What has personal training/exercise allowed you to do?
In March I got serious about taking weight off. I started eating better and doing an hour of cardio five days a week. I have an elliptical but find the accountability of coming to use the Good Bodies treadmill helpful. With the cardio and weight combo my trainer, Jan Sampson, has been increasing my weights on several exercises. I’m down two sizes and, with the Good Bodies support I’m receiving, I feel confident I’ll be down two more and at a proper weight by the end of the year. My knees were painful and the training/exercise has nearly eliminated the pain and made doing everything in my daily life easier and my whole outlook happier.
What do you like best about Good Bodies?
Clean, non-intimidating environment, the people, and any business with an office dog scores extra points. Trainers are a wide range of ages and expertise making Good Bodies a nice fit for every level of fitness and goal. My trainer, Jan Sampson, is at a stage of life I relate to. We’ve found things in common and my twice weekly sessions go quickly. It took about a year of Jan encouraging me to eat better and add cardio before I made changes. Jan didn’t push but she kept cheerfully suggesting that I stay after our weight sessions to use the equipment no matter how many times I hurried away. Jan patiently talked about green smoothies, the farmer’s market, ways to cut fats, and other efforts to inspire me to make food changes. Additionally, Jack and Greg are always welcoming and confidence boosting, and several other trainers and clients have cheered me on as I’ve begun improving my fitness.
What has been your biggest obstacle to success? How did you overcome it?
I am my biggest obstacle. I began with a defeatist attitude, convinced a history of being overweight and a recent thyroid issue meant I’d fail, and afraid people would judge me if they saw me sweat or have a red face doing a beginning level workout. Overcoming that soundtrack in my head is a conscious decision I have to make repeatedly. Most helpful has been: (1) entering a diet/exercise note in my calendar daily and looking back a month when I feel like I’m not making progress; (2) set a small cardio goal each month like increasing the treadmill incline or jogging a selected number of minutes by end of month; (3) allow myself not to be perfect and accept change is going to take time.
Favorite Exercise: The Prowler
Least Favorite Exercise: Just about anything Jan thinks up in the Green Room. Jan has a stream of variations on TRX bands which all involve some impossible combination of twisting, balancing and touching the floor.
Favorite phrase you use with your trainer:
"That looks complicated" and, "You know I failed coordination"