CINDY

Everyone comes to a workout with a story in their mind. Some people’s stories speak of success: fun; wins; variety; strength; support. Other people’s stories speak of a perceived failure: pain; losses; repetition; weakness; isolation.

Cindy’s storyline runs along the second vein. In fact, hers includes trauma and the death of a loved one. How do we overcome losing a parent to exercise? How do we get beyond the stent placed in our heart in our 40s?

Some people take these life events and turn them into an excuse to turn in the keys and give up. If Cindy was willing to accept premature death as her undeniable fate, she wouldn’t be working with me. Instead, she has the gumption, the gall, the grit to fly in the face of it all and choose strength and life.

She understands that what she needs is a coach to help her develop “a better frame of mind in taking care of [herself].”

Once a single mom in need of support and care…she now uses what women at her church taught her some years back about loving herself…and gives back to women who are now walking in those shoes. She understands that although we don’t always have the answers within ourselves, we can find those upon our path who can give us guidance.

Cindy once referred to our personal training sessions as therapy. She certainly didn’t mean it in the psychoanalysis sense…not only because there aren’t any couches in my gym…but because we aren’t rehashing the past beyond understanding where she has come from. What I do think she is referring to is that, it is therapy to learn to be okay with where she is today. Everything will come in due time. But the priorities with Cindy revolve around managing how she frames the past within the context of her current life.

And as she works through those real anxieties, she is also getting physically stronger: a lower squat after only six sessions; and a rowing/push press workout that brings a smile to her face.