2025 Rookie of the Year: Cody Heath

My name is Cody Heath. I’m 36 years old and was born and raised in Klamath Falls, Oregon. I currently work as a farm manager for Knoll Ranch, where we produce high-quality retail horse hay for customers across Oregon and California. My role mainly focuses on sales and trucking, but like most farm jobs, I do a little bit of everything. I also manage our retail feed store on the weekends.

Family is a big part of my life. My wife, Samantha, and I have been together for 12 years and married for 5. We have two kids, Kaison (10) and Kylee (3). I don’t have a lot of hobbies outside of work, but when we get the chance, we enjoy family vacations. I’m also a big fan of drag racing—we have a friend who runs a professional Top Fuel car, and whenever they’re racing on the West Coast, we try to go watch and spend the weekend with them. You’ll almost always see me wearing my Capco hat.

In January 2025, I joined Hogback after being encouraged by my boss and good friend, Grant. I had watched him transform his life the year before, and it pushed me to take a hard look at my own. At the time, I thought I was in decent shape—but I quickly realized I wasn’t. I’m 5’11”, and I weighed 235 pounds when I started. Outside of farming, I hadn’t done much physical training since playing football my freshman year of high school.

I went to a free Saturday class with Grant and barely made it through at the lowest level. That moment made it clear—I needed to make a change. I started in foundations with Coach Corilyn, working three times a week to learn proper technique and build a base. She helped me progress through every movement, even the ones I couldn’t do at first.

After foundations, I jumped into the 6am classes, where Coach AJ took over. I pushed to attend five days a week until our busy season started, then kept going as much as I could. Over the year, I went from yellow-level workouts to purple-level performance. I dropped 50 pounds and now weigh 185. I’m stronger, my cardio has improved drastically, and I feel better than I ever have. At the start, I couldn’t run 200 meters—now running 2–3 miles is no problem.

Joining Hogback truly changed my life. The atmosphere in the gym feels more like a family than anything else. The coaches and members push and support each other every day, and it makes you want to keep showing up.

If I could give any advice to someone thinking about joining, it would be simple: commit. Start slow, listen to your coaches, and put in the time. Hard work pays off—and the Hogback community will be with you every step of the way.