Client of The Week: Patrick!

Congratulations to our Client of the Week, Patrick!

I have been a part of the Jada Blitz Fitness family for a little over a year. I met my trainer Anthony prior to joining, and I joined because I wanted to work with him as a personal trainer. I admire his dedication to his craft and his style of training, and how welcoming Jada Blitz seemed to be right from the start. I have worked with several other trainers in the past at other gyms, so I had an idea of what I was looking for in a trainer. I am blind and have been since birth, so working with someone that did not find this intimidating and was willing to show me as well as describe to me what he was looking for was important to me. Anthony has been easy to communicate with, and from the first time we worked together it was like we had been doing it for years.

MY GOALS & BECOMING A PERSONAL TRAINING CLIENT

I knew I wanted to get more out of my gym experience, and I was looking for a trainer and a gym that would welcome me and make me feel comfortable at their facility. I joined during the heart of the pandemic, and although safety is as important to me as anyone else, I did not want to work out at a gym where I felt like the mask police were constantly in my face. I have always felt like everyone at Jada Blitz has been respectful and prioritized safety and the health of their members, but I have also never felt unwelcome because of my beliefs or pressured to comply in any way. This was not the case at my previous gym, and was a “breath of fresh air” (pun intended).

My initial goals were to get stronger, decrease body fat, and increase muscle growth. I wanted to increase my bench back to where it was during my college years which was around 180lbs, and feel and look better. I have accomplished these goals as I am currently benching 185lbs and feeling awesome! My current goals are to increase my bench to 200lbs and continue improving my upper and lower body strength. I coach individuals on wellness and weight loss, so I understand how important working on your overall physical well being is. I have never met someone who said “I have enough health” as it is always a work in progress. Making progress on my body and experiencing the potential of my own strength as I improve my fitness is exciting and fascinating to me.

It has been fantastic working with Anthony over the past year. He is different from any other personal trainer I have worked with in the past in that he is always working on gaining more knowledge. He is constantly sharpening his craft, sharing new things that he has learned and how it can help someone exercise in a more effective way. I enjoy being around people who are always growing in life and in the work they do. He is also a great communicator and we have great conversation while accomplishing a lot. He also asks great questions that make me think about my answers and help shape my vision of where I am and where I want to go with my goals. There are many things I have learned, but one of the biggest things I have learned from Anthony is how much tightening up my core prior to lifting can help me to lift more weight and protect my body at the same time. He explained why this is the case, and then feeling the difference helped me internalize this and changed the way I think about my set up.

Anthony is a great person to be around. Some trainers can talk for hours about working out and exercise, but they have trouble relating or discussing any other topics. You can have a conversation about anything with Anthony and he will add to the conversation. When he is training me, he doesn’t just tell me what to do and how to do it. He will also explain why we are doing the exercise that we are doing. He shares how this will help us get to my goals and this helps me get past some of the more challenging exercises because I know how they fit the big picture. Being blind can make coaching me a bit different in some ways. It’s not a big deal to me, but I have had trainers in the past that have been very intimidated by it. Anthony took it in stride starting on day one, and has asked questions and put a lot of thought into the best ways to coach me through new exercises. It has honestly been easy working together. I try to live by the Power of Five, which is the idea that you become like the five people you spend the most time with. Anthony is a great person to add to anyone’s power of five, as he is always working on himself and will push you to do the same just by being around him.

One time Anthony had me do split squats without shoes so that I could feel the difference and I noticed how much more control I had. He told me about the barefoot shoes he wears and why he wears them. He explained the benefits of working out and walking with your foot being in closer contact to the ground. It was a funny conversation, but I learned something new about my body, he shared what he had learned and his experience. We spent the rest of the hour laughing about feet and making jokes about it. Anthony also has a bunch of fun sayings that are catchy that you will find yourself saying if you work with him. They probably don’t mean much to someone walking past, but they will stick with you if you hang out with him at the gym. “Boom, light weight…Way to work…Get tight…Tuck your shoulder blades in your back pocket…Get excited…Was that red, yellow, or green?”

ADVICE FOR ANYONE THINKING ABOUT TRYING PERSONAL TRAINING

THE FACILITY & STAFF

My overall experience with the Jada Blitz Staff has been awesome! It is as close to working out at home as you can get with the added benefit of having an accountability partner with you. The staff is friendly and very helpful.

I just want to say thank you for respecting everyone’s individual health care decisions and for standing up for the freedoms of your membership. My previous gym requires vaccination, and whether I was vaccinated or not I will never set foot in the place again for the way they are treating people who made an individual health care decision that they don’t agree with. People make individual medical decisions for all kinds of different reasons, and to lump everyone into one category and punish everyone for a decision they made about their own health is horrific in my opinion. I just wanted to say thank you for treating everyone with respect during these challenging times. It is just one more thing that makes you easy to refer to people looking for a new gym. Keep up the great work!