Outstanding Effort and Achievement Award!
For the first time this year we have dual recipients for the Outstanding Effort and Achievement Award. For the month of October, Alicia Beaver and Caryn Coomer have earned their claim to fame. These are two of my favorite girls to train, without a doubt, but coming up with challenges that suit them is no easy task. The three of us have been training together, in home, since the beginning of this year and I can honestly say that few people are more consistent with their training than these two. Week in and week out these girls come ready for the challenge and if you think that’s awesome wait until I tell you that they rarely even complain! I know, I know, there’s obviously something wrong with them….it’s almost like they enjoy working out!?
I met Alicia in the summer of 2010, but did not start training her until this past January. Since January, Alicia has been on the road to success. Aside from losing inches and weight, she reached her goal of getting below 30% body fat in our first 6 weeks of training together. Alicia also set a goal of increasing her total body strength. I can’t even describe the progress we’ve made as far as strength goes. Just recently, Alicia participated in the Napoletan Fitness “3 Minute Challenge” and became one of the top competitors in the leg lift competition. She was able to complete 73 leg lifts in three minutes which earned her third place out of all of my female competitors and fourth place overall.
Alicia, it has been a pleasure getting to know you. You are so much fun to train and you have really come a long way in the last ten months. Your fitness level has gone through the roof, and for you to be competing and hanging in there with some of the people I have trained for three or more years is a pretty big deal! Your focus and ability to commit will be the keys to your success. Keep working hard and I know we can achieve the unthinkable. Your work ethic during our training sessions is unparalleled and I love that about you. Keep working hard and there will be more great things to come!
Caryn and I started training together almost three years ago in the gym. We began in home training in February and have been continuing our steady progress ever since. In Caryn’s first eight weeks of training in home she lost 2% of her body fat. After 12 weeks of in home training she had lost nearly ten pounds. She has been dedicated and committed to training since day one and her progress shows it.
Caryn ran her first half marathon during our second year of training. This was also my first half marathon, so I decided to make a friendly wager over who could finish first. This was the beginning of Caryn taking me for everything I am worth. This year, she completed her second half marathon in 2 hours and 14 minutes, 13 minutes faster than her first race. Aside from being an all-star runner, she is easily one of the strongest women I train. Not only did she put up some great numbers in the “3 minute challenge”, but she EMBARRASSED me in a head to head pushup competition during which she completed 110 pushups in three minutes. (I still think she was counting by twos.) At any rate, you can imagine how challenging it is for me to come up with workouts difficult enough for this girl. She keeps me on my toes as a trainer and is easily my number one recipient of prizes and free things as I continue to be stupid enough to challenge her through competition.
Caryn, you are one of the hardest working people I have ever trained. I have looked forward to training you and trying new things out on you every week for the past three years. You’re a blast to be around but you always make working hard your first priority. I have a ton of respect for that and I can’t wait to see what the future holds. Keep working hard and using competition to drive you. You will achieve great things as long as you stay committed and have something to work for. As far as the pushup competition goes…we shall meet again. You can have the half marathon victory…you couldn’t pay me enough to show up for that rematch!
The Time is Now! Set Your Expectations High and Achieve Your Goals!
I am Flawed, but I am Beautiful. I am Overwhelmed, but I am Capable. I am Doubted, but I am Determined.” ~ Lauren Lankford
Exercise of the Day
DREAM BIG!
“Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius and power and magic in it.” – Goethe
World’s Strongest Man!?
Alright, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but he’s got to be the strongest eight year old in North Columbus! Providing a little friendly competition for his mom, Courtney, David Osborne participated in the Napoletan Fitness “3 Minute Challenge” yesterday and OWNED it! His competition wasn’t easy, as Courtney put up some stellar numbers herself. However, in the end, David was able to push out 110 close grip chest presses and 126 dumbbell curls each in three minute timeframes. I don’t see those numbers getting beat anytime soon. Congratulations, David, on a phenomenal workout! I’m thinking you can add weightlifting to the list of things you’re great at like building lego sets and using “laaassserrrs”. You’re awesome, bud! Keep up the great work!!!
Exercise of the Day
The Sooner You Get Started the Better!
“It’s never too late to become what you might have been.” – George Elliot
Outstanding Effort and Achievement Award!
Caroll Teague is September’s recipient of the Outstanding Effort and Achievement Award. Caroll and I have been training together for almost four years and our progress is far from slowing down. We started together at Bally Total Fitness, continued at Urban Active Polaris, and have been training in-home, twice a week, for all of 2011. At the age of 65 Caroll seems to me to be in her prime. She remains continually focused on reaching her goals and developing new ones.
It’s been so rewarding to work with Caroll for as long as I have. I can remember having to start slow but that didn’t last long. It’s hard to describe the vast amount of progress we’ve achieved over the years. Caroll has literally done a “180” when it comes to her ability in physical fitness. Some of the things I call on her to do now still surprise me when I think back to our start. Her workouts nowadays aren’t terribly different from those of my youngest and most “fit” clientele. She impresses me each week and I couldn’t be more proud of how far we’ve come.
With a main focus of toning, Caroll has blown my expectations out of the water. She looks great and continues to practice good habits with her diet and exercise even on our off days. Since last January Caroll has lost more than ten pounds and ten inches. Her body fat percentage has come down more than 4%, and as I mentioned before, her workouts with me have quickly moved from novice to advanced. She’s a hard worker and an inspiration to me and surely many others.
Caroll, fitness aside, I am so blessed to have met you. You have, no doubt, become a second mother to me and I’m so appreciative of our relationship. You work hard for me and that’s how we’ve been able to achieve such ideal results. You never let up and I love that. You constantly want to know how you are doing and what you can do differently to achieve your goals even faster. The truth is that if you continue to hold yourself accountable and work as hard as you do, you will have no problem reaching even your toughest of goals. You’re a strong willed individual and I have no doubt that you will continue to succeed. Thank you for all of the wisdom that you’ve passed on over the last four years. I look forward to training you over the next four and seeing what else we can accomplish. Keep up the great work!