Jack Hauprich is a former anorexic. Hugely into running in high school, he fell for an idea that weighing less translated into faster performances. So he shed a few pounds. And then he shed more.

“I was getting lighter and leaner, lighter and leaner,” Hauprich said, while seated sideways on an exercise bench in an old West Rockport carriage barn, that was also once home to a small art gallery.

Now those rays of noonday sunshine filtering through multiple windows highlight strength, endurance, and power exercise equipment. Visitors who look toward the high white ceiling see scruff marks from jump ropes and finger prints from burpees.

For Hauprich, this new personal fitness training business co-owned by Chris Chacon, is a culmination of private lessons learned from his high school experience.

As a runner, “my competitive edge, my competitive mindset went further,” he said. “And then it got really aggressive, and spiraled from there.”

As the weight fell off, an obsession grew. Less weight, fewer calories, more focus on food and his body.

At his lowest, the number on the scale pointed to 114 pounds. He lost his energy. Focus and concentration flew out the window. His fingernails chipped from brittleness as his body deteriorated.

He found his low point.

Then, one day, he looked into the weight room at school. On the other side, athletes from the wrestling team pumped iron. Something lured him in. Wrestling led to weightlifting, and weightlifting led to calorie loading in order to beef up his muscles.

Chris Chacon, on the other hand, spent his high school career on the sidelines. From the summer before his freshman year until the summer after his senior year, he lived in a back brace.

With a diagnosis of scoliosis, Chacon was that kid who stood in the back of the classroom, unable to sit while wearing the non-pliable garment. He lived that way 24 hours a day, seven days a week; his only reprieve being when showering.

Athletics were out. Just not possible.

He did, however, take up martial arts, at his chiropractor’s insistence of physical activity. At first, he tried learning the moves while wearing the brace. The apparatus remained too challenging, and the brace came off for those sessions only.

Another realization.

After four long years, his medical team realized that the brace had not been helping. Rather, his back was getting worse.

Doctors presented two options: Continue wearing the garment for the rest of his life, or undergo a surgical implantation of two metal rods to keep his spine from collapsing.

Chacon chose neither option. Surgery wasn’t fathomable, and on one statement made by his medical team, he was in full agreement: The brace had been pointless.

Harboring an intense anxiety of how his future, his back issues, would play out, Chacon took off his brace in college and never put it back on.

Instead, he took up weightlifting, with successful results. 

For a year and a half now, Chacon and Hauprich have incorporated their medical trials, their athletic experiences, and their schooling into their Rockport personal training venture, C & J Strength and Conditioning. They are into their third year of operation, and growing their business.

Their niche, though not intentional, is their ability to share their personal histories.

“The really positive side of this is there are people who seem right away comfortable with us,” said Hauprich. “They think, oh, these guys are human.”

The pair offer bodybuilding, Strongman, weight gain, weight loss, cross training, or whatever the client’s goal may be.

Currently, their youngest client is 11 years old. Their oldest is 63, and gender is evenly divided.

They also maintain a website, cjstrength.com, containing several hundred tutorial videos, available for a minimal monthly fee. These videos are all created by the duo, and filmed by Chacon, a 2010 graduate of Camden Hills Regional High School, who holds a degree in psychology from the University of Southern Maine. He has also taken courses in fitness and nutrition, and competes in fitness competition, including Belfast’s ‘Maine’s Fittest.’

Hauprich, a Strongman (power lifting) competitor, Crossfit level I trainer, and CHRHS 2012 grad, demonstrates the techniques. He has completed two years toward a degree in applied exercise science, with the intention of finishing his degree in the future. 

For Mainers, summer is the season for outdoor activities. Road races, team sports, rowing, sailing, hiking, window shopping, gardening — they all require energy. Energy comes from food. So we asked Chris and Jack for meal recommendations before an endurance event (long distance running) and a power event (football).

Marathons:

Dinner

Small noodle pasta for the carb load for endurance. Small noodles break down quicker, which allows for a greater consumption of carbs without the heavy post-meal fullness.

Salads, including all colors of the rainbow. The consumption of all colors means no essential nutrients are missed.

Breakfast

Apples for quick sugars, energy bars for their blend of grains and other ingredients, pretzels — the salt and carbs help the body retain water for longer durations.

Water, and lots of it during the week prior.

Football games:

Dinner

Thanksgiving dinner foods such as turkey, salad and potatoes allow for a balanced meal of carbs, fats, and an extra protein source. The protein allows muscles to react quickly during field plays.

No dessert. Maintain the nutritional balance attained with the main entrée. Hauprich likens this to filling the gas tank of a car before a big trip. The options are leaded, unleaded or super. “Give yourself that super for the night.”

Breakfast

Fruit

Eggs               

Bananas with peanut butter 

Water with a splash of lemon before bed and upon waking, good for the digestive system. Lemons have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties