Last Updated on January 31, 2012.
I remember the first time I walked into Tiger Schulmann’s Allentown location. It was to enroll my daughter and the first thing that Shihan Simpson said to me was you should come in and train yourself.
I was about 34 years old and my weight had already started spiraling out of control. Fast forward 4 years and I now had 3 kids training at Tiger Schulmann’s and I continued to resist training myself thinking I was too old to learn how to do the things that others were doing (let’s be honest I was afraid of not being able to make it through a class due to the low self-esteem from all the weight I was carrying). I had ballooned to 245 lbs.
The wake-up call was my birthday, after spending the day gorging myself with food, I passed out from what I thought was simply a stomach bug. The next day was the Super Bowl and after sleeping through the first half of the game my wife woke me up and told me she was taking me to the hospital because she was concerned (what guy sleeps through the Super Bowl!).
After spending the night in the hospital hooked up to monitors, I pressured the doctor to release me so that I could jump on a plane to Houston for work and to continue my unhealthy ways.
However, shortly after my night in the hospital, my wife gave me the best gift that I had ever received, she forced me to go to a Beginner Kickboxing class at Tiger Schulmann’s. After taking my first class, I was hooked! Shihan Simpson and Joshu Fonda have since molded me into a new man, and I now have more confidence and most importantly I am in the best shape of my life because of hard work and because Shihan and Joshu kept me focused and did not allow me to make excuses as to why I couldn’t come in to train. I realize that age and too much work is just an excuse; you need to put yourself out there and work hard to get the results you want.
At the beginning I set a goal for myself to get down to 175 lbs., the weight I was in high school (I am pretty sure everyone thought I was nuts). Well…this morning I stepped on the scale at the end of my 3rd 60 day challenge and there it was staring up at me……175 lbs.!
And although I would be crazy not to thank my wife Dawn for pushing me to take that first class, I want to thank you Shihan and Joshu for making me a new person, one that will be around for a long-time to enjoy my family and the extended family that I have gained from train with all the great people I have meet at Tiger Schulmann’s.
http://www.tsk.com/locations/PA/Allentown/