TESTIMONIALS

When I was in my teens, I was fit. I played some sports. I ran. I swam. I lifted weights as a hobby. Over the course of the next 30 years, things gradually slipped. I smoked. I ate poorly. I drank too much and too often. I went from a physical outdoors profession to working in front of a computer. I made overall unhealthy lifestyle choices. These decisions lead me to a place where the doctor started talking about high blood pressure. I could see that I was on the same path my father had taken, which ended up with him having a heart attack in his fifties. As with all things in life, I knew the key ingredient in changing, was to come from within. I also realized that it had taken years/decades to get where I was at, and I wasn’t going to get back to where I wanted to be in a month. It was going to take time.

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My fitness journey started about seven years ago, age 45, when I decided to give up smoking. It wasn’t easy, but I made up my mind, and I did it. I was also fortunate to have access to a small gym at my place of employment. There were a couple of pieces of cardio equipment, a cable machine and some small dumbbells. The first day on the elliptical…15 minutes seemed a lifetime. My body quivered after, but I recovered by the next day. Over the next few months, I gradually increased to a 45 minute session, 4 times a week. Truthfully, I didn’t really know what I was doing, but something was better than nothing. I enjoyed the increasing capacity in my lungs, and I could see small changes happening in my physique.

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At home I switched out Coke for fruit juice (later to fridge cooled water). I got to a point where I felt I wanted more than just access to a gym. A friend recommended Thrive360 and having watched her journey for a few months, I thought “why not?”.

 

I am not a shy person, but I can still remember that first day walking in for my initial assessment. I had a preconceived notion of what gym culture is, and had prepared for a place crammed with self-obsessed shallow people. I was prepared to be judged. I was just going to put my head down and focus on my work and my goals, and coming to this place was a means to achieving them. I was more than a little off. There were people from all walks of life, in all degrees of fitness. I knew lots of them. There was a warm acknowledgement from many, yet this was a place of work.

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Up to this point, I had never had a personal trainer. I thought it was a bit overkill. Couldn’t a poster tell me what I need to know/how to use each piece of equipment (insert belly laughter here from future me!) So, it has been seven years that I have been with Thrive360, I am still on my journey and loving it. It is now a lifestyle, and Thrive360 is the place in which I find both comfort and inspiration.

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My personal trainer(s) challenge me each session. I have a session once every two weeks. They do the “heavy lifting” with regards to my routines, providing me with new ones at regular intervals. Each other person at this gym is on their own path, and the destinations for each are different. It’s all about where you want to go and what you are willing to do to get there. A personal trainer is a guide who uses their knowledge and skill to help you achieve your goals. I derive pleasure and inspiration from watching people as they progress, because I now how good it feels to improve, even just a little. We don’t have much certainty these days but I can say this with full confidence- without Thrive360 I would not be where I am today.