Top 5 Moments (so far) as a FITT-RX Member & Trainer
• The Inov-8 235 Burpee Challenge – A few years back, we partnered up with fitness shoe company Inov-8 and Fleet Feet Sports for a fun fitness challenge at FITT-RX for the launch of a new shoe. The challenge – 235 burpees as fast as you can to celebrate the F-Lite 235 shoe. Now the plan originally was for everyone to pace it and do one burpee every 15 seconds …. well that lasted all of 1 second. What a humbling and fun experience that was. I know I personally walked in feeling (overly) confident that day with my marathon running endurance. I quickly realized that wouldn’t get me as far as I thought. I completed the challenge, last finisher that day, but what stands out in my mind is the cheering and small pep talks everyone gave each other throughout the event. It felt like a team workout. Great atmosphere.
• Burn the Bird 2016 – Holiday workouts never fail to be a challenge and this Thanksgiving rowing contest was a feast so to speak. Megan Sandilands planned this so that four teams competed to see who could row 26.2 miles (42,164 meters) the fastest. Legs, core, arms, arms, core, legs … over and over. Everyone earned their Thanksgiving feasts that weekend, for sure.
• Personal accomplishment – getting my first handstand. This one falls more on the personal training side of things and albeit my handstands came against the wall, I have to give kudos to my fellow trainers – Amy, Antonette and Danny (when you coming back man?) Skelly – for helping me overcome the fear of landing on my head to where they’re basically a routine movement now. My handstand fail clips on my phone still sit in my favorites folder as some of the funniest flops I’ve ever seen, but at the front of the folder is the “nailed it” video.
• Learning of other members fitness pursuits outside of studio workouts – in the last year I’ve learned more about FITT-RX members and their fitness accomplishments outside of the studio than I realized. Just to pick on a few people, we’ve got ….
– Mindi and Jill who participated in Ragbri (both) and the Fight for Air Ride (Mindi) riding several hundred miles on bike this summer, when some of us dread even a 30 minute spin class.
– Megan, Lindsay, Dean, Mike Draz and several others all took on and completed a Tough Mudder recently.
– Antonette “Sparty” Carfagnini knocked out her spartan race(s) this year as well.
– The Ragnar Relay runners – Jen Taylor, Carrie, Adam Kaplan all did there thing this year too, burning up the Wisconsin trails.
– Jorge Rosales crused some triathlons this summer.
– Several of us ran the No Frills 10k/13.1m race last Feb., the 4 on the 4th race in July, and will run the Turkey Trot this November – kudos in advance.
– And lastly, I want to give a shout out to Jenni Stull, Jen Bosse, Tamara and Jason Macatangay as they’re about to take on the Chicago Marathon this weekend.
I know I’m missing / just not aware of many other accomplishments of fellow members of the studio. So a belated cheers to everyone for not only showing up and getting it done in the studio, but also achieving great things across the fitness and life landscape outside the studio.
• My all-time favorite moments from FITT-RX happen every day — the welcoming client/trainer faces and environment no matter what class it is. It could be 5:30 in the morning, Thursday at 6 pm after a long work week or a Tuesday at 10 am, and the FITT-RX community is always in a good mood, providing a fun environment I’m happy and proud to be part of. Showing up / being consistent is 90 percent of success in fitness and the community at FITT-RX makes that so much easier.
My past three years of involvement at the studio have been life-improving for sure and I’m excited to see what the rest of this year and beyond brings!
–Andrew Phillips, FITT-RX Personal Trainer, Instructor, and Client