Testimonials
This month's featured testimonial
is from Kelli "Cable Girl" in Venice, FL
"Over a year ago, I was a 37 year old
woman who thought I knew what I wasn't:
I could never stick to working out. I'm
not a runner. I don't lose weight
easily, and I'm not a 'joiner'.
But in March of 2007 I walked into
the YMCA feeling fat, and EVERYTHING
looked like a good idea. Before I knew
it, I had done something that was
totally out of my comfort zone. I signed
up for the 530am Basic Training class. I
barely slept the night before the first
class as I was sure I wouldn't wake up
on time. But I did...and unknowingly, I
had set my sneakers on a brand new path.
At the beginning of class we were
asked to set some goals. Since I was
already taking a different approach to
my health, I decided everything had to
be different. Just having weight loss as
a goal always frustrated me, so I also
set some additional goals. First, I
wanted to learn to run. Second, I wanted
to make exercise a habit. As the days
went on, I watched the others in the
class run. I asked for advice and took
advice (both asking and taking advice
was new for me), and by the end of the
class I was able to run the whole mile
without stopping. Even more, I was able
to run it a minute faster than I
started. For someone with asthma who was
afraid to breathe hard- this was an
accomplishment.
I also saw great results in other
areas as well. I went from doing 9
mediocre push-ups to 22 good ones, and
from doing 9 sit-ups to 45. It was
really motivating to see that kind of
progress, especially since it had
nothing to do with my weight. Also, in
my own mind, I competed with my own
stats and with those of my classmates,
which helped me learn how to really push
myself both mentally and physically. Not
only did I lose weight, I also could see
and feel my body getting firmer and more
toned. Even my posture was improving!
I also got another benefit out of the
class that I wasn't expecting- I made
new friends. In most exercise classes
you don't have a lot of interaction with
your classmates during the class. In
Basic Training we do sit-ups with a
partner, run as a group, and generally
complain and commiserate with one
another about our common enemy, our
"drill sergeant", Colin, who really
pushed us- but in a positive and
supportive way. Most of us in the class
started out as strangers, but during the
course of the program we all worked hard
together and encouraged one another. It
was because of that team spirit and
sense of friendship that some of us even
decided to meet together to run on the
days we didn't have Basic Training, just
so we could improve.
When our instructor gave us our
graduation T-shirts at the end of the
program, we all clapped for one another
and knew each other's Basic Training
nicknames by heart (even if we didn't
know each other's real names!).
We really knew how far we'd all come,
and over a year later, I still meet to
run with friends I met in that class.
Exercise is a habit in my life now, and
I have friends who have similar goals.
I've been amazed at how this one
class has changed me. I found that all
the fears and beliefs I'd had about the
kind of person I 'wasn't' had been
holding me back from the kind of person
I could be. I know this sounds like an
awful lot to expect from an exercise
class, but I think you get out of it
what you're willing to put in, and I
think I was just ready and willing to
give more. At the very least, I got
physical results I could see and feel."
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