Before joining Life Time in early 2022, I had not exercised on a regular basis since college. Although I’m active around the house, working on various projects and playing golf once or twice a week, I was never a member of a club or did scheduled workouts.  I was very active in sports in high school and college.  When I left college, over 50 years ago, I got busy with a career and was never concerned about my health or being overweight.  At 6’2” I was no more than 165 pounds into my 40’s. As I grew older I saw that I started to gain some weight and I lost strength in my legs and upper body.  I also noticed how the loss of strength and balance affected my golf game.  I had rotator cuff surgery two years ago that was successful but my other shoulder has issues and I want to avoid another rotator cuff surgery.  I also have arthritis in my shoulder and my knees.

My goals were to increase upper and lower body strength and improve nutrition. This body strength would hopefully improve my golf game and better nutrition would help not only with my overall health but also reduce my shoulder and knee pain.

This is my second 60day Challenge that I participated in, the first one I completed was in the fall of 2022.   When I first joined Life Time I didn’t have a specific goal other than be more active, exercise more, whatever that meant, and get in better shape.  I had no idea what to do, what exercises would be good or what kind of machines I needed to use to get in better shape.  Coach Gipper introduced me to the ARORA group and I was satisfied with those workouts.  They introduced me to routines and exercises that I could follow on my own. The fact that I could see what I needed to do from my phone as well as log my progress was awesome.   I started going to Life Time twice per week.  Then I joined the first 60day Challenge and decided to work with Coach Gipper every other week, one-on-one, so he could design a program that was over and above the basic ARORA program.  I follow the new program twice per week and participated in the Saturday Sweat Sessions. During these 60 days, Gipper had me focused on upper body and leg strength endurance.  He pushes me beyond where I think my limit is but also modifies the program to guard against any further shoulder injury.

Nutrition is another area that I’ve changed, probably the biggest change.  I use Life Time Collagen Peptides and Whey Isolate Protein daily as well as glucosamine and chondroitin supplements.  My diet has changed dramatically.  Before this transition, my typical lunch was a sandwich of processed ham, bologna, or salami on wheat bread with potato chips or some salty snack.  I thought I was eating healthy because I used wheat bread! And I would have a diet soda to wash it all down.  I drank very little water during the day, sometimes the only liquid I had would be a morning coffee and diet soda at lunch.  Maybe another diet drink at dinner.  I had no concept of how much protein I was consuming or how much I needed.  Coach Gipper introduced me to My Fitness Pal and I quickly realized that what I thought was healthy was not.  Now I log my meals and try to maintain my daily nutrition goals.  My typical lunch menu now consists of chicken, turkey, tuna or some high-protein foods.  I have reduced my soda intake to one or two drinks per week, and have at least 64 oz. of water daily.

The end result of these last 60 days isn’t a big difference in my appearance. I wasn’t looking to change that.  What I have noticed is more strength, especially in my legs and a measurable difference in body fat.  In the last 6 weeks, my weight has stayed the same but my body fat dropped from 23.3% to 21.8%.  This is the lowest it’s been since joining Life Time.  It’s good to see progress.  This has been a positive experience for me so I will continue to improve on my previous “bests” and work towards even more strength and endurance.