Wow…just when I thought I couldn’t respect you more Nate, that was truly an inspiring story and has moved me in a big way. Thank you for your share, again you are truly the Iron Angel…and you definitely had angels watching over you too bro. I did not know that about Big Rick Rock, another guy whom I respect as well from these forums, as well as being part of my NTMB team…I am honored to be a part of the EF community as well as NTBM family, and to be in the presence of such great folks here on this forum...many names to mention!
This is kind of long, like Nates, but it is my story in a nutshell...and I have never posted this story anywhere else...Nate you inspired me to do this, you asked for it bro!
I will try to condense my share as best as possible, but I too was a skinny 23 year old kid who liked to party a bit too much. In fact I was basically addicted to drugs, but not so much alcohol. I was working for the company I still am today (22 years now) and had a work related accident while on a job. I ended up with a 10% compression fracture in my spine, went through a ton of physical therapy, and at one point I thought to myself that my body was not healthy, I was killing myself, and worst of all almost lost my job. I made a pact with my co-worker/brother that we would quit and start getting each other better and healthy.
I started working out with weight after I was cleared by the doctors from my injury since I thought “man, I am too young to have a back injury for the rest of my life!” I met a guy who was just yoked through another friend of mine and he invited me to work out with him at the local Powerhouse gym. At that time I was just working out in my garage with very few weights that I had. The first workout with him I watched him throw up 140 lb dumbbells for bench presses and I was in awe! I told myself “that will be me one day”. Moving forward I trained with him for a good two years until we went our separate ways (we still keep in contact, although I am bigger than him now lol) and like we all have, I had went through several training partners, always bigger guys than me, to continue my growth and passion in what I have as my new addiction…bodybuilding! I trained natural for a solid 10 years, just trial and error on supplements, trying the next newest marketed supplement in the bodybuilding magazines, or what the guys at the gym would tell me to take…without even knowing what it was I would ingest it! I didn’t care, I just wanted to get big and muscular…but got some fat as well lol. In 10 years I went from 165 lbs of drugged out weakling, to a 265 lb muscular/fat guy but clean and sober, and following a better path than I was 10 years prior.
I was working with a new employee at my work one day and he asked “have you ever juiced?” I was like “what?” Steroids he said, I said nope…all natural here! Well, he said that he had some steroids left over from his hay days and was willing to let me have them…so of course I said ok! He told me how to take them, how much and etc. So with the guidance of some other guys at the gym I had started injecting steroids without even knowing a damn thing about what I was really doing. The stupid things we do. So I ran a so called cycle of Deca and Test and guess what…no PCT. So onto the next cycle, same…no PCT. The one thing that all guys that I thought were knowledgeable left out of this whole equation was Post Cycle Therapy! Anyway, in 2005 I decided to take it to the next level and compete in my first bodybuilding show. I was already on a cycle and hooked up with a friend of mine who is a trainer and had helped many other at the gym compete back in the 90’s. So I did and long story short placed 2nd in the Heavyweight Novice class…I was on cloud 9! The competitive bug had bit me, and my physique was the best it ever was! I was addicted! So in 2007 I competed again in two back to back shows and placed 1st and 2nd (two different divisions) in one, and 2nd (the same show I did in 2005) in the other. After that, I stopped doing cycles as I had got married in 2004, and had a baby girl in 2006. I needed to be responsible and give up my life for my little girl. Although, a guy who owned a local supplement store had turned me onto prohormones, Tren Extreme to be exact, said I would get steroid like results, but it is legal! WOW, cool…so I bought a couple of bottles and he gave me one bottle of an estrogen blocking supplement and outlined the cycle for me and I went on my merry way! About a few weeks into the cycle, I felt burning sensation in my nipples…I didn’t think much of it…you all know what happened next…Gyno. I felt little lumps, and started researching it, went and seen plastic surgeons and found out how expensive the surgery was, etc.
I am going to jump ahead again a bit and just say that this condition had put me in a big time depression, having this really kills your image of yourself…and to this day I am still living with it. So one day I was on the computer and search engined “gyno removal without surgery” and found Gynexin…what a crock that crap was! Didn’t do shit, and wasted my money again! So the depression continued and I kept looking online for a way to get rid of this. I had stumbled across Elite Fitness by accident and was overwhelmed by the PCT and gyno section, so much solid information that I could have used years prior if I knew where to look. It was like striking gold finding all of this information. I stumbled on a thread by the Iron Angel (Nate) about how to remove gyno without surgery. After reading it and the other links connected to it I sent him a PM. It took about a week before he got back to me, and he basically told me what I needed to buy, and what I needed to do if he was going to help me…so I did! Now here is this guy who doesn’t know me from a hole in the ground, nor do I know him for that matter, but I was/am so finished with having this condition that I was willing to do ANYTHING!!! Thank you Nate! We will say I still have a bit of the condition left, but will be going through the program again soon to get rid of this shit for good…and best of all…I have been educated extensively and continue to be on proper Post Cycle Therapy! I am an advocate for this, I am now a spokesperson (after putting myself out here like this…I’m now really exposed LOL!!!), and I am a member (like hair club for men lol!). Nate also educated me a bit on the garbage supplements I was currently taking and turned me onto Need to Build Muscle! After all this guy had done for me, I had to write something positive thanking him and his wife Shanna for their gift to me…and it truly is a gift!
Nate called me one morning on my way to work after I had posted my thread about “Where has Need to Build Muscle been all my life!”, and asked if I would be willing to be a rep for his company…and here we are today! God and things happen for a reason, and just like another brother of mine on this forum, Dylan, said to me the other day in an e-mail “I asked God to let me be able to spread my passion to people all over” and he too is a representative for NTBM…as this is truly my passion! I want to continue working with Nate and the NTBM family helping others as Nate has helped me…and this is my calling. I may not know a lot, but I always am educating myself, and learning everyday, and through 18 years of training I do know a little bit from personal experiences. I am blessed to be a part of this community, a part of NTBM family, and will continue to spread the word of NTBM and help others obtain their goals, here and where I live in my community.
Last thing…Muscle Addiction is my screen name for a very special reason…I turned my life around from drugs and alcohol, and like Nate a downward spiral and took that addiction and focused it into something positive…my need to build muscle and a healthy lifestyle…as that is what this is to all of us…a lifestyle!! I hope to make friends and be able to continue my education here for many, many years to come!
Sorry for the long read, but this thread needs to stay alive!!! Nate, your post motivated me to type this up and put it out there and hopefully others will do the same…as we are all family in my book here! Most will pass judgement, but I really don't care what others think of me...like me or not, I am a simple man whom I love and understand, and my family loves me and that is all that matters to me.
Salute to the Iron Angel, Need to Build Muscle, and the Elite Fitness family here!
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