The one hour workout

When I was in middle school, I picked up a desire to start lifting weights. By the time I was in high school, I was lifting multiple days per week. When I was a child, I would curl any weight sitting around the house—you know, the dusty set of 30 lb dumbbells in the corner. I was the little boy who would try to curl the weight and make a big deal out of it for the family member watching. As I humored the family, I was silently developing a passion for the muscle burn experienced when lifting something heavy.

As a child, I was always really muscular and toned. I had defined abs at like six years old. My physique was a big topic here and there during family gatherings—sounds like, “Let me see you flex, Isaac.” As I maneuvered through my military career, peak fitness was required, as you could imagine. Fitness became an outlet and a way to glorify the gift God gave to me: a complete physique. I had to uphold that privilege by pumping iron 4–5 days per week, stewarding what I had well.

Along the way, I met a few people who encouraged me to lift more weight so I could get bigger and stronger—especially SSgt Lew. He was my motivation through and through while serving in Army Special Operations. Lew was a huge, muscular man who took me under his arm from my first deployment to Iraq all the way until I got out of the Army. We would work out after work—the guy is a monster, aesthetically.

What I want to get across, after working out and developing my body for all these years, is that all it takes is one hour to develop a nice physique that you’re proud of. I see so many people in the gym for hours with this “I gotta do more” mindset. I believe it’s best to get in and get out—this way, you can come back tomorrow. Consistency beats exhaustion. If you feel sick or completely drained after a workout, you’re doing something wrong. Training should energize you, not break you down. Every once in a while, pushing yourself to exhaustion is fine, but doing it too often only slows progress. The goal isn’t to leave the gym destroyed—it’s to build a body you can train day after day, year after year.