Meet Philippe, a developer here at FizzUp who had the opportunity to be one of the first people to try our Build – Full Body program. When you see his body transformation, you’ll want to do the same. Start a new strength training experience today by following Philippe’s lead.
I’m 29 and a computer engineer, and I hated exercise. I always dreaded PE class at school. I was clumsy and thought it was a waste of time… it was THE worst time of the week, and I always looked forward to it being over. I was much more into video games. I used to play tennis, basketball and run… virtually that is, because I thought they were a lot more fun. Of course I had to exercise every once in a while, but I never got hooked. I always felt like I had better things to do, and I enjoyed playing video games with my friends.
As I got older, when I was out of school and I had more time to myself, I wanted to get into exercise and working out. I started a popular bodyweight strength training program that I could do at home with almost no equipment… all I needed was the instruction booklet, three chairs and a pull-up bar. I stuck with it for about a month before I stopped. I didn’t like that the workouts were too long and that I wasn’t making any progress. At the time, my mood was probably the reason why I had almost no motivation. But I was still able to lose over 6 lb (3 kg). After I stopped, I lost 33 lb (15 kg) over 6 months.
I’ve never had a weight problem. I’ve always been able to easily control my food cravings. I haven’t had any health problems related to the fact that I wasn’t exercising regularly. If I feel like exercising, I do it for the body benefits that only exercise can give me. That seemed like a good enough reason, but that’s where my experience ends.
A few years later, I’d had enough of my home country and my everyday life. I decided to leave and have a new experience. On a whim, I went to live in Japan. The Japanese are really serious people who work a lot and don’t have a lot of time to relax with their family and friends. But I’m not Japanese… I was an expat in a country I didn’t know, where so many new experiences were waiting for me. I wanted to get the most out of my working holiday.
Through the people I met and immersing myself in a new culture where I had to fend for myself, I was able to open my mind to new things and become more responsible. Not only did I start to manage my time better, but I also paid more attention to my health. This meant getting back into regular physical activity. I started slowly with a 7-minute workout program, which was created using findings from research conducted by the Human Performance Institute based in Orlando, Florida, whose goal was to determine the shortest and most effective workout routine to stay fit for busy people who can’t spend four hours a week at the gym. That experience made up my mind. The program was easy to follow, short and I could do it anywhere. I built my endurance and I even gained some muscle mass. I was happy with my results, so I kept working out on a regular basis with this workout program for about 10 months until I wanted to take it to the next level.
There was no doubt that my fitness level had improved with the 7-minute workouts, but I was starting to stagnate and I had extra time on my hands to do more. After I did some research once I got back to my home country, I decided to get started with FizzUp, which looked like what I needed: short and personalized workouts. I noticed that they were looking to hire some developers, so I applied and was able to start the FizzUp experience from the inside. The team that designs the workouts asked me to be one of the first people to try FizzUp’s new dumbbell program called Build – Full Body because I wanted to gain muscle mass. I’m lucky, because there’s a gym with equipment, called the FizzUp Box, where I can work out during my lunch break. Trying the FizzUp programs to see how effective they are has been a great opportunity for me!
I was interested in exercising with dumbbells because I can have more control on the demand I put on my muscles that I don’t get with just bodyweight strength training. When you can’t change the amount of weight you put on your muscles, you can’t fully optimize the exercises. It was hard in the beginning. That’s when I realized that I was far from being as in shape as I thought. The exercises tired me out more than usual, and I was even having a hard time doing just one rep of certain exercises. But my hard work paid off… I noticed a difference after trying it for a month. My arms were a lot bigger. My shoulders grew, and so did my pecs. I feel better in my body, and it’s more in shape than ever.
Now I’m continuing my fitness experience with FizzUp’s other dumbbell workout programs because I want to push my physical limits. I recommend these programs to anyone who, like me, wants to build their body and feel fit. After two months of working out, I gained over 11 lb (5 kg) of muscle.
To go with my new workout routine, I also started eating a new diet with lots of lentils, fiber and chicken. Such an amazing combo for building muscle and protein helps me do that. I’ve always listened to advice from my colleagues at FizzUp, who have been there to guide me every step of the way as I made progress and boosted my motivation when it was low.
With FizzUp’s Build dumbbell workout programs, you can add new exercises to your strength training routine. Want to give it a try? Just go to the program catalog in your FizzUp app and tap “Build Muscle.”
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