#492 One Man’s Health Journey, A Step at a Time - Featuring John Challis

Huntsman World Senior Games Active Life

After many years in a primarily sedentary lifestyle, John Challis’s health journey began more than two decades ago at the invitation of some friends to go workout early mornings at the high school gym. Initially, he focused on strength training, and several years in, he added walking on the indoor track. Once he joined a gym, he progressed to more aerobic training and started to make changes in his diet. These steps in the right direction helped him survive a widowmaker heart attack in 2008 and propelled him to a deeper commitment in personal health and fitness. Since the beginning of this journey, he lost 100 pounds, even through setbacks including a celiac disease diagnosis and a cornea transplant. With the direct support of his wife Julie, John is now at full strength at the age of 65, he works out at the gym most days of the week, and they recently returned from a month-long backpacking trip around England, averaging 17,000 steps each day.