Javi

Today is my 🏋️‍♂️ LIFTVERSARY

I started lifting exactly 6 years ago today

I was super skinny at the time, only 57kg (125lbs)

I signed up for a gym at the beginning of December 2019, but I was so scared I kept postponing my first workout

I was so intimidated that the first time I went for a workout I only ran on the treadmill

I chose the treadmill because it was the only thing in the gym I knew how to use. It was a safe place and I mostly used it so I could look at the rest of the gym from there, and try to figure out how things worked, how people were actually using the equipment

It took me a couple days until I went in and actually started lifting weights

I have everything logged: the first thing I ever did was bench press with 4kg dumbbells (8 lbs) and I remember my arms were shaking (!!!)

I was so weak and thin I couldn't even lift four kilos without my entire body shaking

Then I started eating A LOT, way more than my skinny body wanted

And I kept lifting heavier every session, so every workout I felt less and less weak until the shaking went away

The following year I went on to gain ~15kg (33 lbs)

Covid hit shortly after I started lifting, and all gyms closed down, so I had to improvise a gym at home with water jugs just to keep the habit and the early gains

Then I started nomading, traveled to Portugal, then Thailand, all while gyms were still closed down, so I had to train at home and in hotel rooms with TRX straps for months

I also had to endure through a nasty leg infection in Koh Samui Thailand that got me hospitalized for a week and limping for a while. Still I kept on deadlifting shortly after surgery

I had two or three year-long hiatuses here and there, generally correlated with injuries / traveling / moving countries (life is difficult!) but the overall trend is up and to the right!!!

I'm now the strongest and heaviest I've ever been, and still a long way to go too!

The first pic is me in my second week at the gym. The second pic is from yesterday

I've gained ~30kg (66 lbs) total since I started back in 2019, I'm now 84kg (185 lbs)

look ma my startup also has an exponential growth chart like the cool kids

I've redesigned my personal website

You can now play with my face

Please don't pull too much. It hurts.

Our brains have evolved for millions of years to be able to read people’s faces in milliseconds

Always trust your gut, it’s one of the most advanced pieces of machinery your brain has

Prejudices are good and almost always correct, they’re what have kept humans alive for millennia

Physiognomy is real

I’m in this café and there’s this guy sitting next to me typing code in a light mode IDE.

Typing code.

Character by character.

Like a sociopath.