Need more information about me? Please read my story below as it is the entire reason behind creating GamerBody LLC and helping people improve their lives.

After years and years of training in gyms and at home, I finally learned what works and what is just hype. Building muscle and confidence is simple when a plan is set and drives for consistent action.

Darrik Marstaller

NASM & OTC Certified

I had a pretty standard life growing up. You aren’t going to read a story of a tragic childhood here. I was lucky enough to grow up with a happy family, hardworking and loving parents, and a lot of support.

I went to school, played sports, fell in love with video games, never got bullied, and had a really great childhood overall.

I want you to know this because many of the big names out there who provide motivational advice for fitness and life had some tragic story. However, this is not what motivates me. What propels me forward is the fear of not continuing to level up my life, live with regrets, and not taking care of myself causing problems later in my life.

While my fitness career began mainly for selfish reasons, it has morphed over time to a place of health and longevity. To my surprise, this mindset change has improved my overall physique and confidence in myself. So let’s jump into my story of going from a skinny kid at 5’11” 165 lbs. to 185 lbs. of almost pure muscle in one year.

Born in Portland, ME in October of 1990, I was a happy kid who played sports starting as early as age 6. My best sport was baseball, but I was built like a soccer player (which I also played very well). I was a little speedster which I kept all through my sports career in college.

At age 8, I moved to New Hampshire and spent the rest of my childhood and teen years living there. I continued to play sports, go to school, and be that skinny awkward kid. It wasn’t until I turned 12 that I was allowed to get my very first gaming console, the Playstation 2 (PS2). That’s right, I didn’t really get into gaming until the PS2. I had played games on older consoles at friends and cousins houses, but my parents made me save up to get my first console.

This is where my love of gaming truly began. The first PS2 game I ever owned was Shaun Palmer’s Pro Snowboarder. Looking back that game was an absolute blast and provided hours and hours of entertainment.

Many more games made it into my collection throughout the years. However, the games I put the most time into are the Guitar Hero games (top 500 world rank in GH3) and the Halo series.

Fitness came later when I got into college. Initially, I had ZERO interest in it until my Sophomore year which I will get into below.

Throughout my childhood, I was always a shy guy and still a bit to this day. I never had a lot to say, but if you got me on a topic I am passionate about (at the time it was video games) I could talk your ear off. This is still true today if you bring up video games or anything fitness related. Otherwise, I am a very introverted individual who likes to spend a lot of time by himself overthinking life, applying fitness information I learn, playing games and looking for ways to create a passive income.

Let’s jump into my Sophomore year of college. I was studying Game Design and Development at Daniel Webster College. Note, this college no longer exists…kind of unfortunate but luckily I can still retrieve my transcripts from another college that took over all that data.

I was dating my roommate’s sister (yeah bad idea looking back, not all my decisions were smart but I don’t regret it). I really liked this lady, but like many early relationship, they come to an end. Also a quick note, I had almost no track record with girls as they were some kind of special creature to me (I love how the book Ready Player One talks about women as that is basically how I felt).

This part of the story is where it all begins, the heartbreak. Oh poor me who couldn’t deal with a simple breakup because of my poor mindset. Basically, my confidence, which was extremely low around women, became non-existent. Also, if you have experienced being the one who was broken up with, the only thing you think about is that person and what you could have done to prevent it instead of just moving on.

Well, during a quick break back to my parents place shortly after, I saw a guy on a show called As the World Turns. This is an old soap opera my mom watched religiously. On this show, there was a guy that had confidence written all over him. What do you know, he is also built with visible muscles you can see through his shirt.

That image stuck with me. I previously told you I swore off fitness when I was younger, but this actor ultimately pushed me into a completely new lifestyle. Now I want to say I was the first one to get ripped after a breakup, but I know this is extremely common especially when it comes to men.

So in short, a breakup and my mom’s soap opera put me on a path that has changed my life forever…hard to accept, but it’s what happened.

A third reason I will sprinkle in is that my coach wanted me to build muscle and put on weight to perform better in my baseball career at the school. However, for me, this wasn’t a big motivating factor.

Fast forward 1 year after going hard at the gym, I put on 20 pounds of muscle and completely changed my body. While I was bigger and stronger, I began having a lot of weird issues with limited mobility and movement from the extra size and weight. A new mindset shift began to look into how to look great, but also feel and move freely as well.

Moving forward, I did graduate from Daniel Webster College with a Bachelor’s in Game Design & Development. Yes, I have no college degree in any type of physical education at this time (but I am a certified NASM trainer which came later).

Once I got into the working 9-5 life, things began to change. I was now sitting all day long, taking short breaks, and noticing my body begin to change. It is also when I began starting home fitness programs such as P90X.

One of my greatest fears is that because I don’t take care of my health, I’ll become perpetually sick, rely on pharmaceuticals, and waste away complaining that my body hurts or it is hard to do things that require some physical activity. Being stuck and unable to move freely seems like imprisonment to me.

This is my driving force to being healthy and getting fit. Also, it provides an amazing sense of accomplishment and continues to improve my confidence around others. Now all of my free time is spent studying fitness, nutrition, and how to train people online and make it a full-time living. I want to teach people how to be successful in fitness whether they decide to workout at home or in a gym.

I personally workout at home after going to the gym for 3 years because it saves me time. I can use my equipment right when I need it, and my results have actually improved because of it. Gyms are great, but if you want to workout at home, I have 4 years of personal experience that continues to this day.

I now live in Orange County, California with my lovely wife and continue to improve my knowledge in fitness. My wife is a great supporter of GamerBody LLC and has been my rock whenever I need her. She is the reason I continue to push and pursue my dreams of helping others get fit and healthy without selling crap products or information. Without her, this dream would not be possible.

I have put together GamerBody LLC for one purpose. To show those willing to put in 3 hours a week that you can have a fantastic body by following a few fitness principles. This goes for men and women alike, but being a male I know exactly what is needed to get results.

I put thousands of hours reading, researching, and understanding fitness, nutrition, cognitive benefits and personal motivation so that I can prepare myself to help anyone who comes up to me and wants to talk about getting in shape and what it means to be in shape.

I have found that fitness is really straightforward, but hard to implement. This is because of an insane amount of false information, get fit quick schemes, and a market plagued by companies looking for a quick buck at the expense of the consumer.

I am dedicating GamerBody LLC to be all real. No fake nonsense or programs I don’t actually use myself. While I may provide my opinion, I will always let you know if I do or don’t personally use a product before a recommendation is made. I want to be as raw, vulnerable, and truthful as possible.

Just so everyone knows, I spend roughly 3 hours a week working out (all resistance training) with as little cardio as possible and my results have never been better. I also still play lots of video games and work a 9-5 job Monday-Friday.

With that being said, as products I use change, I will add/update them on this site. YouTube will have weekly content updates as I don’t feel like writing blog articles and I feel like it is a waste of my time. Videos are also a lot more fun to make.

So I hope you join me and help build a community of truthful information you can use each and every day. I can’t quantify how much fitness has improved my life. I want everyone to have this experience, love their bodies, and be able to do anything he/she puts their mind too.

Let’s get out there and change the world with raw fitness information. Be fit and game on!