Adam Kinney begins next step of life transformation at Iron Clad

Three years ago I decided to make a change. I had to. I was at the unhealthiest point of my life and I couldn’t recognize myself anymore. I was afraid of what I had done to myself and my body and where it would take me if I continued down the same path.

I’ve always been on the heavier side, but I never really worried about it. I thought to myself “it’ll all work itself out” or “I’ll lose the weight someday.”

Suddenly I was 22 years old and I had lost control. I was working full-time in retail while just getting my foot in the door of sports media in Denver. I was working 60 hour work-weeks while hosting my own podcast on the side, showing it to anyone that would listen. Meals would come whenever I could sneak them in and typically in the worst fast food form and finding time/energy to workout was a laughable notion. I was a borderline alcoholic, not because I couldn’t control myself, but the environment I was living in, it became a convenient distraction from life.

I was actually scared to workout. Joining a public gym can be terrifying at first when you’re well North of 300 lbs with judging eyes looming around every corner. Not to mention I wasn’t sure if I was physically capable of handling any type of strenuous workout.

I needed to change something. I wanted my life back and I feared that my lifestyle would lead to an early exit from the life I wanted to build for myself.

How do I start, where do I start? I hated running, I hated lifting weights, what is someone supposed to do for exercise otherwise?  I’ve always liked playing basketball despite being a short white guy and its something you can do easily by yourself.

I started slow. 30 minutes of shooting hoops per day. I did this for 30 straight days. At the same time I made some lifestyle changes to help kick off my weight loss journey. Cutting out alcohol and soda were the main ones. As I progressed, I realized just light shooting wasn’t enough so I added things to my workout. 30 minutes of just straight cardio before rewarding myself with the basketball time after. I think it’s important to take a mental approach like this. Working out should be fun and adding some kind of reward system adds accountability to the things you may not enjoy as much.

Then came adding some weights. Now, I am no macho weight lifter by any means and when I say “weight training” it was in the most casual sense. But it was working. At the same time I was drifting away out of the world of retail and getting further and further along in my media career. While doing so, I was just making simple changes and making time to workout. The first 30 pounds went quick, then I would intensify my workouts as I started to feel more confident in myself and the changes I was making to my body.

I’ve dabbled in numerous types of workouts to the aforementioned self starting, to more structured interval training. Since December 2012 I have lost 77 pounds and feel like a completely different person.

That said, I still have goals to achieve and as I have done in the past, have been looking for my next evolution in my weight loss journey. Enter Iron Clad Fitness.

We first met with Shari, the owner of Iron Clad Fitness, in early October to see if we could form a partnership to both continue my health resurrection and be able to share the story on a public platform. BSNDenver allows me to share my success’ and failures with all of our readers and listeners to hopefully inspire others to embark upon their own journey as well as get support from the community I am so engulfed in.

I think it’s important to keep variety in your workouts so for me, the Kettlebell training at Iron Clad is something that I had never done and naturally it interested me. For those who struggle to find time to workout, the classes at Iron Clad are generally only 45 minutes long but they are intense. You can go at completely your own pace, and Shari and her other coaches will guide you through all of the exercises and help you progress. They do a great job of making you feel welcome in a small class environment and all of the other clients at Ironclad embody their same values.

A great #kettlebell swing starts with the feet. Place your feet about shoulder width apart and turned slightly out. pic.twitter.com/SI4LBGKFFT

— Iron Clad Fitness (@IronCladFitness) November 3, 2015

Shari also is helping me with specific habit based nutrition coaching. As I mentioned earlier, I haven’t done much to my diet other than making small changes at a time. That is exactly what I’ll be doing with Shari, trying to create better health habits that will last me a lifetime rather than dieting for an extended period of time and then reverting back when its over.

I am thrilled to start working with Shari and Iron Clad Fitness and to start sharing my journey with any and all who will listen. Through this blog I will share details of my classes with Iron Clad, as well as some of the habits I will be working on changing in my life. My goal is to lose another 100 lbs by year end of 2016 and through Iron Clad Fitness classes and Shari’s nutrition coaching I am excited to meet my goals and share my results throughout the process.

“Today I will do what others wont so tomorrow I can do what others can’t” – Jerry Rice

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