HAPPY AND HEALTHY

NOT SHARING THIS TO BRAG ON ME, BUT TO MOTIVATE OTHERS

Anyone who knows me remembers that from second grade on, I was overweight.

I soared to more than 300 pounds.

On my 55th birthday, my test results showed cholesterol double what it should + pre-diabetes.

This week, I received results with numbers better than an average 30 year old.

I started walking a lot more.

I traded pizzas and double cheeseburgers with a basket of fries -- for salads, veggie stir fries and grilled fish.

'Za and burgers are for rare special occasions.

The photo is from the day I walked 45 KM -- that's longer than a marathon -- in one day in Portugal.

ZUK FITNESS OFFERS NEW ONLINE WORKOUT OPTION

FOR WHEELCHAIR USERS

Dillon Connolly plans to develop an app, which would allow Zuk users to access inclusive workouts from smart devices in addition to the Zuk Fitness website.

Connolly says physical activity has always been his “happy place,” but a person doesn’t have to be a former NCAA All-American to benefit from exercise.

“I challenge anyone, especially when you are feeling horrible or not having a good day, to get in a good workout,” he says.

“You’ll feel a little bit better. It releases chemicals in your brain and improves your mood.”

Zuk offers monthly, semiannual and annual pricing plans, starting from as little as $8.40 per month (when prepaid yearly). Find out more at:

zukfitness.com

ZUK FITNESS OFFERS NEW ONLINE WORKOUT OPTION

FOR WHEELCHAIR USERS

Many — but not all — of Zuk’s expert instructors are wheelchair users:

• Shawn Fluke: A wheelchair rugby athlete and founder of the Live To Roll YouTube channel, Fluke leads several adaptive movement courses — resources designed for anyone with a C-level spinal cord injury.

• Bryan Williams: Founder of Painful Pleasures gym in Southern California and an International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness Pro wheelchair bodybuilder, Williams is a full-time personal trainer who leads workouts for paraplegics and others for Zuk.

• Leo Harmon: Another IFBB Pro wheelchair bodybuilder, Harmon is also a personal trainer at Painful Pleasures and working actor who brings his energy to online Zuk workouts.

• Racheal Palmer: A workout enthusiast and influencer promoting independence.

ZUK FITNESS OFFERS NEW ONLINE WORKOUT OPTION

FOR WHEELCHAIR USERS

Zuk’s website offers filters that allow subscribers to customize their workouts.

Many programs are tailored toward those who are paraplegic or quadriplegic, with options for any ability level throughout. 

The site also allows visitors to filter by equipment used, such as wrist weights, dumbbells, weight bars and resistance bands.

Workouts range from intense sessions led by champion bodybuilders to beginning exercises and meditation.

“Along with customizing to your physical ability, we also have filters that help you focus on what you want to concentrate on — cardio, range of motion, circuit training, etc.,” Dillon Connolly says.

“Even if you are not a wheelchair user, the programs are great for elderly people, so they can improve their strength through a safe, seated position.

My grandma does the quadriplegic workouts while on her recumbent bike because she likes Shawn’s instructions. They work great for her because she’s not able to stand for long periods.”

ZUK FITNESS OFFERS NEW ONLINE WORKOUT OPTION

FOR WHEELCHAIR USERS

Dillon Connolly, who uses a power wheelchair, applied his design-engineering background to think about people with limited mobility and the ways uniquely designed exercise could benefit them.

“Depression and obesity are big problems in the SCI/D community,” he says, adding that he has battled depression and chronic pain for years. 

“Typical gyms are not practical for quads, and they are definitely not tailored for people with mobility impairments.

My goal is to bring highly specialized workouts to a broad audience of people with SCI, CP or MS, or anyone who can benefit from a seated workout, like seniors.

“At least 5% of people have a significant mobility impairment. That’s a large market, a viable market,” he says, noting that many studies have found that up to one in four people will experience some type of disability in their lifetime. 

“We did customer discovery, speaking to over 100 wheelchair users — not all with spinal cord injuries. We found out that many were dealing with some sort of pain, but on average, those going to the gym were happier and had less pain.”

ZUK FITNESS OFFERS NEW ONLINE WORKOUT OPTION

FOR WHEELCHAIR USERS

Dillon Connolly took five years after his rehabilitation at Shepherd Center to plot a new career course, using a scholarship from the Swim With Mike Foundation to enroll in USC’s master’s program for entrepreneurship and innovation. 

During a class project, he met the co-founders of his next big endeavor: Zuk Fitness. 

They won money in a schoolwide pitch competition and were on their way.

Zuk is an acronym for Zero limitations and Unity through Kinesthetics. Connolly defines kinesthetics as anything that encompasses body movement. 

“We chose that word to celebrate moving anything that you can, even though it may be limited,” Connolly says.

ZUK FITNESS OFFERS NEW ONLINE WORKOUT OPTION

FOR WHEELCHAIR USERS

Zuk Fitness is an online fitness service created by and for wheelchair users. 

It offers live and prerecorded workouts led by both paras and quads. 

Strength, cardio, warmup and stretching routines can all be completed from your wheelchair, often with minimal equipment.

The service was founded by wheelchair user and lifelong athlete Dillon Connolly.

An admitted endorphin junkie, Connolly used to rise before 5 a.m. each day to get in 26 hours per week of intense swimming prior to becoming a quad. 

He earned a swimming scholarship to the University of Southern California, where he became an NCAA All-American talent.

Connolly studied engineering and later worked as a design engineer at an aerospace company. 

Still wanting to push himself as an athlete, he planned to quit his job at 25 to focus on training for the 2016 Olympics. 

On the same weekend that Connolly decided to pursue his Olympic swimming dream, he dove into a wave at Newport Beach, California, hit a sandbar and injured his spinal cord at C5-6.

GIVING THANKS FOR FINALLY BEING HEALTHY

I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT I LOOK HALFWAY IN SHAPE

This is not me.

http://Pedestrianspace.Org asked for a full length photo.

I’m still used to seeing the 300 pound me. 

This is the 170 pound me. 

Eating healthy, working out has transformed me after 4 decades of being overweight.

RAINY NIGHT IN PARIS

ROUND ABOUT MIDNIGHT 

Winding down a 14-hour workday.

Lengthened by two hours of pre-dawn exercise.

Coming home to Art Nouveau splendor in 9th arrondissement.

The next day, a Universal Design roving workshop with the goal of visiting all 20 arrondissements, via walking no transit or car travel, within daylight hours of one day.

THE WILLIAMSBURG BRIDGE

SUSPENSION BRIDGE OVER EAST RIVER 

My pre-dawn run along the waterfront in Brooklyn ended with this view of the 1903 Williamsburg Bridge.

It connects the Lower East Side of Manhattan with Williamsburg.

It has a pedestrian pathway and bike lanes.

THIS STUFF WORKS

 I’M LIVING PROOF

It’s all about flexibility, options – housing, transit and work places that meet a broad spectrum of training, talent, income and physical ability. 

The approach to development patterns and spending that Chuck Marohn (of Strong Towns) advocates for is a clear route to inclusion, equity and accessibility.

It eliminates bond issues for 3-lane roads to SprawlVille and 2 new highway lanes that never do anything to reduce traffic congestion.

It also pays a pretty nifty benefit.

If you simply eat more fresh, local, healthy food and walk around a lot (and demand more walkability and connectivity if your town lacks it) – you regain your health (physical and mental) and your future.

THIS STUFF WORKS

I’M LIVING PROOF

Building, or in most cases, rebuilding a Strong Town simply gives options.

My wife uses a wheelchair for mobility and the efficiency of a wheelchair ramp equipped van – to overcome broad gaps in transit and connectivity in Greater Miami, makes sense for us.

We live in a 100-year-old accessibility-adapted small house, on the smallest buildable lot, in dense urban neighborhood. 

So, we are proof that you don’t have to move into a condo or apartment tower to support smart urban growth.

THIS STUFF WORKS

I’M LIVING PROOF

Compact development, investing in existing main streets and city corps works.

It prevents wasting millions (make that billions) of dollars on the sprawl growth game that never produces for the city budget as promised.

It works in small, medium and large towns.

It does not take your sedan away from you and force you to live in a 300 SF hipster walkup apartment over a liquor store in some blighted part of town.

THIS STUFF WORKS

I’M LIVING PROOF

Two years ago, I weighed 310 pounds.

I actually still walked quite a bit while in Europe on vacation, but my blood work produced stats of a man who should be looking at favorite cemeteries for burial rather than a plan for teaching and consulting in semi-retirement in the not-so-distant future.

I do the steps now, my joints don’t hurt.

I don’t sweat standing still.

I haven’t been sick since I started to take advantage of the urban lifestyle healthy living plan.

THIS STUFF WORKS

I’M LIVING PROOF

Instead of using two train connections, I walked farther to catch a train that would get me to within five blocks of my destination. 

I used the ferry to go to Long Island City and run along all the relatively-new public space and parks that allow one to run along the East River with spectacular skyline views to the west.

We are very close to transitioning from a two car to one car family.

The payoff for all of this?

Today, I weigh 175 pounds. 

I just had a physical and dozens of measures of health are in the upper (good) percentile for a 55+ man.

THIS STUFF WORKS

I’M LIVING PROOF

When we wanted to go someplace outdoors and different, we drove, but we did what planners strive for in 24-7 downtowns and main streets. 

We parked the car once and walked all over Brickell, Coconut Grove, Miami Beach, Coral Gables and beyond.

When it was safe to travel to Manhattan for a major project (after I got second COVID vaccine) in May, I vowed to not take a taxi, car service or rideshare – even from JFK.

I used transit, stopped in Jackson Heights on the way in to Manhattan and walked all over that diverse neighborhood.

THIS STUFF WORKS

I’M LIVING PROOF

I took advantage of living between two major urban corridors – Miami’s Calle Ocho and Coral Way – and walked to pharmacies, markets, hardware stores and other daily needs.

I bought local food and cooked it for lunch for my also working from home spouse.

We walked all over the neighborhood, masked, to the point where we documented and shared with the city – every broken sidewalk, messed up crosswalk, vacant lot, derelict house and broken bus bench in a vast swath of urban Little Havana.

THIS STUFF WORKS

I’M LIVING PROOF

For many years, I was one of the planners/planning storytellers who wasn’t so good at practicing what he preached.

I loved walkable places, mixed-use, wide sidewalks, bike paths, premium transit, parks, TOD, compact development and the like.

Then COVID hit and I could work from home, so I wasn’t in the car to commute to an office.

That meant a chance to break free of the drive through greasy lunch break and then bring home a supersized pizza on a slight detour on the way home.

THE NEW ME

I75 POUNDS – DOWN FROM MORE THAN 300

I guess this is still me.

But when I look in the mirror, I’m not sure it’s me.

I’m used to a double chin, maybe a triple.

I’m used to cropping every photo at the shoulders – because there was a mountain of fat below.

I weighed 175 pounds before I entered high school.

The last time I was ever my proper body weight for height and age was entering the summer between 2^nd and 3^rd grade.

I still may well suffer the body damages brought on by four-plus decades of obesity…I wonder aloud whether a knee or hip replacement is in my future or if overworked heart and organs will have something to say about the way I treated them.

I’d be lying if I said I no longer crave eating an entire pizza to celebrate something, or to eat two bacon cheeseburgers, a super large fry and chocolate shake to cope with something depressing.

Just this month, while in New York on business, I certainly indulged in a bit more pastrami, slice pizza, cannoli and Korean Fried Chicken than my daily regimen allows.

But I also got up early to run and took a super long walk before day’s end.

I totaled just more than 70 miles run/walked in seven days.

My poor wife didn’t see me get up early to work out more than a half dozen times in the 30+ years she’s been with me.

I’m not sure what she thinks of this guy with a closet full of men’s medium shirts and 32-inch waist pants.

For most of our life, she knew a guy that went up and up and up – till his pants waist was north of 50 and his 3XL shirts were getting tight.

I hope to share some secrets to my success. But it mainly was eating right, moving around more and most of all – believing in myself and seeing food as an energy source, not a drug of choice to medicate all that ails…plus a substitute for love when I needed a boost and celebrated by eating a 7-course meal of fatty, sugary, fried food.

THE VERY LONG ROAD TO REDEMPTION

AND A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE

By the time I escaped my family’s endless descent into more toxicity, by being the first Wright ever to attend college, I knew what a reward was. A reward was a pair of bacon double cheeseburgers.

I also knew what comfort and love were. Those came in the form of downing whole pizzas with 6 toppings, or wolfing down enough giant burritos to feed four starving men.

When I realized my dad was perfectly content to ignore most of my mom’s obsessive compulsive and other damaging behavior, I salved my pain – and 40 work, 40 hours of study weeks – with newly-discovered sub shops and fatty food drive throughs open late night in downtown Akron.

It took me damn near a half century to figure out that I could confront pain and reward achievement – with something other than triple slices of cheesecake with a caloric content exceeding the recommended intake for all five work days.

I’m not all the way there. When even a hint of anxiety or depression enters my life, visions of iced brownies, XL orders of fried catfish and mountains of double buttered whipped potatoes dance in my head.

I’m an orphan now. Have been for nearly a year. Dad died of cancer a few years back and mom died in a nursing home April last year when COVID was ravaging her dementia care ward. They are at rest, maybe, freed from the demons that robbed them of much joy and burdened their two sons with shame, obesity, insecurity and mountains of unresolved issues.

I’m about as imperfect as they come. But I have a dynamite soulmate of a wife. I have a loving, if strained relationship with my only sibling.

And for the first time since I was a tiny boy, I’m eating right and exercising routinely.