An Army veteran who lost an arm and a leg to roadside bomb in Iraq took top honors in the “Ultimate Men’s Health Guy” contest announced Oct. 7 on NBC’s Today Show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sgt. Noah Galloway, a medically retired infantryman, was chosen from among 1,300 entrants \u2014 garnering more than 60,000 “Readers’ Choice” votes \u2014 and is now the first-ever, regular Joe reader to grace the magazine’s cover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In late 2005, Galloway was just a few months into his second tour in Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) when his Humvee was sent flying into the air. He woke up in a military hospital six days later, on Christmas Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thus began a journey of recovery that climbed from booze-soaked low points of deep depression to a moment of clarity five years later when he decided it was time to turn things around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the years since, he has become an avid CrossFit competitor, run the Marine Corps Marathon and knocked out a slew of mud runs, including the 70-hour pain-a-thon known as the Spartan Death Race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“My depression terrified me,” the 33-year-old father of three from Alabama says in his Men’s Health write-up. “I never wanted to experience that again. That’s why I got into races. What kept me moving was never going back to where I came from. I wanted people to see more than my injury.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clearly, the fitness magazine’s editors saw far more. Indeed, Galloway was among three selected as finalists along with former Marine helicopter pilot Kavan Lake, now a Naval Academy football coach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asked about his recovery on the Today Show, Galloway credited friends and family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It was really tough, but I had some good people around me, to help motivate me,” he told co-cost Willie Geist, just before learning he had won. “When I got back in shape and started pushing myself, I started living off the motto of: ‘No excuses.’ “<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That’s also the name of the nonprofit he’s started. The No Excuses Charitable Fund aims to help lower childhood obesity in Alabama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“While Galloway’s physical transformation is impressive, the man is by no means a finished product. He knows his motivations can be laced with vanity and a need to impress,” writes Men’s Health editor-in-chief Bill Phillips. “He still has a nasty dip habit. The first-ever Ultimate Men’s Health Guy is a tobacco user? Yes, for the time being. Every man is a collection of flaws and virtues, a work in progress.”\u25a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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