My name is Dean, and I have been a fitness enthusiast since childhood. Back then when comic books were common there used to be small advertisements about looking like Charles Atlas. Charles Atlas was a the body builder of the day. He was before Arnold Schwarzenegger arrived on the body building scene. Charles Atlas was enormous and ripped. He was my idol. That physique always intrigued me and I had to find a way to get like that. Well that never happened, but in the process of trying  I  asked for a weight set (I had a bee bee gun) for Christmas so I could workout and be like my idol. I got that 110lb set and me and my brother made a weight bench out of some scrap wood. We would have bench press contests and other weight challenges with other kids from the neighborhood. So I developed the habit of working out consistently before the age of 10.

The other motivating impression I had fantasized about was being a martial artist. They too were physically fit people who were simply BA. (bad ass) Well I didn’t get the chance to pursue that stuff simply because we didn’t have the means. Granted I was under 10 years of age.

Somewhere in my teenage years I got on to a  swimming team. I found that to be extremely challenging. But what I noticed as I continued to lift weights after swim practice was that I was getting more muscular. I didn’t have the size but I was putting on some muscle. That gave me more fuel to workout even harder. By the time I was a sophomore in high school I had developed a very healthy physique equipped with a very well defined six pack abs.

With the challenge of trying to have a car by the time I was a senior I quit the swim team to get a part time job and earn some money. So there went the majority of my cardio activity. I continued to lift and would run to compensate for some of the lost swimming cardio.  It worked but not nearly as well as having a coach forcing you to swim to exhaustion. None the less I got my car and finished high school.

Fast forward into my thirties and yeah the body changed. I did continue to lift weights but the cardio was really non existent. Yeah I still had some guns but I also had developed love handles and some belly shake. It has been a struggle ever since. I did manage to get into the martial arts finally. Once again I got into terrific shape.  After several years of training and injury I left the sport.

Uncoupled from all this training was my diet. I never really ate right or understood how important it was. Sure I would read articles and attempt to eat better, but I would think eating a fast food burger was partially good for me because the meat has protein in it. I honestly don’t even know if that stuff really is meat. None the less my eating habits have not been good and therefor it showed as the gut spills over the top of my pants.

Today I have managed to get  back into great shape and part of that is because I learned what to eat and how to eat. The second part of this is taking from my past and learning that I need a lot more cardio in my workouts. That’s when I tried some exercised dvds. I took a chance and spent some money on p90x. It is one intense workout after another. And I learned a great deal about eating right. The main thing is it works. So if your looking for results try an exercise dvd. Make yourself a schedule and stick to it. You will get results but it takes time. So go find yourself a fitness dvd from the recommended list and GO FOR IT!