From Zero To Hero

How one flimsy hipster went from having never lifting anything heavier than a beer glass to holding his own in just 12 weeks.

- Kieran Legg

I WOBBLED IN FRONT OF THE BAR FOR A FEW PRECARIOUS seconds. The dizzy intoxication was familiar, but the bar was different. There were no craft beers here, nor precious drops of whiskey. Just a length of immoveable steel and a sober man learning a stone cold lesson in humility.

UP UNTIL THE FIRST TIME I STEPPED INTO The Compound, I had spent a lifetime skirting sheepishly past the iron elements of my local gym. Those dumbbells, barbells and kettlebells were just alarm bells associated with intimidating exercises that sounded more likely to kill me than make me stronger.

Deadlifts? Skull crushers? Forget it, I’ll be over here in my safe space with a sangria.

But curiosity got the best of me. You know the kind that pushes people to go shark cage diving, spelunking or crossing a South African intersection. And it wasn’t just curiosity; it was more than that. It was this inherent need most humans feel, that we want to be strong, we want to be powerful. We want to transcend a lifestyle too easily and efficiently spent with our asses glued to chairs and our eyes glued to screens.

This isn’t a tale of miraculous abs, surprise swole or prolific pecs. This is how a scrawny guy who couldn’t lift anything heavier than the light-end of a couch, pushed himself – through nausea, sweat and the bitter taste of pea protein – to hold his own.

The challenge: go from never having lifted to lifting my bodyweight in three of the main compound lifts. That’s a 71kg deadlift, squat and bench. The start pointing: zero. The cut-off: 12 weeks or go home. The kicker: I’m a homegrown, flannel-wearing, barely-bearded vegan.

“Bloody Vegans”