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"Hi guys! I&amp;amp;#8217;m handing it over to my lovely trainer, Taj Harris, from Crunch Fitness, today. Because she gets to see me fumble through my routine on a regular basis, (believe me, it ain&amp;amp;#8217;t pretty!) she&amp;amp;#8217;s going to give you her unique perspective. I love Taj because she sees more potential in me than I see in myself, and she rarely takes no (as in &amp;amp;#8220;No, I won&amp;amp;#8217;t do another jump squat!&amp;amp;#8221;) for an answer. Hopefully she&amp;amp;#8217;ll inspire you, too! xoxo, Karina What a pleasure it has been to work with Ms. Karina Arrue! She is a dedicated and driven young lady who came to me just a few weeks ago, completely clueless about the world of working out. Just as a reminder, in addition to weight loss, Karina came to me looking for overall strength, endurance and flexibility. She&amp;amp;#8217;s also training--not only physically, but mentally--for her first half-marathon in September. Here is her 8-week progress report: Starting Weight: 173 Current Weight: 163 lbs 6 oz Total Weight Lost: 9 lbs, 10 oz Overall Strength: B When we started, Karina complained about aching EVERYWHERE. But she&amp;amp;#8217;s not aching from head to toe these days. Her strength has improved: She went from using 5lb dumbbells to 10lb dumbbells for certain exercises. After each session, I believe Karina is surprised by her abilities. She sees a new exercise or a new toy/apparatus and her reaction is, &amp;amp;#8220;Um, you want me to do that?&amp;amp;#8221; And of course my response is &amp;amp;#8220;Yes.&amp;amp;#8221; In the last eight weeks, she has done a lot more then she would ever give herself credit for: From, &amp;amp;#8220;I can&amp;#x27;t do one pushup&amp;amp;#8221; to doing 10 in a row. (We still have to work on getting her to go a little deeper with the pushups, but don&amp;#x27;t tell her I told you that part!) Aerobic Fitness: B Her cardiovascular abilities have also improved. She doesn&amp;#x27;t start to huff and puff as quickly as she did in the past. And I convinced her to run a 10k with me in a couple of weeks--she&amp;#x27;s off the hook for having to keep up with me, she just has to RUN IT! Attitude: A I appreciate Karina&amp;amp;#8217;s desire to know what we are doing, why we&amp;amp;#8217;re doing it and what muscles she&amp;amp;#8217;s working. Unlike many of my clients, she wants to feed her brain as well as her muscles. Karina is probably like many of you--she comes to our sessions desiring results but not necessarily looking forward to parts of the workout, or what we lovingly call her &amp;amp;#8220;favorite&amp;amp;#8221; exercises, like push-ups, leg lifts, and traditional sit-ups. When we first met, she was quick to mention how she can spaz out and has trouble remembering things. She was right. We&amp;amp;#8217;ll go through a circuit of five exercises and when we come back around her response is always, &amp;amp;#8220;Um, what&amp;amp;#8217;s next?&amp;amp;#8221; But my favorite comment is, &amp;amp;#8220;This again?&amp;amp;#8221; I&amp;amp;#8217;ve heard that many times. And as always, my response is, &amp;amp;#8220;Yes, AGAIN.&amp;amp;#8221; I say it with a smile, of course. Lately, Karina is better about remembering what comes next. But that doesn&amp;amp;#8217;t stop her from giving me the eye from time to time though! Commitment: A I&amp;amp;#8217;ve given Karina workouts to do outside of our time together--and of course she could have lost them, forgotten them, been busy with other stuff or complained that she didn&amp;amp;#8217;t know how to do the exercises. But not my Karina. She&amp;amp;#8217;s committed to the Body by Glamour plan and sticks to her workout. She consistently logs her food intake and includes me on the weekly updates. Overall: B Karina is the client all trainers would want to have. Yes, she complains, but she also smiles, and most importantly, she follows up outside the gym and pays attention to her food intake. As her trainer, I spend no more then three hours a week with her, but there are 168 hours in a week. It&amp;amp;#8217;s up to her to put in the effort when I&amp;amp;#8217;m not with her. Karina is doing all that she can to be fit and fabulous by the end of our time together! So there you have it! I think I survived that evaluation. Phew! I have to agree with Taj&amp;amp;#8217;s assessment--there is definitely room for improvement in the strength and cardio departments, but I&amp;amp;#8217;m really proud of my commitment thus far. I would give myself a B too. How about you guys? You&amp;amp;#8217;ve been with me since the beginning of this shape up journey as well--what would you grade me? And let&amp;amp;#8217;s be honest, what would you grade yourself? Get Glamour Wherever You Go! Follow us on Twitter Friend us on Facebook Add us to your Google homepage"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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