Sky Fitness member Michelle Ruben shares her personal training journey while participating in our Transformation Challenge…
Tuesday, February 1st: Alarm clock rings at 5:45am. I look outside my window and it’s still as dark as it was when I went to sleep. Part of me wants to roll over and keep sleeping, but the stronger part of me is ready for this new challenge. Rain falls as I drive to Day 1 of personal training. Am I crazy? Maybe. But am I excited? Most definitely! My fitness goal for 2017 is to increase my strength and endurance. A total of twenty-five participants (10 men & 15 women) courageously stepped up to commit to their health and wellness with Sky’s Transformation Fitness Challenge.
Over the next 10 weeks, my personal trainer Eric Kaisner will encourage, motivate and guide me through physical challenges. I shared with Eric that I have problems with my knee and his response was very understanding. He firmly believes that “one stops when they feel pain.” We meet in the MoveStrong area at 7am…before my morning coffee. Eric introduces me to my teammate Marta. For one (intense) hour, Eric has us moving continuously through planks, TRX, free weights, medicine ball, crunching with kettle balls, squats and more. As a passionate student of yoga at Avani, I have now entered a strange and sweaty new world.
The success formula of this challenge is a combination of exercise and food modification. While I already tend to choose healthy options to fuel my body, my daughter Hannah has encouraged me to join her in committing to the Whole30 challenge. Whole30 encourages eating meat, seafood, eggs, tons of vegetables, some fruit, and plenty of good fats from fruits, oils, nuts and seeds. Only foods with very few, all pronounceable ingredients – or better yet, no ingredients listed at all because they’re totally natural and unprocessed. This means the following are off limits: white sugar, legumes, grains and alcohol. After being on the program for a couple of days, I have lost 2 lbs already!
Wednesday, February 2nd: I cannot get out of bed. So I sleep through my alarm and miss Wednesday’s 7am Kundalini Yoga class. My body is sore in ways I’ve never been sore before! Today will be a day for muscle recovery and light cardio. While it hurts to walk, I am proud. Proud of myself for taking a risk joining this challenge and proud for trying something new. Tomorrow the alarm will ring at 5:45 am and it’s training day once again…Bring it on! My name is Michelle. I am a woman inspired and committed to being stronger. See you in a few weeks with a progress update!
