About
“My Name is Matt Foley and I’m a motivational speaker. I’m 35 years old, I am divorced, and I live in a van down by the river!” Man, I miss Chris Farley.
My name is Zack Pennington and I’m a 23 year old musician from Louisville, KY. I’m also studying to be a Certified Personal Trainer. Like most musicians, I spend a lot of time on the road. Last year, I spent about 6 months sleeping in a van and eating Taco Bell everyday. Needless to say, that lifestyle took its toll on my body. At 22 years old, I had no job, no health insurance, and I was gaining an unhealthy amount of weight. This wasn’t anything new, because like most Americans, I struggled with getting in shape most of my life. But touring was exponentially decreasing my chances of getting fit. Growing up, both of my parents were overweight and I wasn’t getting any younger or thinner. I decided that if I didn’t change now, I never would.
So I changed. I know that seems simple, but quite frankly, it was. I didn’t randomly become smarter or stronger, nor did my hectic schedule level out. What did change, however, was my perception of the role of fitness in my life. Up until that point, I had always seen going to the gym as a chore or some sort of favor I was doing for my girlfriend. It was the day that I realized that I wanted and needed to get in shape for myself that changed everything! I also realized that I always make time to do the things I wanted to do as well as the things I needed to do, and that working out had to become like band practice or going to work. It was no longer optional. It had to be a staple of my daily life.
That day, I set out on a quest to find out a good workout routine. Google sent me to some popular body-building websites. These sites are very popular and full of information, so I just randomly read one of the advice columns and went with it. I was excited that I finally had a routine and I was sticking to it. I was so excited in fact, that I didn’t really keep looking for anything else or question any of the problems I was having with the routine. I was getting stronger, but I wasn’t really looking any more muscular. I definitely wasn’t losing weight despite working out 4-5 times a week, including running. The worst part was how I felt. I was sore 6 days a week. I remember thinking, “At least Sunday I’ll feel good enough to do whatever.” You might be thinking, “What?! That sounds awful?!” It was. I would lay in bed most nights and I didn’t have the energy to roll onto my side. I thought the pain and soreness would go away once I got used to working out, but it never did. I eventually learned that it was the nature of body building routines that was breaking me down every night and keeping me fat. I decided I had to look somewhere else for advice and luckily stumbled upon a tiny hidden part of the online fitness world that doesn’t revolve around body building. Since that day, I learned so much from studying this way of training that I decided to become a Certified Personal Trainer so I could professionally give this advice with others.
In the meantime, this blog is the best way for me to do just that. The blog will follow my personal efforts to balance living on and off the road and getting and staying in shape. I also want to show you, the reader, how to apply my methods to your own life in order to get life changing results. I’ve heard that you learn more by teaching, and that’s exactly what I’m setting out to do with this site.
I hope you find my site to be an informative and fun source to help you take care of yourself no matter how unpredictable your day to day life may be.
-Zack Pennington