Client Chronicles

Steve's Amazing Story!

It is a passion of mine to help people reach their goals and beyond. Everyday I spend hours upon hours on training, programming, counseling, designing, teaching & correcting just to name a few. More importantly I believe my job and my biggest responsibility is building! Building trust, confidence, better habits and better people. If I can make someone a better athlete that's great, but, if i can make you a better man or woman, that is the ultimate goal. I believe that life like athletics is about progressively building many qualities one after another on top of another, to achieve more! Every one of my clients leaves the program looking to achieve more...that's what life's all about. Along comes Steve. An ex-collegiate soccer player and a very competitive individual. Steve had become recently motivated because he was experiencing some threatening health issues. After expressing interest in training with me he came into my gym one day and just said, "Sign me up, when do we start!". Steve did not want to talk about changing, he was just ready to change. He had developed bone spurs in his shoulders and was having "other" problems with movement due to inflammation of his bursa sac. Along with this, his blood panel needed work as he was at an increased risk for heart disease and also heart attack. So Steve needed a complete overhaul. Well after a little over one month on the program I received this email (approximately July 15th)... Big Man, My wife just called to say the doctors office just called to give her my results. My first doctors appointment was April 15th, and about a week later I started taking a cholesterol drug called Simcor. That pill is expected to lower your cholesterol about 15% over time. It is niacin based so they say it will also help raise HDL and lower LDL levels. The bigger part of the equation is the drastic change in my diet and the exercise program I began with you on June 5th. The nurse that called with the results said they are astounded at not only the drastic change in my numbers, but by my physical appearance when they saw me on Monday, July 21. Roughly 3 months after my first visit I am about 21 pounds lighter and my lipid panel looks like this: Cholesterol went from 260 to 154 (under 200 is an acceptable number for them) HDL went from 38 to 44 (Acceptable is over 39) LDL went from 153 to 80 (Acceptable is less than 99) Triglycerides went from 345 to 135 (I think acceptable is under 150) Sugar went from 123 to 100 (still a little high, but she said there are 1000's of reasons it could be elevated a little) I have a follow up with the doctor on Monday morning. Needless to say, I am thrilled with the results, but by no means am I done. My cardio although better is obviously not where it needs to be. I'm doing better, but I know it's going to take a lot more work to be able to keep up with you young guys. I greatly appreciate all of your help and positive reinforcement. There is no way in the world I would have met my initial goal without your guidance. Steve In case you didn't know, I'm a strength junkie. I believe that people should be strong! I don't mean every one should bench press 400lbs or squat 600lbs (although for some that would be nice). I mean strong relative to YOUR body. Since muscles are what actually moves our skeletal system & everyone needs to maintain movement, strength can be very important. Well, Steve's strength level as gone up tremendously since our first session back on June 5th 2008. Our first session was more physical therapy than it was training. I had to get his body to understand movement patters all over again, so that's what we did. My approach with Steve was one of building confidence as well as bringing out of him what he already possessed. With that said, I left no stone unturned in helping Steve get the results he is looking for. My 1st week here Steve saw me wheeling in the big 600lb tire (typically reserved for our strongest athletes). He just looked and said, "Boy I'm long way off from flipping that!" Well with a little support, some increased confidence and a tail kicking program here is what Steve was able to accomplish....