Cambridge Personal Training Spotlight Sunday
Welcome back to another edition of the Durbrow Performance Training Spotlight Sunday. After a little hiatus we’re back with some seriously awesome training members.
Today’s spotlight is one of our hardest working members, Karen Enriquez. Karen has been training with us for just a few months but she has already made amazing strides. When Karen came in for her initial meeting with me, she was nervous and wasn’t sure how many changes she could really make. At the same time I could tell that she was super motivated to make a change, she just wasn’t sure how.
I assured her that as long as she followed the simple plans that we laid out for her in terms of food and just worked her butt off in training sessions, she would be just fine.
Check out her story here…..
Ever since I was young, I was never the skinny girl. Growing up in a Filipino family where most everyone is thin, it wasn’t easy to accept how I was. It was additionally frustrating because despite my size, I was always one of the more active ones in the family; playing volleyball since I was 10 years old, hiking, kayaking, and really just enjoying the outdoors.
As with all large extended Filipino families, many of our gatherings were centered around food. A lot of Filipino cuisine is rich and devoid of veggies and greens. All meals include rice and this is how I grew up. This is what I know and what I define as my “comfort food”.
So over the years, I’ve come to accept this as my life. I have always been somewhat active, though I know I could always be more and I continued to eat the way I ate growing up. When I turned 30, something changed and I started gaining even more weight than before even though I hadn’t changed many of my habits. It didn’t help that I started to travel a lot for work which meant that my eating habits were at the whim of my destination and what I had time for.
Over the last few years, I’ve tried to diet and hit the gym, but always got frustrated because I saw no results. Despite having played volleyball for the last 25 years, I was starting to notice my performance on the court declining. I was getting tired more easily and was certainly not playing the way I used to. At the end of 2011 and 2012, I was asked to be in 2 weddings and I decided it was time for a change. It wasn’t just about how I looked, I wanted to get to a point where I was confident and happy with myself despite how I looked.
One Sunday night in February 2012, I was sitting on the couch contemplating what the next step should be. I had no idea where to even begin. I knew the gym wasn’t going to work for me. I needed to find someone who could teach me. Thank goodness for YELP. I went on YELP and searched for small group personal training and the first on the list was Dubrow Performance Training. With all the great reviews, it was difficult to ignore. I went to the website and set up a consultation.
As soon as I spoke to Callie, I felt like I found the right thing for me. None of my frustrations and none of my questions surprised her. She was understanding and made no grand promises, except that with hard work and discipline I would see change. How much change, would be dependent on me.
To be honest, when I walked into my first class with Emily, I had no idea what I was in for. Afterwards, I realized I was in the right place…a group that was encouraging and worked hard with really knowledgeable and supportive instructors. I remember telling Emily after that first night that “I had no idea that my body was capable of that”. And that statement rings true after every workout.
After 8 weeks, I lost 10 lbs of body fat and 7.5 inches. I look forward to my workouts (sometimes dread is a better word), but always come out feeling good about how hard I worked and how good I feel. My energy level and endurance changed almost immediately and I am playing volleyball back at a level that I am more satisfied with. I’ve even strengthened my legs enough that I no longer wear my knee brace when I play.
The nutrition portion continues to be a struggle. I’ve made some changes to my eating habits and when I can really stick to them, I can feel how much more energy I have and how much better I feel in general. So that keeps me trying, but I know I have to continue to work at it. I’m no longer easily frustrated. I know that I can count on Callie, Emily, and those in the group, to keep pushing me and with that support and encouragement, I am going to continue to tackle the nutritional and physical challenges! Thank you!
