In April 2005, I sustained an injury that resulted in knee surgery in November 2006. While I tried to stay active, I gained approximately 30 pounds.

In October of 2006, I realized that I was headed to a dangerous place – at 5’2”,I weighed 176 lbs and had a waist measurement of 34.5 inches. My doctor referred me to a Registered Dietician. Over the next ten months, I was successful in losing almost 20 pounds and 3 inches off of my waist.

Although I was happy that I had lost weight and was enjoying running, swimming and biking, I still wasn’t happy with how my body looked and felt. I wanted to feel fit and strong. I wanted to be proud of how my body looked again. This is when I made the leap and decided to try using a personal trainer.

My past take on weight training was that even though I had been physically active for seven years, I was never comfortable in the weight room - there were too many muscle bound guys lifting huge amounts of weights. With Colleen's teaching, support and encouragement, I no longer feel intimidated at the gym

In the two and a half months that I have trained with Colleen, I have lost an additional 1.5 inches off my waist and built up a huge amount of upper body strength. I have strong arms, legs and core. My balance has improved and most importantly, so has my confidence – those muscle bound guys in the gym better not try to steal my BOSU ball!

Additonally, I have dramatically improved my running times – my Half Marathon personal best time reduced by over 7 minutes! I recover more quickly after speed work and long runs. I am amazed that I am running faster now than when I was in my twenties and it feels great.

Hitting the gym has been a lot of hard, sweaty work but having someone to be accountable to and receive guidance from has made all the difference. There is no deciding to skip a workout because “no one will know”.

I could not have achieved these kinds of results without the benefit of a personal trainer as supportive as Colleen. Her support, along with the e-mail program delivery worked out better than I could have every hoped. My hectic lifestyle would have made scheduled sessions with an in person trainer next to impossible and I am sure that I would have given up by this point. I am happy to say that there are no excuses anymore!