IN OUR JANUARY 2015 issue, we asked
members to submit their personal fitness
success stories.
We subsequently learned, thanks to
the hundreds of submissions we
received, that “fitness success” has an
almost limitless range of meanings. To
some, it involves dramatic weight loss. To
others, it is recovery from a traumatic illness or injury. Still others found it in facing fears, shedding addictions, taking on
new challenges and, subsequently, gaining a new perspective. And many respondents defined fitness success not as a
sudden change, but something that they
have achieved through a lifetime of effort.
Underlying all these stories was the
epiphany that each person experienced—a sense of clarity, awakening
and a life regained or reclaimed, leading
to a brand-new set of choices and life-altering opportunities.
Whether you are trying to lose
weight, set a fitness schedule, improve
in a sport, make a career change or take
a different direction on your life’s path,
we believe you will find these stories
inspiring, motivating and heart-warming.—T. Foster Jones
40 ;e Costco Connection JANUARY 2016
for your
health
Karate
KING
WHEN HE WAS young, he was called Little
Chucky Currie. Bigger kids often bullied him,
recalls the San Diego Costco member.
Living in Chicago’s Chinatown with his
grandfather, Currie found inspiration by
watching The Green Hornet on TV and marveling at the abilities of Bruce Lee, who played
Kato. His grandfather took him to a martial
arts teacher and, at the age of 6, Currie began
training, but he didn’t take it seriously.
“I was kind of the class clown,” Currie
says. Then his teacher took him aside and
said, “You know, Chucky, if you would get
serious and keep training, you could become
a world champion.”
“After that I went karate crazy,” he says.
He earned his first black belt at 10, and went
on to win hundreds of trophies and numer-
ous championships.
“In the beginning, I’d get up about 3
in the morning and do my own personal
training, then go up to the school and
run around the track. After school I’d
go to practice and practice from
about 4 in the evening to 9 in the
evening. I was the one who
locked up the studio. I
started teaching at 14.
At one point I was
going to four different
studios. I would never
miss practice.”
Currie, 55, still prac-
tices and teaches, and has
been a bodyguard for celebrities,
including Prince, Halle Berry, Richard
Pryor and Brad Pitt. He was inducted
into the martial arts Masters Hall of
Fame in 2009. Now, he’s focusing his
energies on acting.
And no one calls him Little
Chucky Currie anymore.
—Steve Fisher
RO
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O
PER
transformed
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training, then go up to the school and
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a
Chucky Currie anymore.
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Costco members
share their stories of
fitness success
Chucky
Currie
