The Voice of Experience

By Kirby Adams

George Lindsey's voice may sound familiar if you listen to Louisville radio. On weekday mornings you can hear him on local radio station 102.3 The Max. In the afternoons, you'll find him at the Downtown YMCA, but that hasn't always been the case.

Three years ago Lindsey went to see his doctor for his yearly physical.  At that point he was 6'4'' and weighed 285 pounds, and his doctor told him, "George, you are now officially obese."  Obviously, those are words no one wants to hear. Determined not to remain in the obese category, Lindsey timidly entered the gym and hired a personal trainer. With the initial goal of finding someone to show him what to do to reverse the process of being overweight, Lindsey began getting into shape.

"I liked having the one-on-one time with a trainer. When you are 285 and wearing shorts, it's nice to have a buffer. You just don't want a lot of other people around you," said Lindsey.   That is no longer his problem.  Slowly over the past three years he has whittled away the weight.  The first 15-20 pounds can off easily; the next 30 took more determination, a change in diet and mindset.

"Even my wife, Deanna, has lost weight," he said, "because we spend more time as a family doing healthy things, both eating and exercise."  Lindsey spends three days a week in the gym working on his strength training and two days on cardio.  It's been a satisfying journey. 

"I feel really good, I have more energy, my asthma hasn't flared up, and, of course, I've had to buy a whole new wardrobe."   Lindsey's asthma has required hospitalization in the past.  He had thought that the condition would keep him from doing any type of cardiovascular exercise.  Now he feels that exercise has actually strengthened his lungs.  He's doing things now he never would have dreamed of doing before he started working out.

On a dare from a co-worker, Lindsey began training to run a 2-mile race that was part of the Kentuckiana HealthFitness Duathlon series, which 102.3 The Max sponsors.  To get started, George tried combining walking and running for as long as he could. 

"When I first started working out and my trainer told me to spend 30 minutes on the treadmill I thought she was crazy," he said. Now he realizes that it's not the speed but the time spent exercising that makes the difference.  He won his age group in that first 2-mile race.  He then trained for and completed the next distance in the series, the 5K (3.1 miles).   As I am writing George is now training for last race in the series: the ValuMarket 10K (6.2 miles) on Sunday, October 10.  He'll run with his younger brother, Jordan.

You may not hear it in his voice weekday mornings, but the man behind the voice of 102 The Max is a much different person than he was three years ago. And, he has no intention of going back.

Kirby Adams is the consumer reporter for Kentuckiana's News Channel WHAS-11 and a sports and fitness buff. You can e-mail her at kirby.adams@whas11.com. Kirby is also a member of Kentuckiana HealthFitness' Editorial Advisory Board.

If you know of a little "GEM" or a story, you would like to share with our readers, drop me a note about it.

Kirby Adams
C/o WHAS-11 TV
P.O. Box 2588
Louisville, KY 40201