Saturday, March 17, 2007
Hey people, I was thinking about what to write, I thought perhaps I'll share my story here, so all my slightly distant friends will know me better.Well, my young life was plaqued with bullies. I was a very outspoken guy in primary school. I was fluent in my languages and even was the MC for some events during primary 4 to 6. However, I was a skinny guy, making me a victim of choice for bullies. Being bullied by one person or one group of people is one thing, I had multiple sources of bullies. Some from school others from outside. I had experienced almost everything that wasn't too extreme. It was usually direct physical attacks. Being slammed on tables, getting my head slammed onto walls and window grills, getting kicked on my face, getting my pants pulled off and being pushed off my feet repeatedly during ball games. Other incidents I remembered were when I wasn't attacked directly. Eg when a guy threw my school bag into a puddle of mud.
The bullying had made alot of changes to my personality. I became from an outspoken guy to being quiet and reserved. Also, I became a very patient person and learnt to tolerate the things that happened to me. I didn't make complaints to the teachers as I didn't want people to think I was a sissy. I became very introvert, and didn't have much friends to back me up. Hence, I couldn't fight back.. Being skinny and weak made things worse. People looked down on me, and thought I was a joke and people laughing at me when I walked by in school was a common thing. Nobody showed me much respect, except for a few friends who mixed around with me. As for the girls, I definately had no chance. "Who would want a skinny little guy who got bullied, what kind of a boyfriend would he make?" I felt very lonely, and the thought of ever getting a female companion in my lilfe seemed distant and hopeless.
I was a (lousy) hockey player in school, had always been into running and was one of the better long distance runners in my school. It occured to me that if I could do regular excercises and build up on my physique, my life might turn out to be better, and I might even get hooked up with some girl some day. I remembered being intrigued with Arnold's physique as a child watching his movies, and I often had thoughts of becoming like him one day. I didn't know much about gyms and weights at this point, so I began doing even more runs than before. My dad, being an Army regular often joined me in the long runs. I spent my recesses at the chin up bars, doing hundreds and hundreds of chin ups. My efforts didn't help much with my appearence; I now had a lean physique, but I was still very skinny, weighing at 47kg. It helped alot in my fitness, my chins went from 0 to 15 in a few months. I now got a gold for my NAPFA test, getting 5 points for everything.
My life got better at this point, I was in sec 4 express class, and my class more than halved. Alot of my classmates failed and got transfered to the normal academic stream. Also the bullies kind of "grew up" and didn't bully me much. Only a few still did so. After graduating, I continued having the personality that I developed as a bully victim. I had practically no social life and almost no friends. I was very shy and didn't mix around, especially with girls. Life got even lonelier as it was the holidays, and I didn't go out. When I did go walking around, the people who knew me showed no respect. During this point, I discovered the gym, and consequently buried myself there. My desire to be more muscular had always been there and it kept growing. I began dedicating my time to training in the gym, cadio and doing research on stuff related to bodybuilding. I had always been a studious guy, and this, together with the discipline that my parents instilled in me as I grew up really made a difference.
I carried on training in the gym, and as a former sportsman, I knew how to train hard and push myself. I put to practice the knowledge I attained through research. I slowly changed my diet, and trained as hard and smart as I could. Initially, my aunts and some people I knew told me not to go to the gym as I was too skinny. People didn't believe in me, people critisized my effort. I took everything in as constructive critisizm, and worked harder. I knew that I really wanted to get in shape and I kept going. 2 people who were supportive were my Mom and Dad, who bought me some supplements.
Today, 5 years later, I'm still an avid bodybuilder. I now have added almost 30kg of muscle mass to my body. 3 years after I started, I had improved tremendously and became a competitive bodybuilder. I won 2 titles, and even represented Singapore. Only people from my past, or those who come to my room and saw my trophies and pictures from my competitions will know how much I had achieved over the past 5 years. The sport has truly done wonders for my life. The new physique has given me my confidance back. When I walk around, I don't feel like a reject or a 3rd class citizen anymore, in fact, I feel somewhat "majestic" looking better than everyone else. I see people showing me respect, and I love being who I am! The physique has given me opportunities like being featured in the papers (below). It has also instilled many good values in me, values like discipline, persistance and an anti-procrastination attitude. These values do not just apply to sport but also to life. My social life has expanded, and im not as shy and introvert as I once was. As I socialised more, I have found alot of friends that really are gems, but there is one special group of friends I treasure til today. Those few guys who stuck by my side during my worst days. These are indeed the true friends one can have..
My first title..
Pesta Sukan Bodybuilding Contest (28 August 2005) - 2nd place within Singapore, and 4th place against the participating SEA countries..
NUS Muscle War 2005 (Below 70kg) 4th February 2005 - 3rd (my first medal)
CDANs Bodybuilding Contest (11th March 2006) Open catogory - 3rd (5 days before enlistment)
Well, I'm not really in my peak condition now, as Ive been serving in the Navy. Been serving for almost a year and I don't have much time to train, eat right and mantain that Championship physique. It has been more than a year since I won my last title, but I promise, one day I will be back and I hope I'll get to represent Singapore again, on a bigger stage. To those people who met me recently, they know me as "Some guy from the Navy who's into weights" Well, this is who I really am, and this is what hapened in my life. This is why I look at bodybuilding more like a worship than a sport. The sport has given me a "new leash of life" and it now runs in my blood. Hope this wasn't too boring to read.. Thank you all for taking the time to read through! Have a great day!!
The Sunday Times (13th August 2006)
11:41 PM
Hi everyone! My names Danie D, 20+. Its my opening post, and I don't quite know what to write.. Well, I launched this thing up as my girlfriend (in the picture with me), and a whole slate of my friends already have one, and i thought of joining in the fun! Ive never really been into blogging, and only had a frienster blog. That wasn't really much of a blog, and more like a long list of complaints and controversial remarks.
I guess this was a good start. I'll try to make this thing as interesting and entertaining as possible as I make more future posts. Have a great day everyone!
into part of the universe...
11:24 AM
