At around 26 years old I had been on the chubby side pretty much all my life. Having never been really into sports, I still had that dream, that vision of myself being in great shape and athletic someday and I felt like time was running out as I was getting older and older. I promised myself to give it one honest shot, to really get off of my butt and work on that dream to see what that looked and felt like. I started walking and cycling a lot, ate better, began running and dropped from 194lbs to 150lbs in the course of a year, but I was still feeling rather miserable, still (skinny)fat and I was still smoking 2 packs of cigarettes a day. Also, my progress halted at that point. In an effort to truly change things, I then quit smoking and, combined with other events in my personal life, became depressed and used food and beer as a way to make me feel better again, putting myself back at 185lbs. It was a constant struggle, where I thought about starting smoking again, because I knew that it would help me eat less, but that just would have made things even worse. I attempted to pick myself up again, exercise again, but I couldn't even run half a mile. I tried other sports, but nothing really clicked. It was at this point of desperation, depression and overall lack of perspective that I saw Arthur Boorman's video on Youtube and while I had heard of DDP YOGA before on several wrestling-related podcasts, I previously hadn't thought of it as something that I would do. Well, after watching this video several times, I felt changed. That guy had so many obstacles in his way, so many excuses he could make and such a more difficult place to start at and he STILL did it, proved doctors wrong and ended up becoming an inspiration to hundreds of thousands? How could I ever make any excuses again?

With that mindset, I started the workouts, always a "NO EXCUSES!" post-it below my computer screen. What was difficult at first became second nature within weeks. Overhauling my nutrition was absolutely essential and turned out to be one of the greatest changes (and gains) of them all. One roadblock right at the beginning almost derailed me though: My wrists started to hurt badly and I was just about to quit. I didn't want to, so I asked for help, with no real expectation behind it, in the comments of one of DDP's youtube videos and sure enough, Dallas himself replies to me and suggests getting wrist wraps to alleviate the pain. This just goes to show how much he cares and how big of an impact he has on thousands of people, because that was the solution to my problem and I am certain that hadn't he helped me at that point in time, I would've never arrived at where I am now.

Speaking of important people: http://www.teamddpyoga.com is the place to be, seriously! The support system is phenomenal, there will always be someone who can help you with your problems, answer questions or simply lift your spirits. I've met a whole bunch of great people there and there is so much inspiration, motivation and support to be found that I can only encourage everyone who is doing DDP YOGA to sign up and take part.

Now, after 1 year of DDP YOGA, I feel like a different person entirely. The mindset of "making it your own", the idea of "adapting and living life at 90%" aren't just about the workouts or the diet, although they're a crucial part of both of those - but that mindset really works for everything in life and it's one of the biggest impacts that DDP YOGA has had on my life, possibly even bigger than the physical, visible transformation.

As for that, during the first 10 months I have gone from 185lbs down past my goal weight of 143lbs to my current weight of 136lbs and after keeping that weight for 2 months now, I am for the first time in my life actually looking to gain weight ( and muscle ), which is a testament to how great this program really is. I have also gained tremendous flexibility, improved my posture by leaps and bounds and the pain in my lower back, neck and chest that usually appeared after sitting for extended periods of time has completely disappeared.

And thanks to DDP's "there's always someplace else to go" I'm far from content with where I'm at right now. I have updated my goals last month and they now include, among others, to run a 10k in September, master a free handstand for 15 seconds, to stand up and extend my leg during Wrap & Burn and in the distant future, to give the Extreme workouts a go.

DDP YOGA may start out as "just a workout", but soon you realize that it is so much more than that. I am convinced that I will continue to follow the program in some form or fashion for the rest of my life and I'll be forever grateful to DDP and Arthur for that. Thank you guys..and FEEL.. THE.. B-A-N-G!