My first physical transformation (2012 → 2013)
The photo on the left is from 2012. The one on the right is from 2013, after months of training.
This was the first time I realized something important:
your body can change if you are disciplined.
But my reason for starting wasn’t discipline.
It was something much simpler.
It was competition.
It was 2012 and I had just repeated a year at school.
Around that time I met my first love. But it wasn’t easy — I had competition.
There was another guy interested in her.
He was more athletic than me, and the truth is that back then I didn’t really do much sport, except playing football occasionally.
Somehow, that rivalry awakened something in me.
A desire not to be less than him.
That’s how my fitness journey began.
I remember the first thing I did was follow the P90X program. I would wake up before going to school to train at home. To my surprise, I got very good results.
Then Instagram and social media appeared, and like many young people at that time, I became obsessed with the idea of achieving the physiques I saw online.
What I didn’t know back then was that many of those fitness models were using anabolic steroids.
I remember that when I was 19 (2013), I even considered it.
Luckily, I never did it.
At that point I realized something:
my reason for training had changed.
What started as a rivalry had turned into training out of insecurity.
I achieved a big physical transformation, but strangely, it never felt like enough.
Then came one of the darkest moments of my life.
I fell into depression and lost everything I had built physically. I became skinny again, as if I had never lifted a weight in my life.
But it was precisely in that dark moment that I had a conversation with myself.
I told myself:
Everything in my life might be falling apart,
but there is one thing I cannot abandon…
and that is myself.
So I started training again.
But this time with a completely different mindset.
It was no longer about aesthetics or competing with anyone.
It was about my mental health.
During that time I discovered Freeletics, a very intense training method based on bodyweight exercises. It was tough, but also incredibly transformative.
Today I can say it with complete honesty:
Physical exercise probably saved my life.
Since then, I’ve had many ups and downs.
I’ve trained hard, stopped training, and started again more than once.
But I always come back.
Today I’m 31 years old and, paradoxically, I’m stronger than ever.
My way of training has also evolved.
What started as bodybuilding has transformed into something different.
Today I consider myself more of a hybrid athlete.
Currently I swim around 1500 meters six times per week, and I go to the gym four times a week.
(I’ll explain in another post how I ended up swimming 1500 meters six times per week.)
Training has become one of the pillars of my life.
It’s the place where I remind myself that I’m capable.
The place where I prove to myself that I can improve.
Even when life gets complicated.
Today I no longer train to impress anyone.
I train because I want to enjoy life, and because I think about my future self.
I want to be a strong grandfather.
The kind who can still run, swim, and lift things.
So I want to leave you with a question:
Why do you train?
It’s important to question it.
If your only reason is aesthetic, you can easily fall into a distortion of reality. Into impossible expectations that often push people toward using anabolic steroids.
And it’s well documented that long-term use of these substances can shorten your life.
Training can be much more than just looking good.
It can be a tool to keep your mind strong, overcome difficult moments, and build a better version of yourself.
Ask yourself this
Why do you train?
If you find a deeper reason,
you will probably never stop doing it.
