Hello everyone, my name is Noel Jimenez, and I am 23 years old.
My journey at Innovative Results began back in October 23, 2014. I was first told about OC’s Fitness Playground by my recruiter. The recruiter had one of his enlistees attending Innovative Results and making really great changes and improvements through IR’s Training, and as a result; went to boot camp and is now a Marine in the United States Marine Corps.
At the time I was ok with just working out and using a treadmill/elliptical for my every day workouts at LA Fitness. I was no longer losing any weight and had plateau at192 pounds. I honestly didn’t believe I could drop, and reach my recommended weight of 165 to enlist and continue further. That first day at Innovative Results taught me one thing about myself; even though I had thought I had strength and mobility, I was wrong. All it took was the warm up of the workout to know just how weak I really was. I could not believe it, but continued to do the best I could.
As the workout progressed, not only did I struggle, but I had really bad form when executing movements. It was within that same workout that the coaches (Mark and Corey) kept checking on me to see if I was alright, and I was. During my first two workouts I got to talk a little more with Corey Beasley and Mark Elmasry about my goal for training at Innovative Results. Letting them know that I must drop weight to continue my enlistment; they told me I would have to talk to Aaron Guyett about setting a diet plan. Aaron Guyett is a Staff Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps. Knowing that, I knew there would be challenges to come.
I first met him(Aaron Guyett) on October 27, 2014. After that workout, I had a long talk about what was expected of me in order to succeed. One of those changes was a diet with absolutely no soft drinks or heavy sugars, strictly water. As well as no regular rice, tortillas, red meats, pork, and food made at home. It was a really rough start for me to give that all up and replace it with the “healthy stuff”. On top of that I was given a schedule to keep up with, if I wanted to get the best results. I had to do sprints known as 400’s(quarter mile sprints) on Tuesdays. Starting at 4 laps and every week it went up one more lap until I got to 12 laps and then reset back to 4. Every lap had to be timed, and that same time was the amount of rest I had to take in order to do the next lap. On Thursdays I would be at the USMC recruiting center to train with our recruiters, and on Saturdays every other week it would be a mile run that was to increase one more mile every other week until I hit 8 miles and the same went for a hike with weight(done on the week after the mile runs), increasing from 20-40 pounds once I got comfortable enough to go up in weight. On Monday, Wednesday, Friday I would be training at Innovative Results.
At first each lap on the 400’s would vary from 1:53 and up(no more than 2:05), a really slow time. My first mile run came in at 11:10 a slow time. Running/sprinting was one of my biggest challenges; I was never the type of person to go out, run or be active. From November to December, getting use to the diet and work out regiment was a bit too hard on me, but I kept my mind on why I must tough it out and continue moving forward. One of those ideas I kept in mind was if I’m not able to hack it, how would I ever hope to drop the weight and gain speed and strength. Towards the end of running miles or doing sprints I would be out of breath, but I continued to push myself through the pain knowing that it would benefit me in the long run.
Towards the halfway point of December I had just gotten use to the whole diet and workout regiments and lost ten pounds in two months. It definitely was helping, and I went from 192 to 182 in those two months at Innovative Results. As I continued to see improvement and major results I decided to go to Innovative Results Monday through Fridays from January to now (May 2015), while still doing the sprint and running regiment. By this time my body and aerobic capacity had gotten up to the point where I was able to do the sprints/runs after a workout at Innovative Results.
From late December 2014 to late February 2015; I did not go to the recruiting center to train with the recruiters, but continued to let my recruiter know that I am still in the game and have not given up; just bettering myself. Within that time frame I continued to do my workouts and sprints. Getting better at mobility, strength and speed. When I returned to the recruiting center in mid February (still as a guest) it had been close to three months since my last visit. I was just curious to see how running/sprinting, hiking, and Innovative Results had helped me.
It was no surprise, my first day back was a run uphill and downhill in Anaheim Hills; everything had improved a lot. Running/sprinting had given me more speed. Hiking had given me the leg power to go up and down the hills with ease. Innovative Results had helped me come down from 182 to 165, as well improve my mobility and strength to take on the exercises and plyometrics that were in store for those two hours of training. Not only did we do that hill up and down once, we took it on again and I was still fine. As a guest, I was able to keep up with the Marine Poolees and be right behind them. I’m not one to brag, but being one of few that was breathing calmly to others who were out of breath; I felt really great about myself. It was a great Thursday and only got better, my recruiter had asked me if I was ready to take the ASVAB, and the physical to follow; my heart raced, and I said Yes!
Knowing that I have been working so hard and continue to work hard to this day, I swore in on March 2, 2015 and was given my boot camp date of May 11, 
2015. Two to three weeks after swearing in I had asked Aaron if there is anything I could do to better improve my strength and conditioning for boot camp and with just five weeks left he had given me an all new regiment. I stopped going to Innovative Results on Thursdays to attend PT at the recruiting center and Tuesdays became my mile split days and they always worked around three miles to improve my three mile run time for boot camp, but for Thursdays I had switched over to doing 400’s before going to PT. On Saturdays I still did my hikes, no longer doing the mile runs anymore because I have built up my aerobic capacity to run up to 8 miles. In addition to that I was also given a five set workout for Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at the end of every Innovative Results workout. At first it started off somewhat easy five sets of 6 pull ups, 12 push ups, and 24 crunches. As every week came by for the remaining weeks they increased in reps, and two days ago I finished my last of the progression sets: five sets of 13 pull ups, 26 push ups, and 52 crunches; toughest to pull off, and took almost an hour to finish.
All this self driven determination and help from all the wonderful coaches at Innovative Results, has helped me get to where I am today. From not being able to complete one pull up, barely finishing a mile; I now know that I can run my mile in 6:30(not 11:10), from no pull ups to being able to do 13 pull ups and an increased mobility and flexibility far better than when I first walked into Innovative Results. Thank you Nick, Mason, Corey, Mark, Aaron for all your coaching to getting me this far. Mark and Corey thank you for helping me when I had mobility issues and helping heal it. Thank you Aaron most of all for being the biggest motivator to helping improve my speed and strength. From sprinting 400’s in 1:53 to 1:08~1:14. To running miles under seven minutes. No amount of thanks could ever own up to how grateful I am for all the hard work and inspiration you have all given me. In boot camp I will continue to make “my next one, my BEST ONE!!!” Thank you!!!
