Joe Blair

Meet Joe Blair!
My name is Joe Blair and I am 17 years old from Santa Barbara. I live with my mother (Kim), father (Chris), little sister (Jade), and our 1-year-old puppy (Dexter). Currently a junior at Santa Barbara High School, I like to play computer games, basketball, and hanging out with friends.

When did you start coming to Prevail?
I started coming to Prevail towards the end of 2016, but took breaks due to back problems. The past few months, I have been able to train more consistently.

What impact has training at Prevail made in your life?
Training at Prevail has truly been a great impact on my life. Recently, I completed my goal of a 20 pound weight loss in just under 3 months. I see this as a result of my consistency at the gym. Prevail has helped me with my confidence as well. While I struggled with depression for years, I truly believe that exercise and working hard helped me overcome problems in my personal life to help me become happier. Recently, I have noticed that consistency in the gym is a good way to stay on top of daily activities and stay energized. I now look to continue my consistency of exercising and hope to potentially start coming to Prevail more often.

What were the challenges you faced in regards to making changes with your nutrition?
I was able to make changes in my nutrition, but it didn’t come without its own challenges; results did not come overnight. The biggest obstacle for my change was nutrition. Poor food choices are a tough habit to break, but I think it is necessary to start working on this before beginning a workout routine. For me, soda and spicy chips were the hardest things to say goodbye to as they used to be some of my favorite things to eat. I began an approach of slowly decreasing the amounts of these foods that I was eating. Keeping track of my “junk food” intake on a daily basis helped me stay organized. From there, I began substituting new foods for the junk. This was tough, but I found success in trying combinations of healthy foods that I already enjoyed to ensure I was eating all the necessary food groups. Problems I dealt with in the gym were mainly concerned with my attitude towards fitness in general. As I became more interested in working out, I started to see positive changes and results. This made me a lot more positive, and once I started looking positively towards exercise in general, it helped motivate me to get in the gym and work hard more often.

List the top 2-4 changes you made that you feel were paramount to your success?
The top 2 changes for me that are paramount to my success are changes in my diet and consistency in coming to Prevail.

Do you have any words of encouragement or tips for somebody who has struggled with losing weight and/or improving their nutrition/lifestyle?
It takes trial and error to get results, but don’t let troubles in losing weight discourage you. As long as you are willing to try hard and be open to change then you have a good foundation for success in fitness and health.