I was once very unhealthy and on a path to medications, high doctor bills and discomfort.
The picture below was me at 30. I was at one time 3 pounds shy of 300! I wore 44” waist pants and got winded tying my shoes. 
I was not always that big. I got that big from years of eating too much food and not moving my body other than at work. At home I was pretty sedentary sitting to watch TV,Draw or play video games.
Summer of 2007 just after my 30th birthday my brother invited me to start taking Kyokushin Karate under his Father in Law. I had always wanted to learn Karate so I was pretty excited.
It was grueling and the training was hard and intense. I LOVED IT. I needed something like this to wake me up! I started dropping weight pretty quickly and got back into weightlifting too.
I wanted to be Stronger,Faster and BETTER at Karate. I would change styles over to Enshin Karate that had more classes and a great instructor. That also led me into looking seriously at my DIET.
Not going on a DIET (I had tried a few of those but not one worked for me), but changing the way I ate daily. Habits can be small, yet very powerful, affecting you in great ways! After changing my eating habits, I ran across the kettlebell on a strength training forum. It looked to be a great tool to work on explosive strength and while improving conditioning. It was recommended to me to get an instructor to learn how to use them as well as purchasing books by Pavel. I did both. I came to Danny Sawaya to learn the Kettlebell.
Over the years I would re-visit training with Danny to make sure I was staying on the right path. That would also lead to Original Strength which was developed by some guys that were part of the kettlebell world. OS would be another piece of the puzzle I had needed. The mobility and reflexive strength from OS would complement the Hardstyle lifting from kettlebell and integrate with my Karate. This was a key combination that took me through 2nd and now 3rd degree Blackbelt. This is me just shy of my 40th birthday. 32” waist – 190lbs.
Anyone can change. You have to put in the time and with consistency you will reap the rewards. Goals will help and you can do them one at a time on your path. It doesn’t have to, nor should it happen over night. Let me know if I can help you to find the path that will work for YOU!
We are proud to have Mike as a part of our team. He teaches classes at Tucson Strength and is available for 1 on 1 training as well.