Hola a todos - Rodrigo from Chile

[Rodrigador]

Hello everyone, I posted this on the academy forums and decided to cross-post it here. I am Rodrigo from Viña del Mar, Chile, I am 22 years old and joined the academy a week ago, so I decided to take the time to introduce myself here at the forums to start sharing and motivating each other. It seems like here you enjoy long, interesting and detailed introductions, so I will try not disappoint you. 

 

When I was a kid I could eat anything I wanted (lots of junk food) and I hated physical education class in my school, I didn't like football (soccer), rugby or athleticism, which were the main sports we practiced there, so I did my best to skip all the classes I could by pretending to be sick, hiding my sports equipment or leaving school before sports class. I always enjoyed playing trading card games and videogames, since I was very little I played for hours on the computer. Luckily, I found a sport I liked outside school, I started attending Shotokan Karate classes with my mom and my sister, we practiced 3 to 4 times a week for 5 straight years, we went to some competitions and we ended being brown belt (3rd Kyu), but by the time I was 13 I was playing waaay too much Ragnarok Online and I prefered to stay home playing videogames instead of going to karate classes, so I decided to quit. This meant that I was doing close to 0 physical activity (I was learning to ski), I kept playing videogames (Tibia, MU, RO, WoW, DotA, among other titles) and I was drinking a lot of coke and eating and sleeping like shit. At the age of 15 I started drinking alcohol and smoking, so by the time I was 16 my physical condition was awful and I weighted 105 kg (231 lbs with at least 25% fat, I am a tall guy, I don't know how tall I was back then, but now I am 187 cm / 6"2) and my classmates started calling me names and stuff (3 digits, tits, 105, etc). At this point I decided it was time to change, so I joined a gym, started a keto diet and played a little bit of rugby. By the time I graduated high school I was 18 and I weighted 87 kg (190 lbs with 12% fat), I was very happy with my results. 

 

I started University to be a Environmental Civil Engineer, during that time I stopped going to the gym, but instead of that I was swimming two times a week, after the first semester I realized I didn't like math that much and changed to the Psychology major.

 

Now I am on my fourth year of Psychology, during this time I have been on and off physical activity, I have tried a wide variety of sport classes, I go skiing when I can (I worked as a ski instructor at Heavenly, South Lake Tahoe, CA for two seasons and got my level 1 PSIA certification), I have been practicing yoga for about two years now and I enjoy hiking and swimming, I like working out, but I don't like gyms that much anymore and now I prefer doing more bodyweight and/or functional exercises, so I just started my own home gym in my basement. 

 

Our summer here in the south hemisphere is from December to March, so I wanted to drop some pounds i put on during my vacations, so first I got the "Couch-to-5K" app from the App Store because I wanted to improve my cardio capacity in order to get better at hiking and swimming.  I was complementing this with some improvised workouts (based on the knowledge I have) on my new basement gym, but I decided to look for some orientation and searching "how to create a workout routine" on google I found Nerd Fitness and immediately became a fan and joined the academy.  I read the "Choose your class" post and it motivated me to go back to my roots and try Karate once again, so this Monday, after almost ten years, I walked in to the Dojo where I used to train when I was a kid, the Sensei and a few other old timers were very happy to see me again, I trained two times this week and it has been a lot a fun and already payed for my month at the Dojo. 

 

My class: Shaman?

A combination between druid, monk, and little bit of everything else?

I've always liked versatility, the possibility to adapt to any different given situation (I mostly preferred the "jack of all trades" classes in videogames, played as Druid in WoW, as Stalker in RO, etc)

 

My stats right now:

Height: 6" 2

Weight: 189 lbs

Bodyfat %: Unknown (I am guessing 14%)

 

What am I doing right now? 

Bodyweight Brigade Workout level 1 (3 times a week)

Jogging (3 times a week)

Karate (2-3 times a week)

Yoga (classes at my University) (2 times a week)

Swimming/Trekking (classes at my University) (when I have time and feel like doing it)

(I have to complete at least 26 sport classes during the semester for my University)

Eating healthy

Praying for snow

 

 

On other aspects of my life, I am trying to establish a meditation habit (mindfulness) and improve my musical skills and play the bass guitar. I still play videogames, just not the way I used to (now I play SSB4 with my friends and occasionally I pick up my 3DS or the Wii U to play something, just no more LoL, WoW or that kind of games for me. Also I quit smoking during last year, because I wanted to improve my cardio and my health overall). I still drink alcohol, but in moderation, I am conscious about the calories it has and other health issues related to its consumption, I drink 1-2 times a week in social contexts and I avoid drinking too much, I enjoy tasting a good beer, a good wine, I like pisco (chilean liquor), vodka and trying new and exotic varieties of beer, wine or liquor, I like its flavor and I don't drink for the sake of getting drunk. I don't drink sodas or juices, I drink a lot of water and different hot beverages (Mate, tea and coffee).

 

My main goals for now are 3:

 

Recover my brown belt in Karate (and eventually get the Black belt).

Be able to go backcountry skiing in good shape (lots of hiking).

Bring my fat percent down a little bit and look better naked (I am not crazy about it, but I would like to get to 11-10% or so, and I know that appearance is a consequence of fitness).

 

I estimate that by July I will have accomplished these goals (not the Black belt).

 

Other interests: travel, photography, movies, art, philosophy, music among others.

Here is my instagram : vargasusach

Advice for anyone who is just starting: perseverance is the key to success and you WILL feel better when you drop those pounds, you won't be able to believe how much you weighted before if you are successful.

 

Thank you for reading and please excuse my grammar.

May the Force be with you. Lok'tar Ogar.

[Thanatos]

You have quite the intimidating resume, o_o want to teach me karate? Good luck here, sir!

[Rodrigador]

You have quite the intimidating resume, o_o want to teach me karate? Good luck here, sir!

Thank you

I would love to! I like teaching, but I will have to relearn myself before I can teach anyone! I did remember a lot, but still felt like a total noob during the classes this week. If you are interested in martial arts, give it a try, look for a dojo in your area and go for a free trial o just watch a class and see if you like it, it's a very complete discipline in my experience (self-defense, good exercise, community, values, spirituality, competition if you are interested and you learn a few Japanese words!).