Tod Esquivel’s Indy Boot Camp…

My weight has been a life-long struggle.  I lost a lot of weight in college and kept it off for 10 years.  When I was 30, with the stress of work and demands of raising children, exercise diminished and the weight started coming on.  I suffered injuries along the way, including carpal tunnel, a detached bicep, and a total tear of my left quadriceps.

My injuries served as an excuse not to exercise.  I loved lifting weights and that was not my best option with the injuries I had.  I had no stamina and could not walk a flight of stairs without breathing hard.  My weight was out of control and that with my quadriceps injury began to cause pain in my knees. 

A friend introduced my wife and I to Tod’s Indy Boot Camp.  I thought I was going to die the first night.  Just a few exercises into the hour workout, I had to skip every other set just to survive.  I had to leave the workout a few times to catch my breath.  There were exercises that I simply could not do at all. 

Tod was starting a 12 week ‘Indy’s Biggest Loser’ competition, and my wife and I, having a competitive nature, decided to go for it.  The class met on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday for one hour - an hour of intense, non-stop exercise. 

We measured and weighed each week.  I began a food, water, and exercise log.  I saw results immediately.  I believe I lost 5 lbs the first week alone.  Very soon, I was able to hang in there for more and more of the workout, taking fewer and fewer breaks until I could make it through a workout without breaks.

I had more energy, felt better about myself, and my clothes were getting loose.  I began conquering the exercises I couldn’t do.  I could not do full sit-ups when I started and could maybe squeak out a push-up or two.  By the end of the 12 weeks, I could do about 35 sit-ups in a minute.  We did push-ups in sets that Tod calls “tabadas”.  A “tabada” is 8 sets of as many as you can do in 20 seconds with 10 seconds rest between.  One night, I did 47 push-ups during a “tabada”.

I lost 34 lbs in 12 weeks and won Indy’s Biggest Loser.  I lost about 5 inches around my waist alone.  My wife came in 2^nd, losing about 15 lbs.  The environment is encouraging.  You make friends with people because you see them regularly, unlike going to a gym, where it’s hit and miss for most people.

Indy Boot Camps make it easier to be disciplined because of the encouraging environment and the visible progress.  My wife and I went to Gatlinburg last Spring for our daughter’s cheer competition and our hotel was 6 blocks from the competition location.  Gatlinburg is far from flat.  The walk from the hotel to the convention center was almost all up a steep hill.  My wife and I raced up it!  I could not have even made the walk before.

Wendell Tankersley – Indy’s Biggest Loser winner, Winter 2010