Athlete Bright Spot: Eric Chang
By Coach Luke Karsana

Have you ever walked into the gym with your gym bag slung on your shoulder, not sure if you’re ready to walk out after seeing the whiteboard?

Eric has been there.

Eric is 34 years old, working from home, and like many of us trying to figure out the balance of pandemic life.

Eric has been a member of our gym since December 2019 and one of his current fitness goals is to perform and participate in the Tactical Games in October of 2021.

The Tactical Games is a series of events that constitute fitness and firearms where the athlete must first perform a physically demanding task and then follow up with shooting at a target for a couple of rounds while under high duress.

During our initial assessment, we identified that one of Eric’s biggest concerns was getting burnt out during the training leading up to the event because that was his experience during the most stressful time in Covid.

The stress that he was experiencing started to affect important measures in his life such as sleep, training, work (job hunting), and quality of work throughout the day.

Like many others, Eric came into our community with preconceived notions of what was healthy versus not healthy. Health to him was tied to the caloric deficit (eating less) and increased energy expenditure (exercising more).

So we got to work. Eric not only had to make physical changes, but more importantly in this step of his journey – he needed to make mental changes.

Eric was so restricted on his calories that it negatively affected his sleep. By making some adjustments like focusing less on calories in and out and shifting to the quality of his food and frequency… he was able to shift from strict rules to freedom. Eating properly now does not feel like a job that he doesn’t want to show up to every day.

Since dialing it in Eric has been experiencing higher quality sleep, improved mood, and most importantly enjoyment in his health and fitness journey. Eric no longer sees the whiteboard and feels like walking out. Now he takes a few steps closer. 🙂

Some key lessons we learn from Eric’s experience is that:

1. We sometimes need to focus on fewer rules and more principles.  
2. Eating restrictively can cause us negativity in other aspects of our lives: bad sleep quality, low energy levels, foggy mind.
3. We can be our own worst enemy. You most important person you can vote for in your life is yourself first. 

We can’t wait to see Eric compete at the Tactical Games in October! We don’t know how he will fare but we know he will be happy, ready, and well-rested heading into it!

Fun Fact about Eric: He has the same name as our founder, Eric (Freedom) Chang. They graduated from the same class at Arcadia (Class of 05’)

Funnier Fact: Eric was a sushi chef for 6 months at a local revolving sushi bar in Rowland Heights, CA. Holler at your boy for some fresh cuts!