Changing Your Life by Changing the Lives of Others

“I’ll tell you what makes my life rich –

it’s what we do at 5 o’clock in the morning.

What do we do at 5 o’clock?

We leave a lot of sweat on the grass!"

Being around positive people who want to make a difference in not just their life, but in the lives of those around them.

 

Average Joe Boot Camp is a 30-day fitness camp for people of all fitness levels. I started camp myself 2 years ago on February 1^st. I was 247 pounds, my cholesterol was through roof, my triglycerides were through the roof, I was a stroke victim or a heart attack waiting to happen. Melanie Churchwell, who I will always owe a debt of gratitude, got me started.

 

Back then I couldn’t even run a 100 yards.

Now, I’ve lost close to a 100 pounds, ran 2 half marathons and one full marathon.

 

According to Web MD in 2010, 63.1% of people in America today are too heavy with 36.6% being overweight, 26.5% percent being obese. You want to make these changes, to work out or get healthy, but like a lot of people, you can’t seem to do it, you’ll start tomorrow or next week . . .

 

The group is the key. You’ve got all these positive people around you and that’s what keeps everybody going!

 

We started doing this for free back in September. A lot of folks charge a lot of money for this, $300-$350 month, and a bunch of my friends were talking about this and I said, you know, the average Joe can’t afford to do this! The truck driver, the waitress, or the Wal-Mart worker, and so it was a very small thing we started. Then back in October, we started a Facebook page for Average Joe and it just went crazy from there.

 

We get folks off their couch, off their butts;

we get the fried food, the processed stuff and sugar out of their mouths. That’s what we do.

 

“The real key that I’ve found being a part of this group is all about accountability. The group is key. It’s not just about me trying to get out there and do something for me. It’s about trying to do this as a group and show ownership across the board.” ~ Bill

 

“I came to Ron back in December, from then until now I’ve lost 35 pounds. Anybody can do this. Regardless of age, weight, dress size, we are out there at 5am at city park, every day.” ~ Althea

 

 

“I love to eat, and I know a lot of people do, but with me I especially love to eat. And I wound up with a blockage in my heart, got a stint put in, and I changed a little bit then but it wasn’t enough. A few years later, I got another stint. A friend introduced me to this boot camp thing, and that’s when I met Ron. I said, ‘Man, these people out here are going to kill me! I want to do something easy!’ Then back in January I wound up back in the hospital with a 3^rd stint and I called my friend again and asked him about the camp and he said, ‘Well it’s going on right now, where are you at?’ And I told him and he said, ‘Man, we need to get you back here!’ I started camp at the end of Feb over a year ago and it has changed my life. I went from not running a single step, on 9 diff medicines, with stints and blockages and all kinds of problems. Now I’m off all my meds. I’ve dropped 55 pounds, I ran 4 miles this morning, and did 300 crunches with 9 people from camp.” ~ Chris 

“It makes my life worth living sometimes. It helps me to get up out of bed at 4 o’clock in the morning, knowing these people are putting their health in my hands. And now I’ve got 8 other instructors out there helping, that I love like brothers and sisters and that means a lot to me as well. I feel like it’s a ministry, Beau. I really do.

 

I was a 250 pound guy who didn’t want to move! And now I’m out there organizing 5k’s, I’m running this boot camp, and it’s so freakish to know I’ve come this far and it means so much to me. I really feel like this is where God wants me to be."