LEANA

If you believe that everything happens for a reason (which I do) . . . it is clear that Leana coming to work with us has had a clear purpose. Mutual family friends introduced us to Leana after her parents submitted a prayer request at church. Their request? . . . to find a trainer to help their daughter become fit while building her strength. A perfect fit for trainer and client alike, Leana's improvements inside the gym have had ripple effects well beyond these walls.

Not a stranger to hard work, Leana always puts forth her best effort. And the results are the fruit of her labor. Whereas 3-1/2 months ago she struggled to get through three Russian twists (think a seated trunk rotation while holding a heavy ball), in her most recent training session she completed seven sets of 12 over a seven minute time frame. Likewise, her earlier sprints had a sporadic nature to her movements and she had trouble with pacing. Now, however, she can do four sets of sprints throughout a workout and have near perfect form while increasing her speed with each additional round.

These two movements are particularly significant because Leana is a softball pitcher. She needs to have strong rotational strength, the stamina to do that again and again, and an explosive sprint for tagging out at home base. In fact just this morning at her 7:00am personal training session, she excitedly retold the highlights from her prior day's game: she pitched four innings instead of her typical two or three; she only allowed three runs over those four innings at the mound; all this was from the U-14 pitcher's mound distance instead of her typical U-12; and she tagged out an attempt to steal home. Boom! Nicely done young lady! Her parents were quick to attribute her endurance in particular to all the work she's put in during our training. Considering she is committed to 3x/week personal training, I would agree.  

All this said . . . Leana likes to have fun as much as she likes to work hard. She just finished a successful sixth grade year, enjoys swimming in her family's pool, and is looking forward to a weeklong church camp where she'll be with her friends. When asked what super power she'd choose if given the opportunity, she said the power of teleportation: "so I can go  on vacation whenever I want." She looks forward to one day getting her pull-up, and loves the feeling of getting stronger.

Keep it up Leana, and you will be unstoppable.

-Coach Rebecca