Way to go Jenna!  You are an inspiration to the training team and to others throughout our community.  Keep up the great work!  ​

This month we are so happy to recognize Vika Thayer as our client of the month!  Vika is all of these things and more.  Vika is a Mom and has a busy life.  Like most Moms, she is juggling her parental responsibilities, her job, and more.  Sometimes things just don’t work out as planned and we can always count on Vika to communicate with us when life throws her a curve ball and she can’t make it to her training session.  

​Vika contributes to our community in so many ways.  She always has a smile on her face, is very encouraging to the other people in her training sessions, and is known for cheering everyone one when fatigue starts to set in.  ​

​Vika works hard in every training session and is always learning more about how her body moves.  She takes time to rest when she needs it, and she pushes herself to get a little bit better with every training session.

We are so proud of Vika’s progress since she started training with us in January.  Her attitude and energy is contagious and we just love coaching her.  It’s through people like Vika that make us love what we do as personal trainers and she inspires us to bring our very best to each and every training session.  Keep up the great work Vika!  We are so proud of you and can’t wait to see what successes the next 6 months will bring.
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​Tom and I often discuss the purpose behind the exercises that we incorporate into his training program.  One morning we were talking about the importance of core strength and how this can really save us when we slip on the ice.  Unfortunately, due to the sedentary lifestyle of many Americans we lose the core strength required to control how we fall.  Coincidentally, over that weekend Tom took a slip on the ice.  My words went through his head as he sailed through the air, this time controlling his fall in mid-air and landing without consequence on his hip.  

This is why we do what we do.  It’s these kinds of life encounters that we want to prepare our clients to face with grace, confidence & safety. Through their commitment to their health & fitness Diane and Tom have made it through the pandemic with both their physical and mental health intact.  They are a true example of how facing challenges, no matter how daunting at the time, will pay off in the long run and bring great rewards.

Rachel always shows up to her training sessions with an amazing attitude. She always has a smile on her face. If we all weren’t living through this pandemic together you’d have no idea of the challenges that Rachel was working through in her life.

​Through Rachel’s ongoing dedication she has significantly improved her body awareness, dialing in her hinges, bridges and planks. When a movement doesn’t feel right she reaches out and asks for additional support. It is so common for us to work through things that just don’t feel right. ​

Help me give a big shout out to Kate Kurjanowicz!
We are so excited to be recognizing Kate as our February Client of the Month!
Kate started training with us through our KickStart program in August of 2019, just a couple months after her daughter was born. Kate wanted to lose some of the baby weight, but more importantly feel like she did before her pregnancy... confident in her body, fitting into her old clothes, and sense of wellness overall.

*pictures taken pre-pandemic*

Help me give a big shout out to Marie Pressman!
We are so excited to be recognizing Marie as our January Client of the Month!
Marie has been training with us in our group training program since September 2019. When Marie started with us she had the goal gaining strength, getting organized around nutrition, improving her sleep and feeling better overall. She needed the push and accountability of a trainer to get her to where she wanted to go.

Monique’s kindness and commitment to the WILCOX community is also a quality in Monique that we all appreciate so much.  Monique volunteered to check people in at Burpees for Turkeys last fall, she welcomes each and every new face who are in a training session with her, or warming up / cooling down for the sessions before or after her.  It’s not uncommon to overhear Monique helping someone with the Peak Performance System, giving them tips for doing the movements correctly and with the best effect. ​

When Ellen joined our community in March of 2019 her primary goal was to “live a normal life”. 

Ellen had a stroke 4 years earlier and had a fear of falling.  Ellen and her partner Jeff are avid travelers, and she wanted to be able to enjoy her adventures to the fullest.  Sometimes enjoying an adventure is as simple as being able to walk with ease or to sit on a park bench comfortably so you can soak in the scenery.  These were Ellen’s goals.  They are simple goals, but goals that would have a dramatic impact on the quality of her life.

​The day that Ellen was able to do a full TRX squat is a day that the team still celebrates.  Ellen’s range of motion had been limited when squatting as a result of her stroke, but Ellen was eager and willing to commit to her training program right from the start and despite this so called limitation Ellen arrived to each of her sessions with a positive attitude and with a strong spirit.  She worked on her squat to the extent that she was able to, focusing more on her overall form and technique than how deep of a squat she could do.  One day Ellen’s leg released some tension she had been holding onto and she was suddenly doing a full range of motion squat.  It was absolutely amazing!  It was such a dramatic change she was convinced that she was doing it incorrectly until the trainer confirmed that she was in fact doing a full range of motion squat!  

​Ellen joined our group training program and coupled that with one private session each week to focus upon specific areas that she needed to improve.  We couldn’t be more excited for the progress that Ellen has made over the past 10 months.  During Ellen’s time training with us she has shared several successes and I want to share a few of them with you.

​Ellen’s friends have commented how they notice that she is walking with greater ease, her ability to go up and down stairs has improved.  She has improved her mind-body awareness and connection dramatically, and has increased flexibility.  All of this allows Ellen to move throughout her every day life with greater ease and confidence.  Perhaps the greatest example of this is demonstrated through a story that Ellen shared with us last summer.  Before her training program Ellen required help getting on and off of her boat.  She would essentially crawl off the boat and receive help up to a standing position.  Last summer Ellen arrived one day particularly excited because the day before she successfully stepped from the unstable surface of her boat onto the unstable surface of the dock with only the normal help of someone’s supporting hand.  We were so excited to hear this development and have continued to celebrate successes with Ellen.  

It is hard to believe that it was nearly a year ago that Deb and I began our email correspondence together.  It would still be more than a month before we would be opening, but Deb had seen us on-line and was rearing to go. 

​She downloaded our QuickStart guide and followed every step including responding to the email prompts along the way, which offered a wonderful opportunity for Deb and I to get to know each other weeks before we’d finally connect in person.
 
I immediately loved Deb.  Her kind and genuine demeanor came through in her writing and I could tell that she would make an incredible contribution to the Wilcox Community that I was looking to create.