One of my favorite new songs (a head-banging song as some of my clients would call it, even though it's nowhere near headbanging music) must have been written with Amy Haddad in mind. The lyrics go like this:
Cause I'm a fighter inside the ring,
a champion of suffering,
I'm a warrior, I'm a conqueror.
I'll dance my way through the darkest night,
I'll find my joy in the morning light,
I'm a warrior, I'm a conqueror
So bring on the night.
Bring on the night.
It's by a Christian band named Estoria and it's fitting that the title is "WARRIOR."
If you haven't heard it yet, you may want to check it out here. It may make it to your workout playlist too:
If you know Amy and her story, I'm sure you would agree that's definitely what she is, a warrior.
I first met Amy at my book signing last spring. I then saw her in action at our Hitman Challenge in August of 2014. I was blown away by her performance. She came in 8th place for the female division, in a division stacked with extremely fit women! Somewhere along the way we became more connected and now over the last few months she's been an official FMU member!
After seeing her slash her 5k time by three minutes this past weekend at Smiles For Sophie Forever, she pretty much sealed the deal on this GAMECHANGER status.
After seeing her slash her 5k time by three minutes this past weekend at Smiles For Sophie Forever, she pretty much sealed the deal on this GAMECHANGER status.
Let me just point out the obvious first:
- Amy shows up at 5:30am five days a week to workout.
- Amy doesn't get tired.
- Amy doesn't slow down.
If you know what makes up a big chunk of her workout regimen, you would probably understand why. She has a trainer named Shane who makes her work hard outside of this gym! Shane is her 9 year old son. He's in a wheelchair which means when he wants to go running, mommy is pushing! And he likes it so much that three miles is considered their short run. Just because Amy already worked out that day doesn't get her off the hook either. "He still makes me push him all over Rocky River!"
If you don't know about superhero Shane's story, here's a tiny snippet:
"Shane was diagnosed with brain and spinal cord cancer called Pilomyxoid Astrocytoma in 2010 when he was almost 4 years old. He is now 9 years old. Shane underwent surgery to de-bulk the large tumor in his head. He tried many different chemotherapy treatments for a year and yet the tumors continued to grow. Therefore, he had to have radiation treatment everyday for 7 weeks. After radiation, he underwent another surgery to de-bulk the large tumor again. This treatment has keep his tumors from growing. The tumors are considered stable now. They are still present but not growing. As a result of treatments, Shane has experienced seizures as a side effect. He had brain surgery in hopes to eliminate seizing. Unfortunately, he had a stroke during that surgery and has lost movement in his left side and is still seizing."
Shane is an amazing kid. If you ever meet him you'll love him. He came into our Rocky workouts during the school year with his mom and would hit the boxing bag the entire time.
So look, here's your checkpoint. You can't make an excuse anymore.
Amy could come up with plenty of them. She could skip morning class when she's up with Shane all night. She could complain about being too tired after carrying him up and down the stairs. She could say that the hospital visits and daily regimen wears her out too much. She could also say that her other two kids (11 and 7) are keeping her too busy also.
But yet, she still shows up bright and early packing her bubbly positive attitude with her every time she walks into FMU.
She has a bigger reason.
"Shane is a true miracle and a blessing from God! Our hero! He keeps me going and is the reason I started working out. I had to get strong to be able to carry and move him every day."
I always say you can stand in the same room with someone and have no idea what their world is like. And then you get to know them, and their story completely changes the way you look at them and most importantly, yourself.
If you don't know Amy Haddad yet, get to know her today.
Then you'll see why she's an absolute game-changer to us and everyone in her life.
It's not about me,
Coach Theo
If you don't know about superhero Shane's story, here's a tiny snippet:
"Shane was diagnosed with brain and spinal cord cancer called Pilomyxoid Astrocytoma in 2010 when he was almost 4 years old. He is now 9 years old. Shane underwent surgery to de-bulk the large tumor in his head. He tried many different chemotherapy treatments for a year and yet the tumors continued to grow. Therefore, he had to have radiation treatment everyday for 7 weeks. After radiation, he underwent another surgery to de-bulk the large tumor again. This treatment has keep his tumors from growing. The tumors are considered stable now. They are still present but not growing. As a result of treatments, Shane has experienced seizures as a side effect. He had brain surgery in hopes to eliminate seizing. Unfortunately, he had a stroke during that surgery and has lost movement in his left side and is still seizing."
Shane is an amazing kid. If you ever meet him you'll love him. He came into our Rocky workouts during the school year with his mom and would hit the boxing bag the entire time.
So look, here's your checkpoint. You can't make an excuse anymore.
Amy could come up with plenty of them. She could skip morning class when she's up with Shane all night. She could complain about being too tired after carrying him up and down the stairs. She could say that the hospital visits and daily regimen wears her out too much. She could also say that her other two kids (11 and 7) are keeping her too busy also.
But yet, she still shows up bright and early packing her bubbly positive attitude with her every time she walks into FMU.
She has a bigger reason.
"Shane is a true miracle and a blessing from God! Our hero! He keeps me going and is the reason I started working out. I had to get strong to be able to carry and move him every day."
I always say you can stand in the same room with someone and have no idea what their world is like. And then you get to know them, and their story completely changes the way you look at them and most importantly, yourself.
If you don't know Amy Haddad yet, get to know her today.
Then you'll see why she's an absolute game-changer to us and everyone in her life.
It's not about me,
Coach Theo
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