Team Beachbody Guest

My health and fitness journey really began 8 days after my 40th birthday. I was active duty Air Force and had passed my annual physical every year and thought I was physically fit. However, on 28 April 1999, I suffered a heart attack. It came without warning and I was even deployed to Albania in support of refugee relief for people flooding across the Kosovo boarder in to surrounding countries. To make a long story short, I had to be medivaced back to Germany and was stabilized and then was moved back to Walter Reed Army Medical center where I ultimately received angioplasty with a Stent implant in an artery over my heart.

This was the beginning of a long rehabilitation process that took the remainder of my military career to achieve. I was put on different medications including Statins to ensure I didn’t have another attack but in 2001 I had another cardiac episode that felt exactly like the previous attack but upon having angioplasty done a second time, it was not conclusive that I had another heart attack. I don’t understand all the medical mumbo jumbo, but it felt the same as the first time and I felt like I would have died if not for the emergency medical attention I received. Back on the heart medication and remained until right before I retired. At the end of my career, the Air Force pronounced me cured so I didn’t qualify for disability based on my heart condition so I was honorably retired in Feb 2003 and had to move on.

The transition from a career that spanned 22 years was hard on my family. We had to move across the country and re-establish a new household as well as find new careers. It is a fairly traumatic transition from the military culture of order and discipline to a free for all mentality in the private sector. We managed to keep afloat but I was slowly gaining weight from the stress and fear of another heart attack that might be my last. I worked odd jobs during my transition until I found a position in my current organization.

Even though my career began to stabilize, my health continued to decline and I was put on blood pressure medication and another drug to control my heart beat rate. Before I knew it I was 234 pounds and in the worse shape of my life. I didn’t really want to face the condition I had allowed myself to get in but over the holidays in 2008, I finally realized how I looked after seeing holiday pictures taken by my family of me. I had never looked that heavy. How did I get to this point? I knew I had to take control of my life and get my health back for the sake of my family and my new grandson.

I had seen the P90X infomercial many times but never thought I could do something that strenuous. I decided to take the fit test at least and failed it miserably. It was discouraging but I was not surprised. Fortunately, Beachbody has so many programs that can help people of all ages and different fitness levels to improve their overall health and fitness. I found P90 and decided to give that a try and on 5 Jan 2009 I put my first Beachbody workout disc in the DVD player and from that moment on I was hooked!

I did the cardio routine, Sweat 1-2 and huffed and puffed and sweat and coughed my way through it! I was totally exhausted at the end of the program but I was so excited that I had made it through with a lot of modification. I listened to every word Tony Horton said and followed his instructions and did the best I could. The next day I put in my first Sculpt 1-2 disc and could only do 4 pushups in form. I almost had a hernia doing them so I decided to start off slowly on my knees, modified and just did my best to get one more rep every time I did the workout.

Slowly but surely I started getting stronger and was able to get off my knees and do more pushups and my reps with my 15 pound dumbbells started to get easier and I could do 15 reps each set and had to increase my weight to keep being challenged. By the time I finished my round of P90, I could do 27 pushups in good form on my toes and was lifting 25 pound dumbbells 10-12 reps! I also lost 18 pounds of body fat and trimmed my waste down and felt better than I had in many years. I was still on the blood pressure medication but my numbers were all looking better at the doctors and he encouraged me to continue to do the exercise program and come back in 3 months and we would consider reducing the amount of my medication. I wanted off but he wouldn’t go for it at the time. I guess he wanted to see if I was serious about making a real lifestyle change as well as protect his practice.

I decided I still wasn’t ready for P90X so I decided to get the P90 Master Series DVDs and it turned out to be a great transition program between P90 and P90X. I completed them and lost more weight and inches and was ready for the real challenge! So I ordered P90X and in July 2009 I started Bringing it with the big boys and girls!! The level of intensity was really awesome and I was really surprised that I could keep up but I had built a great foundation with P90 and the MS and was able to adapt very quickly with the routines and added moves in P90X.

I completed my first round of P90X on 18 Oct 09 and I went from 234 pounds and 26% body fat down to 199 pounds and 10.4% body fat in under one year! I had to continue to modify many of the exercises in each of the programs due to arthritis in my shoulders and knees but I “did my best and forgot the rest” as you will hear Tony say so many times in his workouts. Also, I had gone from 4 pushups in January 09 to routinely doing 140 pushups or more by the end of P90X! I can hardly believe it.

Even better news is that I returned to my doctor for a checkup in September and was taken off my blood pressure medication completely!! I also had my cholesterol checked and my overall was 62!!! Unbelievable! My doctor was amazed and told me to keep it up.

I am now doing a recovery block of exercises for 21 days and will start my first round of P90X Plus in November 2009! I am really excited to see what I can achieve once I get into that program. For me, the sky is the limit and I know I will continue to get more healthy and fit

The whole experience has been great and continues to get better. Beachbody has helped me more than I can put into words. The community is wonderful and I have met so many wonderful people on line and in the social network community. I am even buddies with Tony Horton and even the CEO of Beachbody! How cool is that?


I can only say that I am so thankful that I finally took a chance and tried Beachbody. I can say with all sincerity that Beachbody has completely changed my life physically and even financially. I won a $1000 prize in the body transformation contest for Sept 09 and have a chance to win even more. It is a great feeling winning money, but the true gift I have received from Beachbody and Tony Horton is my health restored and a chance to live a long life and see my grandchild grow up! I ask you, who can put a price on that?

So, what are YOU waiting for?