Many think they don't have time to work out, but one local man is proving them all wrong. Jeremy Miller routinely works double-digit hours per day as an over-the-road truck driver. After years of poor choices, he made the right one -- by getting in shape.
Every weekday is Groundhog Day for Jeremy Miller. As a truck driver, Miller goes between Milwaukee, Janesville, and Madison twice per day. That's 10 to 12 hours of driving each day.
"When I walk in [the gym], it's always at the end of a long day," Miller says. "No matter how bad of a day I have, once I start doing what I do in here? I'm gonna feel great. And that's the truth.
But it was a decade ago that Miller realized he didn't like his appearance. And like the sticker says, mirrors don't measure progress. They just show much more work is left to do.
"I had gotten out of the shower, wiped the steam. And I said 'what happened to me?'" Miller says.
On a whim, Miller walked into the Brickyard Gym in Bay View, and he bumped into a bodybuilder named Nick.
"He had arms bigger than my head," Miller said. "I had no muscle, at all. None. If I wore jeans? There was no seeing my belt. Like, definitely my stomach was over my belt. And it was very depressing."
Then Miller got to work. And not just in the gym. He was so dedicated to the task that he did modified workouts in his truck.
"I brought a big piece of cardboard with me, because it was, during that time it was winter. And so I had a flatbed. And I would put that cardboard on my flatbed. And I would do my workout at truck stops, at the end of my day," he said.
The progress is impressive. Miller has finished top five in natural bodybuilding competitions.
"I feel great. I can breathe. I can run. I've done things, I never thought possible. And here I am."
Miller insists that what he did, you can do too.
"I'm a bodybuilder, but just working out one hour a week, you can get in shape no problem just by changing your diet," he says.
But Miller is human, too. After competing at the Wisconsin State Fair this weekend - he's going nuts. Just once.
"At the end of State Fair, after that show, I will be cramming cream puffs into my mouth. And pizza. And anything on a stick. Because I haven't had a carb in a month!" he said.
Miller is in pursuit of his pro bodybuilding card, but his work has already paid off quite handsomely.
