Carl Fisher – May 2023 Client Spotlight

My first visit to Pro Fitness was in March 2005 when I was 49 years old. I was referred to Pro Fitness by my friend Nancy Boeddiker. My goals were (and yes, I have the original document that I gave Doug when I met him):

1. Strengthen muscles for backpacking.
2. Train for Bellin 10K and reduce previous year’s time by 2 minutes.
3. Reduce pain in right shoulder.
4. Do 20 to 30 minutes of exercise 3 or 4 days per week.

Over the years I have trained with every trainer at Pro Fitness. Each trainer brought similar but different ways of training which challenged and strengthened both my mind and body. My discussions with them helped me understand muscle development and recovery from injury, they held me accountable to eat better and they always encouraged me.

So here I am some 18 years later, at age 67. How did I do with my goals?

1. Backpacking (Success) – I take at least one week long backpacking trip every year. Last year I backpacked 60 miles in mountains in Colorado and this year I’m planning a 7 day, 70 mile backpack trip in the Wind River Mountain range in Wyoming.
2. Train for Bellin 10K (Success) – I ran the Bellin in 2005 and beat the previous year’s time. I went on to run 9 half marathons and 1 marathon. Doug helped me with training and nutrition.
3. Right Shoulder Pain (Success) – While the shoulder pain is not gone it is much reduced AND I’ve not had surgery or shots. Just doing light shoulder exercises under the guidance of Cindy.
4. Exercise 3 or 4 days per week (Success) – I’ve made doing exercise a part of my lifestyle. I vary the exercise between senior classes at Pro Fitness, walking, playing pickleball, swimming, and backpacking. I exercise at least 6 days every week and went over two years exercising every day.

Without the guidance, expertise, and encouragement from the trainers and staff at Pro Fitness I would have surely given up on my goals or would not have achieved nearly as much. As Doug likes to say in he senior classes, “Keep your body moving.” Good advice, I plan to backpack well into my seventies and, hopefully, my eighties.