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Holistic view to fitness

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Matthew T. Doyle
  • 132 Public Affairs
Another member of the 132nd Wing here who is very familiar with a life of training and fitness is Staff Sgt. Travis Wirth, positioned with the cyber operations squadron and a member of the 132nd for the past six-and-a-half years.

He has been doing a steady regimen of weight lifting and bodybuilding for more than 10 years. So far he has only done one competition which was back in 2010.

"I got into it because it's a separate hobby and stress reliever, the bodybuilding factor isn't as important to me as the physical fitness and mental health that comes along with it," said Wirth.

Lifting has always been a stress reliever that Wirth just happened to be really good at it. Doing the body building on the side and helping others is what prompts him to continue on with it and do the body building part as well.

A majority of fitness is actually the nutrition part of it.

"You have to feed the workouts," Wirth said. "I can train with a big workload but it's just being able to prioritize what's important to you."

The diet has to be the most important aspect, when it comes to competitions. He was eating six meals a day, eating between 300-350 grams of protein a day for his body-weight.

If you are looking to get into competing, you have to have realistic goals for where you are as a person when you begin. No one is going to gain more than a legitimate pound of muscle a week. Some have to look at a period of six months of solid muscle gain and then break the excess off. Some people would rather have a strict diet and a very low body fat percent so they don't have to do all the cutting but it takes a lot more time. It all just depends on the person and what lifestyle he or she prefers.

Wirth's lifestyle has only helped him with his physical training test. His PT tests have always been above 97 percent. Pushups and sit-ups come easy; it always comes down to the run time for him due to the weight and the compression on the knees. So he always tries to lose a few pounds right before just to take the stress off the knees. He does quite a bit of low-impact cardio like the stair stepper or bike trainer.

Of course when working out for over a decade you hit some pretty big milestones along the way. Wirth has benched 535 pounds for a one-rep max without the aid of straps or a bench shirt.

"I haven't even gotten close to that since and I don't intend to, I'm not a power lifter," Wirth said.

It took him two days to recover. For squatting, 580 is Wirth's max, but he can do 1200 pounds for the leg press no problem. The shoulder press is his strongest lift, performing a sitting overhead shoulder press of 385 pounds is common for him, but he's done more than 400 pounds.

"Everyone likes doing the bicep curl and the most I've ever done is 120-pound single-arm a couple years ago," Wirth said.

Wirth reiterated people need to focus on nutrition and how it affects their bodies.

"I can't stress how important eating is," Wirth said.

He said it is even more important than physical fitness.