Get fit for 40: “I have always been active ever since I can remember and honestly love to workout. It is a passion of mine. I started playing basketball in second grade and all the way through high school. In high school, I discovered my love for track and started running track in addition to basketball. I have always been into lifting weights. I remember seeing Linda Hamilton in the Terminator 2 movie and knew that I wanted muscles like that. I was 12 years old at that time and my dad helped me by getting me my first set of weights and a bench. I loved it!

After high school, I still stayed active even though I was not playing sports anymore. I remember that I was determined not to gain those “freshman 15” that everyone says people gain when they go to college for the first time. So, I still lifted weights and ran almost every day throughout college. I even joined a gym and ran when I studied in Mexico for a semester!

After college ended, and I entered the real world, I still stuck to my workouts – lifting weights and running. Eventually, one of my knees wore down and I was forced to stop running but discovered that the Stairmaster gave me the same rush as running (30 minutes alone on that machine is a killer!), so I was still able to get an intense cardio workout. I would also do a cycle class sometimes to mix it up a little bit. About three years ago, I started going to a PiYo class (Pilates and Yoga) and mixed that in to my workout routine along with lifting weights and doing the Stairmaster/cycle classes.

Last year, I started to notice that I was getting bored with my workouts. I just wasn’t getting the same thrill that I used to and was even skipping some workouts because I just didn’t feel like it. Anyone who knows me will attest that I do not like to miss my workouts, so that was definitely something that stuck out to me. I knew Anissa Elsey through SHRM-KC and knew that she and her husband Rob had gone through Hitch Fit. I was intrigued last year by it, but never really did anything or pursued it.

Then, with my 40th birthday coming up on October 9th of this year (2019), I decided to give myself the best birthday present that I could give – joining Hitch Fit and really pushing myself with my workouts and learning more about the nutrition side of everything, so I could also eat better. I was not a horrible eater, but I knew I could do way better than what I was doing. I contacted Rob and we met, and I was just ready. I was ready for a change and I was ready to push myself more than I had done in years.

The workouts were great!! Rob pushed me to lift more and more each time which I love. I honestly just did whatever weight he gave me and sometimes I would even ask for more weight! I think the hardest part for me to get used to was the nutrition part of it. I remember reading everything that first week and feeling so overwhelmed!! I was not someone who cooked a lot and I didn’t even like cooking, but I knew I had to, and I did get used to it. Now, I am all about meal prepping and making better options about food. I really feel that I grew a lot in that area.

The part that makes this experience even better is the story between Rob and I – it is such a small world! I have known his wife Anissa for about 10 years through HR and SHRM-KC. Rob has known my dad for years through the real estate business and eventually got to know my sister when she worked for our dad for a few years. Neither one of us knew that we were connected that way until I mailed a Christmas card to Anissa a few years ago and Rob saw our family on the card. Then, we all put it together! So, I feel like I have known Rob forever because of that shared history with our families!!

Thank you so much to Rob for all of the hard workouts and for teaching me about the nutrition part of it!! I honestly love the way I look now and feel like I did achieve those muscles that Linda Hamilton had in Terminator 2!!!”