Carter said in one of his videos, you need to find something that pushes you. And for me, it is the people who made fun of me. In my opinion, there's no such thing as motivation, it's more about discipline. It has become a habit of mine to train throughout the week 5-6 times. Whenever I don't feel like doing it, I remind myself how people treated me years ago, it continues to drive me because the best revenge is success.

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If anyone tells you cannot achieve what you desire - prove them wrong. I've been working out seriously for the past 2 years and it has boosted my confidence, I've been getting along better with people and I'm finally getting attention from the women. I still have a long way to go but I will continue because I still keep my goals in mind and they have been there ever since I started working out.

There will be people who doubt you, that's why if your gut tells you need to do what you need to do, JUST DO IT! It will take time, it will take dedication and effort. I'm still far from perfect, I still have a lot to learn in calisthenics, but I refuse to give up. I've gone through bad times and if you can just remain calm and do what you are supposed to do, simply don't stop and keep grinding. Don't let the society bring you down, you are greater than them. The hard work will pay off, trust me. It will and I've already experienced it.

Keep grinding and remember that greater times are to come. I realize that most people might not take this thread seriously, but I hope I caught someone's attention because I know people tend to go through hard times and I hope I can inspire someone to keep pushing even though they might feel like it's time to give up. I've not been the best I've been, not just on TC forums but on other forums as well. It's the frustration that has made me act in a certain way. It's silly, I know. But over time and now as well, all the past experiences have made me realize that such mistakes should never be made again. I'm one of those individuals who learns the hard way, I know. I am who I am and I hope you guys will understand why I'm writing this. It hasn't been easy for me to open up about it nor it hasn't been easy to maintain my training routine 5-6 times a week for the past 2 years..but you know what, it's all worth it in the end, because you experience and you learn

Stay strong.

[[TC]►BP◄]

Good for you - there should be more posts like this on the forum.

[[TC]►Frozen◄]

Very nice thread, well written. I'm sure that this will help many people who are or have been in a similar situation as yours. In regards of 'perfection' as you wrote, and the interest girls may have on you, love isn't about finding the perfect person, it's about realizing that an imperfect person can make your life perfect.

Good to see you opened yourself to this community showing how you really are.

Stay strong, make them wonder how you're still smiling

[[TC] Brad]

Good job, Elvis! A perfect demonstration of why we shouldn't automatically write people off who have made mistakes in the past - everyone has a story and everyone deals with things in different ways.

Keep going, although you don't need us to say that!

[MousemanLV]

Thank you guys for the responses.
Indeed Frozen. I was so naive two years ago when I thought I had found my perfect other half. Once I was rejected (the relationship didn't last very long), I was heartbroken and most of my training sessions went downhill. Now though I realize what I was looking for back then was appearance. I was so naive that I only focused on how she looked. Whenever we didn't get along, I was getting so frustrated and I always blamed myself even though it had NOTHING to do with me. It had to be the worst relationship where you feel like you are imprisoned by your own thoughts and that your OWN HAPPINESS depended on the other person. It was the worst kind of relationship and I am glad I was rejected - it eventually made me realize how much of a fool I was.

Thank you for the inspiration to keep going guys. In my opinion, there's nothing better to see other people succeed! That's what really drives me to do more - to see the people around you succeed in life. That's the best kind of motivation I could ever receive. Seeing others succeed makes me happy and truly pushes me even to do more!

[[TC]►Carl◄]

Amazing thread Elvis, it's never an easy thing from the beginning, but it always pays off in the end.

[[TC]►Nick◄]

Nice titties

[Owl]

For *Removed* sake Nick...

[MousemanLV]

(2017-06-25 21:58)Nick Wrote:  Nice titties

Haha
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Thank you Nismo. Indeed it was not easy at the beginning, but you just got to trust your gut and be patient in what you are working on!

[Razz]

Very well written Elvis and respect to you for opening up about your past experience.

I'm sure theres people here who may have faced a similar experience in their lives and hopefully can gain some motivation from this thread

[MousemanLV]

Thanks. I wanted to share my experience a long time ago, but really couldn't. Even now I have a very hard time talking about it. It's something that I don't want to remember but at the same time whenever I lack discipline or the drive to do more, it's definitely something I always remember that really flicks the switch and helps me along.

[Deaky]

I take my hat off for you, you are strong person to be able to handle all of that. Also keep reaching for your goals, nice progress so far

[MousemanLV]

Thank you. I am very happy to read such great comments.

[Johan.]

Thats awesome Elvis. I too changed my life with fitness and working out and what not. Funny how the history seems similar. Also bullied at young age, spent loads of time playing videogames, though I jave to add a period of massive overweight. (Obese II)

I currently work out pretty much 5 times a week, 3 of which are super high intensity (Crossgym (cross fit knockoff) and spinning on the same evening, repeat *3), 2 times strength and I also run a little twice a week: as I am also a bootcamp instructor.

This week is crazy. 5 days of exercise, and this weekend 2(!) obstacle runs. Today I did the 8km, tomorrow I'll do the 5km version. I think I could have done the double 8 today, I felt pretty damn fine afterwards.

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I'm almost there. About 5kg left.

[robo]

Thank you Elvis that must take a lot and just reading this post and its genuine content helps me believe that people are who they choose to be and its downtown to the individual well done thank you your an inspiration to many and hope you carry on doing well

[MousemanLV]

Thanks Johan. I'm glad to find out it has too changed your life. I'd also like to point out that losing weight is very, very difficult, you have indeed made a VERY impressive transformation! I myself haven't been overweight, but I've read some blogs on how people have lost their weight and it indeed seems very, very demanding..but all the pain and suffering is worth it in the end!

Thanks robo, your words mean a lot to me!
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To anyone out there, if you are looking for someone to help you in your fitness journey, I would like to recommend HASFit. More than two years ago I found them on youTube and their content is amazing. They offer FREE workouts, FREE workout plans and FREE nutrition plans. They also have many, many, many follow-along workouts.
HASFit, in my opinion, is founded by genuinely awesome people and they are in my opinion by far the best motivation you could ever have in your workouts. I started my fitness journey with them and I'm still using their workouts. They are just amazing people and they deserve to have a larger following. They have been around for a very long time and their content doesn't disappoint!

As Coach Kozak said, ''One more rep, suffer now, it's you versus you!''
..I use HASFit (Coach Kozak) workouts on a weekly basis. He is a very inspirational individual and I look up to him. He is truly motivational and his will to keep pushing through the workout will also push you too!
https://www.youtube.com/user/KozakSportsPerform

[Toni]

Ive been bullied since 3rd grade, and i can recognize same feelings from what youve wrote. I myself found my stress relief from gaming, cars and just cruising around.

[Johan.]

Actually, its a piece of cake. Calories in vs calories out. Its all about what you eat.

I rather have the approach of working out like a beast so many times and just eat whatever I want though. THough, lately I've been focussing more on building strength/muscle to do stuff like that pic of yours, and other crazy things. Just allround fit. And crazy.

[[TC]►BP◄]

Quote:Actually, its a piece of cake.

This is not the thread to be mentioning cake!

[Pipa]

(2017-06-25 14:55)MousemanLV Wrote:  despite my toxic attitude

I thought you were delightful.