Posted on June 24, 2015 by Jenny Cromack

 

You may recognise Sam as one of our previous Motive8 Gym Members of the Month, but when you read Sam’s story we are sure you will agree he deserves a place on our ‘Wall of Fame’, aka motive8 Personal Training Success Stories.

Sam’s story shows that hard work and determination really can get you the results you want.

Here is how Sam lost an amazing seven and a half stone! That is the equivalent of a third of his body weight or the weight of a small female or teenager!

Sam – June 2011 

My story starts depressing but it get’s better so stick with it! I developed high blood pressure and heart palpitations after years of being significantly overweight (since childhood). When I moved to Leeds in 2011 I paid regular direct debit payments to a gym and attended a grand total of once! I weighed around 148kg (23.3 stone) and around the start of 2013 I decided enough was enough and invested in a Concept2 rower (thinking that the issue was the travel to the gym), but it turned out the issue wasn’t actually getting to the gym….it was simply the motivation to exercise!

Sam – March 2013 

My motivation kicked in towards the end of 2013, among other reasons I wasn’t keen on being on blood pressure medication so I  changed my diet and exercised more (who’d have thought that was the key to success?! Simple eh?!). I rowed kilometer after kilometer on the rowing machine sitting in front of the TV and built up to being able to row a half marathon.

In August 2014 I took up running, quit smoking and ran the Abbey Dash (a local 10k run). I lost about 48kg and 12 inches from waist in just over a year and succeeded in recovering from poor cardiovascular health.

I developed a gung-ho attitude to exercise and attempted a half marathon down the Leeds-Liverpool canal in January 2015 but I couldn’t walk properly for 3 weeks after so decided to join the motive8 gym in February to attempt to do things in a more sensible way and do something other than just cardio.

Sam – August 2014 

Sam – February 2015
When I first had my induction at the gym I chatted to Lucy and there was an offer on personal training so I decided to book some sessions so I knew how to do stuff in the gym with proper form. Unsurprisingly it turns out I work significantly harder during my personal training sessions, it provides someone to be accountable to and I get to do something different each time. Being less likely to injure myself is just the icing on the cake.

Lucy has been a great motivation; I do many things I wouldn’t try by myself: “I can’t jump that high…”, “that seems a bit heavy…”, “maybe I’ll only do 4 sets instead of 5”. I actually manage to keep attending the gym , compared to the days when I paid each month but never went and have someone monitoring my progress (I find it hard to spot this myself) which is very useful. I don’t get stuck doing the same thing every time I come as I’m regularly being shown new exercises. Although I disagree that it’s a good thing if I’m nearly sick towards the end of a session, maybe that is payback for the couple of sessions I turned up to with a hangover?!

It’s now getting harder to reduce running times and ‘trim down’ so the personal training sessions are really helping me continue to stay focused and improve. I attribute a lot of my achievements in the last 4 months to having joined the gym and taken personal training, while having fun doing it! It’s nice to get tailored advice rather than generic information from the web. So thank you Lucy 🙂 What’s interesting too is that I don’t have a personal training session every week, which some people think you need to do, I see Lucy once or twice a month which keeps me nicely motivated!

Since starting my personal training sessions I’ve dropped 5% body fat, improved my 5k run time from 26 minutes to 22 minutes and ran a half marathon! Introducing weights instead of just churning our cardio has also dramatically improved my body shape and composition.

Sam – May 2015

Sam’s Current Goal

a) Lose more body fat

b) Lift heavier weights

c) Run 5km < 20 minutes and 10km < 45 minutes

d) Complete a sprint triathlon

Sam’s advice for anyone wanting to lose weight….

• Don’t overdo it, don’t give up, don’t stop having fun and don’t tell people what you’re doing.
• Have small sub goals to get the boost from achieving something.
• Find someone to be accountable to (even if they don’t know).
• Start saving for a new wardrobe.
• Take pictures.
• Grow a beard at the start, add that extra element of surprise if you decide to shave it off (or at the start depending on your gender)!!