I got started working out while playing ice hockey in high school. I never had to worry about being fit as a teenager. However, I learned after too many beers and a terrible diet in college what can happen to the body. I went from having a six pack to a quarter keg on my belly. I found a good system of exercising and weight training in college and in the years following got rather huge. I have since tried to scale back my size to have more lean muscle and be healthier moving forward. I have since added some extra training via a variety of fighting styles to compliment my cardio. I hate cardio but know it is necessary to get lean so I have had to trick myself into getting my cardio in ways beyond the traditional biking, running, walking, etc avenue. I also hike to add low impact cardio training. Now I have found that getting married and having a child in my life, I struggle to balance everything out successfully. I need to make sure I make time for myself without feeling guilty for taking that time (to be healthy and exercise regularly) from my family time.

I enjoy working out and exercising because I feel better, sleep better and have more energy than when I do not exercise. I notice how my body responds to "garbage" food when I work out and I shy away from bad unhealthy foods when I exercise regularly. When I don't exercise regularly I fall into the pitfall of a bad diet and laziness which leads to a loss of energy and poor sleeping patterns. I know what I need to do in the gym and I am hoping to learn how to get my nutrition right. Like all of us, I do not always make the best decisions with exercise and diet. I hope to find the perfect combination of diet and exercise that I can live with that enables me to be happy and healthy for the rest of my life.