What made you decide to enter this Lean and Mean Challenge?
I over indulged leading up to Christmas and I wanted to work towards having a clean/refreshing start by springtime.
What did you do to get lean and mean?
Exercise wise I walk, do weights and swim. I also incorporated a couple of athletic goals (a mini-triathlon in March and a half marathon in April). Dietary wise, I focused on eating less sugary foods and increased my protein intake. Last year I focused primarily on diet and not as much on athletics. At the end of the challenge I was lean but I didn’t feel that I had the strength and endurance to sustain my performance in sports. This year I started with more strength (due to my weekly training sessions at One On One). This allowed me to focus on multi- sport training.
The toughest part of the Lean and Mean was being consistent and finding the time to train. The most rewarding aspect of the event was having my wife support me through the process and having her tell me that I look good! My goal now is to continue training, switch to road bike riding this summer and hopefully participate in a triathlon at some point.
If you could give advice to another person who was struggling with their fitness what would that be?
Do not get discouraged. Any small change will help over time. The key is to move. What’s wrong with going for a walk in the evening while listening to music instead of lying on the couch and watching tv? Research and try some ‘healthy’ recipes for dinner. You never know; you might actually like a few!
Any other comments that you would like to add?
As always, I have the best wife (Kareen) in the world. She supports and encourages me to do better at everything I do! She worked hard to research healthy meal plans for our family and got us involved in other athletic activities to keep our fitness goals moving forward. Thanks also to Señor Codrut; the best Romanian salsa-dancing personal trainer I know. The weekly strength training we do builds the groundwork for the rest of my training regime.
