QUITTING IS NOT AN OPTION by Juan Rojas
When I was told to write an article about myself , my mind went blank . I have been writing for the CPA newsletter and other magazines for about 7 years now and I have never had to tell my story before . Since I am in my shoes daily , my experiences are not a big deal to me . They just are a part of the journey I have had . I will begin with a small amount of background on myself . I am a Colombian immigrant that left a beautiful country full of violence at the age of 7 because my parents wanted a better future for myself . Colombia is a rich land , abundant in resources and many fine goods . But unfortunately , it is a country that has been exploited by other rich empires and has been left with its natives in a very poor state . My family left Colombia to go to the United States and eventually ended up in Canada as refugees .
We had very limited financial resources along with my parents struggling heavily with a new language and culture . I grew up overweight all my life and unfortunately playing organized sports or being part of a fitness facility was not in our budget . I had an interest in losing weight at the age of 15 , but without proper guidance or knowledge , I did the most logical thing imaginable to lose weight . Run every day on a treadmill and eat as little as possible . The benefit to this was losing 90 lbs . in a matter of 8 months . The downside to it was that I developed an eating disorder from it and that I ended up losing any small amount of muscle I had on my frame . At age 17 I was about 140 lbs . at 5 ’ 7 ” and I realized I was still very unhappy with how I looked . Losing weight and running on a treadmill did not get me that muscular look I thought I would get . Instead , I was just really skinny without muscle . I decided to do some research on the internet and started learning that food was not a bad thing . That to build muscle and look great you actually had to eat much more than what I was eating . That I needed to start lifting weights . That all I had been doing was the wrong way to go upon it .
After lurking in online bodybuilding forums back in 2009 to learn a bit more , I stumbled upon this film everyone spoke of called Pumping Iron . I decided to watch it . From that first moment I watched I said : “ I want to be a competitive bodybuilder .” I looked in the mirror and most of my being didn ’ t believe I could do it . But a small glimmer of hope thought that maybe I could do it . I bought an old used Weider set on Kijiji with some money I saved up working and started lifting weights in my basement . I had developed a very hard work ethic thanks to my parents , but I still had no knowledge in weightlifting and proper form . After many strains , pulls and lifts with improper technique , I started learning more and more about how to do things properly . I would try to watch videos of pro bodybuilders and I would often end up more demotivated than ever thinking “ I look nothing like these guys , I will never get there !” As time went passed and I stayed consistent , I learned about the power of the mind . A major influence in this was Kai Greene . I became obsessed with how powerful the mind can be ,
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