Function Well Legendary Client of the Month!
February
CONGRATULATIONS – Leanne Smith
April
CONGRATULATIONS Heather Munro
After five years in the business if there is one client that I can say I am most proud of, it is Heather Munro.
Heather first came to me just over two years ago not very happy with her health and determined to make some big changes. We got on like a house on fire straight away and training got off to a great start. Heather was very weak back then which is understandable seeing she had lived quite an inactive, very business-orientated lifestyle for a very long time. All the basic movements were a struggle, especially squatting and lunging and we first set out at improving Heather’s stability and basic strength. Well the strength came and the weight started to drop off and I had the belief that with her determination and work ethic that we were going to reach our goals in a very short time. Little did we know we had some very big obstacles just around the corner!
In March 2008, Heather was diagnosed with cancer. It was her 50th birthday. I remember the day when she rang me and first told me… I was absolutely shocked… but Heather had a totally different attitude. She knew the graveness of the situation far more than I did yet the first thing she said to me was, “Well I’m simply not ready to go”. As you can imagine the following months were quite an ordeal for Heather. She needed surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy for 8 months. We caught up a few times over the phone but only had a chance to meet up a couple of times and each time it was a shock for me to see the toll the treatment was taking on her body, but every time we caught up Heather never had anything but a positive attitude.
In Jan 2009, it was a great relief for me to hear Heather say she was back and wanted to start training again. Heather had beaten the cancer but as a result of the treatment she now had a range of new obstacles to overcome. She was much weaker than before, and fatigue was now a massive factor. The effects of the chemotherapy brought about severe arthritis, especially in her hip, which she still suffers from today. On top of all of that, her ability to recover from our training sessions had diminished a lot and everything was extremely up and down. One day we’d have no arthritis pain but heaps of pain the next. One day we would get no muscle soreness in the days following a very hard session, next time we’d do an easy sesh and Heather couldn’t walk for two days.
A few months later Heather and her husband Jim decided to sell their business and this resulted in the stress really starting to kick in. Throughout this period my biggest challenge was keeping Heather motivated and maintaining a positive attitude. Arthritis, stress, bad sleep, long working days and bad nutrition… it was understandable that negativity really started to kick in! It took a while but repeatedly in each session we spoke about staying positive no matter what. Slowly but surely, session by session, things started to get better.
In November last year, I decided to move to Function Well which, with its positive atmosphere and friendly faces, really proved to be the breath of fresh air we both needed. And boy did it make a difference to Heather’s training! She loved it here from day one and when the opportunity came along to do the 12wk Challenge she was one of the first to sign up. Right from the word “go”, she has given it everything she has. We wrote out two new strength programs and two new metabolic circuits to follow, and made an effort to do some form of exercise – be it weights, metabolic circuit or just a simple walk – six days per week. Along with this Heather’s biggest improvement has without doubt been with her nutrition, an area that has been a huge challenge for her in the past. Sugar, processed carbs and fried foods were now gone, and vegetables, lean meats, salads, protein powder, good fats and vital greens were now in. As a result her response to training has been superb. Her strength has improved every week, her fitness levels and strength endurance the same. As of our last session she has dropped 7kgs of body fat since the start of the challenge – a fantastic achievement especially for a woman in her fifties whose muscle mass and metabolism are nowhere near the level of someone like myself, a male at 29!
With all the ups and downs she has overcome in the last couple of years Heather is a testament to maintaining a positive attitude no matter what bad news or obstacles come your way. Stay positive, eat well and train hard is definitely the Heather Munro way of staying fit and healthy. Well done Heather, I’m sure we are both looking forward to the many more years of hard training ahead!
Dan Tewson
May
CONGRATULATIONS Nathlie Pobtizer!
Ok here it goes, this is a little sad writing this one not because I don’t think Natty is a deserving winner, she is more deserving than any member to ever receive the prestigious honours of Legend of the month, but because this will be my last testimonial I write. I am so happy I get to honour one of my longest serving clients.
Natty has been training with me for 5 years and has endured two relocations and countless ups and downs be it fitness, personally or professionally. Recently Natty was the of the man participants who undertook the difficult 12 week challenge. There has been some stand out results and some of these results have been made quite public and deservingly so too, however there are a lot of achievers throughout this challenge who have gone about their business done the hard yards both nutritionally and physically and haven’t whinged or scorned the earth they walk on. Natty for me, is one of these quiet achievers. She never leaves the gym without a smile on her red beetroot face after another intense session. With this attitude she has had exceptional results since she has started this challenge and I wanted to acknowledge her on her incredible discipline and hard work. She looks fantastic and deserves a bit of recognition for what she has accomplished as do all the 12 week challenge participants. Furthermore a little shout out goes to her partner Bretty who has provided excellent as well during this time. So well done Natty it has been an absolute blast to train you for so long, I have enjoyed every moment and thank you for putting up with my oxford dictionary mannered English and exceptional encouraging techniques hahaha …and let’s not forget my political correctness. There has never been a time when I haven’t walked away from a session where I haven’t enjoyed training you….so finally well done your a star and enjoy the pasta on Saturday after weight in.
Kind Regards, Probably the best trainer around
Matt
June
CONGRATULATIONS Brett Coughlan!
Well…………those of you who know me are more than aware I’ve usually got plenty to say but being told about Client of the Month has me stumped – FINALLY I hear you say!
To be honest I’m not quite sure what I’ve done to achieve this, because Function Well is full of clients who have been achieving their own wonderful results or tackling challenges that we face on a daily basis. The great thing is that as clients we all push each other and when you combine that with the encouragement we receive from the Trainers/Performance Coaches, we can do just about anything we put our minds to!
I have to admit that with Matt’s departure to Townsville, I did have a few nerves about changing trainers & for the first couple of sessions my head space was a little out of sorts (no…. I didn’t miss him!). The factor of “change” isn’t something most of us like, but I guess it can be a good thing because it gets you out of your comfort zone, recharges your batteries and resets your mind.
Having won that battle in my head, things have settled in well and we are focused on our new goals and program so we’re hoping to make Tash proud of what we can achieve together – I think we’re off to a good start.
Life at Function Well is pretty easy and by that I’m not talking about the training sessions because they’re not exactly easy. I say life’s easy because when you have trainers and clients encouraging and pushing you all the way, you can go above and beyond to achieve more than you thought possible – which is what I’ve done with your help, so thank you!
July
CONGRATULATIONS Helen Kilgour
Helen is our well deserved legend client of the month. Over the last 2 months Helen and her performance coach Dave have worked hard on putting an eating and training plan in place to achieve Helens goal to reduce her body fat.
Helen is very committed to her training particularly the road bike – Helen averages about 150km -200km plus on the bike week in week out so it wasn’t a matter of trying to motivate Helen to exercise, Helen had that piece of the puzzle covered, it was more a matter of putting the ‘right’ exercise program together that was going to achieve her fat loss goals. Helen is a prime example that cardio alone does not work for fat loss with a lot of people – If you’re looking to drop body fat and see a visual change in your body shape you MUST lift weights. Combining her strength sessions with metabolic conditioning, individualised eating plan and a hard working training ethic Helen has achieved a significant drop in body fat.
Well done Helen keep lifting those heavy weights and training hard you’re looking great.
August
CONGRATULATIONS Jess Paton
Jess has been training consistently for over 6 months now, and not one session has gone past where she has not made improvements, pushed herself to the limit, and done it all with a positive attitude and smile on her face. The atmosphere of the gym is always much happier than normal when Jess comes in to train. She is a great example of ‘consistent training helps to form healthy habits!’ Over the time Jess has been training, her conditioning has improved, her strength gains have been out of sight and the sky is the limit for what she can achieve. Well done Jess!’
