Today’s Spotlight Sunday features one of our most favorite people and one of our longest standing members. Jane Yi is not only an amazing addition to our program but also one of my closest friends. Check out her story….
Hi, this is Jane Yi, first time Sunday Showcase, long time DP enthusiast. My story starts back on April 1, 2009, the fated day I met Callie Durbrow, or as we call it, our “Friend-a-versary”! Prior to working with Callie, I had been doing your standard gym workouts: lift and then run, lift and then run. Sometimes, just to shake things up a bit, I’d run and then lift. I was a creature of habit and as such, was basically maintaining the status quo for my body.
I asked friends what they did, read articles and received advice from various other trainers, to little or no great success. But alas, with age comes wisdom and I sought out someone who did not follow the crowd, did their own thing, and could really tailor a workout program akin to my personality, my goals and my body.
In retrospect, I think I got on the fitness wagon late. Growing up, my parents focused mostly on academics and allowed for sports if I wanted it bad enough and it didn’t interfere with school. I played mostly intramural floor hockey in high school and college (I liked that I could hit people). I hit the gym a bit in college but mostly on the way to the cafeteria buffet…and I took full advantage of the “all you can eat” option.
Anyone who knew me back then, and even knows me now, knows I LOVE food. I was one of the lucky ones and ate whatever I wanted but at some point, all good things must come to an end and so did my ever speedy youthful metabolism. Enter Callie. She showed me what it was to eat healthier (but still eat hot dogs and bacon), the value of eating breakfast, that I NEED to drink more water, introduced me to protein shakes, almond milk and that “yes, I can push her car down the street and no, I don’t need your help, kind sir, but thank you for offering.”
Callie told me that the number on the scale didn’t really matter for me but I didn’t really believe it until she showed me my first set of results. Back in April 2009, I was at 28% body fat and that was with going to the gym 3x a week on my own and running on the side. At my next measurement 6 weeks later, I was already down 4%.
From there, it just kept dropping. When I hit 30 and 18% body fat, I thought, “this is where I peak”…yeah, totally wrong on that. I’m only human and have my cheat days, my lazy moments and I also get sick and take vacations and miss workouts, but through the conditioning of Durbrow Performance, my metabolism was still kickin’ it even if I wasn’t!
So at 31, I am literally in the best shape of my life and hit an epic low of 17%! Yeah, serious “holy crap” moment.
I am excited for the warm weather not only b/c I can wear my dresses again but I am outside pushing the Prowler and showing the Cambridge locals what we do.
I heart kettlebells and have the t-shirt to prove it. When Callie first showed me what a kettlebell was, I could barely press the 5lb-er!
I love that despite being just 5’3″ and 125lbs, I can push more than twice my body weight on the Prowler, squat more than half my weight in kettlebells and with a little friendly competition, I can lift/lunge/push-up/press more than I thought physically possible.
I sleep better, am happier, eat healthier and am leaps and bounds more knowledgeable about my body and what I do to it. I still eat whatever I want but have more portion control and try to mix in more proteins and veggies. And more importantly, I have accepted that this is the body I was given and not measure myself against any others except against the potential that it can be.
Also, my boyfriend loves what it’s done for my butt.
An added bonus: I’ve met some wonderful people whom I am happy to call friends. Here is to year 4 of our Friend-a-versary!
