Well, my earliest influence in working out was my uncle Sean(he body built in high school and college and was invited to both the KC Royals and STL Cardials' training camps before he f'd up his shoulder) so when I was little and I saw him working on his lawnmower one day I saw his biceps just bulge ridiculously without even flexing and I knew then that I wanted to have that someday. Then, life being what it is I sluffed off on working out or even being active after age twelve, video games and TV were much too important for me and besides, with a family that is generally obese, who cares if you are fit, right? My lack-luster and sedentary lifestyle lasted until I was 23 and decided I wanted to join the military in order to pay for college once i got out. At that time I weighed in at 255 lbs and was horribly out of shape. So, in 8 months I dropped my happy ass down to 190 lbs and left for boot camp where I gained back 12 pounds. Once out of boot camp, I really let myself go back to being sedentary as much as possible because "I was in, as long as I pass the semi-annual PT test, what are they gonna do?" at least that was my mentality and honestly, it worked for me, just like it does for a lot of people in the military. While in, I met a guy named John (one of my inspirations) and saw how he transformed himself from scrawny to massive in only a six month deployment. This piqued my interest but wasn't quite enough to push me into working out myself. Then, 2 years ago, my mother passed away due to a blood clot in her heart, complicated by by massive weight loss from a previously unknown allergy to Gluten(Celiac Disease) at the young age of 50. Only 20 some odd years older than I was at the time. That was quite the shock to my system. At first I was hitting the gym just to expend my anger and grief over my mother's death. But, as my head cleared, I realized that becoming more healthy was imperative for my survival passed 50! So, I got back to the gym even harder, though once I got out of the military last June, it took me awhile to get back into working out. I just didn't have time. At least that's what I told myself. I saw myself slowly starting to gain back the weight I had worked so hard to lose! This would not do, I would NOT sit on my laurels and let myself go into an early grave because "I didn't have the time". So, I joined a gym via suggestion from a co-worker and started at it with a vengeance(even though I had forgotten about my bodyspace and didn't update it) So, for the past two months I have been hitting the gym 4 days a week doing my own personal routine and enjoying moderate strength gains but still eating like a pig. So, in order to really push myself, I joined the Body Transformation Contest. Because, if there is one thing I have always been, its extremely competitive! I just knew that pitting myself against all of the other contestants would push me further than I have ever been before and honestly, so far, I'm Loving the ever living **** out of it! Well, I made it to day 69 of the KG 12 week hardcore trainer and , honestly, I let a business trip take the wind out of my sails. Then when I returned home my son was only about 2 weeks away from being born so, I used his pending birth as a reason not to be in the gym 20 minutes away "just in case my fiancé went into labor" So, here we are, my son is 10 weeks old yesterday and I had spent the first 7 weeks of his life out of the gym which totaled to 9 weeks out if you include the time before he was born. Needless to say, I gained weight, like 30lbs! Then, a few weeks ago, I was really wanting to get back into the gym and thinking about what I wanted to go to school for(the whole reason I was in the Navy, right?) and through lots of thought about my life, and who I am on the inside I decided that I wanted to be a personal trainer. So, I have now been in school for 4 days and am loving what I am learning, I am back in the gym every night as a part of class and can't wait until I am finally fit and out there helping others develop a fit lifestyle of their own!

Mostly, I love it because of the endorphen rush after a work out. But, more than anything, it makes me proud to see my 5 year old stepson wanting to do push ups and sit ups and his 4 year old brother wanting to do bicep curls so that they can be strong like me. It just gives me that much more incentive when I come home from work(gym then work each day) and the first thing they say to me is "did you get more muscles today?" I love it! So now I love the gym because of the inspiration I am giving my stepson.