Team Beachbody Guest

I was very active as a teenager and weighed only 130 lbs when I joined the United States Air Force in 1980, right out of high school. After basic training I worked as a Security Specialist. Due to the strict fitness requirements of being a cop, it was pretty easy to stay in shape. At age 19, I ran the 1 ½ mile portion of the Air Force fitness test in under 9 minutes. In the early 90’s, the Air Force changed their fitness tests from running to an ergometry cycle test. While the new test did a good job of testing aerobic fitness levels, I found it easier to pass, thereby giving me an excuse to workout less and still be “in shape” to pass the fitness test. During the next 15 years my weight slowly crept up more than 30 pounds. In 1996, due to manning requirements in several Air Force specialties, I changed jobs from security and retrained into computer programming. Yep, a desk job. It was a great change. No more midnight shifts. No more working outside in the heat and rain. It was a lot easier than standing guard on those long, 12-hour shifts. Unfortunately, it was also easier the sit on my rear-end and not exercise. I kept thinking to myself, I’ve always had a fast metabolism. I can drop the weight any time I wanted to. However, Father Time started to work against me. With each passing year it seemed to get a little harder to maintain my fitness. I finally topped out at 180 lbs. In mid-2003 we were informed that the Air Force was once again changing it fitness test. We were going to implement an improved fitness evaluation, which re-introduced the 1 ½ run, and added pushups, sit-ups, and an abdominal circumference measurement. Well no more just sitting in front of that desk. It was time to start getting ready for this new test. Talk about a lesson in reality. The first time I ran the 1 ½ mile it took everything I had just to finish without walking. I thought I was going to cough up a lung. I was able to grind out a dozen pushups and as for the sit-ups, well, let’s just not go there. After several months I saw some improvement, but I knew it wasn’t going to be enough. My weight stabilized between 165 and 170. My eating habits were still way out of whack though. Most days at work I would work through lunch and by 2 or 3 o’clock I was munching on candy bars, cookies, or any other junk food I could find. I didn’t know what to try next. I was really disappointed in myself. I was so frustrated, I actually considered retiring from the Air Force instead of facing this problem. When running one day with a co-worker, he mentioned that he had just started this program called “Power 90”. I was interested but a little skeptical. I’ve seen plenty of these “Miracle” programs on infomercials before. When we got back to the office he sent me a link to another co-worker’s Beachbody homepage who has had great success doing Power 90. Actually having someone who could attest that the program can work did the trick. I was sold, but the next thing I needed to do was convince my wife, Alli, that this was the program for us. We had tried several programs and contraptions before but we had never worked out together using the same program. After only one night of scouring the Beachbody website, much to my delight, she agreed and we ordered Power 90. We knew we would get the tapes sometime around the beginning of May. We calculated that if we started day 1 on the 10th of May, we would finish the 90 days on our wedding anniversary. (pretty neat, huh?) While waiting on the tapes, we continued to look at the website daily and were astounded by the amount of support and information out there. While looking at the website we discovered a thread discussing a cruise in November that a lot Beachbody people were going on. Alli and I discussed it and agreed, what better motivation to keep us going than to go on this cruise. So we did it, we booked a cabin on the ship and made hotel reservations even before we got the Power 90 tapes in the mail. We got the tapes about a week before we were ready to start so that gave us a little time to review the exercise routines and start working on the nutrition part. With the help of Michi’s ladder and the diet guide we began our journey to better health. We quickly learned that this was no miracle get fit fast program. It was going to take dedication and real effort. And by the way, we were going to need a lot of motivation. In my opinion, there-in lies the secret to the success of this program. SUPPORT, SUPPORT, SUPPORT. Everyone was eager to help, from the staff, fitness gurus, beachbody coaches, down to the other newbies. I’m not going to tell you it was easy because it wasn’t. There were many days that I didn’t want to push play, but with the help of my wife, my WOWY partners, and the May newby group, I missed very few workouts. When I began, my goals were to simply lose a little weight, get in better shape aerobically, and get rid of the flab around my gut. I lost 25lbs and 5 inches from my waist, down from 34.5in to 29.5in. I went from 21% body fat down to 10%. I had greater success than I ever imagined. At work, I became a certified Fitness Leader, where I got CPR certified and now administer the fitness evaluation for other members in my unit. During my 2005 personal fitness test I scored a 97.5 out of a possible 100, completing the 1 ½ mile in 10 1/2 minutes and maxing out the pushups, sit-ups, and abdominal circumference measurement. Sept 15, 2007, to celebrate my upcoming retirement from the Air Force, I set a goal to complete the Air Force Half Marathon. Not only did I finish the race but I finished in the top 3rd of all finishers. I would never have imagined that possible before Million Dollar Body. I cannot say thank you enough.