The Prevail Papers : #1, The Intro Pages

Welcome to The Prevail Papers!

Fitness tips from a Certified Personal Trainer & Health Coach. Learn how to get lasting results, stay motivated, and avoid common mistakes.

My name is Kyle Sommers, and I am a fitness-aholic.

I've been in the Health & Fitness Industry for nearly 8 years. In that time I've been fortunate enough to get my feet wet in several pools of the fitness world.

Let me start off with a little bit of information about me so you know a tad more about why I started this blog:

My Personal Story

On the personal side, my passion for fitness started out with an interest in weight loss. I grew up significantly overweight and absolutely HATED exercise. I did not grow up loving sports, being outside, caring about fitness, or "eating clean." I loved video games, air conditioning, and anything made by Hostess.

I grew up making unhealthy choices. At 18, I weighed 260 pounds. I graduated high school unable to run a mile or do a push up. I was fed up with being overweight. I was miserable, depressed, and knew nothing about how to change it.

What I did know, was that if I didn't eat, I'd have no choice but to lose weight. I began starving myself, binge eating, then purging everything I ate. Naturally, I lost weight. A lot of it. Over the course of 5 months I lost over 110 pounds. And then, I got sick. Real sick.

I couldn't figure out why I felt so tired and weak all the time, so I paid a visit to my family doctor and explained what was going on. We talked more in depth and she diagnosed me with the eating disorder Bulimia Nervosa, known more commonly as Bulimia.

My response was pretty much what you could expect from an 18 year old boy who just got told he had an eating disorder.

Bulimia? No way.

Yes way. And if I didn't change it - it would continue damaging my body and my mind until there wasn't anything left to destroy.

So I began reading, A LOT. I picked up every book I could find about health, fitness, exercise, mental health, nutrition, eating disorders, muscle development, and any other topic I thought would help me.

I began to understand how the body works, how the mind works, and how they can be a damn good partnership - if you let them.

I began exercising, applying different techniques, studying ideologies, and building training programs. I learned through trial - and often error - how to properly train my body to look, feel, and perform my best.

Like all good things, this process did not happen over night. It's taken years of failures, modifications, and application to get here. And along the way I learned an incredible amount about health and fitness

And thus, my passion for fitness was born.

Now, on the professional side...

My Professional Story

Initially, I started my training career working in a Wellness & Rehabilitation Center while going to school for Physical Therapy. After several years, I decided I wanted to leave the Rehab world and step into the world of "Big Box" Personal Training.

And. I. Hated. It.

I quickly learned that the industry is chock-full of big egos, unethical sales practices, and half-naked mirror selfies.

So, after a couple years of furthering my education and experience I was able to get enough roots planted that I could branch out on my own.

I started Prevail Personal Fitness as a way of spreading education, philosophy, health, and fitness to people from all backgrounds in order to provide the guidance required to make lasting lifestyle improvements.

I am currently a Certified Personal Trainer, Health Coach, and Behavioral Change Specialist.

I own and operate my Personal Training studio, Prevail Personal Fitness, in Flower Mound, Texas where I train my clients full time.

My goal is to share my knowledge and experience with every person I can. I want to help people make sense of health and fitness and remove the stigmas, exaggerations, lies, and distractions from the industry.

This blog is a means to that end - A way for me to share the things I've learned along the way. My goal is to save you some time and energy, as well as provide useful, practical, and truthful tips to get lasting results, stay motivated, and avoid common mistakes.

Until next time,

Kyle