CityView Magazine

publisher���s note A Aaron Chavis with Marshall at Omni Fitness Fit for Life ll of us start out the new year with resolutions about getting back in shape and doing more exercise. People who operate the local fitness clubs and gyms say the first several weeks of the new year bring all types of people out to exercise, but then interest begins to wane in about five or six weeks. After reading the story about Nate Schrader and his CrossFit training I could not help but think of my personal struggle with fitness for the past 25 years. I have had a ���battle with the bulge���, not the Battle of the Bulge that took place in Belgium at the end of World War II, but sometimes mine feels like the same thing. In my 30s I was able to maintain my weight and stay in shape playing basketball and jogging regularly. However, I sprained my ankle many times and broke it one time during a regular lunch time game at the YMCA. After the ankle injury I was able to continue running until my back went out and I had lower back surgery in 1989 at the age of 40. That put an end to jogging and basketball permanently. My bulge began to creep because I was not doing any exercise. I tried going to the gym and working out by myself, but that did not last. It did not take long to realize I needed a personal trainer to get back into shape. I have been using personal trainers for the past 20 years. I found out that once I paid someone, I was very motivated to show up and get my money���s worth. I have found that this method works for me although it can prove to be expensive. Over the last 20 years I have had about a dozen trainers. Some of them I can���t even remem- 10 | January/February ��� 2013 ber their names. I am currently returning to training after a year off. My new trainer is Aaron Chavis of the Omni Fitness Center. The irony of working with Aaron is that I coached him in AAU basketball for three years in the early 1990s when he was a teenager. Aaron went on to UNC-G on a basketball scholarship and is now the general manager of Omni Fitness. He is getting me back into shape slowly, which I really like. The most dynamic trainer I���ve had was a young man named Byron Shelton. Byron reminds me of the CrossFit trainer. He is a medic in the Army and has since moved to Florida. He is in the best shape of anyone I have ever known before or since. He trained me for six months and I was in the best shape I have ever been in, but he almost killed me. (Just kidding.) At the time I was 59 years old and he would train me like I was 29. He kept saying I could do it and I did most of the things he asked. We boxed, jumped rope, pulled rope, ran obstacle courses, rode bikes, did jumping exercises and lifted all kinds of weights. My weight was the lowest it had been in years and my resting heart rate was in the 50s. We did circuit training and it was fast-paced, always keeping my heart rate up during the routines. I wish I could have stayed with it but I got hurt one day during a jumping drill when I fell. I had to stop for several months and during that time he moved to Florida. Because I have been out of shape for over a year now, the bulge has come back. Aaron is not being as hard on me as Byron, but he is giving me confidence to get back into shape. We started in November and will be going full swing in 2013 and I pray it will last longer this time around. Lord willing, I will be able to stay in shape till I die. It is not easy, which is why I really admire people like Nate, Aaron and Byron.

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