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."