Gettin’ Fit: VanClay loses 85 lbs with help of HPURec
By Chelsie Gastright
During his high school years, Adam VanClay stayed active by playing both football and baseball. While on the football team, Vanclay played both defensive and offensive tackle. In both positions, the bigger and stronger you are, the better you play. When Vanclay left high school in the spring of 2009, he weighed 220 pounds of muscle.
When VanClay arrived to High Point University as a freshman in August of 2009, his goal was to keep in shape just like high school. However, he did not have a strict workout plan as he did when he was playing two sports. After fall break, VanClay stopped going to the gym. In the spring of 2010 was when reality set in. Vanclay had managed to put on an additional 20 pounds since he started at HPU, weighing in at 240 pounds. Unfortunately, that 20 extra pounds was not of muscle.
About two weeks before school let out for the summer in 2010, VanClay went to the HPURec department in the bottom of Slane Student Center and met Jason Moore. Moore, at the time, was the CrossFit instructor and a sophomore at HPU.
“The first time I got back in the gym was the week that prospective freshmen came for orientation. I worked out so hard on the track upstairs I actually got sick. It was tough but that’s where it started,” VanClay remembered.
At the end of that semester, Moore sent VanClay home over the summer with a workout plan. After getting a job as a shuttle driver for his local gym, Vanclay also received a membership, which made working out much easier during his time at home.
Once VanClay got comfortable with his workout routine from HPU, he added what is known as the Insanity Program. This program is a 60-day DVD workout system that comes with 10 DVD’s, an eating regimen, and a workout calendar to help keep individuals on task with their goals.
During his sophomore year (2010-2011), VanClay made his biggest strides towards his final goal. While no formal number was set, VanClay wanted to be at a healthy weight by the end of the academic year. After an entire summer of working out and coming back to working with the CrossFit class, a new and improved VanClay began to emerge. Not only did he lose the weight he wanted, but he also managed a total weight loss of 85 pounds to weigh in at a healthy 150 pounds.
At the end of VanClay’s sophomore year, Moore graduated from HPU and the status of the CrossFit class was unknown. At the beginning of his junior year this past fall, VanClay told Mat Allred, recreation director at HPU, he would be willing to take on the CrossFit class.
Vanclay says it’s common for people to give up on fitness easily, but they shouldn’t.
“When I started the Insanity Program I had 10 students. By the end of the class I had only six. I know that the people who stuck with it, though, are happy with what they achieved, just like I am.”
Allred has watched VanClay grow and change into a new person, and only had positive things to say about him.
“Adam has come so far that he now teaches the class that he learned so much from,” said Allred. “Once you become active, you get out and you are able to do more things. Socially it is easier to interact with people because you feel better about yourself, you have more confidence and you have more energy.”
Allred also stated that people like VanClay are the reason he enjoys coming to work at HPU. Seeing someone achieve something like VanClay has is proof to Allred that what HPURec and their instructors are doing is really worth the while.
VanClay also noticed how getting back into shape has helped him become a better person as well.
“My freshmen year I wasn’t a part of any clubs or anything like that. When I met Jason my sophomore year I lost most of my weight, and that’s when I ended up rushing a fraternity and joining the sports major club. It just made me feel like a more social and confident person.”
One thing that VanClay hopes to stress about fitness is that when it comes to making goals for yourself, it is not always an issue of motivation. In fact, he feels that it’s a lack of knowledge of how to begin a proper work out regimen. Keeping that regimen in place is often where the problem lies, he says.
Now starting his second semester as a junior, VanClay has maintained his weight and still teaches CrossFit in the Slane Student Center. He still teaches as if it was his first day, striving to help those who are struggling as he did to meet and achieve their fitness goals.