What a week! First a super special card from one of my clients thanking me for helping her with her balance! She is able to walk around for periods of time without her cane! She is 90! Goes to show that age doesn’t matter it is your mindset!
Another of my clients has had a breakthrough as well and hers is a bit different! This woman lost her teenage daughter almost 10 years ago to suicide. Since that day she has been dealing and feeling the intense pain that only those who have been through it can understand! It has been years of grief, sadness and struggle. I was astounded when she told me that even immediately after this happened she made the decision that she was not going to let this define or hold her back. She can be sad but her life has to go on! WOW.
We began working together in October of last year (2016) and she had two goals. 1. To lose 25lbs by mid may when she would be visiting her daughter studying abroad in Thailand and 2. To lose 40lbs.
When we first met I wasn’t sure how she was going to do. She seemed gung ho but had a lot going on and a lot she was holding on too. Boy she proved me! She has since been one if not my most dedicated client. In between all of the things she is active in she makes sure that she finds the time! We schedule her appointments at least a week ahead so there is no excuse that she can’t make it. We schedule her appointments for after she will be on a trip before she leaves so there is not a chance to miss a beat.
The thing that impresses me the most of this client is the way her attitude not only towards exercise and our sessions has grown but her attitude overall! Now she was never unhappy or anything but you can see that something has lifted. There is an ease and happiness about her! Is this due to her weight and fitness progress…...I think at least partially!
She started looking at our sessions as her time. Instead of an exercise feeling hard or heavy she “doesn’t feel as strong” and on the contrary she tries to make her lifts and exercises strong! I love this because even when I feel like the weight is heavy when I lift it and succeed I feel strong. Even if I only get one. And this is how I want my clients to feel and think about it. It is not torture it is a time to improve on yourself. I love that instead of a workout being terrible she says it was tough….but she feels strong not only immediately after but like the entire day! Can an awesome workout session change the course of your day? Hell ya! And what I love about this client is it does. She has told me that she wants to come see me because she feels awesome and empowered for the rest of the day! (And that makes me feel awesome and empowered for the rest of the day too!)
Feeling strong doesn’t have to mean you lift massive amounts of weights or run super fast. It can simply mean you did something better today than you did yesterday! Can working out help your self esteem and help you feel better about yourself. Um YA. But you don’t have to do what the latest trend is or what your friend is doing. Find something that you enjoy. Find someone to help you learn and work to improve. Have you always wanted to do a push up?? Well you have to start somewhere! If you could just do everything you wanted where would the fun be? You have to practice and improve everyday! Find something that makes you feel strong And do it!
There is no better feeling as a trainer as when you finish a session with a client and they tell you how awesome the workout was and how strong they feel physically, mentally and emotionally after! There is nothing better than seeing someone work through so much and see how exercise and caring for themselves, putting themselves first has changed them! Having someone say they finally feel like themselves and like they are back to normal from years of feeling like they weren’t is amazing and even though I only give the tools, clients do the work, it is pretty freaking cool!