Continuing the journey of a transformation has been a mental and physical journey with many ups and downs but overall life lessons. Day in and day out we are chipping away at the old Andy and creating new.. In this second segment I bring you more of him in his own words and how we plan to continue this journey together . This goes way beyond any exercise, movement, this is a transformation race of life.
Inside the Mind: How do I help him succeed, Part I
When he started the path he thought it would be just like riding a bike again, meaning he lifted weights in high school and a little in college, so give me a week and it will all come back. Boy, was he in for an awakening .
When that first training session came it changed everything that he once thought to be law in regards to fitness. Meaning all he had to do was to do is lift weights and do a few minutes on the elliptical.
IN HIS OWN WORDS:
My first sessions and those after showed me how little I knew about fitness and it discourage me in a small way to being doing something for so long and shown a more impactful way of building your body was a lot to take in but I was more than up for the challenge. Mentally, I was ready but physically deep down I needed reassurance. Over this past few months Coach Dominic has given me that, always pushing me to my limits when I had nothing left, or having me scale back when I wanted to do more but even more importantly reassuring me that I could and WILL reach my goals.
Here is a little more about my story:
I have been overweight most of my life. Growing up I was very active played all kinds of sports basketball, football and I took pride at being an athlete. But as active as I was, I was never given restrictions with food or taught about proper nutrition coming from a Caribbean household. I grew up believing that sports was life, and playing sports is all I knew. Also, I loved to eat though — especially junk food and Haitian food. It was a normal way of life for me. I would eat cake, ice cream, chips and candy. I ate it all and I ate it a lot. All of this combined was not good for my health. Up until I was around 19 when I left I and stopped being active is when I really started to gain weight. At this time my weight up and down but I tried to stay active.
The hardest thing for me and most people who start this road is JUST TO STAY ON IT! Life is forever evolving around us and there isn’t any controlling that; but you can control your body weight. I find myself wanting fast results and not understanding that the journey to the mountain is going to be so much better that I walked this path. And yes, I stumbled but I didn’t quit on myself or the people who believed in me. I’m taking on transforming my mind and my body by doing a few different races and some obstacle course races (Spartan Race/Battlefrog), as I see these as metaphors of my life. There will always be obstacles but I know no matter how hard, how high I may have to climb, how heavy the weight I may have to carry I can reach my goals.
I have been taught to take my large goals and break them into micro goals that I can manage so I am always working towards improving myself. Sometimes I may only get to train 2 or 3x a week due to work, but my coach always gives me homework, checks in with me and holds me accountable which always seems to make me want more and wonder what’s next. This is a challenging journey but I am very excited to be on it and can’t wait to see the end results.
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