Healthy Living • YMCA Health and Fitness
How this couple took their training to the next level
18 January 2019 - by Nicole Meredith
Fiona and Rob have the gym to thank for their nearly 30-year-long relationship. Lunch-break workouts brought the pair together, and while their mutual love of movement has been a constant for this couple, their choice of gym has changed over the years.
“We’ve belonged to a ton of different gyms,” Fiona tells me, “but there’s something about the vibe of the Y. It’s a real community.”
“The Y makes their values really clear,” Rob agrees, and I can already tell that this is a finish-each-other’s-sentences kind of couple. “It’s about community, about helping each other. Like other gyms say they don’t judge people, but it happens there all the time.”
Fiona nods: “At other gyms, you have to dress a certain way, and you have to look a certain way. But at the Y, no one’s judging you. When I’m walking on the track, I love looking down into the gym and seeing all the little kids on their tricycles, and the teenagers playing basketball.”
As much as they love everything their Y membership provides, Rob and Fiona came to a point when they both needed a little something extra. They shared how they came to work with a personal trainer, together — despite having totally different fitness goals.
Rob explains his side of it: “I got into a habit of running on the treadmill and lifting weights — which is not very exciting! I’d see other people doing all kinds of crazy exercises, and that made me want to kick it up a notch; I wanted to feel like I was accomplishing something.”
“I’m the opposite,” Fiona tells me. “My body has to feel good when I’m working out. You hit a point when it’s like, you’re not 20 anymore, and you see your health really suffer when you don’t exercise. That’s where I was a few years ago, and I also had this wrist injury; I needed to start moving again, but I wanted support so I wouldn’t hurt myself.”
Together, the pair decided to hire Kyle, a personal trainer at the Cooper Koo Family YMCA. “Now we do what we call ‘Kyle-style’ workouts,” Fiona says. “He makes them for us to do together, and then he puts us through the paces — together.” “Like, I’ll do my push-ups on the floor while Fiona does them on the wall,” Rob explains. “I find that really amazing about him,” Fiona goes on. “He can see two different people with different goals, and then still train us together. I have no idea how he manages to do that!”
Whatever magic Kyle’s working, it’s certainly helping the couple achieve those very different goals. For his part, Rob says: “When I work out with Kyle and Fiona, I walk out feeling like I’ve used my entire body. It’s really inspired me to push my boundaries — I’ve even run a few marathons.” Fiona adds: “I’m stronger than ever, and my doctor just told me that this is making a significant difference in my health.”
When I ask what keeps them motivated and connected to personal training, they say it’s the continued progress Kyle helps them make. “His training style is consistent,” Rob says, “so each session feels comfortingly familiar, but he’s subtly giving you these little progressions.” Fiona nods, agreeing: “He shifts the bar without you even noticing it. And on the days when you don’t feel like working out, we know we’ve got Kyle — and he’s going to hold us to it.”
They’re so enthusiastic about personal training, it’s almost like they’re trying to convince me to do it. “At first,” Rob says, “I was setting these goals like, ‘I want to do 50 push-ups.’ But the real gains you make are much more important. Things like your overall health and mental clarity. At the outset, you wouldn’t even know what training can possibly do for you — until you try it for yourself.”
Follow in Fiona and Rob’s footsteps: look and feel your best with the help of a YMCA personal trainer.
“We’ve belonged to a ton of different gyms,” Fiona tells me, “but there’s something about the vibe of the Y. It’s a real community.”
“The Y makes their values really clear,” Rob agrees, and I can already tell that this is a finish-each-other’s-sentences kind of couple. “It’s about community, about helping each other. Like other gyms say they don’t judge people, but it happens there all the time.”
Fiona nods: “At other gyms, you have to dress a certain way, and you have to look a certain way. But at the Y, no one’s judging you. When I’m walking on the track, I love looking down into the gym and seeing all the little kids on their tricycles, and the teenagers playing basketball.”
As much as they love everything their Y membership provides, Rob and Fiona came to a point when they both needed a little something extra. They shared how they came to work with a personal trainer, together — despite having totally different fitness goals.
Rob explains his side of it: “I got into a habit of running on the treadmill and lifting weights — which is not very exciting! I’d see other people doing all kinds of crazy exercises, and that made me want to kick it up a notch; I wanted to feel like I was accomplishing something.”
“I’m the opposite,” Fiona tells me. “My body has to feel good when I’m working out. You hit a point when it’s like, you’re not 20 anymore, and you see your health really suffer when you don’t exercise. That’s where I was a few years ago, and I also had this wrist injury; I needed to start moving again, but I wanted support so I wouldn’t hurt myself.”
Together, the pair decided to hire Kyle, a personal trainer at the Cooper Koo Family YMCA. “Now we do what we call ‘Kyle-style’ workouts,” Fiona says. “He makes them for us to do together, and then he puts us through the paces — together.” “Like, I’ll do my push-ups on the floor while Fiona does them on the wall,” Rob explains. “I find that really amazing about him,” Fiona goes on. “He can see two different people with different goals, and then still train us together. I have no idea how he manages to do that!”
Whatever magic Kyle’s working, it’s certainly helping the couple achieve those very different goals. For his part, Rob says: “When I work out with Kyle and Fiona, I walk out feeling like I’ve used my entire body. It’s really inspired me to push my boundaries — I’ve even run a few marathons.” Fiona adds: “I’m stronger than ever, and my doctor just told me that this is making a significant difference in my health.”
When I ask what keeps them motivated and connected to personal training, they say it’s the continued progress Kyle helps them make. “His training style is consistent,” Rob says, “so each session feels comfortingly familiar, but he’s subtly giving you these little progressions.” Fiona nods, agreeing: “He shifts the bar without you even noticing it. And on the days when you don’t feel like working out, we know we’ve got Kyle — and he’s going to hold us to it.”
They’re so enthusiastic about personal training, it’s almost like they’re trying to convince me to do it. “At first,” Rob says, “I was setting these goals like, ‘I want to do 50 push-ups.’ But the real gains you make are much more important. Things like your overall health and mental clarity. At the outset, you wouldn’t even know what training can possibly do for you — until you try it for yourself.”
Follow in Fiona and Rob’s footsteps: look and feel your best with the help of a YMCA personal trainer.
