my journey to a fit lifestyle & bootcamp instructor....
I am currently a middle school physical education teacher in the Cupertino Union School District, specifically, at Cupertino Middle School. Next year will be my 10th year of teaching, all in physical education. Prior to my life as a teacher, I worked at Sun Microsystems for 6.5 years which was a job that I found right out of college. And although I loved the fast paced corporate environment as a young man, it had its serious pitfalls. I found myself significantly overweight because I was sedentary (sitting at a desk for long hours) and not eating well. Essentially, I wasn't finding room, nor making the time, to live a healthier lifestyle. In 1999 I hit my breaking point and decided that it was time to change my lifestyle. It all started with road cycling and mountain bike riding. I became addicted. Along with the addiction came 20 pounds of weight loss and a total body transformation. After a few years of bike riding, I challenged myself and trained for the Wildflower Half Ironman Triathlon. This became a new addiction. I was obsessed with racing triathlon. My triathlon world eventually came to end as a I transitioned my life to becoming a teacher and a husband/father. I went back to school, received a 2nd undergrad in Kinesiology from San Jose State where I also completed my credential program over 10 years ago. Although I found I did not have the time to train for triathlons anymore I filled my void with long distance running. I have completed over 20+ half marathons and 12 marathons. Unfortunately, I found that I was getting burned out from running and felt this desire to add some diversity to my training program. This is when I discovered HIIT (high intensity interval training) which is really the premise of Bootcamp workouts. I started "Bootcamp" style training over 2 years ago and my middle school students have benefited because I have implemented this type of training in my curriculum. Although I have a resume of fitness that dates back over 12 years, I have never felt in better shape, more well rounded and overall stronger and leaner. I love Bootcamp style training and feel that I am at a point where I have been designing programs for myself for long enough, I want to share the different training methodologies and formats with others and hopefully make a contribution to changing lives. As a result, I have decided to start my own Bootcamp business, build a clientele and be as innovate as possible.