Success Story: Jan
In April 2005, shortly after my 61st birthday, I saw an advertisement in The Edmonton Journal for Defining Eve. I clipped it because I had been toying with the idea of improving my fitness level (starting from absolute zero) for some time, and the studio was very close to the University which would mean that I could go straight after work. One morning a few weeks later, as I struggled to haul myself out of my car because my knees hurt so much whenever I bent, I decided that I absolutely had to do something to improve my flexibility. I had done no physical activity whatsoever since high school and, even then, I thought of every reason to be excused. I hated the thought of classes, so I talked to Alex at Defining Eve, signed up for a series of individual training sessions and made an appointment for a fitness assessment which proved that I was every trainer’s nightmare - or dream - depending on the perspective: nightmare because I could do absolutely nothing, not even one tiny curl-up, and dream because the room for improvement was limitless.
I started working out twice a week, tried to remember to do exercises at the weekend, went for walks in the evening and constantly surprised myself at what I could actually achieve while enjoying myself. I continued training throughout the summer and fall feeling quite pleased with myself and my progress, even giving up my yoga class because I would much rather be training. At first I told no one what I was doing but, when I confessed to my son and his fiancée, they were delighted and proud of me and have always encouraged me to continue.
I came to earth with a crash just after Christmas 2005 when I had eaten just about every chocolate in sight. I weighed myself in January 2006 and was horrified to see that I weighed as much as my son who, at 6' 2", is fully eight inches taller than I am. At that point I increased my training to three days a week, walked the floors and stairs in my apartment building when it was too cold to be outside, ate better, and set my goal as a weight loss of 20 pounds which, I am happy to say, I achieved by October 2006. I now train only two days a week but I know that, when I retire at the end of April, my training sessions at Defining Eve will have a definite place in whatever I do - my trainer and I have already fixed a new time. I have completely forgotten that my knees ever hurt.
I never realized that exercise could be so much fun and the trainers I have worked with always made it just that. I have never thought “I don’t want to go”, and I even went in last year on the Family Day and Easter Monday holidays. I have laughed a lot - mostly at my own ineptitude - but none of the trainers ever gave up on me and they were always full of praise for even the smallest sign of progress. At present my exercises have a very definite practical aspect as I don’t want to turn into the little old lady who can’t get out of the bathtub or who falls and can’t get up again. The Journal’s Body and Health section is featuring exercises for every decade of life and, when I read the article on people in their 60s, I was delighted to realize that I can now do so much more than that. Two years ago I would have been hard pressed to complete even one of the suggested exercises.
My son and his fiancée are getting married in June and, thanks to the help and encouragement I received from Defining Eve, I know I shall not look or act like a little old lady at the wedding!
