Scott’s #UNSTOPPABLE Journey
Scott Palma had been lifting weights since high school, but never saw the definition he desired. So, in 2016, Palma decided to start taking his health and fitness seriously by bettering his diet and researching new workouts. Palma began his journey at 135 pounds in 2016, after one year he grew to 160 pounds, and now he sits around 175 pounds.
While nothing specifically triggered Palma’s desire to take fitness more seriously, he was tired of doing basic lifts, eating a lot of fast food, and seeing little to no physical changes. To kickstart his journey, Palma signed up for Xperience Fitness Vadnais Heights around 2016.
“Xperience Fitness provided an awesome experience from the employees, the equipment, and all the awesome people/friends I meet and continue to meet,” Palma expressed. “A big factor that has pushed me has been people stronger than [I am] that I try to compete with to kind of give me a competitive edge, if that makes sense. Seeing somebody else lift more than me pushes me to want to get to that level, or even further.”
As he began his journey, Palma struggled to see differences in his body. He could see his weight changing, but seeing himself in the mirror every day made it difficult for Palma to see physical changes. By the seven- to eight-month mark, Palma began receiving compliments and had people asking for fitness advice.
“It was probably about two years later I actually saw the difference,” Palma revealed. “Facebook memories brought up a picture of myself from high school and comparing them side by side was what actually made me see that I have changed.”
Working out and gaining muscle has transformed Palma’s self-esteem. Being an adult, Palma is proud that he can still run a sprint and continue pushing his body to its limits.
However, Palma did not have a workout journey that was without setbacks. In 2017, Palma underwent a knee surgery for prepatellar bursitis. While the surgery was minor, recovery caused Palma to miss about six months of lower body training, about three more months of light training, and he could do no cardio for seven months.
Palma never thought about giving up in that time, but between bed rest and limited exercise, Palma was getting antsy.
“I’m a very restless person, and even the one week of bed rest drove me nuts,” Palma recalled. “I kept moving forward and making the light strides forward because it’s setbacks like that, that push me to want to do even better.”
Now, Palma has hit many new goals within the big three compound lifts: bench press, squats, and deadlift. Palma has gone from bench pressing 185 pounds to 295 pounds, squatting 205 pounds to 325 pounds, and PRing at 425 pounds on the deadlift. Palma will continue reaching new goals by setting a plan and executing it.
From one club to the next
Although Vadnais Heights is closing, Palma knew he did not want to give up his Xperience Fitness experience, so he transferred to Xperience Fitness Roseville.
“I choose to continue to Xperience Roseville partly due to it being the best gym, in my opinion, in the nearby area,” Palma said. “Roseville is a tad out of my way, but compared to the competition sticking around the Vadnais area I think it’s worth the extra drive to stay with Xperience. Most of the trainers that I enjoy talking to also switched over, and it seemed like most of the members I talked to were going to go to Roseville.”
Palma specifically mentions Big John Breneman, Justin, Tracy, Nick, Amanda, Jake, Andrew, and all of the other employees and members at Xperience as the reason Xperience became his second home.
“Members there were like a family, another main reason I kept going back,” Palma expressed. “…I can’t express enough how well the Xperience Fitness staff does. They are the main reason I choose to stick it out with Roseville, the members are great and it’s just a great environment to be around.”