Hey, I’m Mike! Thank you for taking the time to check out my blog and learn more about what I do to help folks improve their health and fitness. On this page I outline a little bit about my background/history, and discuss the ultimate goals I hope to accomplish with this blog. I hope this helps to provide some insight as to where I’m coming from, and where I hope to go.
Personal Life:
I am a husband, a father, an educator, but more importantly than all of these things, I am a Christian. I was saved by grace many years ago, but only recently (within the last two years or so) started to walk out my faith in Christ. I am plugged into our church here in Texas, and I have participated in outreach/missions… including going to Haiti.
Haiti Construction Team (I’m on the far left)
My wife Jessica and I have been married six years, and have a son named Wyatt. I am extremely blessed to have them in my life. The bible says that all good gifts come from him, and I believe that spouses and children are definitely gifts that he gives us.
Jessica, Wyatt, and Mike
As I mentioned earlier, I am an educator. In addition to working independently for Beachbody (this blog), I also currently teach science for an online school. I have also spent nine years in a traditional high school setting as well. My wife is also a teacher, but is currently stays home with our son. Our goal is to keep her home for as long as possible, or at least until our child/children go to school.
You can see, nothing too special… I’m just a regular guy trying to become the best version of me that I can be. =)
My Fitness Background (story):
Let me start off by saying that I am not a nutritionist or fitness expert. There is a possibility that will be obtaining a trainer certification sometime in the near future, but that is still up for debate. I am simply sharing information that I’ve learned through my own fitness journey in hopes that it helps others. The goal is to let my own results, and the the results of those I have helped, speak for themselves.
As for my fitness background, I was always very active growing up. I played sports all throughout high school, and fell in love with ultimate frisbee in college (see pic below). I played ultimate up until about two years ago (placing top 5 at nationals once), but laid it aside once I became a father. Even as active as I was, one single shoulder injury pretty much sent my health spiraling out of control. At the age of 25, I dove on AstroTurf and landed funny tearing up my shoulder pretty good. I became depressed about the fact that I couldn’t workout like I wanted, and even to swing my arm for running was very painful. I visited a few doctors, and received about 8 cortisone injections over the span of a year or so. I would see small improvements in my shoulder, but it definitely was not healing. Eventually surgery was the only option, and after another 8 -12 months of recovering from surgery I was left extremely out of shape, tired, fat, and depressed from the whole ordeal.
Nationals, 2012
I literally substituted having an active lifestyle with eating at fast food restaurants every day. I began to look at food as an emotional escape to make me feel better, and I pretty much quit grocery shopping as all of the food I bought would just ruin. It seemed that eating fatty, greasy foods was “comforting” to me, and even though in the back of my mind I knew I was harming myself… I didn’t care. Eventually, I could tell that my health was really starting to suffer. I was sick more often, my blood pressure was high, and my legs and body ached continuously. I actually felt like my legs weren’t getting the circulation they needed, and I ended up getting some blood work done to find the cause. This cycle went on for about 4 years, and it resulted in the pictures below. I was seriously desperate for a change…
Before my journey
Starting to see progress!
One day, I was sitting around with my wife and we saw the infomercial for P90X. You know that feeling you get when you see something you really want…and you don’t want to wait for it? This is EXACTLY what I felt when I saw the P90X infomercial. I KNEW this was it…this was going to work…this was my fitness answer, and I was finally going to get my life back! I knew in 90 days I would be super fit, and back to my old self… boy, was I naive! My journey didn’t happen exactly as I planned. I started P90X and due to my shoulder, I just couldn’t do the moves at first. I wasn’t healed enough from my surgery, so I had to wait some more. Later I tried again; this time having more success but at week 8 or 9 I injured my shoulder AGAIN! I did my best to keep positive, and this time I was only out for about 3 months or so.
You’ve heard people say determination pays off… well, in my case this holds true. I was finally able to complete one FULL round of P90X. At about week 4 or 5 I decided to really DIAL in my nutrition and my transformation really started to come along. After one full round of P90X, and one round of Insanity Asylum, I had successfully changed my body completely. I was finally able to achieve the results I wanted, and I actually ended up winning $500 bucks in the Beachbody Challenge. Additionally, I was privileged to get to do an “in-studio” interview where I got to share my P90X story on screen! How cool is that?!?
Because I know what it fees to struggle and to succeed, my wish is to inspire others who feel that they cannot accomplish their health goal to keep pushing… to keep trying… and to experience success. I truly believe that every person has the ability to improve their condition, and I want to show people what’s possible.
Results starting to show
In-Studio Interview – 1
In-Studio Interview – 2
Beachbody Challenge Winner!
The Ultimate Goal for FitnessFHG:
This is actually my second attempt at coaching online, as I had created another blog before this one (www.teamironman.com). I did have some success helping others (and monetarily), but I did not feel fulfilled in what I was doing. Honestly, something just didn’t feel right to me and I ended up stepping away from coaching. During this time I completed a year long course through our church called Discipleship School. This course helped me to understand the freedom that I have been given through Christ, and taught me more about my personal identity in him and in who he has called me to be. I am a Christian, I have a passion for working out, and I am gifted in teaching. I want to steward this well by teaching and helping others to take control of their health and fitness, but do it in a way that gives glory to the God of the universe. I truly believe that God is in all things, and that includes fitness.
I still have a few personal, financial, and health goals that I want to accomplish on this journey, but the ultimate goal that remains is to give God the glory. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” That’s exactly what I plan to do with this site!
Thank you for taking the time to read this page, and please feel free to fill out the contact form below if you have any additional questions about me or what I do here on FitnessFHG.
God bless,
Mike
