Happy Fitness Inspiration Friday! Welcome back to another edition of my featured FitSpiration Friday where I introduce you to someone who inspires me in my fitness endeavors. This week I am super excited to introduce you to my good friend, Kris!
I have known Kris for many years. We were good friends in college. We were young life leaders and involved in the Greek life community while attending college at Missouri State University together.
Introducing my friend Kris, my featured FitSpiration!
It’s hard to gauge when I started my fitness journey because I’ve always been super active. I was always in some type of sport. Even though my family called me “chicken legs” because I was so skinny, I still played football and ran track through high school. I’d say my “real” fitness journey started after high school, and I say this because I finally reached a place where I wasn’t happy with my physique. Being skinny can be just as traumatizing as being obese. My best friend from growing up made me go to the weight room every day. I hated it, but eventually I started seeing results. By the way, results never come overnight. When they finally came, I was hooked.
It always helps to have someone to train with because it keeps you accountable. I was always intimidated by the gym. I didn’t think I belonged there because I wasn’t big enough. Once I got over that accusatory voice, I found just the opposite. Just like anything else, if you wanna be like the best, you gotta walk with the best. After college, I started training with Richard Plank, who had done a lot of bodybuilding competitions. He really helped me fine tune my diet and my training. I never had a huge desire to compete, but after all the years I put into training it just made sense. I did a few natural bodybuilding competitions. It took a long time, and the long journeys are the most rewarding. Shortcuts like “crash” dieting and steroids all have their consequences. I got 5th in “The Missouri” middleweight division in 2007, 2nd in the 2007 NANBF Springfield Naturals, and in 2008 I got 5th in the Men’s Natural Missouri Physique tall division.
I don’t know if I’ll compete again. In the future, I just want to be an inspiration to others and help others achieve their fitness goals. I started a twitter account with one of my good friends, James Ellis, who might be the top fitness model in the industry right now. It’s called Fit4Jesus, and I hope we can use it to inspire others to be the healthiest they can be physically and spiritually.
(This is a video of Kris and James being interviewed.)
What is your ONE piece of fitness advice you find helpful to keep you motivated?
For the one piece of fitness advice to keep going: Fitness doesn’t have to be complicated. No matter who you are, there is always something that’s gonna come up and get in the way. The key is to just do something! There’s never a perfect time. If you can only go on a walk, go on a walk.
Kris is my FitSpiration… both in and out of the gym. He is a spiritual leader in his community and an inspiration to all he meets! One last bit on Kris. He is a fantastic musician and composed a beautiful song called One True Friend. Check out the video and be blessed by his creativity and words!
Carol says
Found this post interesting! I’ll be pinning this on pinterest today!