Braddly

Bloomingdale, IL

Braddly G.

Braddly’s Story

Hello everyone! I’m a considerably healthier and happier person today because of the Life Time 60day, about 35 lb. healthier now from Kickoff week.  Discussing the process and personal motivations for my success, I should probably start with what got me in the doors to get a membership in the first place and that is my Son. Life Time offers a youth swim team, a very convenient and working-parent friendly one. It’s a flexible Monday through Friday open practice. So basically we just pick any of those days and show up. My son has selected swimming as his favorite sport and my wife and I believe it’s a priority to fully support that. It creates a 2 birds, 1 stone scenario where I can simultaneously improve my health while he can do what he loves. I want to make sure I’m the best example I can be for my children and I need to keep myself in good health to do that. This is what got the ball rolling for me.

From there I met with Jeff and he signed me up to start my membership, my Son’s application for the swim team and a meeting with their head personal trainer, Marshaun. Brian, head of their Aquatics department was also present to set up my Son’s assessment test on the same day. This entire process was not long or complicated by any means and everyone I just mentioned was so polite and helpful. Brian, who has absolutely nothing to do with the 60day or my weight-loss goals was recently talking with me about some nutrition tips and uses for the Life Time app. Marshaun is at the gym quite often and he always waves and says hello. He has also given me my workout routines for pretty much the entire 60 days. He’s suggested doing circuit training on the Air Bikes, Skiers and Rowers. More recently he’s suggested trying Jacob’s Ladder. I’ve had consistent weight-loss results every week doing mostly that mixed with some running and GTX Burn classes.

The Personal Trainer I’ve interacted mostly with during this entire process was Kristen. She runs the evening GTX Burn classes there as well as the Saturday sessions for the 60 day challenge. She is an amazing, professional and all-around wonderful person. Always friendly, very good at keeping me engaged and motivated during the classes, genuinely cares about me and the condition of my health. I could go on for a while honestly but I’ll just keep things brief.

All of the Saturday sessions for this challenge were wonderful. The heart rate class and nutrition class stick out for me in particular as memorable. Well, that and of course the initial workout assessment where I discovered exactly how out of shape I really am. It was definitely an eye-opening experience to discover how heart-rate zones work and where we should be at for optimal results. Many thanks to Sofia for that information. The nutrition class was great, I really liked this because of how it was handled. Their nutrition expert Greta ran this class and of course I could tell everything was spot-on with all of the information but not just that, there was a lot of back and forth discussion and engagement with all the participants about what kind of decisions we tend to make, what leads to that, etc. This wasn’t just a list of facts laid out with the dos and don’ts of a proper diet. Greta also talked about what she personally does in situations when dinning out such as throwing out portions of an unhealthy treat. Spending time discussing nutrition tips while listening to and emphasizing with the group about our decisions made Greta look very professional for this whole thing. Not just because she knew the information but also knew her audience and what we realistically do.

Life Time provided a very effective means for me to improve my health and I am very grateful of that. Moving forward, I plan to continue my weight loss as well as improving my performance at the gym. It was always fun to push myself and I’m definitely excited to see where I’ll be at with run times, intervals, etc. I want anyone who might read this to understand how doable this was. I am a full time working Father of two children (ages 9 and 2), full time working Wife and several other obligations and challenges. Believe me I understand the obstacles. If my Son wasn’t into swimming, Life Time also offers a childcare center that could watch my children while I focus on my workouts. So if you are in a similar situation, seeing your health deteriorating and want to make a change, you could absolutely do this, I am living proof. Good luck to everyone and stay healthy and happy!