I decided to join a gym and hire a personal trainer as a 40th birthday present to myself. I buy myself a birthday present every year and as it was my 40th I wanted it to be something special and meaningful. I had clothing, shoes, bags, sunglasses and jewelry. I wanted something that would be for me. I thought about it and came to the realization that I had been living a pretty sedentary life for many years. I drove to work, sat in my office, drove home, and sat on the couch in front of the TV after work. I had not done anything physical in quite some time. I said to myself that I was not getting any younger, it wasn’t going to get any easier, in fact it would only get harder as time went on, and I better do something to be more active.
I am not the outdoorsy type so I decided on a gym and personal trainer. My trainer is awesome. He asked me what my goals were and I told him I wanted to look like Linda Hamilton from Terminator 2! I also showed him pictures of different women’s physiques I admired. He told me that most of the pictures I showed him were of women who compete in body building competitions. I told him I wanted to look like I compete. He said ok, and that if I wanted to look as if I compete why not pick a show to work toward to further motivate me to accomplish my fitness goals in a realistic time frame. He said that if at the last minute I did not want to step on stage for any reason I did not have to. I said that sounded like a good plan. We got to work. I began to look forward to our training sessions as well as training on my own. I could not believe that I fell in love with the gym and training in general. Fourteen months after I began my training I hit the stage for the first time. I placed in each of the three competitions I participated in during 2013, making me eligible to compete at national level competitions. I just completed my first national level competition and placed 5th. It was an amazing accomplishment in just a little over two years after first starting training.
What makes it so amazing is that at the age of 15 I was struck by a car head on while crossing a street in Syosset, Long Island, New York. I suffered multiple injuries to both of my legs-medial meniscus tear and superior tibial fracture to the right leg, and an ACL and PCL avulsion to the left leg. I had been dancing and taking lesions since the age of 5, had wanted to attend Juliard for dance, and all of that was over in an instant. The orthopedic surgeon told me he could perform an arthroscopy of the right knee to fix the medial meniscus tear after the fracture healed (I was in a cast from hip to ankle), however he did not want to perform surgery on the left knee as the surgery to correct PCL was not perfected and would not hold and then would only undo the ACL correction. I was pretty much permanently damaged in the left knee. I was told to keep my weight down and strengthen the muscles in my thighs and calves to keep the knee supported or I would need two knee replacements by the time I was 40 years old. I underwent two years of painful physical therapy which totally turned me off from any kind of exercise after that. I did try going back to the gym and exercise a few times after that over the years but just could not get into it.
Now I could not imagine my life without the gym, my trainer and the wonderful friends I have made at my home gym. Everyone is so supportive no matter what one’s fitness goals are. Training has helped not only my physical appearance, but my emotional and psychological well being. I am a more positive person now and no longer like to be around negativity or negative people (I used to be extremely negative and pessimistic. I have kept my sarcastic sense of humor however! LOL.). I feel great after leaving the gym; better than when I first walked in after completing my work day. The gym is my therapy, my way to distress after a long day at work and a way to get my weekend started. I have had the positive effect of motivating my friend to partake in her own fitness journey and have watched her make incredible gains! So proud of you Toria!!! If I have in anyway motivated anyone reading this to consider joining a gym please do and also invest in a personal trainer that listens to what you want out of training but is also going to be honest with you about what is possible to accomplish with your particular body type, injuries, medical ailments, and time you have available to train. You may have to interview a few trainers before you settle on one that you feel is a good fit for you. That is ok. That is part of the process. Good Luck and all the best to you in your fitness and health endeavors. I will be rooting for you!