Andrew Garrison

I have a few hobbies outside of lifting, including hiking, soccer, collecting vintage (1970s and 1980s) toys, and flintknapping. Flintknapping is the process of creating stone tools through traditional methods using bone, stone, and antler to create arrowheads and other flaked tools. Sometimes I post this work on my Instagram (@Clawtron) as well as my lifting.

However, with two young kids, it is hard to find time for everything and most of my extra time beyond lifting goes to coaching my daughter’s soccer team.  Coaching the kids at this level is very rewarding. I love seeing the kids get better every week, but most importantly I enjoy watching them gel as a team and become friends over the course of a few months.

Growing up I attempted strength training a couple times, but this usually consisted of poor attempts to bench press that led to disappointment at how bad I was.  I did purchase some adjustable dumbells and a cheap bench in 2009, but I only used that sporadically for a year or so and did not really know what I was doing.  In general, lifting was not part of my early life and I did not actually do any real lifting until I was 37 years old.  However, I was athletic as a youth.   I played soccer on some fairly competitive club and school teams from the time I can remember through high school. 

Playing soccer in high school helped to keep me in shape and conditioned and participating in the sport was one of the only things I looked forward to daily.   Generally, I was always bigger than most of my peers while growing up.  I remember weighing over 200 pounds before I got out of elementary school.  In the 1980s and 1990s I was what was generally referred to as “Husky,” which in my mind meant I was fat, but people did not want to actually tell me.  

Although looking back, I was athletic at the time I was always self-conscious about my size and weight and other kids were quick to remind me I was bigger.  Lots of times they were not teasing me, but being seen as different really affected my self-esteem..  I actually wished I was smaller at that time, and I had no concept of the difference between how I looked versus how much I weighed. 

Even while playing soccer and conditioning daily I weighed almost 220 pounds.  I ran two to three miles a day and still was told by doctors that I was overweight, obese, and needed to do something about it because of my BMI.  Growing up it was very disheartening to feel like I was overweight and in poor health no matter how athletic I actually was.

After high school, my weight often fluctuated but I stayed in relatively good shape until I finished undergrad.  Between high school and 2005 I would go to the gym or play some sort of adult league sport regularly which kept me in decent shape.  When at the gym, I would wander into the weight room, but nothing ever stuck and I had no idea what I was doing. 

After around 2005, it was not uncommon for me to go up and down in weight but I often weighed more than 300 pounds.  Toward the end of 2017 I weighed around 315 pounds.  The summer of 2018, when my daughter was almost two years old, I remember thinking that I was not in any shape to play with her and was going to miss out on a lot of fun moments as she grew up because of my health.  That’s when I decided I was truly going to get in shape and make real lifestyle changes. This started with conditioning and better nutritional choices.  I gradually lost weight and started to look into the benefits of strength training.   

This time I chose not to get a gym membership.  Every time in the past I could not make going to the gym stick and I never had the confidence to actually strength train at a commercial gym.  So, I built a bench out of wood and started lifting with the adjustable dumbbells I purchased in 2009 and some bands I purchased from Amazon.  I started looking for DIY projects to expand my gym.   

In my search online for DIY type exercise equipment I started to see a variety of Youtube channels with people lifting in their garage, sometimes basements, with all different types of set-ups.  This inspired me to expand my gym and give barbell training a try.  Previously I had been very self-conscious about attempting lifting and barbell training. 

A lot of this had to do with me being big, but not strong, and insecure about being such a novice.  The garage gym allowed me to take my time.  I could slowly figure things out without worrying about people watching.  I would watch videos on lifts and try them. 

Do You Train ONLY at home, by yourself?

I lift at home, except for a few occasions like when on vacation. Also, I have rarely ever lifted with anybody else. What I really enjoy about lifting at home is the convenience of it. I am not sure I would have ever kept up with this if I had not been able to just slowly figure things out without feeling self-conscious.

It also is helpful because I am available if my wife or kids need me. One thing I really enjoy is lifting while my daughter plays, does gymnastics, or dances in the garage. My daughter will come over and lift things and it makes me happy to see her having fun in the space as well.  I also set up a Little Tikes swing for my son on my rack.

As wonderful as lifting at home is, it sometimes is lonely. Now that I am more confident in myself it would be nice to lift with people every once in a while.  However, everyone I have interacted with in the garage gym or lifting space online have been really great and I have found enjoyment out of a few online communities, especially the Massenomics Crü.

The community aspect of the Garage Gym Competition is one of the things that I love about it.  I first saw things about the garage gym competition on Instagram. I think I saw people doing it in 2020; however, I did not even consider doing it because I did not know how inclusive it was. In 2021 I started seeing people again participating, and I was going to just let it pass by, but on the last day I was convinced to do it.  

I saw a post from Brandon Campbell Diamond about it. It’s strange, but when I think back about many of my decisions in training or equipment, I think he has influenced me the most. There are a lot of different personalities in the lifting space but people like him, Joe with the GGC, all the guys at Garage Gym Experiment, and many of the Massenomics folks who navigated the pursuit of strength and priorities of family resonate with me the most.

So far, I have participated in three spring GGCs and then two fall competitions and I uploaded my information for one of the mini-GGCs   Participating in that first GGC really helped me to start developing goals for my training beyond just wanting to “be more fit.” The first year I participated I was using a version of 5,3,1 for my training.  Doing the GGC made me want to find something that would help my training, in my mind, be more well rounded.  At that time, I chose to start using JuggernautAI. 

I would say the major take-aways concerning my fitness journey, or path toward the GGC, is that it is never too late to start.  Then, it is never too late to start again, and again, and again, until you find what works for you.  For me the garage gym works.  My number one reason for doing any of this was and is my family.  However, through lifting in the garage I have also found a way to unwind, relax, and reset my mind.  Lifting in the garage has also finally allowed me to be confident in my size and shape and try not to focus on my weight as a determining factor for my level of fitness. 

For future GGCs I am continuing to prep using JuggernautAI. I can’t say enough about how much I enjoy the app. I started using it prior to their involvement with the GGC and am glad they are a sponsor now.  My lifting goals for the GGC are really just to improve.  I just want to do better each and every time.  Whether that is bigger numbers, better form, or lifting the same amount at lighter body weight.

Thanks Andrew!