Monthly Archives: December 2011
Denver Couple’s Fitness Journey Is About More Than Weight Loss
Here are Sam's before and after fitness transformation photos taken 10 weeks apart. Great progress Sam!
Our fitness journey at FXB Denver has been a blast and a fantastic experience for my wife, Sandee, and me. We enrolled in FXB Denver’s Summer 10-Week Challenge with the intension of improving our fitness, health and to be better examples for our five sons – that’s right, 5, truth is, we are still trying to figure out where kid’s come from so if you have any advice … but I digress –
Here’s the deal: I grew up as skinny as a stick and with a metabolism that allowed me to eat whatever, whenever I wanted. But time marches on and sitting behind a desk, living a less active lifestyle while eating like I am trying to put on the freshman 15 has had a way of adding up over the years. Added is the problem that the men in my family tend to carry excessive body fat around the middle, the kind of body fat storage that compromises the health of our other organs, especially the heart. After playing college football, my father struggled with obesity his whole life and dealt with numerous health issues because of it until the day he died. My two older brothers and I carry our weight in the same way. So there is a very real sense in which what Dan and the coaches taught me during my 10-Week Challenge and the fitness habits established were a matter of life and death to me. I also discovered that kickboxing is the greatest workout ever!
Sandee and I went through the program together. I would move up to blue bands for my bicep curls, and my wife would move up to purple. Really? If I set a fitness goal for sit-ups, her goal was to do one more than I did. We kept pushing and pushing each other. The FXB coaches were (and are) fantastic, and my whole family was behind me, especially my wife.
On September 28, just 3 days before I completed my 10 week challenge, my older brother died from complications of obesity. He was only 48 years old and was a civilian English teacher in Iraq — may he rest in peace. I won the 10-Week Challenge and $1,000 prize, but what I had gained far surpassed any amount of money that could be given. It was a very emotional night for us and for all the people we had bonded with over the long, hard 10 weeks. I, of course, shared the prize money with my wife, the best personal coach a man could ask for. We put it toward our FIT membership and for our oldest son, Seth, to do the next 10-Week Challenge. I had lost my belly fat and both my wife and I had significant weight loss and we both look and feel better than we have in years!
And the story continues….. I had perfect attendance during my 10 weeks (yes, the workouts are so great that you really don’t want to miss a minute!) and carried that on for 15 weeks straight — still the club record. We broke the streak to go to the memorial service for my brother. Thanks Farrell’s eXtreme Bodyshaping and Dan Dorenkamp, owner in Denver. We’re on the right track and enjoying every class!!!
Click here to learn how Farrell’s can help you with your fitness and weight loss goals.
