Fitness Matters Gym

Dear Gary,

I absolutely had to write to make you aware of the extremely favorable comments I have received recently that are directly attributable to your expertise as a Personal Trainer. I am now at home recuperating from my fifth major surgery since March 2005. This surgery, to perform a craniotomy and excision of a benign tumor from the right nerve that governs hearing and balance, was the most frightening. I came out of it with some hearing in tact, but the nerve that runs from the inner ear to the brain had to be removed with the tumor, Therefore, my world literally has been turned upside down as the brain has to relearn how to reestablish the body's balance using only the messages it receives from the nerve running from the left inner ear. Once I was out of intensive care, I started physical therapy at the hospital. Physical therapy always begins with an assessment of overall physical ability. At the end of the assessment, the physical therapist said she was very surprised to find my strength to be well within the satisfactory range. In looking at my case history, she saw a 54 year old woman who has undergone a tremendous amount of surgery in a short period of time, beginning with gastric by-pass surgery resulting in a 200+ lb weight loss (which indicates a life with little previous physical activity), a woman who has a serious chronic condition resulting in extremely low blood pressure, as well as other medical factors which for most people would preclude them from participating in any physical activity. Therefore, she expected to have to start with basic strength building and was very surprised to find that she could start immediately dealing with the problem of balance. When I told her I have been working for the past seven months with a Personal Trainer specializing in strength training, she was intrigued and asked a lot of questions about your experience, facilities, and the type of program developed for me. When I told her how difficult it was for me to even use the 2lb weights when I first started, her comment was how unusual it is to find a personal trainer not only with the ability and vision to develop a long-term strength-building training plan for someone with such a difficult medical history and low level of physical stamina, but a trainer who also has the patience to support a client through its implementation.

I am now receiving physical therapy at home by a home health provider which meant another assessment. As with the first, this therapist was prepared with strength building exercises when she first arrived and was surprised to find they were not needed. She was especially surprised by the strength in my legs, an area you and I had been specifically targeting, based on my Doctor's request. However, to her the real test was in the strength of the hip flexor muscle. In her experience the quads and other large leg muscles can be strengthened in the routine day-to-day walking, climbing stairs, etc. She said the small hip flexor is different. It has to be specifically targeted in order for it to be strengthened and most training programs overlook this muscle. She said over the years she uses the strength of this muscle to determine the "couch potato status" of a patient. Once again, the therapist was surprised to find this muscle well within the satisfactory range. She too asked a lot of questions about you and your qualifications. She was surprised that you actually worked one-on-one with your clients, or in pairs if they preferred, and not with a large group all at once, When I told her about many of the health issues your clients faced, her co mment was that you certainly didn't shy away from a challenge.

She asked me if you could do strength training of patients who have had hip surgery. Evidently, insurance doesn't cover this type of rehabilitation, I told her I didn't see why not. I shared with her that Rebecca Bitzer & Assoc, refer many of their clients to you, so they must feel confident in your knowledge, skills and abilities. My recommendation was that she call you and perhaps set up a time for the two of you to meet so she can discuss what she has in mind. She thought that a good idea so I gave her your business card. I will see her again on Friday, and if I remember, I'll ask her if it is OK to give you her number, too.

Gary, while some may laugh to have one's physical abilities documented as being "well within the satisfactory range," I am thrilled. When I started working with you in early December 2006, I had no stamina at all after two years of being in and out of the hospital and/or housebound. I was unable to work full time primarily because of fatigue. Some days it was hard to put one foot in front of the other. While I was thrilled with my weight loss, I couldn't enjoy it because of my health issues and was told by doctors that because my blood pressure dropped so low I would faint, I could not exercise unsupervised. This made me fearful that the weight would come back.

Then I was referred to you and everything changed. At first what appealed to me most was being able to exercise in private. Having to buy a gym membership as well as pay the fees for a personal trainer would have been beyond my financial means. However, given what poor physical shape I was in, I would have been too self-conscious to work out with a lot of people around. With your gym, and your one-on-one training, it became a non-issue. While I still felt a little self-conscious at that first work out, you put me at ease immediately. You also had appointments early enough not only to fit in with my work schedule, but also to give me no excuse not to keep my appointment. It took a while, but in early March 2007 I noticed that I actually had gained strength and endurance. I was able to run multiple errands and work almost full-time. Even people at work were commenting on the improvement. By late March, I was ready for an additional challenge and started looking for someone to do some cardio walking with me twice a week. Again, you were able to help by referring Stacy to me. This brought my supervised exercise to four hours a week. I even started doing a little running ("little" being the operative word) a couple of weeks before my last surgery. Who knew I even remembered how to run! It was in June, I first noticed I had developed muscle definition. It was very motivating to see this change. I have noticed ot her benefits directly attributable to my working out, I had heard working out releases endorphins which give a sense of well-being. I also found that the sense of accomplishment associated with completing an hour of physical training stays with me all day. The one benefit that surprised me though was that working out for an hour was like taking a mini-vacation. For one hour I have to concentrate on the physical training. This means for that hour I cannot let any other thoughts or worries intrude. Therefore, I leave refreshed not only physically, but mentally.

Thanks entirely to the expertise, guidance, support and encouragement you have provided me over the past seven months, I was able to immediately begin working on the critical rehabilitation of the brain's balance skills. Also because of your leadership, I was in the best physical shape of my life going into the most frightening surgery of my life. Both physical therapists strongly encouraged me to continue working with you as long as I am physically able. Being over fifty, strength training becomes more critical, especially for women. They both felt that given the success I have had under your tutelage in such a short time, I obviously have found an excellent personal trainer with whom I should continue. I agree wholeheartedly.

~Kathy Moore~