FITness Into A Lifestyle

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Testimonial Tuesday - Courtney

Everyone meet Courtney, this month's testimonial Tuesday! Courtney joined FITness Into A Lifestyle in late August of this year. When first meeting her I can honestly say I was unsure at how seriously she was going to take training. Courtney is an extremely busy lady and I was unsure if she had the time! From being enrolled at Midland for her nursing degree to being an athlete for the university as well, her days were booked solid and despite that, she was trying to add one additional thing into her day. Like all clients, we discussed her commitment to training and we proceeded with the workouts, knowing that I may have to stop her program if her days became too strenuous.

Day one of training began and I could not believe my eyes, this girl was ready for the fight. She came in ready to work and did so three times a week for the next month! From here we only began to see positive things. Her goals were like most, weight loss and toning of her muscles so her program focused on increasing her cardiovascular fitness while increasing all weights during strength training. As a collegiate athlete she did demonstrate hard work ethic in the gym and knew when to keep pushing herself. These characteristics most definitely helped her obtain the progress she has seen in the one month time frame.

In additional to all her hard work in the gym, Courtney also began to eat consciously. The idea of thinking about what you eat before you eat is a true struggle for most American's. We get hungry and we eat what first comes to mind, so for Courtney she began to eliminate this by meal planning and choosing healthier alternatives like Subway over McDonald's for lunch.

Overall, Courtney lost 4.75 inches within the first month of training at FITness Into A Lifestyle, while dropping 9 pounds and increasing her cardiovascular fitness by 15 percent! An outstanding amount accomplished for just one months time! To top it all off we also set a goal of her's to complete her first 5K race without walking and just this past weekend she did just that! She was able to completed the Susan G. Komen race in Omaha for a time of 34 minutes, another great success and a time to beat for her next race!

Courtney has continued to set and go well beyond her goals from training to completing the race, and I am excited to see what more she can accomplish. Great work Courtney!

Your Motivator and Companion,

Gabby Skinner

Personal Trainer & Owner

1735 Churchill Drive

Fremont, NE 68025

402.459.1541

www.fitnessintoalifestyle.com

Thursday, August 27, 2015

Through the Struggles of a Personal Trainer

Hey All!

So sorry it has been so long since writing. Life has been a whirl wind lately and I think we have finally caught up! Through all of the craziness it has inspired me for this blog post, so here it goes.

Through my three years of being a personal trainer I have learned things, experienced things I never thought possible and took on life a bit differently. Many of these educational moments have been put in my life through/with my clients and I am always looking for new ways to relate. As they say, life events happen for a reason and looking back on this recent event it is starting to make more sense.

Jake and I experienced the loss of our wonderful baby back in early July. We were not informed of the news until my 12 week checkup. This news was devastating and there are still days of hardship. We had so many questions, but none could be answered. Those that know Jake and I, know how excited we were for the creation of our little one when we found out in early May. We were so ready to grow our family and to share our love with he or she. This was obviously not God's plan for us! As we have had some time to mourn and grasp our minds around what truly happened, it is oddly all coming together.

As a personal trainer this life event has helped me grow in a number of ways. In general the perception of a health professional can be unrealistic. We are perceived as individuals that have a balanced life where exercise and nutrition come so simple to us. This idea of having a perfect, under control life is not as true as some may suspect. We actually struggle with the same things anyone else does. Life can also take a toll on our routine, just like I'm sure you have experienced.

For me my pregnancy beginning in May took me for a ride of a life time and it is not one I am proud of. My body was not reacting well to all the internal changes and I was not myself for an ounce of these two months. With that I began to throw all my exercise and nutrition to the wayside. Eating things that I was craving and exercising NEVER because my body felt like crap. I was giving up on all things that I practiced and preached each day to my clients. All of a sudden I was my next worst nightmare! This all spiraled and in just two to three months I gained 20 unhealthy pounds!! It felt like a state of depression for me personally and I was doing nothing to help the way I felt.

Therefore, this is another lesson in my life that has opened my eyes. I have always been one to say that life happens and getting out of routine is always easy to do. Man did this health professional really let that happen. Remember that we all face similar types of challenges and temptations mixed in with ups and downs of our own personal lives. The importance of all of this is that we realize what we are doing and jump back up to fix our mistakes. For me I am now back to training full time, logging my food intake and exercising six times a week. It is simply amazing how much better a body feels when we are feeding it the right juices!