As thanksgiving is near I have been thinking how thankful I am for my Wife, Family, my close friends, and being able to live a healthy life.

But I also am very very thankful for the opportunity to help people.

When I think of all the people that I have helped in the past and then think about all the people that I have been given the chance to help in the future I truely am thankful and grateful.

I would love to hear what everyone out there is thankful for so please post your comments and lets talk about all the great things that we have in our lives.

Those of you that are out there that only think about the negative side of their lives i urge you to focus on the positve no matter how bad you have it or how hard you think your life is at the moment there is someone out there who has it worse.

I know that it can seem hard at times but IT WILL GET BETTER IF YOU LET IT.

I say I know because(this is the first time I am going to talk about this) a few years ago I almost died!

This is something that’s hard to talk about but I thought that it was something that I needed to share with all of my follwers out there as I am asking them to stand up and take charge of their livesso i wanted everyone to know that i was down and almost out but I took charge and made a change.

I was in a terrible car accident where i hit a telephone pole head on!

When i woke up I was unsure of what happened and where i was.

The doctor told me I may never walk again and they were not sure if i was going to keep my one leg.

I was devastated!!!!!

Through God’s graces they saved my leg!

BUT the next 3 years of my life were just short of HELL. I was confined to a hospital bed in my home for a few months then moved to a wheel chair. I went through 6 or 7 more operations I had all kinds of rods, plates, and screws put in both my legs then taken out. They left my legs so badly scared that I didnt even like to look at them.

Over the course of this time I fell into a great depression and of course lost any strength that i had and gained a considerable amount of weight, which added to my loss of self confidence.

So once I was able to walk again I thought it would be a great idea to drink more and more to forget about what I had put myself and my family through, not a good idea at all as not only did it not help deal with my thougths but I also gained more weight and now was in the worst shape of my life.

Something needed to change!

So I decided that I was going to get off my butt and stop feeling sorry for myself and take action.

The action that I took was nothing crazy, I just started doing little things(real world things) a few times a day that would get my heart rate up and get my butt moving.

I more or less started to move weight even if it was just my body weight. I did as many squats, lunges, push ups as i could. I lifted anything I could find water gallons(did you see the video of one of my clients with them) the grocery bags, stones, cases of beer(I quit drinking but my roomates still did), the dog what ever i could get my hands on but it was mostly body weight exercises.

I was surprised to see how effective these exercises were as I always used to lift in one of those BIG NAME GYMS it was a long hard road don’t get me wrong but I was finding out that working out didnt have to be all about LIFTING BIG WEIGHTS or RUNNING ALL DAY ON THE TREADMILL. I found out that you can get STRONG and I mean REALLY STRONG buy doing simple everyday movements.

My mom said to me Dave you are starting to look really good doing all these real world lifts and I had a lightbulb over my head, and Real World Strength was born.

I knew I had started something special when people were asking me “what are you doing” and saying “you look great” “whats your secret” and my answer was always nothing really just some old school stuff around the house no gym or fancy equipment.

My self confidence was up, my energy was through the roof, and I was finally out of my funk. The feelings that I was enjoying were such a turn around from where I had been a few months ago I knew that I had to try pass this amazing feeling to other people.

So I learned as much as I could, study, tried out new things some worked some didnt, got certified by MR. Underground himself Zach Even Esh and here we are today.

I am in the best shape of my life, yes better than before the accident, I am helping people reach their goals and improve their lives, I love love love what I am doing, and I am going to be able to support my family doing it.

So back to the beginning I HAVE SO MUCH TO BE THANKFUL FOR!!!!!!
1.The fact that im alive.
2.I have my leg.
3.I can walk.
4.I have a beautiful wife.
5.I have a family that stuck by me and loves me.
6.I get paid for doing something I love.
7.I made a come back from a deep and dark place.
8.I am able to share my story, which will hopefully inspire others.
9.I have the ability to help people reach their fitness goals.
10.I have the opportunity to spend my life trying to make a difference!

So those are the ten things i am thankful for.

Sorry I didnt start out writing this blog with the intention of telling my story but as I was thinking about what I was thankful for I just couldnt go on with out telling that story as it is how i got to where im at today.

If my story can help just one person than I am glad that I told it.

I would love to hear what you are thankful for so leave your comments.

Dave Lee-The Real World Strength Coach
realworldstrengthcoach@gmail.com

ps- here is just one thing I can do on the leg I almost lost

if you put your mind to it anything is possible.

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