For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Brad Dugenske. I am 36 years old. My Father was in the Navy so we never stayed in one place too long and don’t really claim to be from any one place, but was born in Japan and currently call Glen Burnie home. I am an IT consultant for a small contracting firm and Coach Girl’s Soccer for the Severna Park Green Hornets Athletic Association.
My Journey all started two years ago when I realized I was seriously unhealthy and had to do something as I was starting have some serious medical problems. So with the help of my coworkers we started a biggest loser competition, as part of that I completely changed the way I was eating. I stopped eating fast food, started to watch my portions, started drinking more water, stayed away from alcohol. The weight started to come off, but I quickly found this was not enough to get me to where I wanted to be. You see at my heaviest I was pushing 315 pounds (lbs). I had a few friends that were working out at Wreck Room Crossfit at the time and told me that I would love it. I got the contact info of the owner Butch and setup a consultation which lead to a foundations class and then a class or two to see if it was for me.
Before talking with Butch and seeing what Crossfit was all about I was pretty nervous, but I knew after my first foundations class I was going to really like Crossfit. It brought me back to my younger years when I played competitive sports with the team atmosphere, everyone helping and cheering each other on, and I loved that. I had not been to the gym in a very long time because I didn’t have the drive to do it myself, or know what to work on. Where with Crossfit I didn’t have to worry about any of that, all I had to do was show up. The programming was done for me and everyone was there to push me if and or when I needed it.
Now as I mentioned above I was nervous because I had really only ever seen it on tv, and everyone is so athletic and strong. Where I was this overweight and severely out of shape guy who didn’t think I was capable of doing what was expected of me. But it didn’t take long for me to realize that every movement can be modified to work on the specific muscle groups needed to achieve the desired movement required for many of the workouts. To this day there are still things that I can’t do but I am no longer scared to try or modify those movements to participate. The Coaches at Wreck Room Crossfit have shown me that if you keep pushing yourself, you will be able to do what you thought was impossible in no time at all, you only get out what you put in. Hard work does pay off and you will see results.
With being so out of shape and overweight you can imagine one of my goals was pretty simple to lose weight. Butch helped me realize I needed to keep my goal obtainable as to not get frustrated, so I started with a goal of losing 25 lbs within those next 2 months. Which turned out to be much easier than I ever thought, with all of the eating habits I had already corrected and just showing up as often as my body would allow me to. That goal was achieved in a few short weeks, which gave me to confidence to keep showing up and that lead to a lot more weight come off. Today I am down to 240 lbs. and I feel fantastic. Even if I have had to buy a complete new wardrobeJ. My energy level is higher than I can ever remember it being. I am able to get out and play with my soccer team instead of just yelling at them. I have even started to play soccer in a league again which I never thought I would be able to do.
I still want to lose so more weight, but I’m happy with where I for the time being. Right now my main focus is trying to get a body weight snatch and/or clean and jerk, so I have really been lifting as heavy as possible. Trying to build more muscle and strength.
When I first started Crossfit there were a lot of emotions I went through probably too many to list, but looking back I would say I was lazy…I felt tired all the time, didn’t want to do anything except watch TV and would always make an excuse for not doing something. Now I would say I never sit still, I am always doing something, and I don’t look to make excuses for not doing things. Before I started at Wreck Room Crossfit I was having a hard time as a soccer coach, I couldn’t physically show the kids how to do certain moves or keep up with them on the field. Now I am able to perform the moves and show them how instead of just explaining them, and I often play with them at practice to push them harder and help them not be scared of people that are bigger than they are.
There are so many things about me that has changed in the last two years since starting at Wreckroom Crossfit I’m not sure if I can point out just one. I feel that the struggles, achievements, and friendships that I have made in those two year have simply made me an all-around better person! And with that said I am not able to pinpoint a favorite moment because every time I’m there I have so much fun, even if I’m not particularly looking forward to the WOD. The people are what make it fun for me. Wreck Room Crossfit has become a home away from home if I miss a day I am actually mad at myself now. I would say working out is the highlight of my day.
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