Finished up a bit ago with a client who has…survived Covid. I say survive rather than thrive because the mental game behind his training has been STOLEN from him. Not in the sense that he caught covid and nearly died. But the whole ‘Normal’ thing. Things have changed a bit from the beginning of the year, if you haven’t noticed.
Let’s backup a minute.
In the beginning, there was this guy who LOVED racquetball.
He lived and died for the game.
And he was also a computer programmer, video game aficionado and grower of hydroponics (lettuce and tomatoes).
He started off as this guy with poor posture and a meticulous mind. His speed was ok, his power/strength were alright and his conditioning had room to improve. He had 20 pounds to lose. When we first met, his primary objective was to crack the top 100 in the USA racquetball rankings.
When he told me his goal, I was all in. From that moment, I knew this dude was going to be fun to train. His motivation and drive came from a place of bettering himself. He’s the first person to tell you how insanely difficult can be to exercise for purpose. And maybe that’s why he keeps hiring me. But I’d like to think it’s the progress he’s made (currently #65 in the rankings!).
With that said, it’s been almost two years since Anthony started training and I can honestly say I’m even more excited today to get back to training with him than I was two years ago when we first began.
He is stronger, leaner, faster and more explosive. He has seen the benefit of increasing cardio capacity (and even will run because there IS carryover to sport!). He has become more consistent and ready to make changes in his training on a regular basis. And he always has a nice meme or comic to share 🙂
With that said, we reevaluated today and saw some serious changes in performance that he’s too humble to scream from the rooftops.
Here is a small list of improvements he has made in the last 3 months (DURING THE PANDEMIC):
- Increased broad jump by 5 inches
- Increased single leg broad jump on each side by 4 and 4.5 inches
- Increased grip strength by 7 pounds
- Increased max number of chinups from 4 to 10+
- Increased cardiovascular capacity
- Increased running capacity
- Decreased resting heart rate
- Decreased bodyfat by 2% in the last 3-4 weeks
- Down 4 pounds in the last 3-4 weeks
That’s all objective. Beyond these numbers, all I see is more dedication to his craft. And room for more growth. We’ve got our ultimate goal of climbing up the rankings some more in racquetball, but right now I’ve got nothing but respect for someone who has stayed as dedicated throughout this lull we are all experiencing together!
I realized I learned more about racquetball and training people for racquetball than I ever could have without his insistence on sticking with me throughout his journey. I’m excited to dive deeper into the game and fine tune his game, together.
Thanks Anthony!
Stella Fitness 