"Dreams can't get you anywhere, unless you actually get up and do something about it." -Chad ************ "I'm gonna start tomorrow" was becoming a sort of motto for me. I repeated it just about every day--usually more than once each day. “Tomorrow I’ll start running again, or working out, and eating better.” That thought would go through my mind at just about every meal. Every night while falling asleep. Every time I sat down and turned on the TV. While guest co-hosting a morning radio show in Nashville, I mentioned my intention to “start soon” to my disc jockey friend, who told me about a good trainer in town, just in case I ever wanted to start working out. Yeah, thanks. I’m pretty active. Like to hike and camp. Play tennis, racquetball and basketball every now and then. Decent metabolism. I enjoy running, too, but not as often as I’d like. Life and work sometimes have a way of squeezing out that extra time for such activities. They become less of a priority. And day after day, I look forward to starting tomorrow. I really mean it this time. Really. Tomorrow. Then I had to go and write a song called “Tick Tock.” This rowdy song takes a fun look at how Time drags us forward, regardless of how we use it, waste it, measure it, and try to ignore it. There’s one particular section in the second verse that I couldn’t get out of my head. “I’m always talkin’ ‘bout a change But talkin’s all I’ve done I’m gonna start tomorrow But tomorrow never comes There’s just today, that’s all we’ve got…” Why did I have to write that! Good, Rice. Let the whole world know you’re all talk! By the time I wrote and recorded it, I had probably sung those words a couple hundred times. Not to mention the thousands of times those lyrics ran through my lazy head. There it is, my personal, inescapable reminder to stop putting important things off for another day. Just start. Now. Today. OK, OK…you don’t have to yell! So I got up my nerve, and called Chadwick’s, a local fitness center, and set up my first workout with a trainer, Chad Davis, the guy my disc jockey friend recommended. Turns out Chad’s a bodybuilder who currently holds the title of “Mr. Tennessee”, and my arms aren’t any thicker than his pinky toe! This is going to be humiliating! Let the pain begin! ***************** Fast forward a few months. My arms have finally caught up with Chad’s pinky toe. Maybe even slightly bigger. And after all the conversations between sets, I’ve discovered an interesting person with a great soul and an interesting life. He remembers the hard work that got him where he is, and he has a heart of concern to help other people with their fitness and nutrition struggles. His compassion comes out clearly in his work, and motivates him to work with people of all types. Some just want to get in shape. Some are dealing with eating disorders and serious medical problems. Some are finally ready to change their lives. So I sat down with Chad after one of my workouts, pressed record on my mini-disc recorder, and started asking questions. CR: Chad, let’s start off with where you’re from. Your roots. CHAD: My hometown is Savannah, TN right there on the Tennessee River, close to Shiloh, and Pickwick. Some people might have heard about those places in some country songs. Savannah is just a small town. I always kid with people that we have a mirror on the other side of town to make it look bigger. There was not a whole lot to do growing up there. Hunt, fish, haul hay, ride your bike. CR: So you’re a country boy? CHAD: Country boy, definitely. Trying to make it in a “city world” you might say. CR: What got you started in bodybuilding? CHAD: I was actually about 12 years old when I started. It all stemmed basically from a weird situation. There was a girl name Haley who I was interested in. I had always had my eye on Haley. So one day, I had my best friend, Marty, ask Haley if she wanted to go out with me. (Back then, that meant my mother picking her up with me in the minivan and going to the movies.) So while Marty asked her for me, I was hiding in the bush where I could hear what she was saying. Basically her words were, “NO, yuk! He is scrawny! Aw, sick!” So I heard that. I was one of the smallest guys in my class, the typical guy who never made the team, just a skinny little kid. I went home that night kind of crying. I didn’t have anything to use for weights, so my Dad and I went out to the barn and found a long metal bar, which became my barbell, and we found some metal disks that I taped onto the bar with masking tape. I had an old carpet roll to use for my bench. So I’d lie on the roll and do bench presses. I did curls and things for my triceps and squats too. For some reason I kept it up. So while most kids were doing Nintendo and doing a lot of other things, I was downstairs in my basement every night working out. I think I gained about 34 pounds in my first year. That’s what got me started and I kept it up. CR: 34 pounds? Wow! Did you ever get Haley’s attention again? CHAD: A year later at a baseball game. Of course by then I wasn’t as scrawny. But I was still a small kid. I had a tank top on and I went up to sit in the stands, and she was sitting in front of me. She turned around and said to me, “You’re a lot bigger than what you used to be.” CR: How did you respond to that? CHAD: I said, “Well you had your chance.” (laughs) I shouldn’t have said that, but I remember that moment well. CR: Sweet revenge? CHAD: Yeah. CR: What was your first inclination to compete? CHAD: There was a guy named J.R. James who opened a fitness center in Savannah, and he had become I guess a hero. He showed me the ropes, and helped me with the diet. So the next thing I know, I competed in the TENNESSEE, Teenage Division, and I placed 2nd--and I think that was the age13-15 category. That was my first show, and I was known as the “pale kid” because I didn’t know you’re supposed to tan…a year later they were talking about me and said, “you were the guy who was ghostly white on the stage.” From there I started competing on a regular basis. I did several shows, and I won the ANPPC Teen USA in 1995, and I was selected as the Teenager Bodybuilder of the Year. CR: Tennessee state level? CHAD: No that was a higher level, that was the USA. CR: So, on the NATIONAL level, you were Teenage Bodybuilder of the Year in 1995. What’s your current level of competing, or your current title? CHAD: Right now I’m LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT MR. TENNESSEE. I’ve won different state shows. Qualified for nationals, but did not compete nationally this year. The competition is tough, and shows of that nature are not drug tested, whereas the ANPPC was drug tested. So you’re not exactly up against genetics, you’re up against other things too. CR: So you’re totally… CHAD: Yeah, natural. CR: Do you see a lot of the same guys in the competitions? CHAD: A lot of times you do. But the cool thing to me, the inspirational thing, is when I see the Masters Division, when I see someone in their 60’s competing. I’ve even seen guys in their mid-80’s compete. Not necessarily that it’s really cool to see them in their Speedo trunks. Two years ago there was a guy in one of the shows who was 65 years old. He looked better than 90% of anyone in the show. It’s inspiring that you can start or compete at any age. CR: What would you say is your strongest point, or what gives you your advantage? CHAD: Strongest point for me…is symmetry. I’ve never come on as the largest guy, but that’s where you deal with the cards that God has given you, and you bring out the best in yourself. And for me I’m lucky that I have symmetry. I do it by focusing on symmetry, stage presence, posing. CR: Is that stuff you learn from somebody else, or from watching other people? CHAD: You do learn from watching others. I like to watch the old timers, who really knew how to pose. Back in Arnold’s day, they took a lot of ballet, and incorporated that, not up on their toes, doing little dance moves in tutu’s, but you learn how to flow from one pose to another. CR: What changes in your training during the weeks or months leading up to a show? CHAD: As a show approaches, I increase my reps (number of times you repeat a certain move in a set), and I take shorter rest times between sets. I also start focusing differently on diet. Normally I eat about 3,400 calories a day, and when I diet for a show I get down to about 2,100 calories a day. That is a very low number of calories for someone who carries significantly more muscle than the average individual. You have to be careful when you diet to the extreme that we get down to. CR: So you’re not just this dumb ‘muscle man’. You have to approach it really scientifically? CHAD: Yeah. When I’m approaching a show, I manage the carbs and proteins and the fat very specifically, almost down to the gram. You have to know your body, and how it responds. What works for me may not work for somebody else. CR: And all the while continually working out. So, are you sore all the time? CHAD: (laughs) 80 to 90% of the time I’m sore. I try to make myself sore. CR: So, let’s get up-to-date with what you’re doing now. You train a lot of people, not just for competition, but people who need a fitness trainer for various reasons. And you have your own business, a gym and fitness center. How did that come about? CHAD: I started Chadwick’s (Personal Fitness Training) about 5 years ago. It’s been a dream of mine. I think God knows where your heart lies and what your dreams and aspirations are. I feel like He’s opened the right doors for me. It has gone really well, but there have been ups and downs. I had about 5 dollars in my account when I first opened, but it’s grown and it’s going well. You get to help a lot of people. CR: I guess you get two benefits from having this gym. First of all YOU have a place to workout and train, but you also get to help other people. You have all kinds of clients…everything from celebrity clients to people who have problems with weight or eating issues. CHAD: Right. CR: From knowing you for a short period of time I can see there’s a heart behind all this and a real concern for people and their health. CHAD: Yeah, that’s the key to it. I know the physical aspects are not the most important, but that’s also not an excuse to treat our ‘house’ like an ‘outhouse’ and fill it up with all kinds of junk. You need to treat your ‘vessel’ right and keep it running well. Some people think training and lifting and diet is all about looks, but it’s not. It’s about being healthy and treating your body well. That’s what I try to teach people. You may not end up looking like a super-model, but you work with what you’ve been given and try to have fun, live healthy and feel better. There’s joy that goes along with that. CR: Do you have any success stories that stick out in your mind, people that you are proud to have worked with? CHAD: Several clients. One current female client has gone down from a size 22 to about a size 12 (dress size.) I’ve had one go from size 10 down to size 0. I’ve helped one client go from size 16 down to a size 4. Several have lost between 4 to 6 dress sizes. I’ve had guys who’ve gone from 250 lbs. down to 180. Many have lost 10 inches in the waist and increased their abs and chest. I’ve also worked with people struggling with anorexia. Some have worked through problems with bulimia. That’s what makes it worthwhile, when you see those people happy. But don’t get me wrong, it took WORK to do it. Dreams can’t get you anywhere unless you actually get up and do something about it. CR: Everybody in a sense wants to be healthy, but may lack motivation. I know you emphasize nutrition a lot, not just lifting. So what can you tell a person who may not be able to afford the luxury of a trainer. I know there’s no magic to this, but is there some nugget that you would say to motivate people? CHAD: Sometimes a visible picture can get you on the path. For me, I had pictures from magazines of guys I wanted to look like. Get a picture in your head of something ‘obtainable’ so you have a goal to work toward, a visual stimulation to get you there. Second of all, you can buy a book, or check out a reliable internet site. Read. Educate yourself. If you can’t afford a whole lot, maybe just make ONE appointment with someone who’s reliable in nutrition or fitness, someone who has proven results. Motivation comes from within sometimes. Sometimes you might look in a mirror and say, "I don’t even know where to start. I don’t even WANT to attempt this." All you see is a mountain, and don’t realize it’s a step by step process. You don’t have to conquer the whole mountain at once. Set some short-term goals, and don’t let it get you down if you don’t start off achieving every one of them. Let it be a learning experience, learn where you went wrong, or where you shot too high. CR: What are some basics? CHAD: Be consistent. Get the word “diet” out of your mind and replace it with “healthy lifestyle.” Make good choices. If you’re trying to eat healthy, you have to do that 80-90% of the time to see the results. Be smart in the small things…for example, a food package that says “low-fat” doesn’t always mean it’s healthy. There’s probably a lot of sugar in there. I always compare building your body to building a house. You need quality building materials (proteins) or the house is going to fall apart or be weak. You need quality energy (carbohydrates), and quality tools (vitamins and minerals and enzymes found in vegetables and fruits). You even need good insulation for your house and your body—that’s where healthy fats come in. As a rule of thumb, a good mixture of these ingredients, for every meal, and every snack, would consist of 40% protein, 40% carbs, and 20% fat. (Don’t figure these percentages in grams, but in calories.) We’re creatures of habit. Nutrition doesn’t have to be difficult. You just have to develop new habits. Once you learn what works for you, you’ll find it’s pretty simple. There’s a system. Eating healthy is systematic. CR: You really know your stuff. And that should help a lot of people. Just for fun, I know you’ve trained some celebrities. If you don’t think they’d mind other people knowing it, what celebrities have you worked with? CHAD: Wynonna Judd, Darryl Worley, Brady Seals, Tim Rushlow (of Little Texas, and now Rushlow), Josh Grayson (from American Idol), and sometimes some brief training or nutritional consulting with some others like Jo Dee Messina, and a few models people would recognize. CR: So you’re like “Trainer to the Stars”—except in Nashville, rather than Hollywood! Is that a fun part of what you do…being able to say, “I’ve worked with so-and-so…” CHAD: It is fun. You get a chance to meet these people, and help them out. CR: As we wrap up, is there anything you’d like to say to people that I haven’t asked you about yet? CHAD: I think mainly to follow your passion. That’s where a lot of people go wrong. They’re not passionate about what they do. It may not be fitness. Whatever it is…skateboarding, computers. I believe this even with kids. There’s a reason for things. There’s a reason you like what you like. It may be riding horses. At some point you will realize there was a reason for that. You may not see it now. The scariest thing is to go through life without having a passion for something. CR: Last question. What's next for you? Are you going to do this forever? CHAD: I would love for Chadwick’s to continue to grow. I would love to work more with kids. I’d like to be able to focus on people who can’t afford it. To help people out with training, and mainly with nutrition. Maybe go back to school for a masters degree in dietetics. I have some other ideas about integrating a nutritional vending business into some school systems. I believe the school systems are part of the problem with our nation’s childhood obesity issues. Pizza, fries, and fried chicken aren’t the greatest choices for good nutrition. Give kids healthy options. At least I’d like to try to work with the schools to help them help kids. CR: Chad, you’ve come a long way from a little town in west Tennessee to follow a dream, a dream which actually sort of came about because of rejection, and you’ve turned it into a lifelong passion to help people. CHAD: That makes me think back to my high school years. I went home crying countless times because I felt like an outsider sometimes. I didn’t participate in some of the unhealthy things my peers were doing, like drinking, smoking, and stuff like that. I was trying to be healthy and in shape, and I always felt like no one noticed or cared about me. But, one important thing I remember was the “Who’s Who” at the end of the year for the yearbook. Out of 20 things to be nominated for, I was nominated for 17 of them. That’s not to brag on that, it’s just to point out that there is always someone watching you, and ‘setting their watch to your clock.’ You may feel left out, but you’re not. In the end God knows. He’s pruning you so you produce more fruit. Things happen, even bad stuff sometimes, to make you stronger. People may not see it now, but they will see it later. CR: On a personal note, Chad, I appreciate what you are doing for me. I’m not only getting into shape and feeling healthy and energetic, but the things I’m learning about discipline spill over into so many other areas of my life. You have a lot of wisdom, and it’s obvious you care about people and their health and quality of living. I’m glad you’re following your passion. I know a lot of people will benefit because of your work. CHAD: Thanks. Now drop and give me twenty! ****** Check out Chadwick's Personal Fitness Training website!