1-19-12

7 months after the before pic!! Very proud day for me, alongside my mentors : Coach Becky Holcomb and Stewart Flinn 

1-12-12 with the love of my life, Shelly

In May 2011, I weighed 270 lbs and smoked a pack of cigarettes a day. I had been overweight for most of my life and hated myself. I've tried all the quick diet pills and quick fixes and had more failures than I can remember.

Late June 2011, the light bulb went on and I decided to arm myself with knowledge on getting healthy. I studied nutrition and started exercising.... the only way to accomplish body transformation is to master caloric deficits. ACCOUNTABILITY IS KING.

This blog will show my intense journey to losing over 85 lbs in the past 8 months, while quitting smoking and finding the love of my life. If  I can inspire some more people to do the same, my journey would be even more meaningful.... this has become my higher purpose. 

Thank you to Alan Hirsch and Joe Stierwalt for their guidance in getting this blog rolling. 


Speaking of Joe, I'm going to open up today about something I had barely mentioned, even to those in my inner circle :

Roughly 2.5 months back, I had a sit down meeting at Genesis with head trainer  Jeremy Hayes. He talked to me about the benefits of working with a personal trainer. I was struck by a moment of revelation : as good as I was starting to feel physically, by adding the weight room to my cardio, yoga and weight lifting classes....... what exactly would my limits be?  Only one way to find out.

While I will say my most important role at Genesis and the biggest payoff inside the gym has been becoming a G-cycle instructor..... my biggest PHYSICAL benefits have came from training with Jeremy's PERFECT choice for me-- Joe.

Funny.... I was pretty much in a daze driving home from my meeting with Jeremy. Calm.... eerily so (I was SO HIGH STRUNG 99% of the time pre-loved by Shelly Hurtt days, that is) ..... and all I could think about was "Better ..... stronger ..... faster" , which is HILARIOUS, as I was a child of the 70's. Just call me Steve Austin. Truth be told, though, that is exactly why I chose to work with a personal trainer.

Joe and I set some huge goals : #1 was quitting smoking, which would lead to #2 -- becoming a machine in the weight room like I am in spin classes. I needed to learn to lift safely. I never lifted weights in school. I barely touched weights prior to turning 40. My lack of form was going to get me hurt (and I thank coach Becky Holcomb for having the patience to get through to me as I worked through self anger issues in her Group power class).

I won't go into detail about my training sessions. Hey, every now and then, even I get to keep things I'm excited about to myself. Have to pick my spots. Joe is equal parts trainer, friend and brother. The sessions are more important than anything at Genesis but my G-cycle class.

I am delighted to report one thing about today's session -- Joe gave me a long term homework assignment -- sets of ab exercises. I want 6 pack abs. I will have them. Period. That means I have to continue eating clean and working out hard. I look forward to seeing how far I have progressed by this summer.

My rule for training sessions : My most important session is my next session. I have to be focused and show progress.

Joe Stierwalt, I salute you. God bless you, my friend.