Friday, November 22, 2013

Personal training works for me!


HAPPY FABULOUS FRIDAY!

Over the coming weeks, I would like to share some REAL stories about REAL people who are on their own personal health journey with the support of ELM.  Sometimes all we need to make the change we desire is to SEE ourselves in someone else who has gone before us and I hope that you find inspiration from these great stories!  If you have a story to share about your health journey with ELM then please send it my way so that you can help someone just like you reach their own dreams and goals:)



Say 'Hello' to Shelley Gartside!

"Exercise and fitness doesn’t come naturally to me. At heart I’m more of a creative person that likes to sit and do craft type things. However, eventually I got to the age where everything was starting to hurt. I knew from previous experience with exercise I actually felt better if I exercised more, so I called a personal trainer. I was lucky enough to meet Sarah Seads and ELM when I made this decision, and that call has improved my life so much I wanted to tell people about it.

Most people go to a mechanic to get their car fixed, a dentist to have their teeth done, and a doctor for health problems. Making a commitment to fitness can be hard thing to do on your own. The initial enthusiasm generally wanes within a couple weeks, and then you slowly slip back into your old habits. I know this happened to me…a number of times! However, when you have a personal trainer, it’s not just you that commits to your health. A Personal Trainer commits to your health too!

At first when I started working out with Sarah, I moaned and groaned on the days I met with her because I really didn’t want to be working out. And even though I had paid for the sessions, I would happily have cancelled them, but Sarah always turned up, happy and upbeat, and full of encouragement. Her attitude changed my attitude, and I would leave each session feeling a little better than the last session.

This past summer, in the only week it rained, down poured actually, we spent four days together biking as part of my Personal Fitness Camp. The first day was a LOT of fun. The weather was nice, and we went to Seal Bay Park and I learned some mountain biking skills. I was a little nervous about that, but with Sarah’s encouragement and expertise I was able to maneuver the trails safely. The next day we set to meet up a Comox Lake Dam. That day it was raining so HARD, it was coming down in sheets. I would happily have gone home, but when Sarah commits to something, you don’t give up. So we spent the day traveling thru water on the trails and got soaked! It was fun though, and afterward I felt quite a sense of accomplishment for having completed that ride in that kind of weather. For the next two days of the “Bike Camp”, it continued to rain. Not as hard as the day we were at the Dam, but when you are on a bike in the rain, it feels like it’s raining REALLY hard! Fortunately it was fairly warm, so it wasn’t too bad.

Those four days would have been a lot tougher if I didn’t have Sarah’s sense of purpose to keep me going. That’s the thing about working with Sarah….You can just let her expertise, encouragement, and positive disposition lead you while you (as she says) “Get outside” and have fun!

-Shelley

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