The Wayback

Name something that gets better the more it is used.

The human body is the answer. Most things wear out or break down - entropy simply wins. However, the human body (and mind) are different.

(Above) Greg finishing 1990 Ironman Triathlon World Championship in under12 hours and, almost 30 years later, at the Chequamegon 40 Fat Tire Festival.

Before explaining more, I thought I would share a bit about my background to provide some relevant context to this story. My academic training and career has been driven by a fascination with the human body – particularly how it adapts and responds to exercise. During my Master’s Program, I reluctantly admit that I was focused more on triathlon training than academic training; however, I was able to do both and later learned that this is a common path for many, if not most, exercise scientists. My journey led me to an assistantship at the U.S. Olympic Training Center where I had opportunities to work with elite athletes in a variety of sports.

The quest to optimize human performance is a compelling endeavor, but somewhere along the way I became more consumed by trying to figure out how to help the average person.

Squeezing out an extra second or pound of performance seemed mundane compared to the challenge of promoting physical activity at a population level. My Ph.D. work was in a program called Exercise and Wellness and I have continued studying these topics in my current position as a Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at Iowa State University. My passion is in linking science to practice and one application of this is my leadership role on a textbook called Concepts of Fitness and Wellness, now in its 13th edition. I study, apply and teach principles of fitness and wellness, and it is this context and experience that I bring to GB2U.

Jay and I were fraternity brothers a LONG time ago. He was president of the house and oversaw and drove major changes and improvements in the way the house operated and the physical building itself. And he was leader of our athletic teams too. He captained and quarterbacked the flag football team which finished second on campus one year. He played first base and led the softball team to winning the campus championship later that same year. Jay was a natural leader AND a stud athlete.

His success as an entrepreneur made complete sense, as did his ability to compete in triathlons. However, the interesting part of the story is in the ups and downs along the way.

Jay's personal transformation captures the intersecting elements of fitness, health and wellness in novel and insightful ways.

We’ve been working together on the Get Back To You Project for the last year, building The Wayback framework as he chronicled his transformation after letting entrepreneurship and life’s responsibilities wash away his identity as an athlete. As we publish more of his story I’ll be chiming in with data, research, and other resources.

Jay has fought back on becoming another statistic. What he has effectively done, you can too. It’s not easy, but it’s simple. While his story is unique to him, there are fundamental components that made it work. And they will work for you too.