28 days later-A snake charms me.

They say you can notice a change in your body in two weeks.  That's true.

They say in four weeks, others can start to notice. I can also tell you that's true as well. Four weeks today and I'm having people continuously saying things to me.  The "wow, you've trimmed up" or asking Jodi "is he losing weight?" Those are music to my ears. After almost twenty pounds, I'd think it would be tough for them not to notice, but hey, what do I know.

However, with body changes come the questions. "What are you doing? "Are you going to a gym?" "Are you on a diet?"  When I was doing Insanity, I really didn't want to answer these questions. I just wanted to say "yeah, I'm on a diet, I'm working out" and move on. I didn't want to say "yeah, I'm doing that thing they show over and over on infomercials at all times of the day and night.  Frankly, I was kind of embarrassed that a former professional athlete was now doing workouts from a DVD in my living room. So, I did them, hurt my knees further than they already were and gained back everything I had lost (which, by the way isn't as much as they tell you) within two months of being done with my "life-transforming 60 days."

After that I had an accident which had my wrist get sliced and an artery was hit, as well as destroying several tendons. According to the EMT's and the surgeon that fixed me up, I was anywhere from a minute to three minutes away from dying due to blood loss because of hitting the artery. After that, obviously working out was the furthest thing from my mind. Between having, essentially, a useless right arm for a little while and just being happy to be alive, I wasn't worried about my weight, I wasn't worried about eating right, I was just enjoying life with my kids and shortly thereafter met Jodi and was just in a whirlwind of emotions and knowing that I had just met the person I was going to spend a long, long time with (not gonna say the rest of my life, because at that point, neither of us was planning on ever getting married again....my, don't things change?)

Fast forward and I had that "aha" moment when I realized I needed to do something.  Between my knees from baseball and my wrist from before, Insanity or anything high impact, for that matter, was out of the question. Most people say that they came to DDP Yoga because they say Arthur's story. I'm not going to say I'm the only one, but I've got to be one of the few that isn't here because of Arthur's amazing story. As a matter of fact, I didn't see Arthur's story until long after I'd done my first workout. 

My inspiration for finding DDP Yoga was a little different. It goes back to my childhood. My inspiration for trying DDP Yoga was Jake "The Snake" Roberts.

I've been a fan of professional wrestling for 30 years. If they've been worth seeing in the last thirty years, chances are, I've seen 'em and seen 'em in person.

I watched Jake in Mid-South (although I barely remember) of course the pinnacle of his career in his first run in the WWF, then his shocking, but short run in WCW (anyone remember the Coal Miner's glove match against Sting?) then his return to WWF. What I wasn't aware of as a kid was his addiction and his challenges. Then the movie "Beyond the Mat" came out and showed where Jake Roberts got the inspiration for his character's darkside he was so famous for.....his real life.

I watched Jake's downfall and  I figured over the years, seeing a headline of "wrestler dead" one of my first guesses was always Jake. I'd reminisce with my dad about what an "evil bad ass motherf*****" Roberts was and how he was never quite given the recognition he deserved for his work on the microphone. In the 80's, everyone got their point across by screaming....brother. But Jake could sell you on a match and put a chill down your spine....never lifting his voice above a high whisper.

It was sad what happened to Jake. But then his old pal and former protege Dallas Page came calling.  The rest, as the cliche goes, is history.  But that history was just the beginning for me.  It was seeing what the program did for Jake (and continues to do) that got me inspired to take the plunge, so to speak. Seeing how Jake essentially was unable to do much of anything to now having plans to take one more shot on the big stage at the 2014 Royal Rumble.  Jeez, if it could do that for him....I can only imagine what it's gonna do for me. 

So, while so many people thank DDP (and I of course do, because it is DDPYoga, after all) I'd first and foremost like to thank Jake.  Without Jake Roberts and DDP Yoga, there would be no Chris Manning and DDPYoga. So Jake, thank you for changing your life, because you and your story inspired me to change mine.