Here are a few that I’ve received recently:

I’ve worked with Chuck since October of 2009. I was looking for a trainer with a great deal of knowledge and experience.  I competed in Athletics at a very high level so training was not new to [...]]]> Trainers live by referrals and testimonials… It is the life-blood of the business.

Here are a few that I’ve received recently:

I’ve worked with Chuck since October of 2009. I was looking for a trainer with a great deal of knowledge and experience.  I competed in Athletics at a very high level so training was not new to me. Chucks knowledge introduced me to new methods and workouts that let me progress towards my goals at a much quicker rate. Along with the workouts, Chucks knowledge in other area’s that helped me were Nutrition, Yoga, and Cross training. It’s not just about weight training, it was more of a complete balance that I was needing.

Working with some trainers can leave a workout pretty dull; thanks to Chuck I can keep my very active lifestyle, be in great shape and have some fun along the way.

Tony Ripsam CFP® , AAMS

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I asked Chuck for a program what would help me with my fitness goals.  These are mainly weight control and moderate weight loss, increased muscle tone, and targeting specific areas for better tone.

I had never followed a fitness program before so I was concerned it might be too complicated to fit into my daily routine.  What Chuck designed for me, though, was very easy to follow.  His directions were clear and concise.  This was a program I could definitely implement into my life.

The exercises themselves are a great combination.  They have kept weight off and helped me with increased muscle strength.  My flexibility is also improved.  Further, certain areas of previous injury are beginning to heal.  For example, I have had chronic pain in my lower back for fifteen years.  Because of the warm-up exercises Chuck recommended this pain has greatly diminished.  I feel strongly that by continuing the work it will eventually abate completely.

Since I began this program a year ago my endurance has increased.   People have commented on the fact that I carry myself better, which I attribute to awareness of core muscles.

I do not consider myself an athlete.  Increased fitness only became a goal of mine in the last two years.  Therefore the progress I made using Chuck’s program has made me much more confident in my potential.

Thank you Chuck!
Dawn Sagar

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I used Chuck as my personal trainer for a month and then joined his boot camp class. We met 3 times a week for 3 months. Chuck is very knowledgeable in what he does. He is very up to date on the dos and don’ts of various lifting and workout styles. I have a bad back and had knee surgery; he is very good in working around that and supplying different exercises for your specific need. His circuit training is very well thought out to incorporate groups of muscles. After working out we also stretch and incorporate yoga; which also helped me tremendously.

I highly recommend Chuck. He’s your guy!

Debbie Robbins
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My sister had a sign in her house, “The sign of a boring woman is a clean house.” On that subject, my house is a disaster and I am stressed. So I’m cleaning again. I only clean when I’m stressed. I also do a breathing exercise taught to me by my trainer, Chuck at Gold’s Gym. (Best Trainer Ever) Between that and cleaning, I may make it.

One of the very best decisions I made this year was to find a personal trainer. In comes a guardian angel, Chuck Kechter.
As an artist, sitting at the computer, developing my business and website put me out of shape like never before.  He was able to size up every part of my body that was “disturbed” and gave me exercises for my own personal needs.  He put me on the high path of developing good exercise habits again.

I very much appreciate Chuck’s ability to inspire, teach, and explain in layman’s terms what and why a particular place gives me trouble and what to do about that place. Chuck is also very aware of the “mind, body, spirit connection” and often speaks to that.  It has been a delightful and fun journey, full of surprises for me.  The biggest surprise is that I learned my body, at age 68,  is not ready to give up!  Thanks, Chuck

Marybeth Coulter

Thanks everyone, I appreciate your good word mare than you can know!

Ciao for now!

Finally, after some crazy, busy months, I’ve got my website back up and running. It still has some tweaks it needs and in the near future I [...]]]> “Our life is frittered away by detail… Simplify, simplify, simplify! … Simplicity of life and elevation of purpose.”
Henry David Thoreau (“Where I Lived and What I Lived For” Walden)

Finally, after some crazy, busy months, I’ve got my website back up and running. It still has some tweaks it needs and in the near future I am going to add a whole other page of testimonials I’ve received, but in the main it is in pretty good shape…

My training gig at Gold’s has taken off. I am averaging five clients a day (I’d like six or seven per day — we’ll see what happens). Along with that I have been consulting with several other clients on-line, trying my hand at on-line coaching… And as before, we’ll see how that goes — so far, so good…

In the last several months I have had my hand in a lot of small ventures: web site design, affiliate marketing, network marketing, website hosting, et cetera… Trying bring in a little extra scratch into the household… None of them has really “paid off” like I think they should have (or been told they would by various “authorities”). In fact I made more money off the affiliate sites from my own website than I have from all the external ones put together, by almost 100 percent. Figure that one out…

So, due to the outcome(s) of that experiment, I have decided to cut back my time and (other) investments into these business ventures and concentrate on the things that I am passionate about doing. In no particular order: training, art, writing, design, trading… And bring them back under one site, rather than trying to “keep up” with a bunch of smaller sites…

You’ll (maybe) notice that I have taken down my athletics page. I did so for the same reason. It was rightly pointed out that it was cumbersome and unwieldy to go to a whole other site just to see what I was doing, or researching training wise. It is a (big) part of my life, so why not put it together on the site where I express my life’s interests? Duh…

In other news…

I am also going to kill my Examiner.com column. For two reasons. One: they’ve made a bunch of new “rules” about what I can write about, and how it has to be written, that I think are silly and limiting to both the audience I want to engender as well as how the content is put forth. And two: it isn’t making me any money. So, like the shucked off websites I wrote about above, it is going by the way side. I am instead going to put together some kind of publication on the facts and fallacies of training and being a trainer and put it out through this website instead.

In other — training related — news I am going to start a civilian (not LEO or military) based self-defense class starting in early May. I already have five willing participants (see: victims ) that are interested in taking it… I am putting the finishing touches on my class breakdown as we speak… And I am going to offer a second time slot for group training. My “boot camp” (hate that term) class at Gold’s has gotten great results (and comments from other members), so I thought I’d add another into the mix for folks that can’t meet at 11am M-W-F.

My books are still being reviewed by Damnation Books… I hope to have a (good) answer from them in the near future.

So, a pull back to the things that matter to me most, a sort of “getting back to the basics” as it were… And moving forward from this position of strength, and passion, rather than spreading myself thin across a multitude of options.

I hope you’ll follow along…

Stealing a line from Marc “Crafty Dog” Denny: “The adventure continues.”

Ciao for now!

This is a video [...]]]> A palindrome reads the same backwards as forward.This video reads the exact opposite backwards as forward.  Not only does it read the opposite, the meaning is the exact opposite.
This is only a 1 minute, 44 second video and it is brilliant.   Make sure you read as well as listen…forward and backward. 
              

This is a video that was submitted in a contest by a 20-year old.   The contest was titled "u @ 50"  by  AARP. This video won second place. When they showed it, everyone in the room was awe-struck and broke into spontaneous applause.  So simple and yet so brilliant. Take a minute and watch it.

Last year (2009) was another stressful year, what with the continuation of the financial dumb-fuckery of 2008 (WMR, SEC, CO State Attorney General) as well as not being able to find a job for most of the first part of last year (my employment at Gold’s [...]]]> “Love, prosperity, peace, light & laughter, in 2010 and beyond.”
From Twitter

Last year (2009) was another stressful year, what with the continuation of the financial dumb-fuckery of 2008 (WMR, SEC, CO State Attorney General) as well as not being able to find a job for most of the first part of last year (my employment at Gold’s Gym started in Sept09). Add in that the job I did get as a personal trainer barely keeps me employed, and that because of that – for only the second time in my personal history – I make so little money as to be laughable. Kari’s job, while a bit more financially secure is still not “all that it could be.”

Then there were the deaths that seem to define the year. 2009 saw the passing of Kari’s dad Jim Poor and our beloved greyhound Boone. One death would have been bad enough… Two was massive overkill.

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As I do every year I went back and reviewed my goals for the previous year… And surprisingly I met 95% (or so) of them… I also found that several (especially those relating to what I thought of as financial and career) that I had written weren’t goals at all, but rather, “things to do.” They didn’t really further any growth in those areas of my life, except to perhaps simplify those areas.

Anyway… Since I can't go back in the past and have a "do over," all I can do, is pick myself up, dust myself off and get back to it…

For 2010, it is going to be a return to the basics: family, health/training, financial security, personal development, creative development and fun.

To do this the first thing is I am going to do is: plan my work and then work the plan…

Family

Back to basics: spend as much quality time with my wonderful wife Kari and daughter Kyanne as possible. Be as involved with them in their lives as I can be.

Health/Training

Health

Not much to change in this area overall… I will keep up and improve (where needed) my nutrition/diet, get appropriate sleep, drink plenty of water, see my medical team when needed. Et cetera… In other words tighten up what needs to be tightened and continue on mindfully with the rest.

Training

I am going to keep on with two goals from last year: "feeling great and feeling infinite energy.”

I will accomplish this through the continued training of the various energy systems, staying uninjured, as well as continuing to remove restrictive forces through the judicious use of training tools such as yoga…

Practice

I have three areas here I want to focus on in 2010. The first is to continuing to practice/train to get my BJJ brown belt (while keeping my standup, clinch and weapon-based skills as best I can)…

The second is to learn/practice the two remaining Prasara Yoga flows I have yet to learn: Diving Dolphin and Spider Monkey…

And the third is to begin work on a variety of hand balancing.

These last two areas are just for fun/education and because I want to. They in no way have any correlation with the training I will be doing to support my Jiu-Jitsu habit (as well as other aspects of my life).

Competition

Any competition done this year will only be with my trusted coaches and teammates during drilling, sparring, rolling and FoF.

Financial Security

Kari and I looked into and set up a handful of home-based businesses last year. None of which are doing much of anything. Most of that is our fault – we haven’t done hardly any REAL marketing of our businesses anywhere. So, that is one thing I am going to change… And in engaging that new marketing, I hope to start to bring in more revenue for our household – the goal being financial independence.

Businesses as of December 2009:

The Host Ship
Home Exercise Revolution
Dark Alley Designs
Fitness column at the Examiner.com

Along with increasing our marketing, I am going to develop (more) digital art for Dark Alley Designs.

For commodities trading: be mindful of the trade – i.e. plan my work and then work the plan. As well as remain mindful of the trades I make (keeping stops tight, doing the numbers, et cetera…). My financial goal here is to bring in AT LEAST $10,000 this year.

Personal Training: There are two avenues I am going to work this year. 1) Is to be the best PT I can be while in the employ of Gold’s Gym. Meeting or exceeding my clientele’s goals… 2) Develop my own practice – look into PT offices, doctor’s offices, chiropractor’s offices et cetera to set up my own “shop”… Or possibly out of my home… I have to research this to see which might be the better fit.

I doubt I will make much money off the Examiner columns… So I am changing my focus to using the columns to become recognized as a fitness subject matter expert.

Personal Development

Continuation of reading and writing (for learning), along with (more) consistent meditation.

Creative Development

Back to basics: more writing – I am going to shoot for 500 words per day (M-F). Along with that, I am going to devote more time to visual arts (drawing, painting, digital art).

Fun

*See family time. Also I am going to add more outdoors activities (when the weather cooperates)… The last thing I would add here is: like the definition of porn: “I’ll know it when I see it.”

Note:

And lastly: I am going to do my best to NOT be overly influenced by people in perceived positions of authority — no matter the venue. As I have found that, over the last few years, I have let those types of individuals derail aspects of my life — to fulfill their agenda(s) — and not mine… And it NEVER turns out well for me…

I am the ultimate authority over my life, no one else. I take responsibility for it! And it is more than past time I remind those “persons of authority” of that fact!

So, onwards and upwards!