Sometimes fate presents you with challenges that force you to elevate your game. Rand was one such challenge. His reassignment was bittersweet but I am a better trainer for knowing him.

I met Steve in Oct of 2010 with some challenging physical issues. As a US Army helicopter pilot, I was grounded from flying due to physical immobilization and pain from a source not identified. When I walked into the gym, I informed Steve I had lost overhead movement in my shoulders with associated pain in my upper back and neck. I had gone from being able to do 100 push ups at the drop of a hat to not being able to get into push up position due to pain. Steve’s response to my narrative was “I can fix it”. No doctor had told me that. They only told me I didn’t need surgery and didn’t know why I was in pain. Steve informed me that my shoulders had slowly internally rotated as a result of bad posture and disproportionate weight worn on the upper body while flying in combat. I wanted to aggressively begin training and build my strength back. Steve simply said, “Let’s first get you moving again”.

We immediately began training. The exercises were not what I was expecting but were effective and targeted specifically for my issues. We began with shoulder and upper body stretching followed by shoulder stabilization exercises using kettlebells. Steve was attentive and monitored my movements closely to ensure not to put me in painful positions. If I couldn’t perform a certain exercise, he simply recorded it and said we’d get back to it when I was able.

After six sessions, I was able to move more than I could in almost 18 months. As strength and movement increased pain decreased and my motivation not only returned but skyrocketed. After a couple of months we began focusing on building strength and power. Each workout was a challenge but I walked away wanting more. Pain steadily became non-existent and I was back to doing exercises I thought I would never do again.

After four months, I was medically cleared to fly again. I recently left San Antonio for an overseas flight assignment which I would never had been ready for if not for Steve. Not only did he physically rehabilitate me, he educated me on the physical dynamics of proper training and the cause of my issues in order to prevent them from re-occurring. Not only was our training extremely beneficial, it was fun. Thanks Steve, you taught me a great deal and helped salvage the career I thought I’d lost.

In 15 years of training, no one has taken my advice and run with it like my buddy Ray. His story, in his own words, is below. I hope you find it as inspirational as I do.

Like most people after high school I began to put on the pounds.  I’m 6’-0” tall and by the time I reached 30 I was up to almost 260 lbs. and I distinctly remember my refusal to buy size 40″ jeans even though buttoning my 38′s was getting very difficult.  I would proceed to try practically every diet imaginable, losing maybe 10-20 lbs. at a time but never really able to keep the weight off.  When I was in my mid-late 30′s I was finally able to lose about 25 lbs. and keep it off with exercise and better eating, however for the next year or two I would become extremely frustrated, working out like a mad man and eating right, 5-6 small meals a day (like everyone says you should do) with no results.  I even had sessions with a personal trainer and a nutritionist at my cookie-cutter gym only to get more frustrated with the science of “counting calories” and working out in my “target heart rate zone”!

Steve Bubel

I was attending my 20 year high school reunion when I’m re-aquatinted with classmate Steve Bubel who I had heard was a highly regarded personal trainer.  I was randomly paired up with Steve at our reunion golf tournament and I remember venting my weight loss frustrations to him to get his advice.  He suggested that I try eating only two meals a day instead of 5 or 6 but I didn’t listen, I remember thinking that Steve’s ideas were too radical…..I obviously wasn’t ready!  Fast forward one year, I was still about 235 lbs. and the frustration had peaked so I decided to contact Steve again, this time ready for some serious change.  It was a Friday in May, 2010 when I had lunch with Steve and we talked about my goal, to be under 200 lbs. on my 40th birthday, which at that time was 15 weeks away.  I told Steve what I had been doing for exercise and how I had been eating up to that point and he told me (and I’ll never forget this) “that’s easy Ray, you eat too much!”  I remember thinking how I had just spent hundreds of dollars at my other gym on a heart monitor, body age tests, BMI measurements, a trainer and a nutritionist…..and my problem is that I eat too much?  It just goes to show what you’ll do if your desperate (or fat) enough!

I.F. (Intermittent Fasting)

At lunch that day we agreed to start my training and Steve’s first instruction was to begin immediately by having me skip breakfasts, eating only lunch and dinner, no snacking.  I was like, “what!”  Skip “the most important meal of the day?” but I figured what do I have to lose?  That weekend I shared my new approach to eating with some neighbor friends, who are all relatively thin and all I heard was “don’t do it, your body will go into starvation mode, your metabolism will slow, your body will store fat, your body will attack muscle tissue for energy”…….I heard it ALL!  Lucky for me I was desperate and already committed to Steve’s tactics.

Major Weight Loss

The results the first few weeks were nothing short of amazing, I was losing 4 pounds a week for the first 4-5 weeks, it was going so well that I decided to lower my birthday goal weight to 195 lbs.  Steve and I continued working together for the weeks to come continually enhancing my work out strategies and tweaking the I.F. Plan.   Being the big breakfast person that I was, the adjustment to I.F. was tough in the beginning but eventually I was able to make it through the whole day and eat only dinner on some days.  What I love most about Intermittent Fasting is that I don’t have to “avoid” any type of food, I eat whatever I want, I generally eat healthy but if I feel like throwing down a ½ pound blue cheese burger, I can.

Strength, Speed and Stamina

When I started with Steve I could do only one un-assisted pull up…..and it was a sad looking pull up at that, today I can jump up on a bar and squeeze out 10 almost effortlessly.  Strength has increased in all areas of my training but my greatest gains have definitely come in my core.  I’ve also made dramatic improvements in my 500 and 2000 meter times on the infamous row machine (Steve’s weapon of choice) and I’ve knocked several minutes off my trail run times at Eisenhower Park (not hard to do when Steve or Greg Burch are setting the pace).

I’m now just days past my 40th birthday and I’m 193 lbs, having met my goal one day early.  My body isn’t storing fat and it isn’t attacking muscle tissue for energy, it is however getting leaner, stronger and faster.  I’ve lost at least 40 pounds with Intermittent Fasting and now I can wear 32″ pants (a size I haven’t seen in nearly 25 years) I feel better than I ever remember and I’m arguably in the best shape ever.  Steve’s methods are not complicated and his approach to fat loss is simple, move more, eat less and I.F. made this approach much more practical than counting calories for me.  Intermittent fasting has changed my life; I come from a culture where life revolves around food and with I.F. I can still enjoy those customs without worry.  In the words of Steve, “I eat what I want, just not when I want!”.

Thanks Steve for giving me the knowledge!

Ray