K-Factor TEN Monthly Series

We’re excited to announce you to our inaugural K-Factor TEN monthly series. Each month, we will share ten questions and answers from people in the 50+ community with a fitness lifestyle.

Our goal is to help people get started and be encouraged and know that it’s not too late to start, and anyone can do it.

This month we’d like to introduce you to David O. Turner.

1. Give us some background on how long you’ve been working out and what started you down the path to fitness? I am currently 56 years old and started to work out regularly when I was 37. I started at 37 because I wanted to be sure that, as I aged, that I would be able to carry a higher level of muscularity into my later years.
2. How did you figure out what to do in the gym, and what exercises work for you? When I started again at 37, I hired a personal trainer, which was a great decision. It was helpful to have someone to direct my efforts to get maximum results. I thought that if I was going to invest the time, I wanted to get the best return, and that return on my time investment proved to be getting a personal trainer.
3. Did you start and stop working out before it became a lifestyle? I was fortunate that once I committed to a fitness lifestyle, it stuck from the beginning. Daily workouts just became part of my life, and it has remained that way for 20 years.
4. Why did you stick with it? What are the main benefits for you? I immediately started to see and feel the results. My physical appearance improved with better muscularity. My health improved, as evidenced by better blood pressure, lower weight, increased energy levels, and better bloodwork numbers during my annual physicals. The increased energy level has allowed me to maintain a heavy work and travel schedule.
5. How do you motivate yourself when you don’t feel like working out? How do you get past that? It’s seldom that I don’t feel like working out. The biggest challenge, probably like most people, is the time commitment. With a heavy work travel schedule, it results in making time for the gym as late as midnight on some occasions. When that happens, I force myself to go to the gym, knowing that I feel better once I do, and I will indeed sleep better once I am back in the hotel or back home.
6. Give us some background on your nutrition, and were there foods or strategies you tried in the past that didn’t work for you? I started eating better when I started back to the gym 20 years ago. I just felt that it did not make sense to go to the gym every day and NOT eat healthier. As years passed, I researched nutrition more heavily and now eat incredibly clean and healthy. The best way to ensure that I eat healthily is to set daily macros goals like protein, carbs, and fat. Then track my meals with an app (MyFitnessPal) to ensure that I am adhering to the targets.
7. Do you have a “cheat day/meal” on your plan? If so, how do you keep a “cheat day” from becoming a cheat weekend or week? What technique do you use? I treat myself to one “cheat” meal a week, and what I find is that the cheat meal tastes so much better since I only eat junk food once a week. You are not consuming it all the time, so you enjoy it when you indulge. It becomes a “treat meal” and not a cheat meal. It is my reward, and when I do it, I never worry about the calories or fat; I only go for taste and enjoyment.
8. “I don’t have time to spend hours a day working out and preparing meals,” is something we often hear – how do you answer that? It’s easy to make excuses for NOT doing something. I try to take the opposite approach and FIND reasons to do something. If you want it bad enough, you will make time. Everyone is busy, and I get it, but it is a matter of trading TV time, or some other activity, to work out and eat healthily. When I might lack some motivation to hit the gym, or it is late at night, and I am tired, I always think that I will likely lay on the sofa and watch ESPN, so why not get up and go to the gym instead. I always go because I know that I will feel guilty if I do not.
9. Do you have any tips to help beginners get started? Any ideas for those who may be intimidated about going to a gym or don’t believe it will work for them? My best tip is to get a trainer. Find someone that can help you learn and take the fear level down. It can be hugely intimidating to start this journey. By having a great trainer, they can direct you and let you focus on making improvements. Fitness WILL work for you. Start the journey and do not stop.
10. What is your go-to pizza or that cheat day treat that you enjoy? Pizza with pepperoni, mushrooms, and EXTRA cheese!

The results you achieve will depend on your commitment to yourself, the application of training, realistic goals, and time frames. We can help and encourage you to take action. Contact K Factor Coaching today!

David O. Turner is the President and Chief Executive Officer at Equipment Depot.

David is a graduate of the University of South Carolina and holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Accounting. David has also attended executive education programs at Harvard Business School, and Singularity University, a Silicon Valley think tank. As a dynamic and visionary leader, he is recognized as one of Houston’s top business leaders and received these recent honors – the Houston Business Journal 2018 Most Admired CEO Honoree and 2017 C-Suite Award Finalist.