Getting Fit And Feeling It!
A True Testimony To Get You Going!
As a former high school athlete I used to eat a half a box of Captain Crunch cereal for breakfast, a big lunch and an entire large pizza for dinner and could not gain weight. Those days are sure over. It seemed like every year I would add a few pounds. Every couple of years the shirt size would go up a little. So at the age of 44 I was up to 220 lbs. I am 5’ 8” and actually convinced myself that I carried the weight pretty well. My extra large shirts were starting to get a little tight. My blood pressure was starting to get border line high. My cholesterol was around 200. I had no energy. So I decided to something about it. Where I work has a treadmill. So I started getting up early and going in to use it. I faithfully did it 3-5 times a week for around six months. At the same time I tried to start eating less. Over those six months I lost around 14 lbs. I really did not look or feel much different. I really did not enjoy my workouts. You see I hate to run.
I had seen advertisements for Bootcamp by Lori Harris at Punch Gym and thought it would be something I would like. One day while my wife was buying shoes, I noticed that Punch gym was across the parking lot. I decided to check it out. It sounded like it would be fun. So I signed up. It was a group of about 15 people. We would meet three times a week in the early morning. We would run laps, and then do all different kinds of exercises. We did Sit-ups and pushups, and even carrying people on a picnic table. We used Kettle bells. They look like a cannon ball with a handle on it. We worked as a team and help push each other. It was awesome and reminded me of my days in sports. It was easy to push myself. The program had a nutritional component to it as well. We did not have to diet, we just needed to eat “clean”. This consisted of drinking a gallon of water a day, avoiding wheat, dairy and processed foods. We ate lean meats, fruits and vegetables. Before I started I was drinking 8 – 10 cans of diet coke a day. I quit cold turkey.
The results were better than I expected. After the first four weeks I lost around 20lbs. My body fat went from 28.8% to 18.9%. I decided to do a second boot camp. At the end of the 8 week period I lost a total of 40lbs. My body fat went down to 12.8%. My chest went from 41.5” to 38”. My waist at the navel went from 42.5” to 34.5”. My shirt size went from an extra large to a medium in eight weeks. My blood pressure dropped 20 points. My cholesterol drooped 60 points. Since then I have joined Punch Gym South Bend and am doing Kettle Bell AOS workouts. When I started bootcamp the 27lbs kettle bell seemed heavy during the workouts. Now I am using a 44 lbs bell and do my heavy swings with a 72lbs bell. I have kept the weight off and have had to buy all new clothes to fit. Around six years ago I had lasik eye surgery. I used to joke the only bad thing about lasik was that I could see myself clearly in the mirror now after a shower. When I look now, I can see a six pack in my abs that I thought was lost forever. So at the age of 45 my body is in the best shape since I played high school sports.
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