Tag Archives: fitness

You can change the world

By David Tepera, June 7, 2017

Like all seniors this year, my son Dylan graduated high school. Many parents cried at the ceremony because it means their childhood is over. All the years of recitals, sports, activities and etc. are over.

Of course, not every child had great experiences while growing up in public schools. Maybe you felt like an outsider and different from the stereotypical normal popular kids.

Well guess what? That’s the cool part of the adult world. We do not need the ‘Same ol- same-ol.’ This is an exciting time for you because you should never want to be normal.

My kids and I applaud those children who chose to dress differently and live a different way of life, which gave them confidence. However, this pertains to those who treated others with kindness and respect.

Your future has started. How do you see yourself and what’s the end result? Today, start taking steps toward reaching positive goals of success, health and happiness.

Many high school graduates might be unsure of which direction to turn, and my best advice is to start internally. I promise if you begin with a healthy lifestyle, meet friendly people, then an opportunity will cross your path.

It is time to stop having fried foods and excessive sugars. You should start a new exercise program to help them see their life transforming. Your mind will think clearer, your body will fill with energy and your spirit will soar.

The adult path will have many challenges, but those experiences are important. You will get knocked down, blindsided and sucker punched, but get back up because those temporary setbacks will guide you to success.

I am almost 56 years old, and my tragedies help me become a better person, father and friend. Some situations hurt,  but it help me learn to love all mankind and myself.

Don’t ever give up on your story because what you strive to be is what you become. You have a purpose in life, and it is right outside the door waiting for you. Take a deep breath and say to yourself, ‘Alright world, look out because here I come.’

If you change yourself, then you’ll change the world.

Local father-son duo win fitness competition

Hi Fives: Posted: Saturday, December 17, 2016 

Congratulations to David and Dylan Tepera for taking first places in each of their divisions in a recent NSpire Sports League event. NSL is a world-wide competition that promotes healthy bodies.

David won two events in the men’s masters beach and athletic physique body categories, and Dylan won the teen beach body category.

What made this competition special for the pair is the fact David and Dylan were not just the only father and son duo, but at the age of 55 and 18, they were the oldest and the youngest competitors.

David and Dylan will be representing Galveston County come March 18, along with others, at Fit Life Fitness in League City.

Turn weaknesses into strengths

By DAVID TEPERA | Posted: Tuesday, July 26, 2016 

We all have strengths and weaknesses in every category of life. This includes job experience, relationships, spiritual, self-confidence, diets and habits.

I can’t express strongly enough the importance of competition from childhood throughout adult life. You learn to gauge your strengths and weakness compared to others competing in the same event. When you lose, you discover your weaknesses. When you win, you’re rewarded for your strengths.

We all hate to expose our weaknesses because we’re afraid others will judge us unfairly. But you must learn to pick yourself up and target those weaknesses. It will only make strengths even stronger.

The most obvious example is the sport of boxing. It’s almost certain the outcome is determined by who can protect the body and counter punch. If you can’t do this better than your opponent, you’ll get knocked out.

The biggest discovery is when you can turn a weakness into your strongest asset.

Believe me, I have many weaknesses, and I really do my best to overcome them.

All my years in school and college, my weakest academic class was English. It always dropped my GPA, even though it was still moderately high. I hated writing papers because my grammar was embarrassingly poor.

My English teacher in high school was Mrs. Watts. I think she only passed me because I was dating her daughter. Come on now, that wasn’t my strategy. I really did like her daughter.

When The Galveston County Daily News asked me to become a columnist, I was scared to expose my writing weakness to sports editor James LaCombe. James became my mentor and helped edit my articles until I became a strong writer.

I now write almost daily and it’s become my biggest passion. I also write for a monthly magazine, have written a play and started a feature film.

It still amazes me that I used to hide behind my weakness, but now I’m most known for it.

What about you? I bet if you worked on your weaknesses at work, you’ll start making more money and get promotions.

Most people’s weaknesses are bad diets and poor exercise habits. Make a stance and do something about it. Your whole life will change — I promise.

Today is the day to accept your weaknesses, pour energy into them and become stronger than you could ever imagine.

Now’s the time to separate yourself

By DAVID TEPERA | Posted: Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Are you bored with your life? Have you allowed yourself to become complacent with the same old routine each day?

Look around and notice, you’re probably wearing the same style of clothes as everyone else your gender and age. And sadly, you’re probably just as out of shape and overweight.

We are all creatures of habit. It’s our way of staying organized and possibly less stressed. But there are many of you whose routine isn’t going anywhere productive.

Maybe now’s the time to separate yourself from the average person. Be the silent leader by changing diet, exercise and lifestyle.

You will find it very rewarding and encouraging when people ask, “Something is different about you. You look good. Did you lose weight?”

My son Dylan is a junior in high school. His basketball season ended around two months ago. Afterward, we had a serious discussion to find a way to separate him from all the other players since he will become a senior and in his final season.

Our plan is to add as much muscle mass as possible and to work on speed and vertical leap.

What most people don’t understand is you typically don’t see results from training until after at least a month. If you can stick with it past that time, then body changes start kicking in and keep rolling.

Dylan didn’t have any weight increases during the first month, even though he was eating six meals a day. He also brings food to school to eat between classes.

But now, a little more than two months into training, he has gained 12 pounds of solid muscle, massively increased strength and added almost 2 inches to his vertical.

You see, Dylan is the average height of 6-feet, 1 inch like the majority of players on his team. But I guarantee next season he will be the biggest, fastest and strongest.

Now, it’s time for you to separate yourself from co-workers or teammates. Put a plan together, stick with it, and take your life to a whole new level.

Reach new levels with a good wingman

By DAVID TEPERA | Posted: Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Having a strong wingman will help elevate your skill set. In my day, it was Scottie Pippin with Michael Jordan and John Stockton with Karl Malone. One of today’s most known wingmen is Klay Thompson with Stephen Curry.

Arguably these particular wingmen would be superstars on mediocre teams. But without them, how well would their teams had done?

So, who’s your wingman? I’m sure you have one and might not be utilizing them.

Do you have a spouse, business partner, co-workers or a training partner?

There’s truly not a more important wingman than your spouse. You’ve planned to spend the rest of your life together and will need support and strength in every aspect and adventure in life.

How about your business partner? Do you both have a common goal of wealth with integrity? Are you sharing the same investment of capital and work ethic?

I once had a business partner in a medical equipment company that required us to meet at patients’ homes after their surgery to set them up on rehab machines. The timing was critical to ease patients’ pain.

My partner started slacking and would go to the gym or take long dinners before helping. I gave him a fair sum of money and eliminated his name from the business. My reputation was on the line.

Choosing the right training partner is critical in order to obtain fitness goals. It doesn’t matter what challenges you faced during the day, when you step into the gym, it’s game on with exciting encouragement.

A good training partner will not let you fail because each session should make you better, stronger and faster.

If your wingman becomes undependable and gives regular excuses, then it’s adios amigos. Let them hang out with other lazy people while you sculpt a swimsuit body.

So now, what character traits does your wingman have? Don’t forget, you’re someone’s wingman, too. Maybe it’s time to re-evaluate your life and step up your game and those around you.

Let’s make this life journey together and be everyone’s wingman.

Use Christmas gifts for fitness motivation

By DAVID TEPERA | Posted: Tuesday, December 22, 2015 

Oh yes, it’s Christmas holiday time and Santa’s bringing gifts with cheer.

There are many of you who will be receiving something in the arena of fitness. This could be anything from athletic clothes to exercise equipment.

My advice is to take whatever the gift may be and use it for motivation.

I often hear from people explaining how some new exercise gadget is really working, plus it’s made their muscles sore and helped lose weight.

I always ask “were you doing any type of exercise before you bought the gadget?” The typical answer is “no.” So, this means it became your motivation.

For example, there’s an abundance of abdominal equipment that claim to give tighter abs and lose weight. And, when people do try them, they feel soreness and some benefit for the very first time.

Yes, this is exciting and great news that it’s working. But, again, my question is “when’s the last time you performed a situp?” It’s probably been years.

Did you know that if you would just lie down, put your feet under the couch and start doing situps that you might feel the same soreness? Plus, it wouldn’t cost any money.

My message is not to discourage or make you feel ignorant for spending money on possibly unnecessary exercise equipment, but really, just the opposite.

I want you to embrace whatever gift received or personally bought and use it as motivation.

I don’t care how odd the gadget may seem. Just get on it, put it on and use it to get your body in motion. Use it every day and make it a part of your daily routine.

What will follow is the habit of exercising. Then you’ll build confidence and start exploring other areas of fitness. Fitness, diet and exercising will become a way of life and the world will open new doors.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas, now get excited for the new exercise toys and start changing your life.

Just like in football, there’s a 2-minute warning in life

By DAVID TEPERA | Posted: Tuesday, December 15, 2015

We are all familiar with the 2-minute warning in the game of football. It’s when there’s only 2 minutes left on the game clock in the second and fourth quarter.

This time period is critical because teams must strategize according to the score, especially the fourth quarter since it will determine a win or loss.

To me, we all receive a 2-minute warning in the game of life. How many of you have serious health issues, and your doctor has told you to change your lifestyle or a major surgery or even death will follow?

How about an abusive relationship in which the last episode was one too many?

Maybe your employer is not recognizing your qualifications and experience and keeps passing you on promotions and pay raises?

It’s possible, that under certain circumstances, it’s not wise to make a haste decision by quitting or walking away too soon. The quick results could be devastating.

Now it’s time to keep a cool head, a wise mind and put a winning strategy in place.

If it’s pertaining to your health, seek out professional help to not only change your diet and exercise regime, but for mental support as well.

If its relationship issues, then reach out to family and certain friends and put a plan in place to remove yourself. Some or most of the time children are involved and your decisions affects their well-being.

Of course, it’s possible higher authoritative help is needed. Just depends on individual circumstances.

When it comes to occupational changes, it might be time to update a resume, join LinkedIn and start networking with people in your field of choice.

Now, this is your 2-minute warning. Start strategizing, work on your plan and win this awesome but challenging game of life.

Life is too precious, and we all deserve the best life possible.

Now is the time to start New Year’s resolutions

By DAVID TEPERA | Posted: Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Well, I hope you enjoyed the Thanksgiving feast and all the tasty nondiet foods. Last week I gave you a pass to eat anything and as much as you want without any guilt.

Now, what typically happens to most people is you consider the holiday season and cold weather months as a time to blow off healthy diets.

You’re already trying to fool yourself that January will be different this time. This is a huge mistake in which you set yourself up for failure once again.

Be honest, this is the same destructive cycle you do every year. Snap out of it. It’s never worked, so why is this year different?

The truly best way to reach your 2016 diet and exercise goals is to start right now.

Developing habits and routine takes some time. If you get started now, then you’ll be in the zone by January to accomplish all those goals.

Yes, I know, there will be Christmas and office parties, family gatherings, and lots of homemade cookies and milk for Santa. But that’s even more reason to start now to improve diets and exercise.

The only way to battle through all the holiday calories is a consistent exercise program. Your biggest obstacle will be cleaning up your diet, but at least the party season will be over and excuses should stop.

Believe me, I understand the challenges. I made an eating fool of myself at Nanna’s house, but I started exercising the very next day. Oh my goodness, I was so sluggish and felt like a fat slob.

I went to the gym and walked 20 minutes on the treadmill, 20 minutes on an eclipse machine, 30 minutes on a stationary bike and ended in the sauna.

Even though I didn’t feel like going back to the gym yet, I knew it’s time to start getting back on the path of a healthier lifestyle. It has taken a few days, but I’ve already made a commitment to make 2016 the best year ever.

Don’t wait until 2016 to make New Year’s resolutions. Make a promise to yourself to change your life now.

Allow the month of December for diet and exercise failures. You need this time to stumble while better habits are being formed. Start crawling, so when January comes, you’ll be running.

There’s a beautiful person staring back at you in the mirror. Fall in love with yourself, take care of that amazing body and make tomorrow the best day ever.

Reward yourself this Thanksgiving

By David Tepera – Posted: Tuesday, November 24, 2015

By now, you’re aware that if you’ve been dieting for a period of time, that I recommend to reward yourself with foods desired.

Well my friends, it’s Thanksgiving holidays and it’s reward time. I always indulge myself on vacation and Thanksgiving holiday.

Hopefully, you’ve been a good girl and boy and have been training consistently and frequently. This is the one time of year I’m going to tell you to throw the diet out the window. Enjoy every moment with family and friends and all the wonderful tasty foods.

I truly hope everyone is as fortunate as I with the blessing of an enormous holiday feast. It’s the biggest event of the year for my family, and we are going to nanna’s house for a major grub fest.

I will be pouring extra gravy on the turkey and dressing along with all the fixings, extra butter on steamy bread rolls, two scoops of vanilla ice cream on hot apple pie and pumpkin pie engulfed with whipped cream.

Later on in the day, after watching and sleeping through football games, I’ll take a little walk through the neighborhood to help digest my overstuffed belly. It helps create more room to shovel down more helpings of delicious homemade foods.

You and I should not feel any guilt for all the extra calories and the few pounds gathered.

To truly enjoy and embellish the rewards, you know that within two days, it’s back to a healthy diet and fitness training. It usually takes me about five to six days to lose the extra pounds.

Now that I’ve rang Pavlov’s bell and you’re salivating all over this paper, get ready to make an eating fool of yourself.

Most importantly, take the time to sincerely thank everyone who helped participate in the feast and express love for all.

As I’m getting older, my heart has grown softer and I emotionally love all the wonderful people around me.

Life is getting shorter my friends, so don’t waste time on unnecessary hate. There are others who love you, just show them love back. It’s a life changer.

What’s the secret to stay trim and fit?

By DAVID TEPERA | Posted: Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Just know this article is not a “look at me” moment. There’s a reason and purpose, so keep reading.

I am 54 years old, 5 feet, 11 inches tall and weigh 195 pounds. I have a very low body fat percentage with six pack abs on most days. If you need proof, go to my blog — davidtepera.com.

I eat at our local doughnut shop Saturday mornings and McDonalds for lunch on Sundays. I usually eat seven to eight times a day and never go hungry. Typically, I have two breakfast sessions each morning before heading out the door. Also, I eat a handful of chocolate every night before bed.

I rarely drink or eat anything fat and sugar free, except sweet-n-low in coffee and tea.

So, what’s my secret? If you’ve been reading my column during the past year, then you know the answer. It’s as simple as consistency and frequency. It’s really all the little adjustments I do throughout each day.

For example: I work in multiple hospitals and use many parking garages each day and week. I rarely use the elevators and walk with a faster pace than most people.

When eating fast foods, I order grilled chicken wraps or sandwiches with no sauce or fries and take off the top bun.

All my meals throughout the day and evening are of moderate portions. I only eat to be satisfied, not full stomach. I carry a gallon of water in my car and chug on it all day.

I keep my carb portions to a minimal and almost none by dinner. My protein intake is at least 200 grams a day which is important to maintain muscle mass.

I created my own bag of raw nuts and fruits to snack on each time hunger strikes.

You need to keep your metabolism constantly working. When you stuff your face, your metabolism will shut down because all your body’s energy goes into digesting food. That’s why you get sleepy and lazy.

I stopped exercising with extreme intensity almost 15 years ago. But, I do lift weights four to five times a week and cardio-train five to six times a week.

Because of my age, weightlifting is more on the heavy side and targets every muscle group in the body.

Around 35 to 40 years of age, men’s testosterone levels decrease each year, and hanging on to muscle mass becomes a challenge. Heavy weight lifting will help.

My cardio training mainly consists of bike riding in the gym or through neighborhoods. I only keep a moderate pace and rarely with heavy breathing. It depends on the song in my headphones.

Bottom line, I’ve been doing this with consistency and frequency for over 10 years. Of course, I tweak the diet and exercise periodically, but really never taking time off.

Start today by making one healthy adjustment to your routine, then each week — add another. Within a few months, you’ll notice not only the physical change, but mental well-being as well.