Andrew Boot

Andrew’s Fitness Journey:

Throughout high school, I was an active and very stubborn athlete. As a long distance runner on the track team, I would push through any obstacle with the hard headedness of a rhinoceros. I considered this the ‘Rocky Balboa’ mentality towards life and that being hard willed was the only way through struggles and challenges. This worked well enough until I suffered a severe ankle injury my senior year that required surgery. After not listening to doctor’s advice and taking things too fast, I required another surgery 2 years later. This time I listened the doctor and his advice of taking A LOT of rest.

After 9 months of rest, I returned to running in a more moderated and healthy fashion. I graduated from FLCC and chose to further my education at Binghamton University,  where I pursued a degree in Biomedical Engineering. As with any engineering discipline,  it was quite difficult and I did not know how to cope with the added academic stress. In pursuing this degree,  I adopted an “at any cost” mentality. Running, swimming and lifting had taken a back seat to many other unhealthy coping habits including isolation, binging on video games, and drinking alcohol daily. By my senior year at Binghamton,  it was truly painful to look in the mirror and see who I had become. Somewhere between the anxiety, depression, and weight gain,  I felt as if I was a stranger in my own body.

I medically withdrew from the University and went to Colorado to learn how to live in recovery. I thought 90 days would be long enough to heal but I found alcohol was a symptom to the problems that I had long been struggling with and decided to stay for a whole year. Throughout that time,  I learned that being hard headed is a true gift but anything taken to an extreme, can be detrimental. I now focus on living a balanced life, utilizing healthy coping habits to take life on life’s terms.

My experience in Colorado taught me that helping others in my community is what is truly important. Now that I’m a personal trainer,  I get to do that every day!