See How Easily You Can Build Strength And Feel Better
Meet Eric Cappetta. Eric has completed over 100 workouts at The Exercise Coach. He is 46 years old, 6-foot-1 and 195 pounds. He has always relied on natural strength to carry him through physical activities. Eric enjoys hunting, fishing and snow skiing. Although his job requires a significant amount of computer time, Eric loves the challenge of hard physical labor.
Does it make sense that a guy like Eric, who enjoys physical activity, doesn’t like to exercise? Eric was beginning to feel his age and the aches and pains that go along with that.
Find out how Eric came to try The Exercise Coach and how he felt after his first 100 workouts.
What is your history with exercise programs?
Until I found The Exercise Coach, I haven't been involved with any organized exercise program since my early 20s. Over the years, I've tried various gym memberships, home workout machines and generally anything that seemed popular at the time to try to maintain some level of physical competence. Nothing has ever stuck longer than a few weeks.
At the core of it, I really hate exercise just for the sake of exercise. I always start out with good intentions, but I lose interest quickly. Put a shotgun in my hand in a pheasant field in Kansas, and I will march all day. Strap on a 30-pound pack, hike 3 miles into a high alpine stream, trout fish all day and then hike back out — sounds great, I do it every chance I get. But paying money to go to a gym and grind out a boring exercise routine on a regular basis has just always annoyed me profoundly.
What physical changes were you experiencing in your life?
At 46 years old, I finally got fed up with pain. The problem with never exercising under a structured program is that eventually things start to break. Joints start to hurt, ligaments and tendons get strained and muscles start to spasm and lock up. I have a long torso, what can only be construed as a "dad bod” and have dealt with varying degrees of back pain for the last 25 years.
What made you decide to try The Exercise Coach, and did you have any skepticism?
After trying it herself, my wife suggested I try a 20-minute workout at The Exercise Coach. This suggestion was met with immediate eye-rolling on my part, accompanied by the argument "There is no way a 20-minute workout twice a week is going to do anything for me." Fast forward through a couple of weeks of pestering and I finally agreed to try it, mostly to make the pestering stop.
What were your initial goals when you came to The Exercise Coach?
Full disclosure, I had my weight under control when I stepped through the doors for the first time, so weight loss was not on my list of goals. What was at the top of my list of goals was strengthening my core, getting my body strengthened to the point that I'm not hurting from getting up off the couch, or throwing my back out bending over to net a trout. I paid for eight sessions and promised myself that no matter what, I was going to try hard for those eight sessions and that I would decide about continuing with the program or not upon completing them.
What did you notice in those first eight sessions?
I started the program going twice per week. I noticed several things within the first four sessions:
- I noticed immediately that I was sore after the workouts, but sore in a good way, not devastated. I could still move around easily enough without feeling like my body had been shoved through a meat grinder, and the soreness I did experience went away quickly.
- For the first time ever, it was undeniable that the best I felt all week both physically and mentally was the time frame beginning about 30 minutes after I worked out continuing for approximately 48 hours. As soon as this became apparent, I switched to three sessions per week and haven't looked back.
- The structure of the workouts and the interaction you get with the Exerbotics machines does something to you psychologically. For me, the psychology of a 20-minute workout is perfect. I can grind my way through 20 minutes of almost anything. And make no mistake, for me it is a grind, but the one big difference between exercise programs I've tried in the past and The Exercise Coach is that right around the time my internal attitude is starting to become a real problem, the workout is over. Happens like that almost every session.
You’ve come a long way since those initial eight sessions. How are you feeling now?
After over 100 sessions, I've already accomplished more than what I set out to do. I'm in better physical condition than I was in my 20s, way better physical condition than I was in my 30s, and I was able to get through deer season and waterfowl season this year without spending the end of it flat on my back in bed! Even though I wasn't out to lose weight with this program, I have lost inches of fat from my waist to the point that I have had to invest in some new clothes. Some of the "dad bod" attributes are still there but make no mistake, they are diminishing rapidly, and for the first time in many years, I can actually see defined muscles on my frame! It feels pretty good!
