My fitness journey started around 2004. I give it that start date because that is about when I started. The seriousness escalated as the time went on. I grew up playing baseball and was active, but fitness as a focus came later in life. Prior to that, anytime we lifted weights or worked on advancing “fitness” it was generally sport specific.

In 2001 I was off to college and really didn’t do much but work, party, with the occasional class sprinkled in. That went on for a couple years. I was able to stay fairly lean until around 2003 when I got a bank job and had a lot more sitting in my day to day. Prior to that I sold boots and western wear and was on my feet 8-10 hours a day so it never was really a thought.

One day I was visiting my dad in Dallas and as I was leaving he asked a simple question: “you put on a little weight?”. Shit, he was right and I’d been outed. The casual buying of bigger pants had been an afterthought coupled with a notion of “I can take care of this anytime”. But, the truth was right in front of me, staring back in the mirror every single day.

I talked about this story here so I won’t go in super depth on it, but this was the catalyst that led me to the 20+ year journey I am on today. Anyone that has fitness as a a piece of their daily life will understand the focal point of it being a journey. There are ups, there are downs, and there are times when you simply don’t want to do it anymore. It’s easier to just be a slug than to try and keep your body tuned up and I will admit that all day.

This journey led me to start coaching in 2006 and eventually opening up a CrossFit gym in 2009. I ran that gym from then until 2023, when I sold it to go do “grown up” things. In that time, I had coached, trained, and mentored a lot of people. So many that I can’t keep track. Most I remember, some I have forgotten, and some I still keep up with today. I say that to point out that this should give you, the reader, some reason to trust what I’m about to discuss.

When a person want’s to start changing their life, generally this starts with some form of personal development journey. Within this specific journey a proverbial “fork in the road” comes up pretty quick; do you pick weight loss or mindset. Whichever road is chosen, the other path eventually connects back up to the one you’re currently on. Meaning, if you chose weight loss the mindset development will come into play at some point and vice-versa. For the people that dove in to the mental work first, eventually they figured out that health and fitness has to be a part of that personal development journey as well,

The challenge becomes when you have the realization that both are required to make this thing long lasting. I can’t tell you how many times someone would come into the gym, realize how hard it would be to better themselves, and then disappear upon said realization. Most of the time they couldn’t get past the fact that what took them years to get to this point wouldn’t be fixed in 90 days. From my standpoint it was one of the most frustrating things to witness. When you’re exposed to it constantly you get pretty callous and it just becomes another person who couldn’t hack the requirements. The good news is that it allowed for more space and focus on the ones who were willing.

I say that with grace too because I also understand the struggle of simply trying to make it all work. Ultimately it’s you that has to keep the momentum going and your coach or peers can only help so much. We can be a support structure, but I’d like to point out the word ‘support’ here. We can’t hold all the weight as it will only set yourself up for failure. This is why the mindset piece becomes so pivotal in ones health and fitness journey. If you can’t convince yourself to make it to the gym or eat the healthy food when you don’t want to you will forever struggle with all things in life. Yes, all things.

This grace I speak of goes both ways and quite honestly it’s probably a bigger piece of the puzzle that doesn’t really get discussed much. As someone new to bettering themselves, there has to be a lot of forgiveness during the process. Forgiveness to yourself for letting it get as bad as it has. Forgiveness for taking a week off because it’s hard. Forgiveness for cheating on your diet because comfort foods are all you’ve known for past however many years.

Grace is a part of mindset. The mindset around staying fit and healthy grows over time. You don’t wake up one day and just become all-in in the process. It’s the process that creates and all-in attitude. Yet, so many times I have seen the collapse of someone’s greatest intentions simply because they are too bone headed to understand and accept the reality ahead of them.

I’d like to expand on something from earlier so, from a coach perspective, here’s how this timeline typically plays out:

You wake up one day and realize that you aren’t where you want to be in life. Maybe your relationship is rocky or just ended. Maybe you’ve put on 50 pounds over the last 10 years and look nothing like the sexy, svelte person you used to be. Maybe you just feel like shit from the compounded years of late night binges sessions, too much alcohol, and sever lack of sleep. Whatever the case may be, one day you wake up and realize something needs to change.

It has been my experience that most people feel the lowest hanging fruit to address it fitness. It’s usually something to the tune of “I need to get back in shape, so I’ll start going to the gym”. It’s seemingly easy. You go to the gym, you start lifting weights, and the body fat melts off and you’re ripped in no time. Only, after a week of going there’s no change. How can that be? You see all these people on social media that go to the gym and are absolutely shredded…what gives? That’s mental strike number one.

Then you realize how hard it is to try and keep it all consistent with work, kids, obligations, etc. It never crossed your mind the actual sacrifice that would come with trying to change your life. Routine bed times, healthy meals, limited alcohol, and early mornings have to become the norm, but it’s too difficult.

So for the next couple months you stumble through workouts. You’re inconsistent. You’re not eating well, still drinking too much, no change in sleep habits, and stuck wondering why the couple days you actually make it to the gym aren’t working. It truly is a viscous cycle. If only you could be honest with yourself about the lack of focus or listen to the professional that has been trying to explain to you how to be successful.

But no, you’re different. You don’t need to do all that mental work. You don’t need to cut out booze, it’s too much fun. What kind of life would you have without it? You don’t need to eat healthy because that’s the reason you’re working out! You used to eat whatever you wanted to, stay out way too late, and drink as much as you wanted with little repercussions.

Then, you again wake up one day and realize that this working out thing just isn’t working for you. All the sudden you don’t have time, or your metabolism is just too slow, or it’s an age thing. So you call the gym up that you’ve been going to for less than part time and ask them how you can cancel. You explain some reason and that is not at all the actual case and that is that, your fitness journey is over dean near as soon as it started and you chalk it up to something other than the actual reason – yourself.

A change in your life takes steps. It’s a process that requires attention, thoughtfulness, understanding, and grace. I;m sorry to say it, but things don’t change over night. It’s takes months and sometimes years. Those that stick with it look back and realize the process is where the real change happened. Then, you get to wake up one day and look in the mirror and truly see a different, more confident person looking back.

I could literally talk on this all day. So, dear reader, please let me know if it resonates with you and if so reach out. I’d love to discuss what may be missing to make you successful. Life changes are tough. Health is tough. Fitness is tough. Life is tough.

But, I can tell you one thing that will always be true. If you’re in it for the long haul you’ll love the person you can become.

Your’s in health,

Brandon