My Physical Transformation

 

I’m not sure how heavy I was at my peak but I do know that was about 5 full sizes ago. Now, as I enter the fourth year of my journey, my ideal weight is within sight. It hasn’t been easy but I’ve come to love the process and I’ve added many years to my lifespan, not to mention my quality of life.

I’ve fundamentally changed my diet and developed a personal cross training regimen that has me dropping 1 – 3 pounds a week. I’ve learned to love gourmet portabello egg white omelets, veggie bacon and almond milk. I’ve cut down my red meat consumption to about once a month on average and eat a lot of fish, a fair amount of poultry and many more fruits and vegetables.

In reflecting on this transition, I’ve noticed that as I have become more focused on my diet and exercise, my business acumen has also increased. When I started, I would ride my bike at first for 30 minutes and then as much as 1.5 hours a day – every day. I was making some progress but I plateaued and even though I was exercising an hour a day, I wasn’t seeing the type of improvement I really wanted.

Much the same could be said for my business. Once I resolved to make it happen no matter what, I spent many hours cold calling and driving around Texas. During the months of November 2008 – January 2009, I estimate that I cold called at least 300 companies asking them to host tours for students or attempting to get them to write me checks in support of my cause. I also was putting over 30,000 miles a year on my new Mercedes Benz E 320 (more on this later), the only real possession that remained other than my laptop, since I moved in with my folks to start my pursuit.

I can’t say that I regret going through either process although I believe that I could now accomplish things much more quickly if I had to start all over again. Both processes taught me humility and an appreciation for successes as they now seems to flow much more easily in both realms of my life. Nowadays, I still work incessantly but my exercise routine is now only 3 – 4 days a week for 45 minutes to an hour. I discovered High Intensity Training (HIT) and circuit training. So instead of walking or riding my bike for 50 minutes a day at a steady pace, I do more explosive 30 second interval training that focuses on cardio and building my core (gut, chest, thighs). I hardly ever lift weights. Rather, I do calisthenics such as push ups, crunches, stairs, kicks, squats, medicine ball exercises and the treadmill all in relatively rapid succession.

My current routine is to divide the workout into four 10 minute periods. I will alternate through a series of 3 exercises in 30 second intervals in one period such as:

Period 1
35 push ups, rest 30 seconds
30 seconds of stairs, rest 30 seconds
30 seconds of kicks, rest 30 seconds
repeat cycle 2 more times.
Rest for 2 – 3 minutes

Give it a try. You can take it at your own pace but by the second full period, you should have a good sweat going… The goal is to keep up the heart rate for a good solid 40+ minutes as you work these varying muscle groups to the point of failure. Then, give your body time to recover by resting for 1 – 2 days in between. So now, I get better results in half the time and that allows me even more time to focus on building my business.  I will also say that this routine helps me be more focused about the rest of my life. I can’t tell you how many moments of clarity I’ve had regarding my business as I exercise or how I can feel stress in my life dissipate as I complete my routine. I’m sure that I will continue to refine this approach but it is an essential part of my life now and will be well into the future.