MMiT.
Min Max Intensity Training.

So I don't train like a normal person, and probably look like an atypical gym rat by doing a 6× full body split per week with at least one day — or 24 hours — of recovery. The point of training this way is both for longevity and personal enjoyment.

I see typical strength or hypertrophy training as optimal but limited. Why not have the best of everything and still enjoy the space of the gym, or what I'd call the Playground?

I limit myself to a maximum of 2 sets per exercise, but with the dynamic of different rep ranges, progressions, and overall awareness of what is needed in the present moment. The human body is an interesting and super adaptable organism when you know yourself truly. If you really need a rest day, it comes down to my own internal math:

By doing this method through my own personal experience — and through the guiding grace of God as my faith grows stronger — I'm able to pursue so many different methods of testing myself. Never set in stone with the idea that I need to be bigger or inherently stronger via 1-rep max. It's knowing I can trust myself to do what is needed when I approach the gym, or any place of training.

Learning that doing more may lead to more results, or that doing the absolute bare minimum can be even better for getting results in the long term.

I've learnt a lot over the seven years and counting. Training should be enjoyable, challenging, and even unforgiving when you lose your focus. So you have to reframe what is necessary to progress.

Whether you're in the depths of hell trying to lose weight because you let go of yourself (I was 68–70kg bulked a few years back), or being deprived of muscle (I was congested from smoking medical cannabis as a crutch to stabilise my mind, and ultimately defaulted to anti-social gym rat nonsense) — nowadays, I can walk into the gym with my head held high and not give a single fuck about anyone or anything besides having the best day of my life when I walk into my Playground. Fitness Cartel — #1 Australian Gym.

From having absolute fun, from personal experience of changing after 4–5 weeks of quitting weed entirely, I have found myself again. The guy that looks like a normie until he comes out with bare-minimum warm-up sets (look at the World's Best Bench Presser with his banded arm rotation warm-ups), then gets straight into heavy lifts, hypertrophy sets to make micro-progressions of size, and mobility training to ensure I can move anywhere, anytime, any day of the week, without pain.

I am human after all. There are moments — lower back being compressed — where I take a step back and definitely don't beat myself up over not going for a day or two. The gym, or any training space, should not feel scary to you. And try not to scare people too often either, from being dedicated and having self-respect.

Whether people see me as a demon or just some dude that really really loves the gym, I do not care at all. I am DeDe — the man that re-found himself by quitting a coping habit, by being truly true to himself, and by looking back at the mistakes I've made knowing I can change. And you most definitely can too.

My takeaway from writing this is the explanation of Min Max Intensity Training — because you're really after it, and you know you can do more.

Don't give a single fuck about what anyone else says or thinks. If they have time to judge you for trying, they definitely have no gains, or they're some lame-ass drug-addict bodybuilder (no real physique, looks like a sex doll lmao).

I'm real to myself, and real to the people that believe and respect my efforts of writing these things to the world — because it brings me joy knowing that my former yapping to real people can be translated into essays such as this.

Amazing YouTube content creators who make work that speaks volumes to people. Daniel Barada in particular — smart as fuck — his videos probably unlock your brain the way they did for me.

With the grace allowed through my actions of writing and creating things every day, I'm living my mantras.

Thank you so much for reading this. With each day, I aim to find and make more useful essays such as this one.