'I Switched From All Cardio To Weights—And Now I Can Deadlift Twice My Body Weight'
Growing up in an Indian family, athletics were never really important. Looking back, on the rare occasion I did participate in any sports, I tended to pick things up rather quickly. Although there was athletic potential in me, no one pushed me to continue so I didn't.
Fast-forward to my early 20s and I found my go-to workout: I discovered the sport of Muay Thai. A gym that specialized in teaching the martial art opened up in my neighborhood, and I decided to give it a whirl. I had finished school and had the time to go. I was immediately hooked.
Muay Thai not only got me moving regularly, but it taught me to pay closer attention to my body and better self awareness.
After I began training in Muay Thai, my life quickly changed to revolve around that training. Eventually, I started fighting. I worked to build up my cardio base and was eager to learn more and more. I wanted to be technically strong in the sport but also to build a strong foundation of strength and conditioning. Muay Thai is really heavy on conditioning work, primarily with bodyweight training, so it was important to me to master the basics in order to level up.
At the same time, I also began learning as much as I could about nutrition. I wanted to be able to fuel my body properly to perform at my absolute best. I did a lot of research and it took a lot of trial and error to figure out what worked best for my body.
At the same time, I was also bartending. It took an insane amount of discipline to not cave into the unhealthy eating habits that undoubtedly came with late nights and early mornings.
When the pandemic shut down my gym, I initially became sedentary. But I pivoted and kickstarted my strength training journey.
The covid-19 pandemic impacted the fight community, like many others, very heavily. It became extremely difficult (basically impossible) to train and fight the way I did before. During the shutdown, I fell out of working out. It was the first time in nearly a decade that I was sedentary and didn't have a regular workout routine. Aside from the occasional run, I didn't move much. My nutrition suffered as well.
Luckily, I was eventually introduced to NCFIT (now 914 Fitness and FWD FIT), which offered group fitness classes, personal training, and more all focused on weight lifting. Although I did some strength training during my years in Muay Thai, it wasn’t until working with the coaches at 914 that I really began my strength journey.
With Muay Thai, my workouts were primarily about conditioning with kettlebell swings and box jumps. I had to walk a fine line between building muscle and cutting weight for competitions.
After finding the new gym, I had nothing holding me back and focused on getting stronger and building up my weaker areas.
914 Fitness is a CrossFit-style gym, and the coaches there helped me understand my weaknesses and what I needed to train. I found myself falling in love once again with both the exercises I was naturally attracted to, like gymnastics movements, as well as the exercises I wasn’t so great at, like Olympic lifts.
Around this time, I brought Muay Thai back into my life and even started coaching and teaching classes. I mixed this in with a combination of personal training and fitness classes at Gold Coast S&C, where I was once again blessed with excellent coaching. I finally felt like myself again.
Lifting weights improved my all-around mobility and balanced out weaknesses from focusing on one type of training for years.
When I first began CrossFit back in 2021, I had never performed a barbell squat before. Muay Thai subjected me to years of repetitive motions. While I had great mobility in some areas, it was dreadful in others. As a result, squats were extremely difficult for me.
Strength training has allowed me to gradually improve my squats. While I still consider them my nemesis, I’ve really seen a huge improvement and massive weight increases.
A big goal I'm proud of achieving is my deadlift. I can lift twice my bodyweight.
One of the goals I had set for myself back when I was still fighting was being able to deadlift twice my body weight. A year into my strength training journey I was able to accomplish that goal. There’s something extremely satisfying about seeing all those plates on the bar and being able to lift them up. And, also use them as a chair.
These two things were key to my strength transformation success:
1. I made nourishing my body and hitting my protein goals a priority.
As someone with a smaller frame, it’s always been difficult for me to eat enough and put on any weight. My job doesn't help either. Working as a bartender, I am always on the go, grabbing quick bites here and there. This made it challenging to actually have enough food to fuel my body.
I now focus on hitting my protein goals (120g/day) and nourishing my body with the food it needs in order to build muscle. Being in and around the fitness industry, I knew that undereating is detrimental, but it’s hard at first to trust the process of eating more. Getting to the gym becomes the easy part.
When I began lifting more, eating more, and cutting back on cardio, I was really able to gain muscle and strength. In fact, the people around me all thought I lost weight when I was really about the same, if not a couple pounds heavier. Finally putting on real muscle, my physique looked more “ripped” than it had previously and this reflected in my progress in the gym, as well.
2. Finding knowledgeable coaches encouraged me to move and helped me move properly.
My coaches have really made all the difference when it comes to my athletic journey. I was lucky enough to find coaches like Alex Jones and Chris Shkreli at 914 Crossfit and Tom Hoffman and Abi Hammond at Gold Coast. They really get it and see everyone as individuals.
I believe different people need different types of coaching and support. These guys, and really all the coaches at my gym, really GET IT and are the perfect fit for what I need.
Fitness isn’t a one size fits all thing. Once I found the right people to support me and challenge me, great things started happening.
Now, my workouts include a variety of CrossFit, Muay Thai training, and weight lifting.
A typical week for me now consists of five or six metabolic conditioning workouts (or a WOD as it’s known in CrossFit), along with some strength training and skill practice a couple days, too.
I typically follow my coach’s programming, which is usually in four or five week cycles. Some days are focused on endurance, while others are focused on strength, skill, or conditioning.
It’s been hard for me to shift away from the intense cardio I did for my Muay Thai training, but I’ve slowly gotten more comfortable dialing it back. Instead of the traditional cardio I used to do (sprints, running, and hitting mitts), I’m now doing high reps of power snatches or overhead squats to get in more of a strength-based cardio workout.
My favorite workouts include a combination of skill and strength. I love doing (or attempting) gymnastics-based movements such as bar muscle ups and deadlifts. I never thought I'd see the day, but I'm starting to love some of the Olympic lifts like snatches and cleans. I still need quite a bit of improvement on them, but I'm enjoying the process.
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