OUR STORY
Edgar’s Story
At the age of 46, I reached a turning point in my life. That summer, I had painful, recurrent headaches, but the doctor couldn’t find anything except my blood pressure was 160/120. He told me if I didn’t start taking blood pressure meds, I could have a stroke. While it was easy to blame my health on the toll of running several businesses, raising three kids with my wife, etc., the reality was—my lifestyle had caught up with me.
At 5’ 9,” I weighed under 160 lbs. in my 20s, but hit 185 lbs. by the time I was 46. Gaining several pounds a year, I slowly but surely found myself in overweight territory. I couldn’t believe it—I considered myself physically active. I played sports. I volunteered on a farm. I could not be unhealthy.
At this point, my wife Natasha, who has always been into holistic health, said, “Don’t take blood pressure meds. Change your diet and run for at least 30 minutes a day—that should get your blood pressure to normal.”
“What?” I thought, “People have always taken blood pressure meds…, but then I thought, “I’ll give it a try. If it doesn’t work, I’m taking the meds!”
In July 2016, I went on my first run (I never liked jogging). I barely ran two miles, but I was beat. It was also tough starting a new diet—I stopped eating rice and bread, just greens with olive oil, nuts, fish, and meat—and a bunch of daily supplements.
Within a week, I began to see results. My blood pressure went down considerably.
Within a month, my blood pressure was back to normal at 120/80.
By the end of the month, I was running a 5k every time, hitting that runner’s high within the first mile.
With my diet, I disciplined myself to eat until I was 80 percent full. By the end of the month, I lost 10 lbs. Not my goal, but a welcome benefit.
With that, I set a new goal: to achieve my ideal BMI weight of 150-160 lbs. My target was to be 153 lbs. within a year. Within months, I was running 3.5 miles within 30 minutes, often going on 5 or 8 mile runs. I added crunches, pushups, and free-weights to my workouts.
I stuck to my new diet, learning to snack on nuts instead of potato chips and eating meat in moderation. Within months, I dropped another 10 lbs. I lost weight so fast that my friends thought I had cancer, but I had more energy than I did when I was in my 30s. I could even play one-on-one basketball with my son and not feel out of breath.
But losing the last 10 lbs. was the most difficult. It took weeks before I saw a 1 lb. difference. After six months and right before my 47th birthday, I finally saw 153.3 lbs. on the scale. I’d achieved my goal, dropping over 30 lbs. in a year. If I’d known that a daily run and a healthy diet would get me here, I’d have started a lot earlier.
How did I do it? Determination and discipline.
After seven years of maintaining my “new weight,” I’m 54 now, but age is just a number. I still work out, but less—I’m really into pickleball these days. I still eat greens, good protein and supplements, but I'm not with the diet of before. Yes, I’m back to bread and rice, but everything in moderation. Life is what you make of it, and I hope to continue with an active and healthy lifestyle with Better Body Sports!
Edgar at Pickleball
One afternoon in June 2021, I tried out pickleball for the first time—yes, that game with the oversized ping pong paddles and wiffle ball —and I was hooked. Thanks to my basketball buddies who got me into this, my world changed instantly. Having played ping pong, tennis, and badminton, I found it a crazy, exciting, yet different sport of all three rolled into one.
So I joined the Paso Robles Pickleball Club and got schooled by 70-year-olds. Apparently, I wasn’t supposed to hit the ball as hard as I could. Athleticism alone wasn't enough. What was a third shot drop, anyway?
Starting out at a 2.5 to 3.0 level, my play was all over the place. I had so much to learn about dinking, drops, control, and footwork. I entered tournaments with my son, and we medaled in 3.0 but didn’t know what we were doing.
Since then, I’ve learned from local players and truly appreciate all the help I’ve received from this great community. I took lessons. Watched the pros play on YouTube. Advanced to 3.5 within months and got my first triple crown in Men’s (with my son), Mixed, and Singles.
I played throughout San Luis Obispo County. Worked my fundamentals and advanced to 4.0 within a year. Started organizing groups. My early morning 4.0 men’s group quickly grew into a regular 12some. It was exciting to see friends quickly advance from 3.5 to 4.0+.
Advanced to 4.5 the next year by working on my pickleball IQ, shot selection, point construction and overall, just being more consistent with my play. Besides drilling, I've been working on:
Advanced anticipation, counterattacks, balanced & clean shots, cleaner resets, efficient footwork, active court positioning and intuitive shot selection. Creating space, shaping my shots with improved topspin/underspin. Better partner communication and coordination.
As of July 2024, I've been playing for three years. Although I organize 4.5-5.0 level games, I still have a long way to go before I become a 5.0 player. Eventually, I hope to be, but I just want to enjoy the journey… and occasionally play a few tournaments in Mixed (with my wife), Men’s Doubles and Singles—I might even play Senior Pro one day.
No matter what level, pickleball is a great sport for people of all ages. My wife and I have fun, competitive family games with my son and daughter-in-law. My son has played in the PPA Pro Qualifiers, while my teenage daughter has gold medaled in 3.5 and 4.0 Mixed.
I’ve played across the US—Arizona, Iowa, Texas, North Carolina—just to name a few places outside of California. Wherever I’ve gone, I’ve found pickleball to be an amazing, closeknit community. I play with all players of different levels and help others advance their game. With all the help I received, it is truly inspiring to pay it forward.
I’m very fortunate to have met and played with pros Julian Arnold, Lauren Stratman, Wes Burrows, and Emily Cederquist. Great players and greater people.
I highly recommend local pro pickleball coach Gregg Whitfield's Pickleball Shots & Strategies Masterclass. It's an amazing online comprehensive pickleball course for a great deal.
I’ve always wanted to design and sell my own paddle, but I’m glad I waited. Since I started as a beginner, I understand what beginner and intermediate players need to improve their game. I also understand what advanced players need to advance from 3.5 to 4.0, or 4.0 to 4.5, as I’ve been there myself.
So I'm pleased to announce my first paddle – the BBS UltraSpin E1 "Edgeless" Paddle, USA Pickleball Approved in July 2024. I consider it the ultimate control paddle. My small initial inventory has sold out locally to great response. Check out all our paddles here.
Thanks for Reading and Pickle On! ~Edgar