We never started Default Kings to sell workout plans…
We started it because of what we lived through, as sons of men who lost a spiritual battle with their health.
My name is Gabe Pluguez, co-founder of Default Kings.
And alongside my business partner Joey Yochheim, we've helped over 1100 Christian men reclaim their health, their discipline, and the strength to walk boldly in their mission.
But before all that, we were just two sons…
Watching the men we looked up to slowly lose a war they didn't even know they were fighting.
Both our dads were strong. Godly. Ambitious.
Leaders in the home, in faith, in business.
But behind closed doors, something started to crush them.
My dad, Manny, was the rock of our family.
He was strong. Quick-witted. A provider.
The kind of man who'd pray over you at night… and defend you without hesitation.
But slowly… silently… the man I once admired started to vanish.
He had less energy. More stress. Less presence. And more pain.
I couldn't explain it in words… But I could feel it in my bones:
"This isn't what a Christian father should be like…"
For years I watched him fade.
Until the spiral hit full speed:
First came the diagnosis: Diabetes.
Then heart disease… and eventually lliver failure.
18 hospitalizations in 18 months.
And then came the moment that REALLY broke us all:
He tried to take his own life.
He called me, my brother, and my mom…
Just to say "I love you" one last time.
None of us knew he had just downed a cocktail of pills -- fully prepared to never wake up.
But God had other plans.
My dad survived…
That night I made a vow that no one else heard:
"This ends with me. The generational curse of poor health breaks here."