MY JOURNEY: ANN STYX

A Message from Maxmead Fitness member Ann Styx

Last February I was a 63 year old woman with high cholesterol, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), acid reflux, and knees that were giving out on stairs. I started working with a trainer at Maxmead Fitness once a week with one goal: hold off on knee treatment. I was gaining strength and endurance from my workouts which allowed me to hike National Parks in April pain free.

The big game changer was participating in the May “Whole Life Challenge”. The discipline and accountability was doable on a daily basis: 10 min exercise, no problem, 7 hours of sleep, mobility… all doable. The lifestyle nutrition tracking was challenging. But, like any addict, I knew I couldn’t say “just one chocolate won’t hurt me”. The weight melting off and energy levels increasing was the best motivation to stay on track.

After the challenge I am proud to say, I am 15 pounds lighter, have no more acid reflux or IBS, and I have dropped my cholesterol 60 points, and triglycerides 138 points! These are measurable results but the best outcome is my self esteem. I encourage everyone to consider doing the September Whole Life Challenge to combat the fall hibernation danger of couch sitting and carbs to prepare for the winter.

  ~ Ann Styx   "63 but feeling 50"

Join Ann and the rest of the Maxmead Clan for the September Whole Life Challenge starting September 16! Contact us or talk to your Coach for Life if you have questions.

http://www.whole.lc/wlc1709/pt/maxmeadfitness

MY JOURNEY: LISA TERRELL

Chris and I started lifting weights and running together when we first met in 1991 in college. We had no money and so our dates were in the weight room.  We started Crossfit together in 2014 and transitioned to Maxmead in January 2017.

Chris and I still lift together. It's what we have always loved doing. Now when we travel for Chris's work he finds himself in boxes in California, Mexico, or even Switzerland. We stay consistent with our workouts. And, even though its not always coached in English we figure things out and meet some great people. Whenever we travel we find the closest Crossfit boxes to visit. 

Chris tore his ACL last year playing volleyball yet he still trains with Brad and Ryan nearly every day. The coaches have made sure he has made a great recovery. Chris and I PR'd our Crossfit total while on vacation this month at a Florida box and both our strict press and squats went went up in weight. We are both in our mid-forties and didn't expect to see those numbers move but the programming at Maxmead made this happen.  Since joining I have learned to string together my double unders and do handstand push ups!-not at all something I saw myself learning in the first few months.  

In the end it's the Maxmead community and great programming that keeps us going and consistent with our workouts. I think at Maxmead we have found the fountain of youth. There is nothing better than doing a handstand push up at our age: it makes us feel like we are 10 years old.

My Journey: Stephanie Harbaugh

Hi, my name is Stephanie Harbaugh and I am proud Maxmead Fitness member.  

I had spent a large portion of my life playing organized sports: volleyball, basketball, and soccer in high school, and collegiate soccer for 4 years. After college ended, I needed to find a way to backfill the competitive void that that had just entered my life. So l chose to run long distances, for fun and for competition. Running led me to the world of triathlons, both sprint and olympic distances. Even though the swim almost killed me, I found that the variety offered by three consecutive events was exciting and provided me with a sense of of extreme accomplishment each time I crossed the finish line. 

Unfortunately the preparation required for each race became entirely consuming that I needed to take a break from long distance, endurance type sports. While I found myself in the process of searching for an exercise alternative, my wife Staci had just discovered CrossFit. She had encouraged me on multiple occasions to give it a try but I always hesitated due to the experience I had in college with weightlifting:  terrible form, lack of strength, and general weight room intimidation.

Even with my vulnerabilities, I decided to sign up at a local CrossFit gym and to my surprise, immediately fell in love with the workout variety, competition, and predefined nature. Unfortunately, with time, I started to feel like I wasn't keeping up with the lifts/weights and thought maybe I just wasn't cut out for lifting. Eventually I left that CrossFit gym and went back to the typical box gym and with that came the repetitive and boring routine of aimlessly walking around, doing a half ass workout just to say I had worked out. 

I started to miss CrossFit-style training and decided to sign up for a boot camp to get back into the swing of things before I jumped back into classes. I was lucky enough to have Coach Elizabeth as my boot camp instructor and I started to regain my confidence and enjoyment of the CrossFit type of work out. I heard Ryan was opening his own gym and immediately knew that I had to join because he is such a great coach. Maxmead Fitness provides a safe learning environment where I am able to learn lifts at my own pace and with the proper guidance and encouragement where I leave every day feeling that I have succeeded. I am by no means producing the quickest times nor the heaviest lifts, but I know I am getting better and I am having fun. The atmosphere Maxmead Fitness creates has changed my perceptions of lifting and the advantages it serves my every day life. So much so that I am thinking about training for another triathlon because of the strength I have gained through his programming. Maybe one day I'll even be able to do a pull-up :) 

My Journey: Brad Loken

I began my fitness journey — halfheartedly — in 2005. I was two years away from getting married, tipping the scale at 240 pounds, and I did not like that I felt "squishy" all over. So I started to read fitness magazines, go for occasional runs, and drastically changed my diet. (Read: not eating a pint of Ben & Jerry's every night). Even though my steps were small, they added up to much more than the nothing I had done in my life up to that point. I noticed the results quickly. As I started to shed the pounds, I becameobsessed, not only with losing weight, but also with building muscle and feeling better.

My only resources were my fitness magazines. Every month I found a new way to get, "GIANT GUNS IN 3 EASY MOVES,” and ways to, "EAT THIS FOR FLAT ABS.” I would jot down the workout in my log book, take it to the local 'Globo Gym,’ and hammer it out for a week or two — only to have a new shiny routine catch my eye the next month, promising even better results faster. Yes, I did see some results. I lost a TON of weight, ran my first few 5Ks, and I had more confidence than ever before. But after a few years of one routine, I hit the dreaded plateau. I grew bored, and I wanted a change. I thought P90X was the answer to my problems. It worked for a while, but watching the same DVD, (and doing the same routine again and again, to the point where you can lip-sync along with Tony), turned redundant and frustrating. I hit another plateau.

Seven years later, my wife Molly and I had a 3-year-old son and 1-year-old daughter. We had both completed our first marathons, (Molly ran two!), and we were looking for a new challenge, physically and mentally. But neither of us had interest in training for another endurance event, when we had two little ones at home. We didn’t have much interest in the stereotypical gym, either. We needed something new. Enter: CrossFit. I was working as the manager of a steakhouse in Maple Grove, and stumbled across CrossFit over a slow Sunday brunch. ESPN was on TV, and the CrossFit Games were playing. I was completely mesmerized by what the athletes were doing, and wanted to know what the hell that 'snatch' was. (Up to that point it had just been a dirty word to me). 

We joined a local CrossFit gym in January 2014 and we were hooked. Within the first year, I had registered for my CrossFit Level 1 course, began studying for my ACE personal training exam, and I knew that I wanted to work in fitness. I have learned a lot about myself in going through this journey. I believe fitness should be functional, fun, and inclusive. I learned that results are not immediate. They take hard work, dedication, and accountability. Now I can help people learn those lessons faster, as a Coach for Life here at Maxmead Fitness. So, whenever you get frustrated that you're still using bands for your pull-ups, doing pushups off a box, can't quite string together double-unders, or that your snatch looks like a baby deer stumbling on a ice rink, remember that you are improving — even if doesn't feel like you are. Enjoy the journey! And remember, at Maxmead Fitness you're surrounded with like-minded friends who are also going on their own journey, side by side with you. 

-Coach Brad Loken