Professional wrestler, service banker, meal prepper and fitness buff Parham Habibi shares his fitness journey and meal prepping tips.
If you work at or have visited the 1 Ward Parkway location, you’ve no doubt encountered service banker Parham Habibi at the reception desk. But when he’s not greeting and serving clients and associates, Parham is likely prepping his meals for the week or working out.
Before Parham joined Country Club Bank in August 2021, his life goal was to become a professional wrestler. Calling wrestling the “weirdest and most glorious thing” he’s ever done, Parham says that when his family moved to the U.S. from Iran (via Turkey) when he was a toddler, they came with little money and few possessions. But they did have a television.
While channel surfing one day, Parham discovered the pro wrestling channel and was mesmerized by the antics of the wrestling superstars. “As a three-year-old, I told my parents, ‘That’s what I’m going to do for the rest of my life,’” he said.
Parham took the first steps toward making good on that dream in late 2018. He was going through some tough times trying to adjust to college, and his weight was closing in on 300 pounds. Without telling his parents, he dropped out of college.
“In the back of my mind, I knew I wanted to be a pro wrestler. I wanted to entertain people. I wanted to see myself win a world championship and stand in front of people at WrestleMania,” he said.
He “ripped the band-aid off” and told his parents he’d quit attending classes; to his relief, they understood. He worked to improve his mental outlook and create healthier eating habits. At the beginning of the pandemic, he signed up for wrestling school in Kansas City and started training as best he could, given the COVID protocols that were in place.
After three months, the instructors pulled him aside and told him he was ready for a match. Following the match, he moved to Florida to train for two months at Flatbacks Wrestling Academy with some WWE legends. He graduated in December 2020 and returned to Kansas City to continue his pro career.
Photo: Parham Habibi, front row, next to referee, at his graduation from Flatbacks Wrestling Academy in Florida.
Partly due to an injury, Parham hasn’t been in a ring since March 2021. But that hasn’t stopped him from doubling down on his fitness training and continuing his healthy eating habits.
In fact, his pursuit of a healthy diet led to his interest in meal prepping. Making his own meals not only ensures he eats more nutritional food and controls portions, but it also makes him feel more productive and saves him money. Here are some of his tips for making meal prepping a habit:
Find your niche. Parham said you need to give yourself time to develop the habit. So, start small, he advises. Choose one meal, such as lunch, and try to commit to prepping for that. When you start small, “it’s a lot easier not to want to give up and not overwhelm yourself,” he said.
Assess. Parham advises taking a few minutes at the end of each week to ask yourself whether you enjoyed the meals you made and derived other benefits from your meal prepping efforts. “Reassessing helps keep you from giving up,” he said.
Expand slowly. Once you feel comfortable in your niche and “start realizing the results and coming up with different ideas for recipes,” Parham advises to slowly start incorporating those into your routine. Parham has shared his favorite salmon and rice recipe to prep for his lunch as this month’s featured recipe.
Allow yourself a “cheat day.” Parham noted that you’ll still have cravings, but if you know you have a day to indulge, you likely won’t be miserable and overindulge. A cheat day, he says, “gives you a little balance so the journey is worth it.”
Keep building on your progress. Use the foundation you’ve built to carry you forward toward your ultimate goal, whatever that may be.
Whether stepping into the ring, committing to a meal prepping schedule, or starting a new career in banking, Parham is never one to remain in his comfort zone. Although he still imagines himself standing in front of a cheering WrestleMania crowd, Parham also enjoys stand-up comedy and hopes to begin performing publicly later this year.
His position at Country Club Bank feeds his extroverted personality. “At the end of the day,” he said, “being in front of people, talking to people, making people happy—being able to actually get them the products they need—I like the idea of just talking to people and interacting with people all day. What I really want the most is—I just love to make people smile."
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