Looking Forward

• 5 Year Anniversary,
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Thank you to everyone that stopped by to celebrate our 5th anniversary in style during our Red Carpet Event last Monday and Tuesday. We had a great time honoring you, our clients and friends, and we are looking forward to many more years of empowering the Durham community to lead stronger, healthier, happier lives. If you havenít been by the studio in the last week or so make sure you stop by and receive your FREE client appreciation gift. We also captured some great testimonials from many of our clients so be sure to check our Facebook page and our YouTube Channel often to see what our current clients are saying about Empower Personal Training.

Now that we have spent some time reflecting on the past 5 years I wanted to take just a few minutes to look to the future. About a year ago Jessica and I sat down with our fabulous business coach Ben Quinn of ActionCOACH and laid out a strategic plan for the growth and expansion of Empower Personal Training. Prior to the meeting with our coach we were just humming along with no clear idea of where we wanted to take Empower Personal Training. We both knew that we wanted it to grow, but we had not fully conceptualized what that meant and how we would achieve this arbitrary idea of ìgrowth.î Plus as the organization was getting bigger we realized that many of the systems and processes that we relied on in the first few years were not suitable for a growing client base and staff.

One core value of Empower Personal Training is that we strive to always provide excellent customer service, and we did not want this value to be compromised as we continued to grow. So in turn we decided to spend the last year developing systems that can support our ideas of growth. One major change weíve adopted in the past year is the migration to a new and more robust software system. You may have noticed other changes as well such as Michael Whitehurst stepping into a General Manager position and being the go-to person for day to day operations. Also we have two excellent shift supervisors ñ Jamie Ives for the morning shift and Paul Piracci for the evening shift. Michael, Jamie and Paul form an excellent management team and have really led the staff and the organization as a whole to excellence. By forming this management team Jessica and I have been able to spend some time working on the business and determining our next steps.

At this point we are still in the research phase, but it is our goal to continue to grow Empower Personal Training. Our first goal is to determine the ideal size of our current location (i.e. do we need to expand to accommodate the growing need), and then beyond that we would like to open additional locations throughout the Triangle in the next few years. If you know Jessica and me personally then you know that we are very cautious when it comes to making such a big decision so we are working closely with our business coach to make sure we are primed and ready for success when the time is right.

The next five years should prove to be very interesting as we work towards our overall business goals. As many of you know life has changed a little for the both of us and Jessica and her husband Taylor recently welcomed a beautiful baby girl named Emery to her family. Also just to keep life interesting my husband Kelly and I are expecting a baby girl in February 2011. Needless to say being ìmomsî will add a new dynamic to the growth and direction of Empower Personal Training, but we are both excited and committed to making it a success.

Thank you again for your loyalty and support these past 5 years. We look forward to what the future holds and we welcome you all along for the ride.

Meet Mary Sampson

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Folks, all I can say is that she does it all. On any given day you may see Mary pushing around 300 pounds on the sled, pulling in 75 kilos of sandbags, or setting a new record in the Dynamax Ball Slam relay. All in a days work right? I’d say so! In fact, Mary’s hard work and will to succeed has made her our defending Decathlon Challenge Champion (back to back titles by the way). Look for her to start that title defense this October.

Mary Sampson has been training here at Empower for several years along with her husband John and their two children Ben and John Jr. She exercises for 1 hour, 3 times per week with her personal trainer (Michael on Mondays and Wednesdays and Aaron on Fridays). In addition to her resistance training routine, Mary enjoys playing tennis, and running the Duke trail. Just ask her to tell you about a round of “cardio tennis.” It’s pretty intense.

I would tell you more about Mary’s results over the years and her training goals, but I’ll let her do it for you. Check out this link of an interview with Mary with her trainer Aaron, along with a clip of her workout today.

Be forewarned, do not try this at home…

Mary\’s Killer Workout

Jamie Ives MA, CSCS, Master Trainer

Jamie has several years of experience in the fitness industry, working with clients of various ages, ability levels, and health conditions. He enjoys using his knowledge as well as his experience in exercise prescription and program design to help each of his clients reach their individual wellness goals and improve their quality of life. For more information about Empower Personal Training, please call (919) 401-8024.

The Van and a Plan

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A number of you have seen our new Empower Personal Training On the Move van. Want to know what it is for? Well, the secret is out.

Empower can now come to you, whenever and wherever (okay, not on the moon) you need us. The same fantastic workout you get in our facility is now set to storm Durham with an hour long workout on your schedule.

We’re targeting small groups so if you’ve got some friends who for a long time have been admiring what you’ve been doing now is the time to lay down the gautlet. The more folks you’ve got the better the deal. Bring all those office fans that gaze from behind their desks as you head out to burn some calories. It’s fun, it’s fast and it’s definitely furious.

25 Burpees? Got it. 2 minutes of jumping rope? Yup. Medicine Ball slam relays? Uh-huh. Sledge Hammer axe chops? Definitely.

So if you’re ready and your co-workers are ready, give us a call at (919) 401-8024, get set up and get ready to work. Empower On-the-Move. Fitness and Fun all in one tiny little van.

Mike Babbitt, M.F.A, M.A., CSCS, ACSM-HFI
USA Triathlon Level 1 Coach, Master Trainer
Mike is a Master Level trainer at Empower Personal Training. He has a unique approach to fitness that combines his scientific foundation of research and applied exercise physiology with his artistic experience as a professional stage actor. For more information about Empower Personal Training please call (919) 401-8024

What Makes You Tick

• Psychology of Exercise and Nutrition
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Do you hear the voices inside your head saying, “This is too hard” or “I can’t do this?” Do you look around and see someone else doing something and think “I’ll never be that good?”

Mental games we play with ourselves in our heads when we exercise are often more difficult to overcome then the physical aspect of the workout. Working on your ‘head’ game can take you leaps and bounds beyond what you’ve already accomplished and take you to a new level of fitness and athleticism.

Challenge: The next workout with your trainer, pay attention to the comments or thoughts you have during the workout. Do this for about five minutes and I think you’ll be surprised how many there are. After you figure that out, start again for another five minutes and each time you think something negative (“this hurts too much” is negative, “this hurts” is not) catch yourself and tell yourself you can or you will, whatever works. Explore it, find what works.

Then, keep practicing. Just like we need to work our bodies our minds need the same sort of attention. It takes practice. It won’t happen over night but it will happen. Dropping pounds takes time, dropping negative thoughts also takes time.

In the long run (pun intended) you will find that, while it is still a challenge, and always should be, your workouts will go places you never thought they could.

Mike Babbitt, M.F.A, M.A., CSCS, ACSM-HFI
USA Triathlon Level 1 Coach, Master Trainer
Mike is a Master Level trainer at Empower Personal Training. He has a unique approach to fitness that combines his scientific foundation of research and applied exercise physiology with his artistic experience as a professional stage actor. For more information about Empower Personal Training please call (919) 401-8024

It's Never Too Late

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A typical excuse I hear from people considering starting to work with a trainer is “I’m going to wait until I get into better shape before I start working with a trainer” or “I’m just too old to start a formal exercise regimen.” I never really gave any real attention to these comments, rather I just passed them off as another excuse not to try. I have a client that I’ve been working with since March 4th who personifies why I’m right to dismiss such statements. Her name is Jill Bashore.

Jill is 63 years old and by far one of my favorite clients. Never having followed any formal exercise regimen in her life, Jill came to me with only several years of gardening experience and chronic hip and IT band pain/tightness. In the course of six months Jill has lost 20 lbs., 10.8% bodyfat, lowered her total body fat weight by 40%, increased her pushups from 30 to 55 reps (on the knees). increased her curl-up test from 43 to 74 reps and alleviated her hip/IT band pain while increasing her overall flexibility! This all done the while keeping a great attitude and always showing upready to put in the work. It’s clients like this that make me look forward to going to work each day. Thanks Jill. Keep up the good work!

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Matthew Alegre, CSCS Master Trainer
With over 10 years of experience in the health and fitness industry, Matthew has trained clients from a variety of fitness backgrounds. His expertise extends from those with special needs and disabilities to Olympic level athletes. For more information about Empower Personal Training please call (919) 401-8024.