My Fitness Journey
Growing up, I hated gym class. Not because I disliked being active, but because I feared the embarrassment that came with being overweight. I feared not being able to do what my classmates could do, seemingly with such ease.
I didn’t like the way I felt, moved, or looked.
I couldn’t run. I couldn’t do pull ups. I couldn’t do rope climbs.
But now, as a 55-year-old, I can do all those activities, and more
My fitness journey began when my weight hit 200 lbs., which at 5’9” tall was on the border of overweight and obese. I decided that I had enough. But sometimes, achieving one’s fitness goals can seem daunting, and at the time, I was clueless when it came to exercise. So, I started with the simplest of all fitness activities — running.
So, I laced up my shoes and began to set goals for myself. At first, I couldn’t run a mile, so running a mile without walking became my 1st goal. As a competitive person, I knew the best way to motivate myself would be by signing up for races. Not only did this give me a specific goal for which I could train, but by signing up I was making a commitment to compete, and when I compete, I compete.
I started small and signed up for a 5k, the Susan Komen Race for the Cure in Philadelphia. Slowly but surely, I began to progress from 5Ks to 10Ks to half marathons to marathons. As the distances increased, so did my injuries, which led me to triathlons as a motivator to cross train. I worked my way up from sprints to Olympic distance and completed several Ironman 70.3s.
While I was making some progress in how I felt, moved, and looked, the progress wasn’t commensurate with the amount of training and racing I was doing, and I was still working through a lot of injuries. I knew I needed to add strength training and flexibility/mobility work, but I didn’t have the 1st clue of how to effectively incorporate those components into my training.
I soon discovered CrossFit, where strength training and mobility work is combined with cardio in a competitive community. When I added yoga to my weekly training, I finally found the right combination of cardio, strength training and flexibility. My results accelerated.
Now, at 55, I feel great, move better than most people ½ my age, and finally am happy with the way I look. Through my fitness journey, I’ve lost 55 lbs., lowered my body fat percentage from >20% to <7% and would welcome a chance to get back to high school gym class to show off my speed, pull ups and rope climbs.
Following my retirement from the Pharmaceutical Industry, I’m opening SPENGA fitness studios outside of Philadelphia to combine cardio, strength training and flexibility through spinning, strength training and yoga with the hope of helping people achieve their fitness goals, including moving better, feeling better, and/or looking better.
