Did you ever leave the house only to arrive at your destination and wonder "how the heck did I get here?" Well, that's exactly how I felt about my life back in April when I turned 60, which gave me cause for reflection, I needed to get serious about my health.
Hi, my name is Cheryl and I have been a member of 212 for about 4 years, I think. I have always participated in some type of fitness regime since I was a kid; anyone remember Elaine Powers, Gloria Stevens, how about California Concepts? I have been through countless gyms, nutritionists, personal trainers, even went to school myself and took the American Council on Exercise Personal Trainer program to be able to teach myself what I needed to do.
About 6 years ago my body turned against me. Wracked with pain throughout my body, doctors told me to stop all exercise. After a year of countless doctors visits, tests for Lyme, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis, physical therapy and chiropractor, the doctors told me I was very healthy except for the pain that they were unable to diagnose the source of; restarting an exercise routine would do no harm.
As fate would have it my friend, Robi-Ann Medeiros, had introduced me to 212, formerly Punch Kettlebell Gym, the previous year when she arranged an orientation for our running group, and another friend, Sandy Barbour, had recently joined so I decided to give it a try. The rest is history. After the first week of classes I realized I was rolling over in bed without pain, by the second week I had no pain and could easily get in and out of the car, and after 6 months I could again sit back on my heels in "Child's Pose."
So while my fitness level has steadily improved since I joined 212 this year has been a year of milestones. I turned 60, ditched all the "toxic" stuff in my life, retired from a job of 37 years, lost 25lbs since April, lost 7.5 inches during the recent Drop 2 Jeans Sizes Challenge, climbed the rope and finally achieved my 2014 New Year's resolution and conquered my old nemesis the box jump on the tallest box.
I took some wrong turns along the road I had mapped out for myself for the long term health and fitness, maybe because I'm directionally challenged, but in the end I ended up at 212 Health and Performance and I am so grateful that I did. The staff at 212 is knowledgeable, friendly, and push you just enough to make you want to turn it up one more degree.