Athlete of the Month
CLIENT HIGHLIGHTS | OCTOBER 2023
This month, our featured clients’ stories highlight two of the best benefits of working with a personal trainer – individualized, custom programming, and the genuine relationships between clients and trainers. Charles and Travis are working toward their own goals, but they’ve both found success through hard work and consistency over time. That is a lot easier to do when they know they’ll be progressing through a smart program with a coach who’s also a friend! They’re hitting big milestones in their training already, and we’re excited for their future success!
ASF Central: Charles Barrow
From Charles’s trainer, Kimi Adeigbe:
I chose Charles because he is such a hard worker and has improved so much in the last couple of years since we began training. He is so fun to train, too. He is diligent in the learning process and really cares about form being correct.
Charles is the ideal client in my opinion. You’ll see him at least 30 minutes early to his session, getting his warm up and mobility work in. It’s rewarding to see him take his strength and health so seriously. More often times I feel like I’m training my big brother when training Charles. We know so much about each other’s families and personalities, and I believe we both look forward to the coaching and client time we share each week. I’m most proud of Charles’s deadlifting form. He has come a very long way, and even other trainers have noticed 🙂
Charles told us about his experience training with Kimi:
What do you enjoy most about working with your trainer at ASF?
Aside from the fact that Kimi is a rockstar with amazing energy, is always up for a conversation and a laugh, is an aspiring entrepreneur, and is very patient with me, what I most enjoy is two-fold: she pays attention and she took on the challenge to work with me. When I first started, I didn’t have any set goals. I just wanted to “live longer, feel better, and get strong enough to be the cool-dad at the pool tossing my boys higher in the air than any other dad.” I get it: that’s not much to work with as a trainer, but she took it and worked with it.
She pays attention to what my body is doing (I have several past injuries from playing soccer for decades). She allows me to ask all the questions, (Why this? Why that movement? What’s this supposed to do?You want me to lift how much?!?!). And she’s taken me on a journey where not long ago – but well over a year of working together – I actually instigated the conversion about goals. Because I hadn’t been paying attention to the numbers and milestones, I relied on Kimi to set them for me. And she did. And we crushed them last month ahead of schedule – BOOM!
What have you been most proud of since you started training?
So I mentioned this idea of being able to toss my kids way high up in the air at the pool, right. Back in June we were all at Shipe Pool in Hyde Park and my 6 year old says, “hey dad, these lifeguards here say it’s ok for you to throw me so long as I don’t try to flip. Let’s do it!” Challenge accepted. After the second toss, there were two young boys swimming by and you could hear both murmur, “whoa dude, thatkid is flying, my dad could never do that.” Dang right, kiddo, this dad trains to do that!
But seriously, I’m most proud of showing up. Showing up on good days, on bad days, on weak days, on strong days, on days when I know work is piling up, and on days of the week when I’ve had to rearrange my schedule due to work-travel – heck, even if I miss a day at ASF on work-travel, I find a way to get something done at the fitness center of the hotel. Building that habit is definitely something to be proud of.
What are you looking forward to?
What’s interesting about this question and about how I view my time with the ASF community, is that what I’m most looking forward to may actually have nothing to do with me. If I piggy-back more on Question #1, I’d say that I’m really looking forward to seeing how Kimi continues to move about on her life’s journey and the success of Bloom Fitness Wear; I want Darryl to be in the Olympics (Sic ‘em!); I want to hear about Brendan’s next marathon; I want Jackie and KT to win more tournaments; I want Kristal to take another sabbatical so I can hear all about it; I want Krista to continue to be a leader of women-owned businesses. Those are inspiring things to look forward to. For me, I’m just going to stay the course, you know, and I’m going to have a blast while I do it!
ASF South: Travis W.
From Travis’s trainer, David Polisky:
Travis is a busy attorney who graduated from the University of Texas. I really love Travis’s enthusiasm that he brings into each session that he and I perform together. He’s very open to my instruction, and he gives me instant feedback on everything so that I can adjust our session(s) to accommodate for any intolerances that may arise. Travis has a condition known as thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS) that affects the space between collarbone and his first rib that can cause pain and tingling in his neck, upper chest, shoulders, and arms. Through his consistent work with me we have been able to minimize these occurrences from happening, and he’s actually said that he notices how much better his posture is throughout the course of the day.
He has probably added at least five pounds of muscle to his frame since we began working together earlier this year, which I couldn’t be happier about! We have really been building up his postural strength by working with compound movements like trap bar deadlifts and seated cable rows. We actually started him out with only 30 pounds on top of the fifty pound bar with his deadlifts, and the last time that we performed them we were able to work up to 210 pounds on top of it for six reps!
So, to say I’m pleased with Travis’s development so far is definitely an understatement, and I’m looking forward to helping him continue to manage his pain levels and progressively get stronger and healthier every time that we meet!
Here’s what Travis had to say:
What do you enjoy most about working with your trainer at ASF?
In addition to just being a cool guy, David’s professionalism and attention to detail are incredible. I’ve made more progress with him doing 30-minute workouts than I had with any prior exercise routine or trainer. It’s clear that this is partly because David’s attention to detail results in more efficient and effective workouts. Also, I enjoy that David has a clear big-picture plan for my overall training regimen. He is great on the details, but he also has a clear sense of my overall macro-level goals and how to get me there.
What have you been most proud of since you started training?
I started working out with David because I had chronic pain in my neck, shoulders, and upper back due to postural and other anatomical issues. My chronic pain is probably down at least 75-80% since I started training with David, and my posture is massively better. I can see it in the mirror but I can also feel it in my day-to-day life, which is truly incredible. I was barely able to sit at my computer to work for an hour at a time without experiencing significant pain before. Now, I can work all day without issue, sit at a football game for hours without issue, etc. That’s what I’m proudest of.
What are you looking forward to?
I’m looking forward to continuing to get stronger. I enjoy going over my numbers each session with David and seeing them improve. David is great about pushing me with progressive overload, which has led to very consistent progress. I’m also looking forward to one day being able to beat David in an arm-wrestling match (just kidding–that ain’t happening).
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