So, this boy and his mom are special to me. Vanessa is a tall stunning blonde with the most beautiful South African accent. She has a full-time, high-level and high-pressure corporate job, is a mom to 3 boys, is the Woodstock High School booster club secretary and director of events, AND owns and operates a custom design company! Nevertheless, she still rolls her eyes when I try to tell her what an amazing bouquet of fabulous she is. Vanessa came to me and wanted help with what all of us 40-something moms want...to firm up and gain muscle definition especially focusing on glutes and core.
Ryan is the kind of kid every mom would want to date her daughter. I know this because I just happen to have daughters. He is respectful, hard-working and I won't say adorable 'cause that might embarrass him but...;) My focus with Ryan was to get him well prepared for the football weight room and field. This required us to start from the beginning and work on the basics of proper form and begin adding load...squats, lunges, deadlifts, upper body work and everything in between. We especially worked on strengthening his legs to make sure he was going to be ready for the field, and as I always do with every client, we did and do lots of mobility and core work during every session. The biggest challenge was getting him to be patient and trust the process. He of course wanted to be doing right away all of the things his peers who hadn't been injured for two years were doing. We also had lots of discussion about food choices for muscle mass and weight gain. It took a little convincing that he needed to eat pretty large quantities of good quality food with the proper macronutrient amounts in each meal to put on the weight and muscle he was going to need to compete.
My favorite memory with these two happened when I was actually NOT training them. I went to watch Ryan at the Navy Seal Training he was required to participate in with the WHS football team. His mom and I watched him together knowing how far he'd come and how hard they had both worked to get him there. I couldn't help but think while I was watching him..."Who smiles during Navy Seal training?!"
Below, Vanessa describes what brought them to me and their journey.
Our fitness journey began in January of 2017. Alex came highly recommended as an excellent trainer for both kids/teens and adults, and since I was looking for someone special to work with Ryan, Alex seemed to be the perfect fit.
Left upper end of 2016; Left Lower July 2017; Middle upper and lower Navy Seals training; Middle: Ryan with his brothers; Right upper Fall 2016; Right lower July 2017
The intent was to bring Ryan back into football ready shape as he had endured three years of surgeries on both his knees, and as a result, he was so skinny, extremely unfit and his muscles in his calves were so atrophied that it was going to take a lot of work and a lot of patience, along with a lot of care and skill on the part of the trainer. On top of it all, Ryan was pretty afraid of hurting himself again.
The plan was for Alex to work with Ryan twice a week, and since I was giving him rides, I decided to join in the sessions.
Ryan is the youngest of three boys. He comes from a family of football fanatics, and UGA grads, and a dad and brother who played football in high school. Ryan has always been a very active child. Football clicked for him at age 6 and he has loved it with all his heart and soul since then. Not a day goes by where Ryan isn’t throwing the football or shooting hoops and he knows all of the teams and all of the players. After playing for two years with what we thought were just growing pains, we finally took Ryan to an orthopedist. Turned out he had a condition called osteochondritis dissecans that is typical in younger kids, but most grow out of it. Ryan’s condition was so severe that it was either surgery in both knees or he would never play another game of football or basketball again. Ryan was not having this, and we as his parents, could not watch this child go through life as a spectator.
The surgeries (four total) were the easy part. Ryan took it all in his stride and rode the crutches for twelve long weeks after each surgery. It was the recovery from these surgeries that was so important, and if Ryan didn’t follow through with post-surgery therapy he was not going to succeed. Ryan was dedicated to it (three times a week) and his recovery was very slow. In December of 2016, Ryan was told that at the end of February, he could get back on the fields again, so we needed to get him strong. This required that Alex work very closely with his orthopedic surgeon (as prescribed) and his coaches at Woodstock High School. Alex never missed a beat. She worked closely with the coach to make sure she understood exactly what Ryan was doing in the weight room and on the field so she could program Ryan's workouts to compliment those, accelerate his progress and prevent further injury. When we had concerns about his physical therapy sessions, Alex provided us with excellent advice which ultimately led to our changing physical therapists to the maximum benefit of Ryan.
Ryan is now fully participating in football as of April and he is HUGE! He’s gone from looking like a little boy to a young man and his previously skinny legs now look like (as Alex fondly states) “tree trunks”! Ryan played in the WHS Spring Football Game and also completed the 5-hour grueling Navy Seals Training Camp the morning after that Spring Game. Alex never gave up on Ryan, and continued to work with him when he was struggling with shin splints from his football training and severe pain from growth spurts. She has always been so patient and encouraging and positive, and was, and remains, fully invested in his success (all the while also maintaining the role of therapist for this frazzled mom). She also put together a comprehensive nutrition plan for Ryan and took the time to sit down with him and explain it all. As a result, Ryan has not only grown stronger physically (and is running soooo fast), but he has also become more confident in his abilities and is very focused on his nutritional intake.
My story on the other hand is a somewhat simple one. Turns out that my tagalong sessions have turned into such an important part of my life, and people around me are noticing the positive changes to my physical (and mental) appearance which is nothing short of awesome.
I have always been a healthy eater and I am always on the treadmill (literally every night), and I was in relatively good shape, but in the short time I’ve been with Alex, I’ve lost at least an inch around my waist and all my “cute” clothes look so much better, and fit quite a bit looser.
What I have gained is so much more important… Alex has given me confidence! I have suffered from low self-esteem my whole life and when I started with Alex I couldn’t stand to look at myself in the mirror. Now, because I work so hard with her and can see the results of it, I am so much more confident in my appearance! I actually wore a bathing suit without a cover up in April for spring break. My husband can’t believe how great I look and how strong, and younger too!
Alex has helped me so much by strengthening my body and soul, and continues to look for ways to challenge me, push me and encourage me. All of our sessions are different and interesting and “fun”. I learned very quickly that when Alex says “let’s do this, its’ fun” I know very well it’s NOT going to be fun, but I will love EVERY MINUTE of it.
The best part is waking up the next day and not being able to use any of the muscles that Alex had “fun” with the night before.
Throughout this whole ordeal I have learned that we take our health for granted and don't appreciate nearly enough how precious it is. I have watched kids being lazy and unmotivated with a multitude of physical abilities and gifts and it broke my heart for my son that he was going through this at the same time. I also learned that nothing is guaranteed and even though the surgeries were successful, how he handled the recovery was tantamount to the success and that he had to be dedicated and we had to be so very patient.
If I could give advice to others who might be going through a similar challenge it would be to not accept second best on your team of caregivers. Make sure you have the best people on your side from the surgeon to the physical therapist to the coaches and your trainer. If just one of these people are not the most excellent then you will have a much more diffficult time succeeding.
Ryan and I continue to look forward to the rest of our “fun” journey with Alex, and we both know that the best of us is yet to come.