Oliver Chapman tells why achieving the body of his dreams is important to him
I’m very focused at the moment in keeping my body in good shape. I don’t just need it for my health – I need it to achieve my life dreams, which include being able to inspire other people. Those people include not just future followers on YouTube, Instagram or Facebook but those I love – my nearest and dearest.
At 44, I’ve always been skinny, so I never worried too much about my weight. I always had bags of energy to get stuff done and could eat whatever I wanted without counting calories. In 2012 I was six foot one and 116 pounds. So I made an effort to hit the gym to build muscle. Now, four years later,I’m 139 pounds. I’m very happy with this progress but I’m still underweight. I’m still hoping to make it to a more regular 165 and I trust I can achieve this.
However, my reasons for doing this are not just about mass. Being skinny when you’re 25 is not such a big deal but when you’re over 40, your body starts playing up. I always thought, as a teenager,that older people got backaches and joint issues from overexerting themselves trying to do stuff more suitable for someone 20 years younger.
So I was surprised to find myself over 40 and dealing with waking up with a stiff back and cracking knee sounds, despite not having any accidents or overexerting myself at all. It occurred to me that “skinniness” would be renamed “frailty” by the time I’m 65 if I
didn’t start getting a move on and building some decent muscle size. Muscle not only keeps you strong but protects joints and fools your body into thinking it is at least 10 years younger than it really is – or more! By gaining muscle I can achieve all the things God wants me to do with my life.
didn’t start getting a move on and building some decent muscle size. Muscle not only keeps you strong but protects joints and fools your body into thinking it is at least 10 years younger than it really is – or more! By gaining muscle I can achieve all the things God wants me to do with my life.
Another reason is to look more handsome for my wife. I want her to be more turned on by me and to be proud of what she’s got. No point being married to a younger guy who isn’t attractive, right?
Also, I want to inspire my son. I want him to look at his dad and want to achieve what I have achieved, plus I want to model healthy eating habits for him, so that he gets the “itch” to look good and lead a healthy lifestyle.
However, one of the most important reasons pertains to the teenagers I used to teach as their high school teacher. Not only are some of them becoming overweight, with all the negative body image issues that entails but also, as a Certified Life Coach, I consider health to be one of the biggies that people need to master to achieve their life goals, together with wealth and relationships. So I want my success in this area to inspire them to reach for the best in life and to make their dreams come true!
Some of those dreams do, indeed, refer directly to body image and achieving the six-pack male model appearance. That’s what I want and that’s what they want to. However, other students want a career as a singer, dancer, actor or fashion designer and I think having a good body goes a long way to achieving those goals. However, here in Vietnam, such goals are hard to come by. I intend to trailblaze the way by achieving these goals myself, then setting up an activity center for teens so that they can achieve them, too.
Right now, there is an expensive school for the performing arts in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon),which teaches to a professional standard. There is also a global brand of gyms present in the city. My intention is to achieve my fitness goals first, then forge links with these two brands by becoming a Personal Trainer at the gym and becoming a performer myself on YouTube, then using the followers I get to donate to a crowdfunding campaign on IndieGogo to set up the activity center, so that all my teens can achieve the same goals I did and others and then all of us can create the dream life we have always wanted – together!
However, before all this happens, I must first get my own body sorted out. I’ve got a lot riding on this, so I’ve got to take it seriously. I feel excited at being able to help my students, inspire my son,attract my wife and serve my God, Who wills me to give my life to others in my daily work – namely,my teens.
So going to the gym is not just about fitness, bodybuilding or even looking good – it is a trans-formative process that gives us both the confidence to achieve other goals in our lives and the ability and strength to achieve them. For all these reasons, I consider health and keeping in shape to be essential to staying youth-orientated and becoming the man you have always wanted to be.