The biography of Sol Perry…

I know what its like to be unhealthy and uncomfortable in your own skin. Never take your health for granted, I did and it made me clinically obese with a 50inch waist. I could not tie my shoes without losing my breath and though obese, was actually malnourished and sick.

Your eyes do not deceive you.

No, that is not my fatter, older brother…that is me in both photos! No diet pills, no photo tricks… I WAS ONCE 300LBS!

Music and health are the gifts you give to yourself. A self-confessed music and fitness junkie, I have been performing and recording music for 25 years and training since I was 8 years old.

To me, music and fitness go together. Both strengthen the mind, body and spirit and help make you a more complete person. Yin and yang, life is all about balance. Music and fitness balance one another out. You cannot go hard constantly in the gym, you must have balance in your life to achieve self-mastery and reach your goals and more importantly, be happy! Shouldn’t that be on the top of everyone goal list… happiness?

Both music and fitness are cathartic, expressive, and allows your true self to shine a light on the world. We all make a choice everyday what kind of life we are going to lead, what we choose to fill our lives with reflects the life we will have…

Why should I listen to this Sõl guy?

After seeing Bruce Lee when I was 8, I have always wanted to be in amazing shape.

I was born in the 70s and grew up in the 80s. In the 80s, muscle and fitness really exploded and went world-wide with Arnold, Jean-Claude, Chuck, Sly… it was everywhere.

Something else really influenced me at this early stage. My only sibling my baby brother Jason was born severely mentally and physically disabled on exactly my 5th Birthday (we share our birthdays ever year together no matter where I am at in the world)

Really made me realize from a young age I was lucky to be born with a chance to be healthy and move. More than that, a chance to experience the world and all its wonders. Something as simple as kissing a girl for the first time he would never experience or fully understand. I wanted to live a life he would be proud of, live to the fullest for both of us. I became involved with Special Olympics along with my mother and have witnessed some amazing things from disabled folk that is hard to put into words. They are truly special and the real innocent of this crazy world.

I also loved music. Became obsessed with it in every sense of the word. At 14 I was working out everyday with focus/heavy bags, free weights, swimming, martial arts, and playing guitar 3-10 hours a day.

I had no idea what I was doing with either one, had zero guidance and not really any friends other than my best friend, my dog of 23 years Bear. Did not really have any natural talent for either one either. But what I lacked in talent, I tried to make up for with determination and reading books. I got stacks of music books and what fitness books there were available at the time with the giant Bodybuilders on the cover. This was pre-internet days.

I never really made a lot of progress with my body in my teens, I would follow the advice I read in magazines to perfection and it just seemed to make me “skinny fat.” I never had any cuts, veins, and certainly any size to speak of standing over 6ft tall and weighing a skinny fat 165lbs. Though I lifted weights constantly and always to failure, pushing my self as hard as I could and staying sore 24/7. Everything I read always said to push hard, no pain no gain, if the bar ain’t bending your just pretending… all the movies and videos I watched it was as simple as if you worked hard at it, it would happen..

Never happened for me, something was missing…

Sol Perry performing live and overweight

Performing live in his overweight days, this is a glimpse at the old unhappy Sol Perry.

I got an engineering degree by the age of 19, but it was not for me. I became a professional musician while in my 20s playing rock, blues, jazz, metal, funk, reggae, acoustic performing and composing my own music, but never got the body I always envisioned though I always worked out.

Time passed… While playing music at night, recording and writing music by day… I always jogged, lifted weights, ate plenty of meat and potatoes, drank gallons of skim milk, ate my whole grain bread, did my sit ups and never ate a lot of sweets. I thought I was doing everything right.

As my life went on, I began to getter fatter and fatter. Like so many do, the older I got the fatter I got.

I remember when I first hit 220lbs people started to notice. At 245lbs, I could pass for a “big guy” on stage.

When I hit 265lbs, I began to be in denial about it. I thought wearing xxl or xxxl shirts were cool. I was big and though strong, I was lose my breath and muscles cramp hard if I had to bend over to tie my shoes! I HATED looking at pictures of myself. When people would take live shots, I always hated the way I looked on stage. The fat around my face was really something I struggled with. Bottom line, I was in a mode of self loathing, depression, and was partying to dang much and staying out all night getting into trouble.

No one really would talk about it, not like I was really eating a ton more food. I was performing out every week staying out till 5-6am every night and when you play out, you’re gonna be around bad influences (people, alcohol). I have been playing in bars since I was a teen, it’s a part of the music business.

Quality food and music venues generally do not go together

Here is another before and after picture of Sol Perry, a stark difference in the face alone shows the transformation process.

I eventually ballooned up to 300lbs. I had a 50inch waist and looked bloated and uncomfortable with dark circles underneath my eyes.

Something else happened, my mom got Cancer – the big C.

I have always been very close to my mother, she had me when she was just 14. You could say we kinda grew up together. It woke me up, some call it an “epiphany” what ever you call it, I knew it was time for change. Here I was in the prime of my life with the gift of a chance to be healthy, when my mom and my severely disabled brother did not even have that chance. I was blowing it.

Time for a change.

I eventually learned what actually works. It’s not what most people think. Sometimes it seems they tell you the opposite to keep you from reaching your goals. There is a sea of confusion in the fitness and health world, my mission is to tell the truth and help others have the body of their dreams and show them how to make music a part of their world. It’s not as complicated as you may think.

I coach people in wellness, fitness, nutrition, longevity (I am 40 years old and feel like an 18-year-old), and music! It’s not my job it is my passion, having lost 100lbs myself, I just love seeing people transform. Its like I am losing my weight all over again, I look forward to measurement day cause I KNOW what we have put a plan in place where those inches are falling off.

I own and run Sol Perry Music and Fitness Studios. A private facility by appt only where we can train and focus on our goals with zero distractions; no waiting on machines or having total strangers stare at you while you are working out. I find this makes a big difference in results. My gym is packed with cutting edge gear that actually works! We don’t just use steel weights, we start off using just our own body. We train mobility, movement, core, using your total body. People ask all the time what we train for… Well, I do train athletes, but mostly I train everyday folk and we TRAIN FOR LIFE!

When you need that strength and mobility to pick up your child, do home maintenance, work, play with your kids, get up those stairs… everyday life activities – it will be there when you call on it.

Having lived on both sides of the fence I can say with a certainty it is much better being active, engaged, and eating whole-real foods and having music as a part of your life. Some folk I coach music, some fitness and some both!

I live and breathe music and fitness and I can assure you that you will notice a difference in your vitality, digestion, mood, body, and spirit.

Music and fitness help make you a more complete person, there is a reason when you listen to music or when you workout you can get “lost“ in the moment. It’s in our DNA, it’s a part of who we are.