Lalanne “The Juicer”, is fitness. Fitness is what drives my friend Jeff Qualle. I meet Jeff 2
years ago at my fitness club. What attracted me to Jeff was how fast he was in the pool. Jeff
has been in fitness most of his life and went to college on an Athletic Scholarship. He is a
husband and father of three as well as the owner of a successful company, Better Built Truss.
Still, between family, work and life, Jeff has managed to keep himself more than fit as a Tri-
Athlete. Two of his recent accomplishments were a 5k race taking 1st place in his age group
along with the masters’ award in the Woodward Triathlon.
How does he find the time to get in
the training it requires to achieve these
types of accomplishments? Jeff explained
to me that it’s easy as long as
you start your day at 4:45am and finish
in bed by 10pm. Before work he
hits the gym for a 2 hour workout and
is in his office by 7am. At lunchtime
Jeff occasionally swims at his gym
with a group of other devoted fitness
gurus. After work he will either run or
ride his bike. He does all of this 3 to
4 times a week and depending on his
daily responsibilities he will sometimes
do all the above in one day. Make no
mistake, Jeff is a family man and puts
family first. He makes sure to be at
the dinner table everyday regardless by
6:30pm and after dinner is family time.
On the weekends, his fitness addiction
doesn’t stop. On Saturdays, he wakes
up at 5am to get in a 60 plus mile bike
ride. Sundays he will run 8 plus miles
followed by a fun filled day of family
time. I asked Jeff, why do you do it,
why do you do so much? It’s not like
you are training for the Olympics nor is
it a requirement to do so much to live a
healthy lifestyle.
His answer didn’t surprise me. Fitness
gives him energy; it gives him
the mentality that anything is possible
along with the strength to conquer all
those barriers in life. Fitness is all he
has ever known and he is addicted to
fitness. I asked Jeff, what’s your nutrition
like? Are you a picky eater? What
do you eat? Surprisingly enough, his
answer was, I eat whatever my wife
cooks and have been known to take
down a dozen chocolate chip cookies
and eat pretty much what I want. Make
no mistake Modesto View Readers. At
the age of 50, Jeff’s body is well conditioned
and whatever calories he puts
in, they get quickly used up in his daily
routine with all the exercise a Tri-Athlete
endures in one week’s time.
Jeff is a remarkable man and I have
learned many things from him as a
Tri-Athlete including his most recent
setback. Due to an illness Jeff was not
able to finish at The Modesto Marathon.
He had been sick for about 2 weeks and
despite his wife’s recommendations, he
attempted to run the full instead of the
half. That was a tough break for Jeff
because he has always finished every
fitness event he’s entered. I respect his
decision he made at mile 18 when he
called it quits. He put his own ego aside
and did what was best not only for his
body, but for the family that depends on
him. It takes a strong man to make a decision
like that.
Finally I asked Jeff if he could share
a few words of advice with our readers
who can’t seem to find the time to get
in some fitness. “I would like to let men
my age know this important thing; As
we age we allow our energy levels to
decrease and we call it aging, staying
active is the true fountain of youth. We
slow down because we think it’s what
we are supposed to do. I plan to keep
battling the old age thing as long as I
can. God has given us the gift of life and
has allowed us to do what we want with
it. A life of energy and feeling good is a
choice that you make. I was once asked
if I’m trying to live to 100 and I said no.
I’m afraid that I’m going to so I need to
make sure they are good years”.
