Client Testimonial: investing in myself
One year ago, I felt like a stranger in my own body. After years of sporadic attempts to keep active - falling in love with a sport or exercise regiment, only to burn out after a couple of years - I was at a loss. I’d changed a lot through the pandemic, and I was entering into the throes of perimenopause. My midsection grew in ways it hadn’t since pregnancy. My weight continued to increase. My energy level was down, and the lower back pain I inherited from both genetics and maternity left me with a weak core and poor self-confidence. I tried to substitute yoga for all other forms of exercise, and while it helped in many ways, it wasn’t a cure-all for my symptoms.
I knew I needed help, and began strength training with Rose in January 2025. The initial assessment was humbling. I knew that I had little upper body strength, and my cardiovascular endurance wasn’t what it once was. Upon my request, Rose helped me understand how to organize my thoughts on what I was eating. Without judgment and with a lot of support, Rose invited me to name my goals, which were:
1. Lose weight
2. Get strong
3. Fix my lower back pain.
Using this information, Rose helped me create a plan for how to budget my calories, prioritizing protein and minimizing fat intake. I was able to assess my regular meals and see how they weren’t helping me meet my stated goals. My very favorite meal (spinach salad with steak, blue cheese, walnuts, and mixed berries with a light drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, a 5 oz glass of sauvignon blanc) was the perfect example of what I thought I was doing right, when in reality, it wasn’t helping me at all. This meal was much higher in fat and carbs than I realized, and didn’t have enough protein to balance out the excess of fat. While it was relatively low in calories and featured good, healthy things like leafy greens, berries, and protein, the combination ate up so much of my fat budget for the day that it made it almost impossible to maintain the balance in my macros. Rose taught me that I didn’t have to “give up” any foods. I could simply budget for them to accommodate my preferences for the day. If I was going to eat a bowl of guacamole, that meant no fatty meats as a protein. Keeping my diet accessible and diverse was a gift. I could still eat all the foods I loved, but I needed to understand more than just the caloric impact.
I also had to examine how alcohol was helping me meet my goals (it wasn’t). I am the only adult in my household, and I had considered a glass of wine with dinner as a little treat that I’d earned. I didn’t drink excessively, but I had a glass of wine every night. The way my body metabolized the alcohol was prohibitive to me losing fat and building muscle. It became very easy to drastically reduce my alcohol intake to one drink/week, if I was out to dinner or there was some sort of special occasion. I didn’t stop drinking, but I did choose not to on most days.
Within a month, I noticed that my back pain was significantly reduced. There were initial growing pains as I learned how to do the lifts properly, but Rose worked with me through the process to adapt my program so that I always felt as though I had the ability to leave feeling accomplished. We started working on exercises that would help me achieve my first pull-up in March. I noticed that my weight was dropping slowly and consistently. My clothes began fitting differently. My belts fit with more ease. My energy level was up, and I found that I sought out ways to stay active every day. Throughout the spring, I noticed how much better I was looking and feeling. Rose consistently encouraged me through the hardest parts of the early-training season, where everything felt new and challenging. The lifts became more fun, and it was really motivating to watch the progress as I was able to add more load to the bar. I started noticing my arms in the mirror - they had definition now!
Even moreso, I noticed how much healthier I was overall. When I traveled, I took better care of what I was eating and when. No longer did “skip breakfast and scarf down poor choices for lunch” work as a strategy. This definitely didn’t help me meet my goals, and since I was seeing real progress in a controlled and manageable way, I didn’t want to get in my own way by living differently when I was on the road. I didn’t stay up as late, I brought healthy snacks with me, I prioritized protein, and always found a way to walk a mile or more during the day.
Over the summer, I still faced the dreaded experience of finding a bathing suit that inspired confidence rather than self-loathing. I managed to find some options, and wound up at a water park with my kids. We happened to be filmed for a tik-tok the park was putting together, and when it was finally released, I watched through my hands, ready to be horrified. Rather, I saw myself as someone who looked strong, fit, and confident. My body is still mine - scars, wrinkles, and all - but the way I carried myself was certainly different.
Later that week, my daughter and I were shopping, and I caught a glimpse of myself in the store mirror. The overhead light was doing me a lot of favors, but my arms looked so strong. Even my daughter noticed: “MOM,” she whispered, “you’re jacked!” Then, she asked me for $30 to buy the skirt she was trying on.
I found myself seeking out new forms of exercise: longer walks, more intense hikes, heavier weights. For the first time in my life, I was on a program with intention and purpose, and the results were evident. Each week, I found my muscle mass growing, my body fat percentage dropping, and my overall health improving. I didn’t get sick once during the year. Late in the summer, I was asked to preach at a church in Florida. It went well, and I felt good about the experience. Afterwards, people came forward to share their feedback, and one woman confidently shook my hand and said: “I’m not gay, but you have a killer body!” This is, hands down, the strangest (and best) feedback I’ve ever gotten after a sermon.
The work Rose has done with me has completely changed my life. Not only did I meet all of my stated goals by the fall, but I noticed how my mental health and spirituality improved. I am less inclined to think poorly of myself, my overall outlook is vastly more positive. I feel less anxiety and pull towards depression. I feel as though I am in control of my life and health, and the rewards of feeling so positively overall cannot be measured by a scale alone.
In October, after months of dedicated attempts and targeted exercises to strengthen my upper body, I achieved my first unassisted pull-up. After 8 months of disciplined work (and a lot of frustration), I was able to do something I’d never been able to do in my life. Today, I can manage three pull-ups, and I feel as though 5 might be attainable in the future. Crossing the mental hurdle of “I’ll never be able to do this” to “I can do more than I could ever imagine” has been remarkably healing. Late in the fall, Rose invited me to set some new goals. I decided to tackle running, since my knees had prevented me from doing so since I was a teenager. Thanks to the strength training, the musculature around my knees was much better equipped to support my joints, and I found that I could run a 5K with no pain (in my knees). The work was still hard. I have a lot of cardiovascular conditioning to do. But, I can do something now I haven’t been able to do since I was 13 years old.
Rose has created a wonderful environment for her clients to get physically and mentally stronger. Not only that, but the group workouts have created a wonderful sense of support and community. Through the experience of training with Rose, I have found every aspect of my life improved. The cost of training is competitive and reasonable, and it has been such a valuable experience to see what it looks like to invest in myself. Rose has equally invested in her clients - in me - and I will be reaping the rewards of her expertise and training for many years to come.
