kenty-02458

There’s No Growth in the Comfort Zone

Hi y’all! My name is Kenty Chung. Charlottean born & raised. I recently moved back to Charlotte after living in Southern California for about two years. People hear that and ask me, why would you move back here from California?! There’s always something about home that brings you back. Growing up in Charlotte and seeing the growth and development is wicked crazy. I wanted to be a part of that. That’s where I found SweatNET.

I remember my first push with fitness was at JROTC freshman year at Olympic High School. We had to do a physical test that included pull-ups. After seeing fellow classmates doing +10, I was scared. What if I couldn’t do one or three. I remember walking up to the bar and barely being able to do two. After that, it motivated me to push myself to get stronger. It wasn’t until junior year at UNCC where my friends convinced me to join my first gym. I didn’t take fitness as serious back then. As I went to hang out with them and be that bro in an attempt to get big arms. I started to watch YouTube videos about fitness and powerlifting. Shortly after graduating at UNCC, I then moved out to California and made some friends that just got into powerlifting. We all started out path from there. There, I found my passion for powerlifting.

Powerlifting is a strength sport that uses maximal effort on three lifts: squat, bench, and deadlift. I would describe powerlifting as aggression and patience combined together. Lifting heavy weights wasn’t just the only thing that drew me to powerlifting. It was setting a goal for yourself and seeing the journey to get to that specific goal. You see your weaknesses and strengths; capitalizing on your strengths and improving on your weaknesses. In a bench press, there are three muscle contractions your body goes through: eccentric (downward motion), isometric (bar resting on the chest), and concentric (upward motion). For example, if you’re struggling with the upward motion, you can do pin presses (setting spotter arms at the lowest part of the bench and solely pushing up from there). You can apply this same concept in life; identify your strengths and develop your weaknesses. However, most importantly trust the process. There have been and will be many times where you don’t see the progress or results you’re looking for. Keep pushing and you’ll break through the plateau.

charlotte fitness

Outside of the gym, I enjoy eating, REALLLLYY enjoy eating. Leaving California, the food scene is one of the best things I miss. As a native Charlottean, I love the large introductions and openings of restaurants. We finally got Korean BBQ (ALL YOU CAN EAT!), diverse range of cultural foods, and desserts (Ninety’s & Jeni’s). I’ve also recently learned to track macros. Doing so, allows me to have a “flexible diet” that is also sustainable. Flexible dieting allows you to eat clean 80% and indulge in your cravings the other 20%. All while being able to cut (fat loss, caloric deficit), maintain, or bulk (weight gain, caloric surplus). I just completed my first cycle of bulking and cutting and the results speak for themselves. Starting out at 138lbs, I’ve bulked to 150lbs and cut back down to 138lbs. The process is to increase strength and cut fat at the same time! You can email me at kentychung@gmail.com for more info!

So far with my journey with fitness, I didn’t set any goals. I started with powerlifting. My future fitness goals would be to have a positive impact on the fitness community in Charlotte, compete in a powerlifting competition and to get better at yoga. All a little daunting at first, but you’ve got to push yourself out of the comfort zone. As they say, there’s no growth in the comfort zone. #NeverSettle