-Theodore Roosevelt
Not that I like to talk about myself, but there are a few things I thought you should know- to get more insight into who I am and why I do what I do.
I work, live and play in Toronto. I grew up downtown sandwiched between Little Italy and Little Portugal [like a cod fish panini], which is fitting seeing as I am half of each. As a kid all I wanted to do was draw super heroes and play! Myself and the neighborhood kids would be out playing baseball on the concrete diamond until we couldn't see the ball whip past our feet. *side note* That concrete diamond is now gone- new police division coming soon*
Luckily for me I was a very active child, because my eating habits were horrendous. I would make the most awesome ice cream sundaes [Mmmm]- cookie crumbs on the bottom, layer of ice cream [yes I said layer, meaning more to come], more cookie crumbs, another layer of ice cream, some more cookie and topped off with some chocolate sauce. Oh, and I forgot to mention this was made in a soup bowl! Milk and cookies was another vice of mine. I would clean out a whole row of cookies in those PC Decadent boxes. There are only three rows in a box, needless to say a box would only last three days. If I didn't play sports, run track and cross country I would have been an overweight child stat. My competitiveness and my athletic ability coupled with my friends being very competitive and athletic kept me from being extremely overweight. I believe this whole heartily. I didn't have a very good self image growing up. I remember doing crunches the night before a cousins birthday because it was a swimming party. As if that was going to erase the two Jos Louis' I had just scarfed down. I didn't end up participating. I watched through a glass window, like the last puppy watching all his buddies being hugged and squeezed by their new families.
When I went to high school everything changed. I got a membership at the local YMCA. I was there five days a week sometimes six. I was intimidated at first so I only worked out upstairs where all the cardio equipment and machines were [and where all the girls went]. Once I finally worked up the nerve to join the big boys downstairs I never looked back. I went from 150lbs when I started to my peak during my time at the Y 197lbs. But I was between 175-185lbs for most of the years I trained there. Those numbers seem huge but the truth is I was doing it all wrong. My nutrition was still horrible. I was eating McDonald's a few times a week, but I would get the Big Xtra because it came with a tomato... It wasn't until I saw a friend, an old workout partner that things changed for me.
This was 10 years ago. I had just left the gym and was walking to my girlfriends house. I bumped into him and I will never forget his words "dude, your fat". I was 197lbs the heaviest I've ever been, just left the gym probably thinking I looked yoked [pumped up] but the reality was I had a gut- I was indeed fat. I immediately cut out McDonald's and other fast food, I cut out soft drinks, started doing cardio and continued my weight training.
There is no replacing the 'Ah Ha' [as Oprah would call it] moment that was being called fat. But the greatest impact on my life- life choices is the loss of my father. My father died when I was six years old, of Heart Disease. I have vowed to not only out live him but out live him by living a quality, healthy life and to help others do the same.
I could study all I want [which I have], read up on the field of Health and Fitness [which I do] and preach to you the importance of exercise and eating right but at the end of the day I have lived it. I've been up and I've been down. I have felt first hand what bad choices leads to.
That is why I do what I do. That is where my passion comes from. I didn't just fall into the field because I liked working out or because I played sports but could never make it to the pros.
I pursued the field because I live it every damn day.
If you are thinking of making a change, stop! Don't just think about it, you're hesitating, procrastinating. Just do it [had to]! Join the Brash Life Society.
Email me: andrew@brashfitness.com
AC
[BLS Member]
