Honoring the Man Who Helped Me Rebuild My Body
As many of you know, back in June I added strength training to my health journey after my buddy Christopher Kidawski helped me lose 80 pounds. After the weight loss he strongly encouraged strength training, which I resisted for a few months. Chris lives too far away from me in Florida, so he suggested I find a trainer in Miami.
What most of you don’t know is that the universe placed one of the best body scuptors (strength, trainer, nutritionist, bio- hacker) in Miami, maybe in the entire country, right in my building.
What started as a cold-plunge acquaintance turned into one of the most transformative partnerships of my life. Titus Jean isn’t just one of the above mentioned specialists; he’s a sculptor of 50-something dad-bod redemption arcs. He specializes in helping successful career men reclaim their vitality, their strength, and their discipline, and the kind of confidence that makes you walk past a mirror and go, “Wait… who’s that guy? Oh. It’s me.”
Lucky for me, he took me on as his latest “rebuild project,” three days a week, no excuses this past June. What convinced me? Adter hearing my story, he looked at me and said, “Congrats on all your business success, but what good is any of it if you’re dead by 60?” This resonated deeply with me.
Day 1. Strength test.
First discovery: I could not do a single push-up. Absolutely zero.
Second discovery: something called a farmer’s carry, which is basically picking up two dumbbells and walking until your soul leaves your body through your forearms.
He told me to grab the 40-pound dumbbells. My internal injury radar immediately lit up like Times Square.
But I went for it.
About 10 seconds in, my hands started screaming. By 20 seconds, I was convinced I was losing fingerprints. By 30 seconds I dropped both dumbbells like I’d just been tasered.
And here’s where it gets funny…
After a week if this, I looked at my palms, which now resembled early-stage dinosaur skin, and said, “Titus, I’m developing some pretty nasty calluses. Should I buy some gloves?”
Titus turned to me slowly with that “oh, sweet summer child” look…
Then he laughed, loudly, and said,
“We’re not using gloves, Eric. We’re building hands & grip strength.”
In that moment I understood two things:
1️⃣ He was absolutely serious.
2️⃣ I was in trouble.
Fast-forward five months to my last day in Miami. Our goal: “Clear the rack.”
That meant picking up the heaviest dumbbells in the gym, the 80-pounders, and walking for a full minute without dropping them.
I did it. And I hit my push-up goal of 20 that same week. He sent me off to Paris proud and transformed in all the right places.
Once I arrived here, I texted him every single workout, every rep, set, and weight. Titus actually reads them, comments on them, and coaches me from across the Atlantic like a fitness guardian angel with a Wi-Fi connection.
About two weeks in I started reporting some modest fireman’s carries in the 60 pound range. The first thing he asked when he saw them was - “How high does the rack go?”
This man knows his priorities.
I converted kilos to pounds like a confused American tourist and discovered the max was 40 kg — 88.125 lbs. 8 pounds more than my personal best in ! He told me he wanted me to clear that rack before leaving Christmas!
So I went to work.
Stopped wimping out at 60 pounds.
Added 2 kg each week.
Rebuilt the hands, rebuilt my calluses, rebuilt the strength, rebuilt the confidence.
And today…I cleared the rack - two 40 kg dumbbells - for a full 60 seconds.  more than double what I could do on day one back in June. A brand-new personal record. Right on the heels of yesterday’s push-up PR: 32. My new goals to reach 50 push-ups before I leave Europe January 14th.
Titus — thank you. You changed my strength, my body, my discipline, my confidence and my standards. I look in the mirror these days and barely recognize the man staring back…But I’m damn proud of him.
