With the New Year, my goals were to find a gym with a decent treadmill; re-start a running habit that I gave up nearly 10 years ago; and lose 50 lbs. I accomplished the first two pretty quickly, but after a couple months, I had lost exactly 2 lbs. and was suffering from a host of injuries that threatened to put me back on my couch in front of the TV. So I reached out to Mike, the friendly trainer at my new gym, and for the past 4 months, he’sshown me that strength training is for everyone—even a 54-year old grandmother with bad knees, tendonitis and gray hair.

Today, my goals look much different. I now use every piece of equipment at the gym except the treadmill, and I no longer run because I’ve learned other ways to get my cardio without stressing my knees. More importantly, instead of obsessing about the numbers going down on my scale, I now enjoy seeing the numbers that keep going up on the barbell and weight machines. I’m also 23 lbs. lighter and feeling stronger than ever.

For years, I’d join a gym and only use the treadmill because I was too intimidated by all those fit people who seemed to know a lot more than me about fitness and exercise. Thank you Mike for teaching me that I can be one of those fit people and for giving me the confidence and knowhow to safely challenge myself a little bit more each and every day!

Jackie