Greetings from Afghanistan!

[brendanwc]

Hello everyone! My name is Brendan. I am 24 and currently serving in the US Army. I am deployed to southern Afghanistan at the moment, but I am originally from northern Virginia. I'm probably the biggest dork to ever wear a uniform, and I'm totally fine with that. My nerd interests lie mainly in the realms of gaming and science fiction literature, and technology is a huge passion of mine. I hope to finish up my computer science degree at some point in the near future and eventually work in the field of artificial intelligence. Also big into tattoos, playing guitar, being outdoors, traveling, and How I Met Your Mother (super bummed that I'm missing season 7 while being over here)

A little background on my fitness history and goals: when I joined the Army three years ago, I had literally never even ran a mile in my life without having to walk most of it. I wasn't very strong at all, and struggled with performing push ups and other basic calisthenic exercises. By the time I graduated basic training, I could run 5 miles in 40 minutes and knock out dozens of reps of just about anything without breaking a sweat. For the first time in my life, I was in great shape and I was completely hooked on fitness.

Since then, I have made a concerted effort to push myself as far as I can go. For the most part, I've stuck with regular Army physical training, which consists largely of cardio and calisthenics. However, I've always felt that I've been lacking in the sheer strength department, and being a super skinny guy, always thought about how nice it would be to pack on a few pounds. Thus, I decided to take my fitness to the next level and begin incorporating a serious weight lifting/bulking up plan into my workout routine. When I first started researching some basic strength training routines, I stumbled upon Nerd Fitness. Being a pretty substantial nerd myself, my interest was piqued and I began reading the articles and checking out everything the site had to offer. I ended up purchasing the Rebel Strength Guide, which has been extremely helpful in getting myself started with weight lifting. I'm about 2 months in with this new plan, and so far so good; I'm very excited to see how far I can go with it.

Over the past several months of keeping up with NF, I can see that it is a fantastic community of like-minded, positive, and motivated people. My reasons for wanting to join this community are three-fold:

a) I want to learn as much as I can from others to help achieve my goals

I want to be able to pass on my experience and knowledge to help and inspire others to achieve their goals

c) I want to meet some new people and hopefully make some new friends

Thank you for reading, I look forward to talking to everyone and hopefully being able to contribute to this community!

- Brendan

[scott82962]

Brendan - I hope you and all of your fellow soldiers are safe. I guess that's probably a bit trite but I mean it.

I am a classic ectomorph. Very skinny and can only put weight on in two ways: 1) drink a lot beer, but then I end up just a skinny guy with a basketball gut; and 2) lift heavy and eat a lot. These are of equal importance and I found that having a big can of whey protein powder nearby helps me put good weight on.

Look forward to hearing updates on your progress.

[SusieBlu]

Hello and welcome from a sister nerd in a sister service. Keep rocking and keep lifting.

[Morrigainz]

Welcome! I, too, love technology. I'm currently working on a degree in Information Technology Management...and wondering if I should have gone the CS route.

[Marlowe]

Welcome, Brendan! Thanks for your service, brother. Glad to hear your new workout regimen is working for you. Stay safe and keep moving that iron!