Our Spotlight Member this month is Sue! She is always ready to try something new, and always up for a challenge – and she does it all with a big smile! In her interview, Sue shares how getting stronger physically has helped quiet those negative voices we all have, and how she is discovering she is capable of so much more than she could have imagined!
BREAKTHROUGH: Thanks for chatting with me Sue!
SUE: Thanks for asking me!
BREAKTHROUGH: So, it’s been precisely eleven months since you started with us, and I just asked you if you wanted to renew for another year….
SUE: And I said absolutely! Sign me up!
BREAKTHROUGH: Yay! So, eleven months in, you’ve had so many accomplishments. But let’s start with how you were feeling before you joined. What was it that made you feel like you needed to get started?
SUE: So, I hadn’t worked out for a good three years consistently. And I had noticed a huge change in my body. In the way that I moved, my balance, my flexibility. Everything! I felt like I was getting old, and I just didn’t like the way that I felt. I just couldn’t really handle what had happened to my body since menopause, even though I wasn’t keeping up with my exercises. You know, I was kind of letting everything happen… I used to be really, really, really rigid with the way that I ate and that wasn’t working for me as I got older. So, I was trying to hold onto those old things in my life and none of it was working. And then Tanya told me about Breakthrough, and she told me that you guys worked very individually with people, and to give you guys a try. So, I did!
BREAKTHROUGH: I am so glad that she did! Was there anything in particular that convinced you that now was the time?
SUE: I think just talking to her and trusting her. Also, I had a few different surgeries. I had two shoulder surgeries. I had my kidney out a few months before…
BREAKTHROUGH: Right, I remember…
SUE: … But that wasn’t keeping me from being able to exercise. So, there was nothing about that kidney surgery that was like you can’t do this. You know, I could sky dive if I wanted to!
BREAKTHROUGH: Ha, ha!
SUE: I didn’t have an excuse for not working out. My shoulders were healed, and everything was good.
BREAKTHROUGH: So, the timing was just right.
SUE: The timing was right!Exactly! Do it. Do it now or suffer the consequences. My mom had also just passed away. And she and my dad, up until the time that they died, had always been active so it was like, you know, I had to do it.
BREAKTHROUGH: Use it or lose it.
SUE: Exactly.
BREAKTHROUGH: So now that you have been doing this for eleven months, how do you feel?
SUE: I feel, first of all, so much stronger. So much stronger mentally and physically. I deal with a lot of – you know those critical voices you get in your head? And I know a lot of other people do too.
BREAKTHROUGH: Sure.
SUE: I want to say especially women, but I don’t think it really is just women.
BREAKTHROUGH: No.
SUE: And I have to say that coming here – I remember you asking me what my goals were when you did that consultation with me – and really, if you had asked 20 years ago what my goals were, I would have said that I want to be really thin and I want to be like well, really thin, and also I want to be really, really thin.
BREAKTHROUGH: Ha, ha! Yes!
SUE: So when you asked me what my goals are, I said I want to be strong and I want to have really good balance …
BREAKTHROUGH: Yeah.
SUE: And if I get toned in the meantime, better yet! But today, I feel like if that stuff comes up in my head, I am like shut up, just shut up!
BREAKTHROUGH: Those critical voices…
SUE: That critical stuff that is not helpful. You know, I was sick for a few weeks. I had that respiratory thing, and I came back and thought – oh my God I am so weak. But after being back week and a half I was just right back at it. You know what I mean. I have gotten so much stronger!
BREAKTHROUGH: So much stronger! And I find that when you are physically stronger, and you develop the physical confidence of the things that you can do, it helps that mental strength as well.
SUE: Exactly!
BREAKTHROUGH: To say, okay, negative talk, I don’t need to have you in my head.
SUE: Right, right!
BREAKTHROUGH: The confidence just builds from that. That is one of the reasons why I got so into being a coach. Seeing not just that people are making physical transformations, but that there is all this mental health boost from training.
SUE: Yes!
BREAKTHROUGH: That is so powerful, and I am glad you have experienced some of that. Is there anything in your training that has surprised you? Something you have been able to accomplish that you weren’t necessarily thinking you could do?
SUE: Well, (ha, ha) I am doing – with the help of the band but really the band is just at the bottom, I just did three chin-ups!
BREAKTHROUGH: I know! Exactly! I was going to say if she doesn’t say the chin-ups, I am going to say it for her!
SUE: The chin-ups! I mean, even as a kid I couldn’t do chin-ups! And I am going to be 61 in a month! And I am like WHOA! I am doing the bench presses, now. I had never done those before. But I came from the era where you just do aerobics. Just do aerobics until you die on the floor. Kick boxing, aerobics, kick boxing, aerobics. Someone wants me to do weights?? Sorry!
BREAKTHROUGH: I know, they never taught women that we could lift things, for sure.
SUE: I was a little bit apprehensive. At first, I thought where are the machines that I can run on? And I have to say that I don’t miss it at all!
BREAKTHROUGH: Yay!
SUE: I go for walks. I have a treadmill if I want to use it. I go for walks a couple of times a week with a friend. It’s great!
BREAKTHROUGH: And that is enough! You get strength training in and you go for walks. And that is a lot. Obviously, you join us for boxing and yoga, for some variety.
SUE: Exactly! I love Saturdays! I love boxing. I love boxing!
BREAKTHROUGH: You are so great in that class. So much fun!
SUE: I love it!
BREAKTHROUGH: So, the last thing I want to ask is what is your why? What is the thing that motivates you to keep doing this and prioritize yourself?
SUE: Why? Because, you know, I have two adult kids with special needs and it was, it is still – that I want to be here for as long as I can for them. But it is also me! You know, I want to be here. My husband – he just joined!
BREAKTHROUGH: Yes!
SUE: And he likes to be healthy too. So, I want to be healthy for as long as I am here. I don’t know how long I will be here.
BREAKTHROUGH: But while you are here, you want to be healthy for it!
SUE: Yeah, I want to be healthy. I look at people who don’t have it as good as us and I think I am blessed. I am blessed!
BREAKTHROUGH: Absolutely! Well, this is wonderful. I really appreciate it. Thank you so much for sharing, Sue!
SUE: I just want you to know that I am so grateful. I really am. Because sitting here right now, I am not worried about the scale. I am not worried about what I can’t eat today. And it is so sad, you know that stuff you deal with when you are younger, it follows you through life. You guys have helped me so much and I really, really thank you!
BREAKTHROUGH: That is such great news because I really believe that, especially women, we waste too much time trying to shrink ourselves down instead of just…
SUE: Saying here I am!
BREAKTHROUGH: Exercise is not about shrinking yourself, or punishing yourself. It’s about celebrating what your body can do, and exploring what you can accomplish! Saying, I didn’t realize I was capable of that! Even if someone does have a goal to change their body composition.
SUE: Exactly!
BREAKTHROUGH: And I think if we carry a little extra as we get older, it is better than being frail, as far as I am concerned.
SUE: Right! I have to praise my body today for what it can do!
BREAKTHROUGH: I love that! Thanks for sharing all of this.
SUE: Thank you for asking.