In early July of 2010, Joshua Rabago of Battle Ground was out of shape, unhealthy and his weight had risen to well over 300 pounds. He grew tired of the constant struggle with his weight and decided to try a personal experiment for one week. He quit eating junk food, quit drinking sugary soda and stopped eating after 7 p.m. In that first week, he lost 11 pounds from those simple changes.
“After losing those 11 pounds, it gave me the confidence to keep going and never give up,” said Rabago.
The next week, Rabago lost another 6 pounds and realized that if he kept going, he could truly change his body and overall health. He joined a gym, started exercising and simply took the process day by day. After two months of training, people at the gym started noticing his progress. Josh stated that “when people started noticing and encouraging me, it really meant a lot and helped me stay focused, even on my bad days when I felt tired or lazy.”
This July, Rabago’s hard work paid off to the tune of over a 100 pounds of weight-loss and he keeps getting stronger, more lean and learning more each day.
“I always try to learn more ways of perfecting my technique with all my exercises” and I learn a lot from the staff and other members of my gym, he said. “Losing all this weight in a little less than a year proves what hard work and consistency can do for anyone willing to take that first step.”
Rabago’s current routine:
o Each week, he performs 4 days in a row of lifting weights along with cardiovascular exercise, followed by 1 day off then repeating.
o He performs basic strength training moves with both machines and free-weights.
o He mixes in a session or two per week focusing on “functional” exercises such as kettlebells, jump rope, exercise balls, battle rope and body-weight moves such as push ups and pull ups.
Dave Patania, a certified personal trainer with a master’s degree in fitness management, has produced and hosted fitness videos for PBS, the American College of Sports Medicine and the Centers for Disease Control. For over 13 years, he has been a television fitness expert for network affiliates in Indianapolis and Cincinnati, and is now the fitness expert for Fox 12 Oregon.
