STROUD STRENGTH COACH BLOG 2.0!

“It is a disgrace to grow old through sheer carelessness before seeing what manner of man you may become by developing your bodily strength and beauty to their highest limit.”

Socrates

WELCOME!

Welcome to the new look Stroud Strength Coach Blog. The original blog was started a year ago, when I decided to share my experience and knowledge gained over a lifetime of physical training. I’ve got a lot planned for this blog, and for Stroud Strength Coach as a vehicle for getting health, fitness and strength training information out to everyone who can benefit from it. I am on social media, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter. I also have eBooks available, with more planned. Please let me tell you a bit about myself....

INTRODUCTION

My name is Chris Sroka, and I am a pretty average guy. Like most average guys, I have priorities; a family, friends, a job, along with interests in things that balance me out as a person. I have an extended family consisting of my son, and a partner & step daughter. I am a structural engineer by profession. My number one interest and passion is strength training.

Life priorities dictate how I approach my passion. The two most important variables involved in this approach are time and money. I often only have 4 days per week, and 30-40 minutes per session for strength training. I supplement these dedicated sessions with mini workouts throughout the day. Although I make a good living from my day job, my strength training budget is very limited.

Fortunately, my background helps me a lot in my passion. I began martial arts training at age eight, and by the time I was in my early twenties I had earned two black belts. I supplemented martial arts with weight training. Throughout my twenties, I worked in a warehouse performing daily physical labour. I then relocated to the UK (from the US), where I earned my degree in Civil Engineering. This background has given me the brains, will, and brawn to pursue strength training into my late 40’s. The continual learning and perfecting process has given me a direction to pursue as I get older. It wasn’t always a smooth path however...

My strength training journey took a hiatus when I moved to England. The pressures of a big move, marriage, birth of my son, university, and full time job took their toll. I went from healthy, fit, and lean to pudgy and out of shape. Then my divorce happened. After six or seven years of being out of shape, I made myself a promise and commitment that I would get back into shape and never lose it again. That was in 2009.

You could say that the beginnings of this blog, or more accurately my desire to share and help others with their health and fitness, happened at that point; because although I had the will and desire to get back into shape, I wasn’t clear how and I didn’t know where to begin. Over the past ten years I have learned and experienced a lot, and am ready to share what I have learned. My goal for this blog is that it be something that I wish I had when I restarted my health and fitness passion. Hopefully it will help you save time and money whilst beginning and/or continuing yours.

My purpose is to help you develop intrinsic motivation, body wisdom, resilience, and a health and fitness lifestyle. I don’t intend to provide lists of instructions to follow, but a set of principles, strategies, and tactics to understand and embrace. In following these time tested principles, your fitness routine may look different to mine from the outside. However we will be following most of the same methods. I say most of them because I don’t have all the answers, and you have the ability to think critically. Please read the following quote carefully, because the concept within it is how I wish for this blog to be used:

“Research your own experience, absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, add what is essentially your own.”

Bruce Lee

Thank you for reading, please keep coming back. I often use the #fitfam on social media, and I truly believe the health and fitness lifestyle is for everyone. I intend to keep the tone positive, inspiring, and informative. Talk again soon.