Conquering Mountains: One Man's Journey to Health and Strength

I don’t know when I got it into my head that I needed to climb mountains. Somehow in my 54th year on this planet, I decided this was my most pressing goal. My knee told me no way and my fitness level was not great. Heck, it wasn’t even good. However, I set a date, got myself into physical therapy and slowly started working toward that mountain. And there, in PT, I met Peter.

PT saved my knee, but I knew I needed more. I needed all-over strength and stability. I needed health. I needed change. One day, I timidly asked Peter if he did training outside of PT and he said yes. And thus started the journey that changed my life. I sat down with Peter and took a baseline of weight, measurements and percentages. I started logging food. Looking at that data was scary but knowing where I was gave me motivation to start moving to where I wanted to be.

Right around the time we started our work, I went to climb that first mountain (Mt. Jackson, in the Whites). Climbing Mt. Jackson was the most humbling experience of my life. I never felt so weak and depleted. It took me 8 hours to go up and down that mountain! I also had never felt so strong and exhilarated. I actually did it!  I set a goal to climb 100 mountains. I shared this with Peter and for a little over a year (so far) we worked on changing my nutrition, getting better sleep, self-care and strength training. We worked on getting me healthy.

And those workouts - OMG, the workouts. I remember thinking after that first tabata: “He’s not going to make me do that every time, is he?” Turns out, the answer is yes. Every time something got easy, Peter would make a little tweak here or there and it would get hard again. And I gained strength and stamina and balance and agility and confidence. I got lighter (I lost 50 lbs.!) and could move quickly. Along the way, I ran a 5k. I hiked longer and faster. I climbed more mountains. 

But most of all, I’ve changed. I feel at home in my body. I trust it. I feel content moving it. And that makes me a happier person. I’ve begun to think of even more challenging goals, like ice climbing. And here I am, a couple of weeks after my 55th birthday, just returned home from another trip to the Whites where I hiked a mountain in the morning, hiked out to some scenic falls in the afternoon and wandered a random trail system in the evening. And I felt good every step of the way.

Why am I sharing this with you? Because I never, ever thought this healthy, happy person could be me. I didn’t even know I could feel this way. But here I am. I worked hard, and will continue to do so. But without the best guide in the business (thank you Peter!), I wouldn’t have believed this could be me. And it can be you. Of this, I have no doubt.

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