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Warrior, Wrestler, Marine |
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Like a Brick in the
Face |
Warrior, Wrestler,
Marine Most people are pretty happy just to
be healthy and fit. Then there’s the fringe element. The people
who can’t be satisfied with modest achievement. They always
hunger for more strength and toughness. Athletic competition
drives them. You will find a lot of these athletes in the sport
of wrestling and in the Marines. Greg Wagaman is that kind of
person.
Greg enlisted in the U.S. Marines out of high school.
During his four year hitch, he was trained and worked as an
aircraft mechanic. He was good at it, but found that he really
wanted to be an officer. However, he needed a college degree to
do that. At the end of his four years, he transferred into the
Marine Reserves and went to school at Adams State College in
Alamosa, Colorado. He was careful to choose a school with a
good wrestling program. He graduated with a degree in Sports
Physiology and went back to active duty. Only this time he
became an officer and served as an Aircraft Maintenance
Officer. He eventually retired as a major after 25 years in the
Marines.
While still in the Marines and living in Fallbrook,
California, Greg became active in the Fallbrook Kids Wrestling
Club so that he could help coach his two sons. After a while,
he started helping out with the high school wrestling team, the
Fallbrook Warriors. He is currently an assistant coach for Roye
Oliver, a gold medalist at the 2007 Veteran’s World Freestyle
Championships.
So what did a retired Marine do when he had a
pension and a part time job coaching high school wrestling? He
started a business designing, building, and selling strength
training equipment called BITF Sports. BITF is an acronym for
“Brick in the Face.” Consider that bit of information as a
warning of what’s to come. In hindsight, all of Greg’s
experiences and skills have come together. He engineers a
growing line of strength training equipment that can produce
results above and beyond the usual fitness club regimen. It has
been referenced many times in stories about the military that
the Marines get the dirtiest jobs and the smallest budget. They
are expected to make do and improvise. Greg is a consummate
improviser. His products are cost effective and affordable.
Names like “Ball & Chain,” “Grip Ripper” and “Caveman” make
you realize that your workouts are going to be more challenging
than usual. How to use the stuff seems a little baffling at
first. Fortunately, Greg’s wife Bonnie has done a nice job of
making instructional videos and posting them to their web site.
By the way, that middle aged guy doing a lot of the equipment
demos is 52 year old Greg, himself. He doesn’t exactly look
like a retiree. This is a guy who leads by
example.
Does the average athlete need Greg’s cutting edge
equipment? Maybe not, but they could certainly benefit from it.
The target audience is the athlete that looks for an edge. As a
former high school and collegiate wrestler, I know that’s
important. Imagine training for months, even years for the
opportunity to be the best at something. You earn the chance,
but you barely lose a championship match to another person who
found a way to be a little stronger and a little tougher. The
feeling stings. The only thing you can do is to learn from the
loss and not let it happen, again. In Greg’s own words, BITF
Sports provides strength training “For Those Who Live, Train
& Compete Like a Brick in the Face.”
The pursuit of extreme fitness often finds a willing
partner with wrestlers and Marines.


Del Vogel
August 1, 2008
For more information, visit www.healthandfitnessforyou.org
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