By David Tepera, October 30, 2019

Recently, I was working with one of our male clients, Steve.

He has been with us for around six months and has made some significant changes. The 58-year-old Steve was displaying before and after photos from our Ageless Muscle program. He was excited to see the muscle growth, along with fat loss.

I explained to Steve that anyone who truly starts and stays on a healthy lifestyle will never have “after” photos because the journey never ends. Physical enhancements, along with mental awareness will now be part of your daily life. This has become true with most of our clients, especially the older ones.

We understand that people must set goals, which is important, but I want you to think beyond that.

Just because you lost the needed 20 pounds, how are you going to keep it off? More than 80 percent of people who lose weight will go back to an unhealthy lifestyle to put excessive fat weight back on. This is totally depressing but don’t beat yourself up for it.

If you’re on a diet that requires eliminating certain healthy foods, you’ll eventually fail. Eating healthy is a lifestyle, not a crash course, so there’s no after photos because our bodies will continue to develop.

Pick out your favorite sport you played or competed in from your youth. How many times did you shank a volleyball learning to serve overhand? How often did you get hit by a ball learning to catch, fall off a bike learning to ride, miss free throws learning to shoot, and so-on?

Hopefully, you got mad, dug deep into your pride, and kept pursuing until you accomplished each feat. But, it doesn’t stop there because more skills were needed to compete at higher levels.

This reigns true in the workforce. Before we started our family business, I told my children that to be successful, you must find your dream job and work your way up. Start at the entry level and don’t worry about the low pay scale. Prove your dependability and worth, and I promise, promotions will happen. At each level, keep exceeding expectations, and within time, you’ll be the CEO or develop your own successful company.

So, remember, your whole life is an adventure. It’s OK to take photos along the way to display the journey because if you keep pursuing life, there are no after photos.

By David Tepera, October 23, 2019

With the baseball playoffs upon us, it’s an exciting time to be a fan. For those of you who are not familiar with the baseball term “go yard,” it refers to hitting home runs.

Think about it, the ball will travel the entire yard of the field to proceed over the fence.

We all love home runs because they are rare, plus they often make a huge impact in the outcome of a game. We spend most of our time observing strikeouts, walks, base hits and a ton of throw-outs to first base.

To me, baseball has a huge reflection of our lives. How many times have you struck out in relationships, but eventually, you found the perfect partner? How many interviews did you go on before you landed the dream job?

What new diet program have you started this time because you can’t seem to make it to home plate?

During all these life events, you were hitting foul balls, base hits and sometimes scoring runs. It’s part of the ups and downs in competition, but the goal is to win the game of life.

I’m 58 years old, and over the past few years, finally went yard with a successful business, marrying my amazing wife Tina and building a stronger relationship with God.

Now, we all live different lives but have a common denominator for desiring success and happiness. We must recognize that striking out and losing games is part of the learning process. I stopped judging myself for losing and turned failure into experiences and opportunities.

Did you know, Carlos Correa’s 2019 batting average is .279. This means he is only hitting the ball less than three out of 10 times at bat. But, during those hits, he has 21 home runs and 59 RBIs. As we all know, he’s one of the most dynamic players on the Astros.

What about 5-foot, 6-inch Jose Altuve going yard with a walk-off two-run home run to clinch the ALCS against the Yankees? His batting average for this playoff series was .348.

So, what’s the true message today? Don’t let obstacles and set-backs keep you from reaching your dreams. Don’t ever give up on life because of all the failures. You must take these experiences to mold you into a mean-lean-fighting machine because if you keep swinging, you’ll eventually “go yard.”

By David Tepera, October 16, 2019

I must begin today’s column with a sincere apology. I had a misprint in last week’s article regarding the title of my guest. It should had referred to him as the chair for the board of Moody Gardens. Even the Daily News reached out to me to confirm, but before I had caught the mistake, it went to print.

This mistake solely lies upon me — the columnist. I corresponded to my humbled guest who clearly didn’t think much of it. But, I must truly apologize to the Moody organization and family members for an honest mistake. Your value to our society has been astonishing.

Now, this did make me reflect about different types of mistakes we all encounter throughout our lives. There are many people who are known for their mistakes more than their accomplishments.

For example, how about the baseball player who hit multiple home runs and RBIs to get his team to the playoffs but is best known for their strikeout at the bottom of the ninth inning? What about the quarterback who threw countless touchdowns but is only known for the interception in the last game?

Also, we all know people who can never admit their mistakes. For some reason, they only want to blame others for their failures. Just remember, next time you point your finger at someone, look at your hand because there are three other fingers pointing back at you. You get my drift?

Not too long ago, I came home from a long tiring day from work. I was upset with my son Dylan for leaving a dirty cooking pan on the stove. I verbally expressed my disappointment without letting him speak. Dylan respectfully apologized and went to his room.

Once I started looking around the kitchen, I noticed he had put away all the clean dishes, folded the towels from the dryer, and the dirty pan was from meals he cooked for the entire family.

I called Dylan back to the kitchen where we sat down, with tears in my eyes, I apologized for being not only short-minded, but not giving him the credit and respect a fine young man deserved.

You see, even as parents we must admit our mistakes to our children. I promise, this will make them better parents, too.

So, as you head out the door today, how will you treat your family, coworkers, coaches or teammates? But, more importantly, how will you treat people in our society.

Just remember, once you can own up to your mistakes, you’ll be able to keep moving forward.

By David Tepera, October 9, 2019

If you’re from the Galveston county area, or a Galveston native (B.O.I.), you’re familiar with the name Moody.

The Moody family has impacted many lives through their real estate and development that goes beyond just Galveston. My family enjoys the festivities and weekend getaways at Moody Gardens throughout the year.

A fine gentleman named Doug McLeod, is the chairman on the board of directors for The Moody Gardens. Even though McLeod is a well-accomplished attorney, he has been an executive for the Moody’s most of his adult life.

Recently, after many email responses, McLeod and I finally had the opportunity to meet over lunch. You see, besides all of his accomplishments, who sat across from me was a tall handsome, well-groomed, athletic 78-year-old man with enormous amounts of energy. McLeod was talking a mile-a-minute with a profound zest for life.

Since most Ageless Muscle clients are active seniors, I was curious to know McLeod’s fitness background because he’s clearly an inspiration to us all.

In McLeod’s youth, he excelled in track and swimming and was a letterman at Ball High. After his freshman year in college, he served in the United States Marine Corps for six years. McLeod proclaims the training and discipline was rugged but is prouder of that service than anything else in his life.

In the 1960s, during college, McLeod and some buddies started fooling around with some light weight training. It was during that era coaches started realizing the benefits of lifting weights.

Along came the early 1970s, and McLeod took up jogging because of the dramatic improvement in athletic equipment and shoes, along with three trips per week to a fitness center. Doug continues his same routine of cardio and light weight training to date.

McLeod sadly said his commitment to a lifetime of health and fitness came from losing his 31-year-old brother from a sudden heart attack, and within the same year, lost his mother because of heart disease.

I asked McLeod for his best advice to people of all ages. His reply was simple.

“You must do everything in moderation,” he said. “This pertains to eating and watching your weight. Just stick to your routine because good habits are just as hard to break as bad habits.”

By the end of our lunch, it was clear to me that McLeod was one of Galveston’s finest and fittest.

By David Tepera, October 2, 2019

If you’re a basketball fan like my son Dylan and I, you’re familiar with Karl Malone.

His most famous nickname was “The Mailman.” This name was created while playing college ball at Louisiana Tech University because he always delivered.

Malone played 19 years in the NBA, 18 of which were with the Utah Jazz. Most of us enjoyed watching the chemistry between John Stockton and Malone. It was poetry in motion.

Malone was a 14-time NBA All-Star with record-setting career points of 36,928, including the most free throws attempted and made.

Malone took his nickname to heart by playing in 97 percent of all games throughout his career. All the fans and teammates knew he would deliver.

How many of you are someone we can count on? Do you show up for work each day and give it your best? Are you the role model for your children because your actions will affect their drive for success?

It’s important to realize that when you’re on the clock at work, don’t just walk through the day, put a kick in your step and be the person who brings energy to the whole workplace.

When you get home from a long day of work, you must catch a second wind to shower your family with enthusiasm and love.

At Ageless Muscle, we take pride that all our clients know we are not just accountable but will deliver results with energy. Our training days start at 4:30 a.m., which means we are up before 3 a.m. Just know, on most days, we work until 8 p.m. Yes, these are incredibly long hours, but we love changing people’s lives.

We placed this same accountability on our clients. We understand people have busy careers and personal lives. But, to get results, you must stay consistent.

Just like everything in life, if you only give 50 percent, you only receive half the reward. The clients who don’t miss training days have transformed their bodies.

One client came to us to strengthen leg muscles because she was scheduled for a knee replacement within three months. Well, it’s been almost eight months, and her knee replacement has been put on hold. That, my friend, is giving a 100 percent each and every day.

Now, today, as you’re getting ready to head out the door into this wonderful world, put your game face on and become “The mailman.” We need you to deliver.