Phillips credits training for change

After a husband and father of three almost lost his family, he found a new passion that turned his life around. Health and fitness. Three years ago Josh Phillips was physically out-ofshape and hyper-focused on his work to the point where it was detrimental.

Today, Phillips is a competitive ninja who has competed on season eight and season nine of American Ninja Warrior.

“I found myself back at the end of 2013 where my wife was basically saying I’ve had enough, I’m done until you make some changes,” Phillips said. “As I look back on the last three years, it was a lot of very small steps in the right direction whether that is health, fitness, being a better husband or being a better father.”

With his wife also facing recent physical and emotional struggles, the family had another obstacle to overcome.

Phillips and his wife decided to fight back with health and fitness.

“Right now my wife and I are in the process of planning on starting a gym up where we live in Lake Nona where it’s more than just a place to work out,” Phillips said. “The idea of family health and fitness isn’t just physical fitness, but its fitness in your marriage. It’s fitness in your parenting. It is mental health and the fitness that is required to keep your mind healthy.”

Phillips’ goal for the gym is to reach out to the community and provide an opportunity for families to focus on different areas of health. The gym’s target would be kids and parents. “It would look like a kid’s ninja warrior gym,” Phillips said. “Also rooms not only to do birthday parties, but also to do sessions on parenting or mental health where we can bring in an expert.”

While still in the early planning stages, Phillips is working on the transition from information technology work to becoming a certified personal trainer.

“It’s really about providing hope to people who have lost hope,” Phillips said. “I think that’s what our story does. Whether it is lost hope because they’re overweight and out of shape, or a husband and wife are sleeping in two separate rooms and their marriage is completely in shambles, a wife who looks at her husband who works constantly and never has time for the kids. That’s where we were three years ago. The ultimate goal is to talk to as many people and tell them it’s not too late.”