Tales of inspiration
5 real life examples of people who have set and met their fitness goals
There are articles about resolutions everywhere you look these days, so I thought I would provide some inspiration for readers in the form of real life examples from five of my clients. These are real people who were frustrated with their situations, decided to do something and then took consistent, purposeful action. They aren’t perfect and all of them have experienced frustrations at some point. The difference between them and the other “New Year’s Resolutioners” from one year ago is that they found a way to manage the bumps in the road, they kept their faith in the process and they made adjustments to keep going. It’s also important to recognize that while enjoying success, none of them feels that they’ve “arrived” and that their work is done.
1. “D” is a 67 year old grandmother living with fibromyalgia. When I met her, she was also dealing with sciatica and a torn rotator cuff making it impossible to put her arm into a sleeve on her own. She also had difficulty getting up and down from the floor. After a year of attending monthly personal training sessions and completing home workouts three times per week using resistance bands, she now has full range of motion in her shoulder, her sciatica is gone, she plays with her grandkids on the floor without hesitation and she has taken up Zumba.
2. “T” is 53 years old. We started working together about 11 months ago when she came to see me for her arthritic knees that require injections for pain and swelling. She was frustrated trying to lose weight that she’d put on due to inactivity and poor eating habits. A modified strength and conditioning program using weights twice per week along with a home fitness routine helped her to stabilize her knees and get back to more vigorous activities like sailboat racing and basketball coaching. The addition of 30 minutes of cardiovascular interval training three times per week along with a nutrition “clean up” helped her to lose 40 pounds. You’ll notice that her weight loss has been the result of losing 1 to 2 pounds per week, consistently, over the last year, not a large, drastic reduction at any point. Her next challenge is to get back to skiing this winter.
3. “H” is a very active 60 year old born with knee caps that don’t line up properly when he bends his legs, resulting in painful, swollen knees. His goal was to get back to participating in intense, hilly bicycling last summer. Together, we developed a plan for him work all of the supporting muscles around his knees using limited ranges of motion. Doing this resulted in greater muscle balance and much greater stability. He completed one personal training session per month and did workouts at his gym, with specific instructions, three times per week until July when he cycled the Niagara escarpment successfully without pain.
4. “I” is 52 with osteoarthritis in her left knee. When we met, she was limited in her ability to walk and climb stairs. Starting in June, she began a progressive “return to activity” strength program twice a week and in October she hiked for 60 minutes without pain or swelling and was even able to add short jogging segments into her training. In November, she played volleyball with some of her friends and was pain-free afterward.
5. “B” is 59 and had never exercised when we met. After four months of weekly personal training sessions, walking and a home stretching program his chronic back and neck pain has disappeared.
Like a music teacher that assigns homework to their students to complete before their next lesson, my “students” experience the greatest results when they do their homework. Their willingness to follow through comes from a belief in the process and an understanding that while the solutions to their problems are sometimes simple, they usually aren’t easy and they do require effort.