Patrick

Upper Arlington, OH

Patrick N._v2

When looking back upon the past 60 days in reflection of completing the 60day, I have trouble limiting it to just a 60 day look back. My official journey began when I took the position of Member Services Manager at our Upper Arlington club in the fall of 2018. I was a former collegiate athlete, and in coming over to the club I relied on past fitness and strength training programs to get me by. With any transition though, I quickly fell behind; I saw work take center stage and my own health and fitness fall abaft. Being in the Member Service department, I am constantly trying to get members connected to their area of interest in helping them achieve their goals; however, I was not practicing what I was preaching as my own Healthy Way of Life was not at the forefront of my own agenda.

My first step was to start from scratch; I decided to do the 60day, with a little push from our Personal Training Department, and signed up with Kendra, our Member Onboarding Manager, who set me up with an onboarding session with our Personal Training Manager, George. George didn’t treat me any differently than a new member and meticulously ran me through the full process: spending time analyzing my current state, laying out SMART goals based upon our Core 3 and developing a plan to achieve them. He got me involved with our Alpha Strong program; this fit right at home as being a former athlete I was used to working in a team environment and could push myself further with peer support than I could on my own. Working side-by-side with our members gave me a higher sense of credibility which I in turn have used to get other members involved in similar programs. Knowing that the Alpha class schedule did not always work for me to attend due to my work schedule, and that individual workouts would also be beneficial to me, I went back to Kendra to broaden my plan of attack. We decided the best place to start was an RMA. This again was a term I was familiar with in relation to our Core 3, but it was not something I had previously done. Upon completing my test, we now had a baseline to go from regarding my nutrition which I was surprised to find I was not consuming adequate calories. We did not decide to go as far as counting calories or macros, but she sat down with me and broke down my areas of opportunity and I learned enough to have a good idea on how much I was consuming daily and where I could tweak my diet. From this we developed a plan for both nutrition and workouts that would be best suited for my body and for the time allotted to get the most out of every day. Kendra was supportive every step of the way, staying on top of me daily making sure I did not stray and recommending supplements that would aid best. She recommended to follow the recipes sent out in the emails from Coach Anika and also for the first time ever got me to open our Experience Life magazine and try the recipes from there as well. It did not stop with just the workouts and nutrition though; she also talked a lot about the recovery aspect (outside of nutrition) and how a proper sleep schedule and taking rest days are just as important as the actual workouts. She dove into the Group Fitness schedule with me and got me involved in our yoga classes. I noticed these not only had a benefit on the physical side, but predominately on a mental side, making it easier to decompress and forget the stressors of the day. Moreover, she stayed on top of me again daily asking how many hours of sleep I was getting, as well as what time I was going to bed, making sure I was adhering to our initial regimen and not straying from that plan.

We were asked to submit photos of a “Before” and “After”; looking at yourself daily in front of a mirror you do not notice the gradual changes that look oh so obvious when spaced out by a 60 day period. What the photos do not capture; however, is the mental change that has taken place over the past 60 days; I feel healthier now both mentally and physically than I ever have and owe that to the support I received from everyone at the club. Even though this 60day has ended, my journey has not, and I look forward to continuing down the path set by my trainer Kendra and becoming the healthiest version of myself I can.