That being said, one morning I did happen to notice a severely overweight kid training in a kickboxing class with Sensei John Lee. He was shy and quiet and ended up leaving the dojo half-dead from his workout. Be that as it may, that same kid kept on showing up, day after day, week after week. I would see him struggle through long, grueling workouts, and I remember thinking to myself how great it was that this totally out of shape young man was hanging in there, determined to do something different with his life. I later found out his name was Kevin Dowell.

Time passed and I started training at different times in the day. I didn't see Kevin again for about a year and a half. That is, until one day I found myself sparring with a cut-up, fast, and physically impressive fighter that I later realized was the same quiet, nervous, and severely overweight kid I had first seen almost eighteen months prior working out with Sensei John! Kevin was now a ripped and confident warrior preparing for his first Smoker, and let me tell you, he gave me a run for my money in the ring!

From the time Kevin's mom turned him on to Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon, admiring such childhood idles as Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Dame, Kevin was glued to the television screen and fell in love with the martial arts world. In fact, he was barely eight years-old when he first told his parents that he wanted to start taking karate. It sounded great and everybody in the Dowell family was really excited for him. But the reality was that deep down inside, despite his childhood fantasies, Kevin was extremely shy and nervous about joining a class, and he ended up dropping out of karate after only one lesson.

It was a tough two years following, but Kevin worked hard to confront his fears, and at the age of ten, he thought he would test the martial arts waters again. He joined a Kung Fu class, and he eventually reached the rank of purple belt. He was doing great, finally coming into his own. Then suddenly, he lost all of his confidence again when he accidentally slipped during a martial arts tournament, causing him to lose a match. Soon after, puberty began to set in. He began missing classes, losing interest, and all of Kevin's motivation went out the window. Before long, he began missing classes, his interest and motivation for just about anything becoming virtually non-existent. At the same time, his diet went to hell in a hand-basket -- as it does with most children today who fight depression and don't have proper nutritional guidance. Kevin was then living with his mother, and between the two of them, they began to lose control of their eating habits.

Kevin continued to eat junk food all throughout high school, and it wasn't long before he was on a long-term eating frenzy that would eventually rob him of all of his self-worth. Anybody who knew him at that time, knew how great he was at manufacturing all the right excuses that go along with an addictive lifestyle. It was clear that gorging himself had become a drug for Kevin, and he loved stuffing down his fears and depression with food. Everyone who cared about him -- his parents, his stepfather Len Lee, his friends - they all tried to help him, but the problem was that no one can really help a person unless they are willing to help themselves. And in reality, even if Kevin had wanted to, he didn't actually know how to stop the insanity, how to emotionally and nutritionally turn his life around.

Thinking back, Kevin remembers the days when he would step on the bathroom scale and negotiate with himself over the likes of ten pounds. "Ok, I'm at this weight, but I can't gain anymore!" Then the ten pounds would come around and another negotiation would take place for yet another set of pounds. It was a vicious cycle. "You know what's happening to you, but you just don't take the initiative to stop!" Len Lee and Kevin's parents were at their wits-end, but Kevin admits to being very stubborn.

It was painful for Kevin to hear people always telling him that he had to lose weight, their comments well-intended or not. And some kids weren't so nice with their greetings like, "What's up BIG BOY?" He took offence to this kind of ribbing, but then the excuses would come back into his mind as to why he couldn't lose the fat, and that was that.

As a high school freshman, Kevin would walk up a flight of stairs and be totally out of breath. Any physical activity in his life was definitely out of the question. That meant no cardiovascular stuff whatsoever -- no playing normal sports like soccer or football with his friends and peers. He would only get in the way and slow everyone down. But, as the spiritual author and teacher Dr. Wayne Dyer often says, "It's all about the Power of Intention, and if you put into play the thought process of your intention, one day your intention to change will become the day you actually do change."

And so, for Kevin, that "one day" finally came. It was right after his high school graduation. Kevin was at his highest weight, 260 pounds, standing only 5'9" tall. He was in a Chinese restaurant, eating of course, when he opened a fortune cookie which read "You know what you want, go out there and get it!" Wow, how simple could a message be?! Kevin did know what he wanted (in fact, he always knew, really) and he began to think back on all the happiest moments of his life. Something clicked in Kevin at that moment and he remembered how Kung Fu had given him his only real taste of discipline, confidence, and most of all joy, no matter how short-lived.

Goal setting now became the order of the day. Kevin knew that if he could just break his habitual behavior patterns, even for one day, he had a chance to change his life. The plan was to train every day, no matter what. So, he set out to do just that. The very next morning, his first training session lasted only fifteen minutes. He stretched for a while, broke a sweat, and was done. But, he did it! The next day came around and he decided to push himself a little bit further. He lifted some light dumbbells for a few sets, then he did a few decent sit ups, followed by some Kung Fu moves that he remembered from his childhood. Before he knew it, thirty minutes had passed. After about two weeks, Kevin actually felt a little muscle development in his arms and thought, "Wow, there's muscle under all this fat!"

The tide was changing for Kevin and he was beginning to feel good about himself. His fifteen-minute workouts were slowly turning into ninety-minute workouts. Four months passed and he had dropped almost thirty pounds. He knew he still had a long way to go, but one step at a time was the key. He was even beginning to change his diet. No more candy, no more cake, no more ice cream. Kevin knew that real fighters had to eat a certain way in order to stay on top, and little by little, he started to cut his portions in half. He opted for better, healthier foods, cut out all fried foods, and traded junk deserts for fruit.

And then it happened. Kevin finally decided to check out the House of Champions where his stepfather Len Lee was taking Eskrima classes. He would go and watch from the sidelines day in and day out, then one night he worked up enough courage to step into a class. "Everyone was really cool. The atmosphere was great, but to be honest, the first ten minutes of class was a lot harder than the 90-minute workouts I was doing at home." For a brief moment, Kevin thought about throwing in the towel. Then he thought about the fortune cookie. It was now or never.

Kevin stayed tough. His first class turned into two classes a week, then three, then finally five or more. He fought his way through sore muscles, feelings of going "nowhere," and a series of wicked injuries. He pushed himself and finally went into open sessions where he could pick someone to get into the ring with him and just spar. Kevin's driving goal was to become a kickboxer and sparring was ultimately the most important part of his program.

Finally, in July 2003, the House of Champions (aka HOC) had its annual Smoker and Kevin so badly wanted to compete. But his weight was still too high and he had only been sparring for a few weeks. The event, however, did provide him with the perfect opportunity to watch a variety of fighters get into the ring with over 800 screaming fans cheering on their favorite contender. He thought to himself, "Okay, next year, I'll be in there!"

Kevin knew that if he was going to make his childhood dream come true, he was going to have to prepare. With the heart of a Rocky Balboa, he wanted to be the best fighter he could be. "It was like going to school all over again." While in the dojo, he would ask question after question of the best of the best. What do you eat? How do you increase your endurance? What exercise will make me stronger? What techniques can I practice? Kevin became a sponge for information and absorbed everything he heard from everyone he encountered. Anything that he thought would make him better, he did it.

Summer of 2004 was suddenly approaching, and everyone at the House of Champions was talking and planning for the next big Smoker. Only this time, there was a new name on the card ­ an up and coming fighter by the name of Kevin Dowell. He had trained hard with such wonderful martial artists/kickboxers as Sensei Peter "Sugar Foot" Cunningham, Gary "Red" Wheeler, Danny "Hard as Steele" Steele, and Sensei Mark Parra, owner of the HOC. Kevin was nervous but ready!

The night of the big Smoker finally came around again, but not without its share of surprises. HOC couldn't find a kickboxer to compete with Kevin, so to his dismay he was paired up with a conventional boxer. He was nervous as hell, a ton of emotions gathering up in his throat. Adrenaline played havoc on his mind and the tension was beyond belief. As Kevin told me later on, "I don't think I was ever so scared in my life!" But with all the mental, physical, and spiritual energy Kevin had put out in preparation for that fight, he was able to go out and do what he had to do. As the bell rang, he flashed on what that little fortune cookie had told him to do not so long ago... "You know what you want, go out there and get it!" And that's exactly what Kevin did. He was expecting the fight to go the full three rounds, but his opponent only lasted one. Kevin was awesome and had done his job. He was declared the winner, and the rest is history!

Kevin continues to complete. His last bout was at the Santa Clarita Muay Thai Kickboxing Championship where he once again took a victory win over his opponent. Outside of training, trying to improve his life on a daily basis, and competing, Kevin has become a respected teacher at the HOC. He now trains beginning students in the art of kickboxing and helps them to become physically fit.

Going PRO is a possibility for Kevin and he would like to take Kickboxing as far as he can. At the same time, going to college and majoring in computer science is very important to him as well. Kevin is now 23 years-old and he is still at the House Of Champions located at 17228 Saticoy Street, Van Nuys, CA 91406 (the phone number is 818.996.7180). He is there every Monday morning at 10 a.m., and if you'd like to try his class, go on by. Oh, and by the way... Good luck, he'll definitely work the fat off you!