
It all started with a trip to my grandfather’s friend’s garage.
He taught martial arts classes in his garage and I was one of about 8 students. I had tried soccer and football but neither were for me. After my first martial arts class I was hooked – I was 10 years old.
That first experience in the garage dojo lead to a life time study of the martial arts. I studied with Master James Cook during my early teen age years and Sensei Clarence West during my late teens and through my 20′s. And I received my blackbelt at the Kukkiwon World Tae Kwon Do Headquarters in Seoul, South Korea while serving in the U.S. Army.
But before I was a soldier, I was a law student. I graduated law school in 1998 from Capital Law in Ohio and then entered the Army afterward to repay my student loan debt. It was during the Army that I began to diligently study physical fitness and it’s application to function as opposed to just looking good.
After three years of service in the Army, I returned to civilian life and took the Ohio Bar Exam in 2001. As an attorney I felt stifled by mounds of paperwork, unappreciative clients, and being chained to a desk. I would sit at my desk all day, eat the free donuts that seemed to always be available, chug the stale coffee and do everything I could to keep from going postal.
I needed SOMETHING to break the mundane repetition of my white collar job.
Something to reignite my internal fire… that was sputtering on the verge of burn-out. …one day I just snapped.
My body revolted and I physically couldn’t pull myself out of bed to face another day in the rat race.
I called in sick and stayed under the covers until about noon. As I lay there, I knew I had to make a change. And not just a little “Okay, it’s time to find another job” kind of change. I had to do something out of the ordinary. Something radical. I had to…
…GET PRIMAL
And it was in that moment I decided to return to my love of exercise. My body and soul craved physical exertion and I was about to give it to them in an extreme way.
So I jumped out of bed , went into my back yard and hooked up a long burly rope to an old car tire. I threw some sandbags in the tire and began dragging it across my beautiful lawn until finally I was seeing stars and my body collapsed to the ground.
I laid there for probably a good 5 minutes trying to catch my breath with nothing but a sheepish grin on my face. This was the feeling I had been missing!
…I FINALLY FELT ALIVE!
After my awakening, I turned into a fitness nut and finally opened my own martial arts and fitness gym in Columbus, Ohio in 2002. I ran classes at night while continuing to be a lawyer during the day. In 2006 I quit the practice of law and left the suit and tie behind for good.
I’ve been a full time trainer and martial arts instructor ever since and now I am sharing my knowledge and experiences with you here at Gym Junkies.
If you’re struggling to see results with your workouts here are a few good places to start…
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Train hard!
-Vic Magary
Mailing address
Gym Junkies
2770 N. High St
Columbus OH 43202