Hello fitness fanatics! I am Rush Hemphill and I want to help you get in the best shape of your life! Let me tell you how I came to be involved in fitness and being healthy. I am currently 16 years old and a sophomore in high school. I have played sports my whole life and have been pretty active. I played soccer and basketball in elementary school and baseball up to middle school, as well as football in 8th grade. I have done Villari's Shalin Kenpo Karate since 5th grade and I am currently and 2nd Degree Brown Belt. Baseball has always been my favorite team sport, but once I started track in 7th grade my eyes were opened! However let me tell you even though I played sports, I was not in the best shape, and always had that mind set that I want to be as fast as some of my friends and have a six pack. I always thought to myself I will get fit tomorrow, or I will stop eating ice cream next week, but it never happened. I loved sweets! Before I started track, in P.E. we had to run the mile, and I ran 8:30 and even had to stop running for a few seconds! I felt ashamed of myself and out of shape, especially since all my good friends who played soccer were running close to 6 minute miles. That year I decided I wanted to run track, since all my friends were as well and I was hoping to get into better shape. Let me tell you, running track that year was the hardest thing I have ever done! I remember the first week a could barley walk my legs were so sore! Over the season though I saw great changes in my endurance and speed, and my body was having some good transformations. I weighed 110 pounds that year, but my weight had stayed the same throughout track, meaning I lost a lot of body fat and put on some leg muscle-sweetness. I also now had some ab definition, which was great! By the end of that year I could run a 7 minute mile and my 400m time went from 1:14 to 1:08. After track was over I was pretty disappointed, but I started working out with Power 90, which my parents had gotten a few years back. Sadly though, I started becoming too obsessed with eating and wanting to get super learn, and started starving myself and not eating enough. During that summer from not eating enough and going on sleep away camps to riding my bike a lot in my neighborhood, I went from a good looking 110 pounds to 92 pounds, yuck. I looked frail and stick like. It took me about until December after football was over to realize that I needed to change my habits. I was growing and depriving myself of the nutrition I needed. I continued to eat healthy but started eating more. I also started doing a 30 minute push up and dip routine 6 days a week. When I started I could do 40 push ups, and after 4 months of this I could do 150 strait push ups! I also had gotten back up to 110 pounds and I am guessing I was around 5% body fat, but still looked skinny because I had grown over 2 inches since last year. I also attended a conditioning class at karate 3 days a week, and right now I was in the best shape of my life, and I would continue to grow from there. Soon track started again, and I was determined to get really fast this year. By the end of the season I could run a 6:10 mile and 1:03 400m. However I had lost chest strength and could only do 60 push ups by then since track too the place of my push up routine.
After track, I started P90 again for about a month, and then I joined my high school's strength and conditioning camp for the summer. I added some good strength that summer. High school was about to start, and then one of my friends told me about the cross country team, and I totally wanted to do that! Practice was though at 6 in the morning, but I got used to it. Unfortunately I had marching band right after cross country practice (which I hated), and that prevented me from getting a good meal after running. After the season was over a could run a 19:12 5k (down from 21:00) and a 5:52 mile! I did though loose a lot of muscle, and weighed around 114 pounds. After cross country, I wanted to start P90 again, but I was curious and went to beachbody.com. I came across P90X, and was thinking, "where has this been all my life!" I got my dad to do P90X with my, and he needed it, weighing at 227 pounds. We began on December 1, 2008. I was sore all over the first few weeks, but I could see results coming. I still was not eating enough as I should, but after 1 round I weighed 116, and but dad had gone done to 205, and he looked a lot better. My pull ups went from 6 to 12, and I could do 50 push ups. We moved on to round 2, and track season also began for me. I would do P90X at 5:30 in the morning, then have track at 4:30. I ran the mile a 800m, and I figured I should not be running the 400m since I am an endurance athlete and not so much of a sprinter. This period was hardest I have ever pushed myself. It was not as hard as my first year of track, but doing two workouts a day would wear me out. One of our workouts would be repeat 400m, and I had never done anything like this before. I believe this is one of the hardest workouts on the face of the earth. We would run 10 repeat 400m, with only a minute break in between, and I would do these around 1:15 minutes. After this workout your legs feel like jelly and your heart and lungs are spent. At district I came in 2nd place for JV mile running 5:28! I also ran a 2:22 800m. I also was could do 14 pull ups now thanks to P90X! Over this past summer I really focused on getting stronger during my 3rd round of P90X. I was eating well and getting good rest (thank goodness for no school!). I also began pre-season for cross country having practice 3 days a week in July, and then 5 days a week in August, and 4 days plus a meet each week when school started. Since cross country was in the morning, I would make time for P90X after school, and a did not do and P90X cardios during this time, doing 3 days weights, one day of hour long ab workout, and one day of yoga. By now I weighed 125 pounds! I looked thicker and felt good about myself. However, this also affected by cross country season somewhat, because I never beat my time from last year, but I definitely was in better shape then last year, it's just harder running with 10+ pounds more on your body. I did though get to run varsity this year, which was awesome. Our team finished 3rd in district and I placed 17th. I am currently on my 4th round of P90X, doing 3 days weights, 3 days cardio, and one day yoga. I am continuing to get stronger, and can do 16 pull ups! I hope I have inspired you to change your life for the better and to take care of your body and push yourself to the limits!
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