Sarah

Gilbert, AZ

Sarah S.

Sarah’s Trainer

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THOMAS G.

Personal Trainer

Sarah’s Story

I don’t think there are adequate words for how I feel about the 60day program or Life Time but I will do my best to tell you my story. My name is Sarah and I have had issues with my weight, my health, and my self-image since grade school. I have always been the unfortunate stereotypical fat girl hiding in the corner. In an effort to change that, I started a vicious decade long cycle of crash dieting. When I say that I have tried all the diets out there I truly mean that I have tried ALL of them. The one thing that I hadn’t tried was consistent exercise.  I used to think that the gym was meant for already healthy, fit people. Essentially, I felt too fat to go to the gym.

My efforts to get healthy for myself were quickly halted in June 2016 when I delivered my still born son. He took a piece of my heart back to Heaven with him that day. And then six months later our oldest daughter was diagnosed with Ewing Sarcoma after losing the ability to walk over night. I spent the next year fighting fiercely alongside her. We practically lived in the hospital for an entire year. The following year was spent overcoming her cancer and getting her back to being able to walk again. She is my hero and inspiration along with my other three children and husband.

Despite living through these tragedies, I still was ashamed of myself and my weight. This is where my journey with Life Time began. I joined Life Time two weeks before the start of 60day. I remember being scared but so desperate for change and in need of healing that it was worth challenging every silly preconceived notion about the gym. I put on a brave face and signed up for my on boarding session with Kris. Kris was so genuine and caring. He got to know my story and my frustrations with my weight. He made coming to Life Time far less intimidating then I thought it would be. He and I quickly devised a plan to get my enrolled in personal training along with the 60 day program. The encouragement from Kris was exactly what I needed and I don’t think he will ever know how much his occasional fists bumps meant to me while I was pushing through a workout. I had a fire ignite within me and I knew that this time was going to be different.

I was paired up with Tom as my trainer. As I began working out with Tom I learned something about myself. Up until this point with all the hard things I had been through I believed that hard things or experiences just leave you crushed up and utterly broken. Slowly but surely with each rep of the barbell I learned that I could willfully choose to do something hard and instead of merely surviving I could thrive! The very place that I thought was not meant for me ended up being exactly what I needed. The weight room has become my healing place. I am thriving because of the heavy weight I bench press! I love lifting the big barbells!  Tom has been crucial to building my confidence in myself and abilities. It didn’t take long before I felt my body changing and my strength increasing. I have loved my all my workouts with Tom but knew I still needed more support. I would always watch the Alpha class before my training sessions with Tom and I would silently admire all the people and how strong they were. I had aspirations to be like them one day. While working with Tom a little less than a month ago I surprised myself by asking him if he thought I could do the Alpha class. I remember that he asked if I pushed myself harder on my own or with other people.  I knew that on my own I made up excuses or short changed my sets because it felt too hard. I decided to enroll in the Alpha class! Once again I felt so inferior to the men and women in the class and was so happy to be included and supported almost instantly. I do have to make some modifications to almost every workout and I look forward to the day when I won’t have to. But I am so proud of myself for trying and being a part of one of the hardest physical classes Life Time offers.

It is almost hard to remember the girl I was 60 days ago. I am stronger. I am happier. I am healthier. I am healing. And I achieved my initial goal. My “after” for the 60 day was having the ability to fight for myself. I desperately needed to realize that I could prioritize myself and have all areas of my life improve instead of fall apart like I was afraid may happen. These changes that I am still very much in the thick of making were not easy. They were hard both mentally and physically. But, they very much have been 1000% worth the effort I have put in.

Life Time, Kris, and Tom have all positively impacted my life forever. I have learned that we all do hard things. We all have bad days, bad experiences, and times where we feel completely broken. It is what we do with that hard that makes us better people. I choose hard workouts that make me stronger, disciplined meal plans that make me healthier, and I choose Life Time to be the place where challenge myself to be better every day.