While playing professional football, Amir Madison felt off in his body. He was holding onto extra weight as he fuelled up with heavy meals to power his intense training schedule. He was in peak football shape, but he didn't feel like himself. After retirement, he took up yoga – a practice completely opposite to his norm. He embraced yoga’s practices, became an instructor himself, and even founded his own yoga training company and nonprofit focused on making health and wellness accessible. He's lost just over 40 pounds, and found himself healthier not only physically, but mentally. In his own words, here's how he did it.
IN THE EARLY years of my life, I was deeply entrenched in professional football. Despite being in good athletic condition for the sport I was playing, I carried excess weight and felt uncomfortable in my body. I weighed just over 220 pounds around that time. My focus was primarily on performance, fuelling myself with heavy meals to get calories in, and pushing my body through intense training sessions. Though I was working out extensively, the extra weight felt like a burden, and that really brought me down mentally.
After multiple football-related injuries, I wanted to change the way my body performed – to be more flexible and balanced than football training allowed. I also wanted to focus on my overall health. So I sought out alternative wellness modalities and found yoga. I really resonated with yoga's holistic approach, focusing not only on making the body healthy, but the mind too.
When I retired from professional football in 2014, I was able to fully shift my focus towards whole-body wellbeing. I embraced yoga even further, practising it daily and incorporating its teachings on mindfulness. I learned all I could about breathwork and meditation, and incorporated both into my yoga practice and daily life.
Before embracing yoga, my diet consisted of heavy, meat-centric meals. However, as I dived deeper into my yoga practice, my body naturally wanted lighter, plant-based food. I shifted towards a predominantly plant-based diet, focusing on whole, nutrient-dense foods that nourished my body from the inside out.
Weight loss wasn't my main goal – I just wanted to feel better in my body again. I knew that yoga's holistic focus would help me get there, so I didn’t focus on the scale. Now, my weight sits around 185 pounds, and I feel better than ever.
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Currently, my training regimen includes a balanced combination of yoga, strength training, biking, and hiking, all of which support my overall wellbeing. Weight loss naturally followed from my commitment to holistic health.
These three tips have made my transformation journey a success.
Focus on the Whole You
I really took to heart the yoga-centred practice of caring for the whole body – not just the physical. It allowed me to step away from weight loss as my primary goal and focus on feeling better overall. This gave me a deeper sense of purpose, and the peace it brought mentally and physically is more important than any weight loss I achieved along the way.
Think about doing more for yourself than just working out and eating less. Practise mindfulness, perhaps through yoga or meditation, and it will teach you to listen to your body. I became more in tune with what my body needed, whether it was a rest day, a new challenge in my workouts, or a different way of eating. Plus, focusing on overall health rather than the number on the scale takes the pressure off weight loss and shifts your attention to wellbeing instead.
Switch It Up
While consistency is essential in any workout regimen, incorporating variety into my training routine helped keep things engaging. Instead of sticking to one style of training, I mixed things up with running, cycling, swimming, or hiking. I never got bored, and was able to move past plateaus more easily. It also helped prevent overuse injuries, and kept me mentally stimulated.
Embracing variety adds fun to your workouts and allows you to discover new strengths and interests. Don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone and try new activities to keep your fitness journey fresh.
Shift the Focus
One key aspect of my weight loss journey has been not focusing on weight loss at all. By prioritising my overall health, I was able to achieve sustainable results without the stress of constantly checking the scale.
I’ve realised that real transformation happens when we prioritise self-care and holistic wellbeing over external goals. Weight loss can come naturally as a byproduct of looking after your body, mind and spirit through practices like yoga.
