Meet Chris Hooke

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Chris is a terrific eleven year old man with a great sense of humor. He’s been training at Empower Personal Training since March of 2010 when he came in with the goals of building up his strength and endurance.

We see Chris here once a week for a half an hour where we focus primarily on building up his strength with body weight exercises like squats, push-ups, sit-ups, and pull-ups. He always works hard and I make a point to reward this by ending with a game or two.

Recently Chris did a triathlon and took 80th place out of 600 boys between the ages of 9 and 11 years old. We helped him plan out a schedule for training a few months in advance and he worked hard outside of the gym to build up his endurance. It has been a privilege to work with such a motivated young man and he has a bright future ahead of him.

Check out our facebook page (link) to watch a video of some footage from our training session (you’ll have to scroll down a bit). The last minute or so is an interview. While you’re there click the “like” button!

Paul brings a background of athletics and education to the Empower team. He believes that wellness should be viewed as a blended lifestyle that balances nutrition, a healthy mind, and fitness which incorporates fun recreational activities. For more information about Empower Personal Training please call (919) 401-8024.

Spotlight (Dennis Wallace)

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Dennis is a warrior.

I’ve been training him for close to a year and a half now. Not once has he ever questioned what we do, he does it. He works hard. He puts himself, and all of himself, in every workout that we do. Some succeed, some don’t. Sometimes he’s got more than enough, sometimes he doesn’t. But through it all, Dennis never stops moving forward.

In June of 08 Dennis was doing modified deadlifts. Today he can pull 240# for a 1RM. In Aug 08 Dennis was doing modified pushups on the squat rack (at #3 for those who know what that means.) Today Dennis can bust out sets of 20 or 25 full pushups, depending on the call of the workout. In March of 09 Dennis rowed 1k in 4:39 seconds. On 7/20/09 Dennis rowed 1k in 4:10. 0:29 second improvement, but the real testament to how good that time is comes from the workout after the warmup row.

Dennis’s body composition has dropped approximately 5% in this year. He’s leaner, he’s more toned and folks who knew him a year ago see it.

Dennis is someone I love to train. He’s all heart. He knows that the only way to achieve is through hard work. There are no shortcuts. There are no workarounds. Bust your butt, rest and then do it again.

Dennis Wallace is a warrior.

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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