David Lyons

Achieving your fitness goals and sticking to a given exercise regimen is never easy. After all, there are a lot of obstacles and hindrances like time, boredom, injuries, comparison, self-confidence, laziness, etc. But, these limitations can be defeated easily. So, whether you have set a goal to try a new sport, lose weight, or [...]

I first met Darren Barnes in 2008, when he helped me train for a bodybuilding competition. At the time, I was 50 years old and had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis only a couple of years earlier. There were many who thought I was crazy, but Darren stuck with me, and in August 2009, I was awarded [...]

As a former New Yorker now living in California, I love to hear about great things happening for people with multiple sclerosis in my old stomping grounds. Here’s a story that highlights the power of fitness that I think you’ll find inspiring and worth sharing. Maret Asaro’s first symptom of multiple sclerosis (MS) likely occurred [...]

I meet some pretty amazing people through the MS Fitness Challenge, the organization I run to encourage people to overcome multiple sclerosis with fitness and nutrition. I want to introduce you to one of those people, Kim Reed. Kim, 47, is a competitive bodybuilder from Colerain, in Belmont County, Ohio. Here is Kim’s story, in her [...]

I am writing this installment of my relapse diary a month after I left off the last time. I am now going into my second month on the multiple sclerosis (MS) drug Rebif (interferon beta-1a), I’ve been back in the gym for a full month, I’ve made adjustments to my meds, and I’ve entered some uncharted territory [...]

During a December 2016 trip to Florida to visit relatives, I began having new and worsening MS symptoms that continued into January. I did my best to deny that I was having a full-blown relapse and to hide it from my wife, Kendra. But finally, at 4 a.m. on January 14, we decided to go to the [...]

This is not my normal blog, as my life has been far from normal for the past two months. So sit back, grab a drink, and relax. This is going to be a long one! This new chapter in my journey with multiple sclerosis (MS) started on December 21, 2016, during a trip to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, [...]

Ryan Mills, of Ithaca, Michigan, recently reached out to me as he was starting a 90-day fitness challenge at his local gym. Ryan, 41, has had multiple sclerosis (MS) for nearly seven years, and he was ready to make a change in his life. We talked about life with MS, working out, nutrition, and much more. [...]

What a year 2016 was. I was honored as a finalist in both the Health Advocate Hero and Lifetime Achievement awards by patient community site WEGOHealth and received the Lifetime Fitness Inspiration Award from the Global Bodybuilding Organization. Kendra, my wife, and I opened our first OptimalBody Personal Fitness facility in Murrieta, California, held several 12-week MS Fitness Challenge events nationwide, and most important, [...]