Jimson Vu

My name is Jimmy Vu, and I’m currently a Computer Science Major at the University of Georgia.

Throughout my childhood, I was a fairly small individual, much weaker than my classmates and hardly athletic. Coming into high school, I barely weighed in at 100 pounds, and knew I needed to adjust my physical condition. With the help of my coach and brother, I began lifting at my local gym.

My initial goal was to increase my physical size, but the more I spent following these routines, the more I became addicted to the self-improvement I was making to myself, specifically in the greater weights I was lifting. Eventually, I made the change from a bodybuilding program to powerlifting. Since then, I have not only made great improvements to my lifting abilities, with plans on competing in the near future, but to my overall health as well.

The difference between these two approaches is that bodybuilding primarily involves gaining mass through repetition of lower weights, while powerlifting focused on fitting your program to achieve the highest peak weights possible, regardless of your outward physique. As I went through high school, the more I realized the importance of not depending on the validation of others but being able to validate yourself.

I feel this is analogous to my fitness career, as I began to care less about how my physical appearance looked to others, and instead solely wanted to see and improve the limits of own my capabilities.