Cambridge Fitness Training Spotlight Sunday: Jason Debasitis

teen program 1

 

 

Welcome back to another edition of our Spotlight Sunday. Our next feature is one of the coolest, most motivated and fun 7am members. He is focused and ready to challenge himself every time he steps through those doors but also knows how to enjoy the hour and make everyone laugh and feel comfortable. Jason has had some great body transformations so check out his story….

 

I think before I started working with Callie I considered myself a relatively active person. I had run several 5k races, could run a decently fast mile and I was making it to the gym at least 4 times a week. My methods included me running from my house in Porter Sq to the BU gym over on Com Ave in order to get my cardio in before my lifting routine. There was the problem: routine. I was stuck in such a routine that I could tell by the same music I was listening to on my run how fast or slow I was running on a given day by where I was in the play list and where I was along the route.

Although the lifting I was doing was a good four day rotational workout with days 1, 3 for upper body and days 2, 4 for lower body I was doing this alone and in no way challenging myself to push more weight. I had learned how to weight lift from a cousin who knew what he was doing however it was very hard to find a competitive gym partner in college that knew what he was doing and would push me to lift a bit more and try new techniques.

I’m also an avid reader of Men’s Fitness but there was no way I was going to bring the magazine with me and try to follow along with one of their workouts.

There were several factors that went into my joining with Callie. First was that I randomly found her card on the cork board of a laundromat down the street from my apartment. Second, several of my friends had started new gym activities or classes or one-on-one training sessions which made me think maybe it’s time I made a change. Finally some clothes of mine were not fitting well, my diet was not in control and I had been called “fat for your age”.

One may argue that you should not allow people’s comments influence your life so much but that comment really stuck with me for a while. I looked at pictures of myself differently and I knew that for my own health and happiness it was time for a drastic change.

I am the older of two kids in my family. My sister is 10 years younger than I am and of course I’ve got my Mom and Dad. We are all really close and always go on family vacations together. This kinda shocks our friends because they don’t have the same relationship with their parents. I’ve come to really depend on my parents in all aspects of life, be it a good turkey milanese recipe or just general life guidance.

 

We are an active family. My Dad played football for Yale all four years of college and helped them win three Ivy League championships. My Mom was an avid field hockey player in high school and into college and my sister started playing last year as well when she started high school. For me I tried to play football growing up but I couldn’t get into the rhythm of it and I ended up playing varsity tennis.

 

My Mom is a fantastic cook and my Dad is the grill master in our family. My folks have always provided well rounded meals for my sister and I growing up involving plenty of lean meats and veggies. I still often enjoy my Mom’s awesome Sunday Dinners when I am up for a visit.

 

My Mother would argue that I could not be more confident but with this revived sense of self Callie and Emily have helped me achieve over that last 10 months I have never been more comfortable in my own skin and ready to concur the world.

Of course I’m very proud of the physical results I have been able to reach but there is one major event that sticks out in my head that was important last year. At work I was selected to present a review of my research efforts at our annual internal research conference in September. I give presentations at work frequently but not at this size and scale. This would be a very formal setting with 200-300 research personnel from multiple divisions ranging in seniority level.

With all the weight I had lost none of my formal wear fit! I managed to get enough new clothes for the presentation. In the end, on the big day I was able to focus on what I was presenting and not how uncomfortable I felt in my formal clothes. It seems like a small thing but it feels so good not to worry about it.

 

I have to say that I’ve come to love pull ups and The Prowler, in fact since its winter and we haven’t had any Prowler sessions lately I sort of miss it! Ha!

With pull ups I think I had a pretty stereotypical experience in high school with pull ups where you were expected to just jump on the bar and bang out ten of them instantly. What I’ve come to learn through Callie and Emily’s training is that frustration has no place in the gym. Yes, get frustrated that you can’t pull yourself up without a tension band but just know that each session you are getting stronger and eventually you won’t need a band.

I’m on the border with no band and the orange band for a bit of help. I hope to be completely band free by the summer but we will see what happens! It helps that Callie is always there pushing you that little extra each session so I’m sure she’ll get me there.

 

I also really like Tabatas even though they completely exhaust your strength and body, in the end you feel like you’ve rocked a killer workout and burned some serious fat!

 

Signing up with Callie has been quite the change! My friends are still in shock that Jason “The Night Owl” get’s up to hit the gym at 7am three times a week. There are the obvious day to day changes in that I have a spring in my step after a morning workout (unless I’m crazy sore from Tabatas, then I’m hobbling haha!).

I’m definitely more conscious of what I eat on a daily basis and tend to plan the week out or just choose healthier options – it’s really not that difficult and if your friends give you a hard time just let them know that come bathing suit season, you’ll be ready to rock out on the beach while they’re stuck in a shirt or cover up!

 

I’m also looking forward to running in my first 9k at the end of May in the Race to Home Plate at Fenway Park! This will actually be my first race since I started working with Callie and Emily. I’m really interested to see how all of my training will change my running abilities. I know I can do stadium sprints no problem but I haven’t done distance running for almost a year!

 

I tell anyone who asks me about the training I’m doing with Callie and Emily that it was one of the best decisions of my life. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the results they’ve helped me achieve!

 

Here’s Jason before…..

Jason before

 

 

Here’s Jason after a few months of training…..

Jay and Ali Party

 

Jason and Ali