Walking down the sidewalk we pass many people on our way to class and never know the truth behind the lives that they live outside of school. Ty Casey, a sophomore at North Dakota State, is one of those people that you may have passes on your walk to general chemistry.

Unless you sat down and talked to him, you would never know his story. He has already been to a 6:30 a.m. cross fit training session and burned nearly 4,000 calories in the process.

Casey has been a member of the cross fitness program in Fargo for over a year now. He says while the training has changed his body, it has also changed his dietary needs. 

“The training has been more demanding on my body because I am being pushed harder than ever before,” he recollected.

With the start of the program, Casey mentioned he had taken a Bod Pod test at the Wallman Wellness Center and determined the difference in his body fat percentages on days he did nothing versus days he was training.

From the tests he determined that on a regular day he burned about 1,800 calories. That number spikes to 4,000 on days he trained.

Though he burns more than twice the calories on a regular day by doing exercises such as air biking and box jumps, Casey said he manages to stay away from additional protein supplements.

“There is no need for them because I can get all the necessary nutrients from the food that I eat,” he said.

He does, however, say his diet is very dense in protein-packed foods such as milk, eggs and chicken. Though he doesn’t count his calories, it’s a very common practice among some trainers. The main point is to make sure they get the proper amount of food with a healthy dose of proteins, carbohydrates and fats.

Of course, despite the brutal workouts, Casey is still human. He admits he has experienced a bad workout after eating an unhealthy meal beforehand.

He said that in general he doesn’t eat for 1-2 hours prior to going to the gym. When he ingests unhealthy foods, such as a cheeseburger, it negatively affects his performance.

The gym is like family to Casey and he emphasizes the great sense of community he feels when he goes to a workout session. Though some days he faces challenging routines, it is motivation from his peers, energy from the nutritious food he eats and a drive from within that leads Casey to his successful career as a cross fitness trainer.