Mud, Pain, Brotherhood (My Muddy Story)

Backtrack to 2001

Keeping the details short: two men, brothers not from blood but from bond have a falling out and lose track of each other. Well, time goes by fast and without any communication … 8+ years go by. Neither have forgotten about the other but no attempt from either side to reform the bond is made. Then, through a mutual close friend the brothers reconnect and small chatter starts going back and forth.

Shortly after the small chattering between the brothers, I start going through a major crossroad in my life and I discover my new-found love of working out and training. At first I was just moving, not sure how I was training or what I was training for. BUT one day while sitting in a sauna reading Austin Fit Magazine, I saw a full-page ad for the Warrior Dash (Forney). This ad reached out to me somehow and I had to get home and find out more about the event. First, I had never heard of such an event much less attempted anything like it. I knew I had to do it but I needed someone to run it with me; share the pain. From everyone I knew, there was only one person who I knew was crazy enough to do it with me at the time, my brother. Well, after looking into it more I reached out to him and asked if he would want to do the event. I was not going to take no for an answer and had a game plan on getting him to run the Dash with me. If he had any second thoughts I would promise to run the course in a Kilt, but I think that was just an excuse for me to get a Kilt. Well, I played my Kilt card too quickly cause he was going to say yes but I threw it out and I was a man of my word and ordered my Kilt and ran the event in it.

Forney Warrior Dash

The event was a few hours away so this was a whole weekend trip, where his wife, niece, and I will say our dad all went. This was the first and longest time we’d shared together since the reconnection and it was great. But through the training (at this time just solo training), mental prep, and excitement that we each endured, we started to rebuild more than the connection, we were reforming our brotherhood bond. The run itself, again, was the first muddy run I ever ran so I was not sure what to expect. Before the fire shot into the air to start our heat I was nervous, scared, excited and many other words to describe my feelings, but I knew it was going to be ok: I had my brother next to me. Well, as he would tell you, he was next to me for a short amount of time cause once I felt the heat from the fire I shot out of the starting line like a mad man and took off. After the 3 miles of mud and obstacles I finished with, I am sure, one of the biggest smiles I’ve ever had and waited at the finish line for my brother. I am sure he had a smile but it was hard to see from the amount of mud he was covered in from head to toe. When it was over, we all as a group hung out at the event surrounded by 8000-10,000 like-minded people listening to music, drinking beers, covered in mud and just loving life.

One Year

One year ago (Sep 06, 2009), this is the date I consider my start point into fitness.

This is when I started keeping track of body fat%, weight, different body measurements so I could keep myself accountable for any failures and promote any successes. So lets journey into where I was before, where I am today, where I hope to go.

Progress to date: 25+ pounds lost / 15+ percent body fat lost.

FullForceFitness.net Review

I am not sure where to start with other THANK YOU SCOTT for your program.

Before I get started talking about the program I am going to tell you a my view of Scott York (http://twitter.com/ScottYork). He very friendly and you can tell he is doing this for the people and his own enjoyment and not the money. To me this is a priceless trait and it just makes the camp fun. He works to push you through the workouts and also to educate you on proper nutrition on your road to becoming fit. He also very giving, I once asked if he wouldn’t mind coming to talk to my fellow co-worker about fitness and he did not think twice before accepting the chance to come talk to them. Overall Scott has a very calming and positive presence that when around you just want to push yourself to the best that you can. What more can you ask for from a coach.

About the camp (www.FullForceFitness.net) I have been attending this camp for two months now and about to go into my third and it is completely amazing. I was not sure what to expect at first as I had never done any type of group training, so I entered with an open mind and ready body. I took it easy trying to learn things at first and everything we were doing was simple to pickup yet challenging as a workout. Here are a few things I have gained from the camp:

• Suffering in a group is truly easier than doing it alone. I have worked out with partners before, I have used a personal trainer, and even now workout alone regularly. But when I am training with my group, they push me harder than I can ever do myself and I also am able to push them also.
• Beating things is a good thing. The class has a lot of MMA style training. Regularly we use focus mitts, heavy bags, and dummies to punch, elbow, kick, and knee. To me there is no better way to relieve stress than getting to punch and kick things, oh, it is a good workout also.