SOMO News
Healthy Athletes Training: Pierce Rash
Pierce Rash, 35 has participated in Special Olympics since he was 8 years old and living in Las Vegas, Nev. He and his family moved to Missouri in 2004. In 2013, Pierce was selected to Team Missouri to compete in bocce for the 2014 USA Games in New Jersey.
He trained very hard and was thrilled to attend all of the events surrounding the USA Games! Pierce came home with four awards for his efforts and set his sights on the next games in 2018! In 2016, Pierce decided on his own that he needed to lose weight and get in better shape in order to try out in 2017 for Team Missouri. Shortly thereafter, Pierce implemented his workout plan.
Since a very young age, Pierce has worked out with Richard Simmons’s “Sweatin’ to the Oldies.” He added a treadmill for the 2014 USA Games training because he knew he may need to walk up to five miles per day while in New Jersey. 
To train for the 2018 USA Games in Seattle, Pierce has become even more serious about his training and told his mother that he wanted to focus on losing weight. The plan is to eat less, eat something healthy every three hours, drink more water, add an elliptical regimen and perform two workouts per day.
Pierce looked over every DVD at Wal-Mart for work outs and made the decision to go with Billy Banks’s “Taebo.” Pierce’s parents tried to discourage that DVD since it seemed very high energy and fast paced, but Pierce was insistent he wanted to try. His parents have been amazed with his dedication and performance!
Over the months, Pierce saw the pounds dropping and his body shrinking! He became obsessed with his workouts and sees this as fun and something he looks forward to every day. Pierce’s parents became amazed with his commitment to getting into shape and made sure he knew it was okay to “treat” himself with something he gave up (cookies, French fries, etc.) every once and a while.
As of his last check up in January, Pierce has lost 51 pounds without the help of any pills or powders and has gone from a size 40 pant to a 32. Pierce does one workout in the morning and then again around 3 p.m., which helps keep his metabolism burning off the pounds.
Pierce has been working hard on his form in bowling which is the sport that he wants to try out for at the Special Olympics Missouri Selection Camp. He is looking forward to the State Indoor Games in Ft. Leonard Wood where he is hoping for a gold medal which will allow him to try out for the team.