Team Beachbody Guest

I am a former high school baseball player. A shoulder injury ended my collegiate baseball career before it ever really got started. Rehab never got the shoulder better, and so I was done with baseball as a player.

After my athletic career ended, I fell in and out of shape, never reaching my fitness potential. The pounds crept on little by little, and although I perceived myself to still be in competent athletic shape, reality was about to hit me square in the face.

In January of 2004, I was playing a touch football game, and after catching a pass, I planted my left leg to make a cut and tore my ACL. Months of inactivity and then rehab came after, and before I knew it, I ended up at 235 pounds, my highest weight ever on a 6'1" frame. Questions ran through my head: Were the extra pounds too much for my joints to handle? Did my extra weight cause my injury? I didn't have answers to these questions, but I knew that I still wanted to be active and play sports, just like I always had.

Now I know that 235 pounds like a low weight to some guys, but to me, it was more than I wanted to be or knew I should be. Something had to change. As part of my rehab, I was told to go out and jog.

So I became a runner. A number of 5K's and 10K's, four half marathons, and one full marathon later, that 235 pounds had dwindled to 185 pounds.

It was amazing to drop 50 pounds. I was very proud of myself. I knew that I could go out and run for a couple of miles anytime that I wanted to. By most accounts, I was "in shape" and had a high level of "fitness."

Something was missing, though, and I knew it. That something was strength. Along with the weight, I had lost a ton of strength. I couldn't do push-ups. I couldn't do pull-ups. I just knew that cardiovascular endurance without strength wasn't fitness. I needed something else.

I got into strength training, as I had in my baseball days. I started doing more activities besides running, like racquetball. The problem was, I couldn't meet my strength and endurance goals without spending all of my time at the gym.

I didn't have the time to give, because I was about to be a dad. As all parents know, there just aren't enough hours in the day to be spending all your time at the gym or out running when a little one is running around the house.

After my first child was born, I just couldn't seem to find the time to do all of the fitness activities that I wanted to do. I bounced around from program to program, never finding my groove. After a while, I just kind of gave up. A run here, a few push-ups there. I was not committed to anything. I put on a few of the pounds that I had lost.

I had seen the P90X commercials on television (who hasn't?), but I never felt comfortable jumping in, although it seemed right up my alley. I love intensity in my workouts, because I know that reaching high levels of intensity is where the body really can make changes and improvements.

One day, I just ordered the program. I told myself, "It's 3 months. One hour a day. Just wake up early and do it. It will change your body. It will change your life. You know it will. Just do it, Tim."

So I did it. I was transformed forever.