We love hearing from our users, especially Exercise.com user success stories! We want to share these success stories with our Exercise.com community because they can be such an awesome motivational factor!
Today’s member story comes from Exercise.com Pro User JohnL.
Check out our interview with JohnL, and see how he has motivated himself to lose 53 pounds!
When did you start exercising?
I started exercising lightly in April 2010 but in late October 2010 I joined a gym and ramped it up quite a bit. I did spin 4-5 days a week for about 4 months then light cross-fit 4-5 days a week until last January when I got talked into lifting.
What are 3 things that really got you into regularly exercising?
The first reason is because of my sedentary lifestyle I gained a lot of weight. I went from 175 lbs at about 15% body fat to 230 lbs at an unknown % body fat, but I know it was high since I got virtually no exercise. I really didn’t like carrying that extra weight around.
Secondly, my boss had recently joined a local gym and was very Gung ho! about it. He was taking classes at lunch and talked to me and another co-worker into joining.
In fact, since I didn’t have the disposable cash to join and get the discounted rate he had negotiated, he went so far as to purchase my membership for 18 months, and I paid him back over a month’s time. Now I spend almost every lunch at the gym.
Third, I would have to say is the adoration of my fans. I say that tongue-in-cheek, but in essence, it is true. Every day while I was losing weight, friends and co-workers would come up to me and tell me how great I looked and ask me how much weight I had lost.
Even after I had dropped back down to 177 lbs (a little over a year ago) and had been there for quite a while, people would still come up to me and ask me about it.
About 6 months ago, a rather large fellow I work with who was pretty new to the company came up to me saying he had seen some old pictures of me and asked if I had been a big guy like him.
Then he started asking me how I did it. That kind of positive reinforcement is very motivating!
What do you like most about Exercise.com?![]()
Number one is the videos and descriptions of how the exercises should be done. That is invaluable when incorporating new exercises, especially to folks who are new to weight training and may not know much about proper techniques.
Two, the wide range of workout plans. You guys have something for pretty much any goal. In fact, you had a workout plan I had been looking for, for a while!
A few months ago, I read an article talking about how Ryan Reynolds worked out to get in shape for his movies. The thing that resonated with me was it was exactly the style of workout I like. I searched but had been unable to find it.
Then I stumbled on Exercise.com, found the work out there, and I was thrilled. Glad we could help him out!
I have been doing that workout now for just over a month, and I plan to do it for 60 days before I switch. I already have my next plan picked out.
The third thing I would have to say is how friendly and supportive the folks from Exercise.com have been. It is nice to get the occasional high five or positive comment.
It also motivates me to work harder since I know someone is watching what I am doing. Also, every question I have asked has been responded to promptly and knowledgeably.
What are your thoughts on logging workouts? Has it been helpful seeing your data?
I think logging workouts is crucial, especially when you include notes.
I stick to the prescribed number of sets since I work out at lunch and need to get done as soon as possible. When I finish an exercise and I feel I could have done more, I just add a note to increase the weight next time.
Even without the notes, logging is useful. For example, on Sundays and Thursdays, I do Ab Plate Twists, and I go back and look at how I did on both days before I begin to evaluate how much weight I should use.
I think my improvement curve would be a lot flatter without logging since there are times I increased my weights based solely on what I had logged before. Without that, I would have used the same weight not realizing I was ready to go up.
What is your favorite exercise and why?![]()
I would have to say my favorite exercise is good old fashioned-push-ups. Some of the main reasons I like them so much are that they work several muscle groups simultaneously (pectoralis, triceps, deltoids, and core) and require no equipment!
Also, there are many possible modifications that can make them more challenging: incline, decline, Spider-Man, or walking push-ups and, most of these modifications also require no equipment.
The last reason is that when I was about 10 years old I would get up at 5:00 A.M. and workout to the Jack Lalanne show with my mother.
Push-ups were a big part of those workouts and at that age, I could easily do over 50 push-ups and always won the push-ups portion of our physical fitness testing at school. If only I was still in that good of shape!
Motivating Each Other for Success
Now it’s your turn to take some time to get to know your fellow members, send them a high five or leave them a motivational comment! We want to build a community of users who help encourage each other’s success!
Switch up your exercise routine and help motivate your friends by challenging them to a Fitness Battle!
Thanks, John for your willingness to participate in our User Story! If you want to share your story with our Exercise.com Community, please leave a comment below and we will contact you. We want to know more about you!