Once, my mom showed me a video where I was having water fun with my kid after I finished my wake boarding session. My mother captured a joyful moment, but guy on a video was shirtless, which saddened the video for me. That guy on a video looked visibly fat (over 100 kilos) with hanging breasts.

It was clear - that “guy” had let himself loose. Even though, nobody ever said it out loud. That guy decided that he has higher standards for himself and body shape needed to be rectified.

Wake boarding is definitely fun, but it’s not enough in Dutch climate. Luckily, I found a kickboxing gym near by house, and trainer seemed really good. I already had experience with muay thai before, and knew that dutch kickboxing was dominating. So the dutch kickboxing journey started.

For the first month, I would vomit from the intensity of the workouts. After a month I became a bit more confident and started participating in sparing sessions. It was not always light and my body already was not as conditioned - so injuries started creeping in into my day to day life. It is intense, and I came back exhausted - couldn’t do anything else but sleep. (bummer, if you planned to work on a side-project that evening)

It was only after about 8 months that I could get through workouts without major upheavals. It became a routine - train, come home, take a shower, and continue with my daily activities. Injuries are also a thing of the past, and even bruises hardly appear anymore.

My weight is now 97 kg, much less than before. BMI is on the border of normal. Muscles and ABS could be spotted on my body once again. Kickboxing have become my outlet - when I feel bad, I go straight to the gym. People are already worried when I don’t come for a long time. How can I not go now and let the guys down?

I found my sport in the Netherlands, and of course, wake boarding when it’s warm. My son was inspired and he goes twice a week to same kickboxing gym. Those bullies should be really careful around my son now - he can already kick ass.

Sport really increases happiness levels. And a lot of water.