Dusty’s disappearing act!

Thanks to an invitation for the company to enter a team in the Les Mills ‘Agency & Media’ BOOTCAMP the Benefitz team discovered collective health, fitness and wellbeing back in 2008. This article, written by Benefitz design & Press-Press manager Dustin Bisschoff, tracks his quite astounding 18 month journey from couch potato to action man.

“I only need my body to carry my brain around…” - I lifted that line from a trashy star Wars meets star Trek sci-fi TV series that I used to watch as a pimply faced teenager. I milked that line well into my twenties. It suited my utter aversion for exercise.

If you’d told me in late 2007 that in two short years’ time I’d be big into exercise I would’ve laughed. If you’d told me that by then I would have lost 26kgs and be well on my way to running my first half marathon, I’d have been rolling on the floor.

At 14 I was convinced my body didn’t need any ‘maintenance’. I was an incred-ibly skinny teenager (I can hear some of my friends snicker with disbelief). In fact I showed no sign of ‘spread’ until my early twenties when my metabolic endowment started wearing off. By the time I realised that I was a little too large for my own good, I was nearing 30 and the idea of doing something about it was unthinkable!

So what is it then that prompted me to set foot in a gym for the first time in my life and get right into exercise in 2008? Well actually, there were three things … or to be more precise – two people and one fantastic opportunity.

The first was Declan, our first child. Being a good example to my children is one of those things that I admit I lose sleep over from time to time. Am I doing enough? Am I doing too much? Am I channelling my mother, my father? Was their example a healthy one to follow? …

Of course, the second person responsible for me hauling my most reluctant butt into the gym was of course my wife. For years to come, Susan will remind me about the time she saved my life by signing me up at the gym. One day, we’ll be ancients sitting on our porch, and I’m sure she’ll say: “Aren’t you glad now that I saved your life by signing you up at the gym?”, and I’ll say “Huh? Speak up, my batteries are flat!” The truth of the matter is that Susan DID save my life. After prolonged and obstinate procrastination on my part, she finally just signed me up at the gym herself. If she hadn’t signed me up, I would probably never have started working out, my hypertension would possibly never have been diagnosed, and I would not be on the road to a longer life.

So that was the start. Then just weeks after the birth of our second son Finley the third part of the ‘Dustin gets off the couch’ process presented itself. I was given the opportunity to take part in Les Mills ‘Agency & Media’ BOOTCAMP.

BOOTCAMP was a whole new experience in pain for me. I spent the first workout session trying to think of ways that I could excuse myself from continuing the program. Workout days seemed like torture interspersed with brief moments of competitive activities. My ego got me through those first few weeks. Knowing that any minute there would be an activity for ‘points’ that would affect our team’s ranking kept me going - I’m secretly a little competitive. Non-workout days were spent limping, hobbling, and wincing at the thought of having to move. And there are trainers of all (well-built) shapes and sizes whose faces (and barking orders) are now forever etched in my memory.

By the end of that first BOOTCAMP I was totally hooked! I’d lost stacks of weight and felt so good about myself that when a second chance to do a BOOTCAMP came along, I became an instigator around the office - challenging and at times threatening people with “you must do BOOTCAMP!” My second BOOTCAMP led to another, followed by a fun run, another BOOTCAMP, a quarter marathon, a more strenuous exercise program called Les Mills SPARTAN (dreamt up by fitness freaks no doubt tripping on protein shakes and watching Frank Miller inspired films on their rest days), a half marathon, and currently another SPARTAN program.

Many Benefitz team members suffered alongside me right along the journey. Director Dallas Bennett and Account Manager Blake Douglas have been there from the start. Blake (an athlete in his own right) spent many a session pushing, dragging or screaming at me, and in those early days was instrumental in getting me through some of the workouts.

In the early days, Managing Director Aidan Bennett (who has also completed all the BOOTCAMP’S) may have worried about offering us that first opportunity when run groups started being organised, coffee breaks were occasionally substituted with ‘push-up’ practise, and eating in front of ‘bootcampers’ meant having your lunch scrutinised, broken down into good or bad carbs, and fats and proteins.

So has it been worth it? Well after less than two short years, I’ve lost 26kgs, racked up 100’s of kilometres of running, made new friends and did things I thought I could never do. And even more importantly, I’ve now got the energy to run and play with my sons and look forward to the day that they’re old enough to go running with me. I think that says it all!

And another thing… Since competing (and winning) our first Les Mills Agency & Media Charity BOOTCAMP in 2008 the Benefitz team have tackled two regular Les Mills BOOTCAMPS and were back for the rebranded Les Mills Charity BOOBCAMP in late 2009. As well as severely testing the participants, the two Les Mills Charity BOOT/BOOBCAMPS have raised over $150,000 for charity. Over $100,000 was raised during the 2009 Les Mills BOOBCAMP for Breast Cancer Research. Benefitz Managing Director Aidan Bennett has been the leading individual fundraiser at each of these events. Dustin Bisschoff and other Benefitz team members have also tackled three gruelling Les Mills Spartan courses over the past 12 months. For more information on Les Mills team training visit… www.lesmills.co.nz

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