I’m Sam Wells, and the founder of Get Functionally Fit. I started working out because I used to get picked on…a lot. You remember what school was like, right? Kids would pick on you for the dumbest of things.

For me, it was my relatively small frame and my wrists. Yep, can you believe it?

They all laughed at how small my wrists were (looking back now, they were kinda small)!

Well, this started a chain reaction. By the time I was in college, I had gotten into a few fights (purely from defending myself) and actually broke my wrist from punching incorrectly. This was the result of fatigue and low endurance, and so I just became sloppy.

Obviously, I wasn’t happy with this result, so I got to work. I read up on how to get bigger, stronger, and faster. I took up martial arts. Wing Chun, Shaolin, Hapkido, Taekwondo, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and Indonesian Silat.

The goal was to build me into a weapon. I’m not tall (5’7″ and 170lbs on a good day), so I have to train and perform to use my entire body as effectively and efficiently as possible.

I quickly came to realize that bodybuilding (while good for my physique) just didn’t help me achieve my goal. Guys smaller than me were still beating me in tournaments. How could this be?

It was time to strip away what was useless and keep what was actually useful. Then after a few years, things slowly started turning around.

This blog is a reflection of that. It is a compilation of all of my learnings and findings from trying out so many different styles of workouts (full body, split, HIIT, circuit) and incorporating the smaller fundamentals (stretching, cardio, stamina) that really saw the most significant changes.

I have been weak, and I have been strong. And I choose strong every time. This is what helps me in everyday life to do basic tasks and avoid injury.

To this day, I still work out and do martial arts (mostly Hapkido and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu). I also travel around a lot, so if I can’t get to a gym or the hotel one sucks, I’ll improvise to still meet my daily and weekly goals.

Finally, this blog is intended for both men and women. And no, if women want to train heavily, they won’t become so muscular that they can’t move their arms and grow a beard.