Latest / SOTA Personal Training Podcast / What Happens When You Never Quit? Ann's 8-Year Success Story

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What Happens When You Never Quit? Ann's 8-Year Success Story · SOTA Personal Training Podcast

• 0:00
  Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the SODA Personal Training
• 0:02
  Podcast. It's Phil here today, and I have
• 0:04
  a very special guest I have with me, Anne Merrill, who's been a
• 0:08
  member. I looked and you came in, I
• 0:10
  think July of 2017. Yes.
• 0:14
  It was an outdoor boot camp. Yes, yes.
• 0:19
  So today we're doing a member Spotlight podcast.
• 0:23
  So Anne's been with us a long a long time.
• 0:26
  I mean, I might do the math. That's 8 some year.
• 0:30
  I mean, you started when we opened up because you worked
• 0:32
  down a couple buildings down or or. 2 Two days over.
• 0:36
  That's right, that's right. And then they've come and gone,
• 0:38
  but you have stayed. Yes.
• 0:42
  And one thing I want to do today is kind of sing your praises,
• 0:45
  your accomplishments, because it's hard enough to stay
• 0:47
  consistent for three weeks or more, let alone eight years.
• 0:51
  So one, I want to commend you for that.
• 0:54
  And then kind of talk through your story, your journey and
• 0:56
  what's helped you stay successful.
• 0:59
  I have some kind of quick Ice Breakers, first kind of rapid
• 1:03
  fire. We're ready.
• 1:04
  All right, coffee or tea? Coffee.
• 1:08
  That was a quick answer. Dogs or cats?
• 1:10
  Cats. Do you have pets?
• 1:11
  Yes, we have one very senior citizen cat.
• 1:14
  Love it. Cardio or weights?
• 1:16
  Weights. The right answer?
• 1:18
  Beach vacation or mountain getaway?
• 1:20
  Mountain getaway there. You go.
• 1:22
  Have you been to Montana? I have not.
• 1:25
  It's on the list, yeah. I've heard, I've heard that's
• 1:28
  beautiful morning, midday or evening workout.
• 1:31
  It's turning into kind of midday in this point in my life, but
• 1:34
  there's been morning in there too.
• 1:36
  Yeah, you've been here at 6:00 AM.
• 1:37
  Definitely do you. Have a favorite restaurant in
• 1:39
  the Twin Cities? We kind of like it informal.
• 1:42
  I would say D'amico and sons in Edina.
• 1:45
  You could just get something good every time you go.
• 1:47
  Yeah. Oh, that's a good answer.
• 1:49
  What was the first concert you ever went to?
• 1:51
  First concert, let me think, think, think.
• 1:53
  I believe it's Bruce Springsteen.
• 1:56
  That's a good. That's a good answer, if you
• 1:58
  like. That's about as good as it gets.
• 2:00
  Yeah. Oh, I love it.
• 2:02
  Would you rather be able to teleport anywhere or read minds?
• 2:07
  I think maybe teleport anywhere, reading minds, maybe.
• 2:12
  I just don't want to know all those things, yeah.
• 2:14
  That's fair. Yeah.
• 2:15
  What? We did this at our coach
• 2:16
  getaway, and I asked that question.
• 2:18
  Katie's like, well, women can read minds anyway.
• 2:21
  So she said teleport. Oh, but this is the big one.
• 2:26
  Would you rather know the future or change the past?
• 2:30
  I would probably change the past, yeah.
• 2:34
  That's fair. OK, we won't go into further
• 2:37
  detail on that one, but I do want to ask more questions to
• 2:40
  help everyone kind of get to know you.
• 2:42
  Many people have been going here.
• 2:43
  They've they've crossed paths with you at least a handful of
• 2:45
  times. But what's something people
• 2:48
  might be surprised to learn about you or know about you?
• 2:52
  Maybe. Me even.
• 2:54
  Let's see, I do like to garden a lot and there are people who
• 2:58
  know, you know, with questions here and it always starts out so
• 3:02
  much hopeful in the spring and you're just really into it.
• 3:05
  And then, you know, you kind of go through there's wins and
• 3:07
  losses. It's kind of like life, I bet.
• 3:10
  And then it's winter and it's done.
• 3:13
  Yeah, seriously, one thing about Minnesota is we have these
• 3:16
  really, really apparent seasonal changes, which I think is good
• 3:20
  for our brain, but there's probably a small window for a
• 3:23
  lot of that stuff, I imagine. There is.
• 3:24
  It's like any window. It's small.
• 3:26
  You make the most of it. Yeah, and you'll love it.
• 3:28
  And that's why we live here. I think you can expand that into
• 3:32
  a lot of areas of life, just like you said.
• 3:33
  And what is day-to-day life outside the gym?
• 3:36
  You know? Used to work again down, now
• 3:39
  different company. As of last fall, so I call
• 3:42
  myself a recently retired, the company I work for, the one
• 3:45
  you're thinking of, we, you know, a little bit of leadership
• 3:47
  change and then it's sold. And at that point, it seemed
• 3:51
  like a good time to move on to the next phase of my life.
• 3:54
  So it's, you know, you got to make sure to keep your mind
• 3:58
  active, make sure to plan and being here at Soda just gives me
• 4:04
  a good kind of anchor to the week that that's been a
• 4:08
  consistency through these years. So carrying that through has
• 4:12
  been a real benefit. What are the ways if you kind of
• 4:14
  found yourself working to stay, stay sharp?
• 4:17
  You know, I think a lot of people go through the the week
• 4:20
  to week and it's not necessarily mundane, but we go through the
• 4:23
  motions and then all of a sudden, you know, for some
• 4:26
  people to have this extra time in their hands, so to speak.
• 4:29
  And we know how important is to keep our cognition up when that
• 4:33
  changes. But what are some other things
• 4:36
  that you do? You know, I've always loved to
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  read, so I'm probably reading more and just taking that time
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  volunteering with some different organizations and trying to
• 4:46
  maybe get into more cooking that I have more time to plan.
• 4:50
  And I'm not always super successful, but I have I have my
• 4:56
  goals. Absolutely.
• 4:57
  Yeah, absolutely. We've had a lot of clients that
• 5:01
  we've had in here. They've gone through retirement
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  and then they're like, oh, no, like I don't know what to do
• 5:05
  with my time. And it's almost just as
• 5:07
  stressful as working because they're like, I have no
• 5:10
  direction to where to tell me where I'm supposed to be or what
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  to do. And it can be kind of stressful.
• 5:14
  Yes, I can definitely see that. So it is having a purpose and I
• 5:19
  think a big thing for me is staying healthy.
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  So how can I do that? How can I move to, you know,
• 5:25
  you're kind of moving into different age groups and how can
• 5:28
  I be healthy there? So I just, I, I leave that as a
• 5:32
  real anchor. And when I have that, you know,
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  I bike, I walk, my husband and I try to do that as much as we
• 5:38
  can. So I found that is is a real
• 5:42
  plus going forward. Yeah, Well, absolutely.
• 5:46
  So I think a lot of people again, when they have that new
• 5:49
  time on their hands, like I want to go do all these things I've
• 5:52
  maybe been waiting to do. But over time this if we haven't
• 5:57
  prioritized our fitness, it's like, oh, can I go on that hike?
• 6:00
  Like do I want to, you know, do I want to do this big trip
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  because it's really physical and can I keep up?
• 6:05
  That gets to be a big a big worry.
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  Is that something that you've ever had in your thought
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  process? Well, it's, it's definitely in
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  my thought process. I think because I have stayed
• 6:15
  relatively healthy, I don't, I always look at it as a challenge
• 6:19
  and not to shrink back. It's how can I do it, not a
• 6:23
  reason not to do it. Yeah.
• 6:25
  Well, that's, that's great. And again, you're, you've been
• 6:28
  anchored to this for a long time.
• 6:29
  I mean, you've been coming, gosh, 2, maybe three times a
• 6:33
  week. For Yep, average, I'd say that,
• 6:35
  yeah. Yeah, I looked at your total
• 6:36
  visit count and it was, I think it was 11172 or something like
• 6:42
  that sounds. Right.
• 6:43
  It's getting into that kind of yeah, you know, it's up there.
• 6:47
  It is. It is.
• 6:48
  Crazy. It's but when you stay
• 6:51
  consistent, it does seem like a big, big deal, but it's kind of
• 6:54
  like it happens in the background when it's part of
• 6:57
  your your work weekly flow, right?
• 6:59
  What inspires you the most when it comes to fitness or health
• 7:05
  or, you know, just this idea of longevity or health span, you
• 7:08
  know, in these next few years, is there a big inspiration for
• 7:12
  continuing to come in or a source of motivation?
• 7:15
  I would say my inspiration is when I looked at the, the
• 7:18
  generation above me, let's say my parents generation, you, you
• 7:22
  know, you could really see the people who are living longer,
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  what are they doing? They're mentally engaged and
• 7:28
  they're physically engaged. And then I would see the
• 7:30
  opposite of getting to a certain age and pretty much people
• 7:34
  becoming their chairs. And I just a long time ago
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  decided I did not want to be that if I could affect it.
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  I know there's sometimes there's things people have, you know,
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  they don't have a choice. But if there's some things I can
• 7:50
  work on where I do have a choice, that's my inspiration.
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  And hey, I like to eat, so the more you work out, the more you
• 7:58
  can eat. That's right.
• 8:00
  Exactly. Put that, put those meals to to
• 8:02
  good use, build muscle and all that.
• 8:05
  Oh, that's great. That's something I hear all the
• 8:07
  time. People come in, there's been a
• 8:10
  big shift and people come in they, you know, I want to lose
• 8:12
  20 lbs or this or that. But so many people now are like,
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  yeah, I want to lose weight. But I I know that'll happen.
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  It's really about. I saw my parents or an aunt or
• 8:20
  an uncle and, and it was in a way like too late, right?
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  They saw what that was like. And that's becoming really
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  prevalent. I think people are understanding
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  how much strength is so important to be able to do more.
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  And I think there's a lot being said about strength, especially
• 8:36
  with women, that don't be afraid of weights.
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  You know, even if you start, and I remember when I first started,
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  like, you know, doing things with like 5 LB hand weights, you
• 8:45
  say, oh, no big deal. And then you first do them and
• 8:47
  you go, yeah, I'm kind of tired. But you always have to start
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  somewhere. And don't be afraid of weights.
• 8:53
  Yeah. Oh, that's, that's really good
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  advice. I think everyone needs to hear.
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  I think a lot of people are getting that narrative now.
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  It's becoming, I think common knowledge that women's like
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  should arguably be stronger than men comparatively because of
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  bone density and things like that.
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  So that's that's on a lot of people's minds.
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  That's really important. And I'm really, it's really
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  refreshing when people come in. What is on your like bucket list
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  for the next few years? Do you have any big trips talked
• 9:17
  about Montana? Yes, yes, definitely the West
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  and the far West. My older son lived in Washington
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  state for a little bit. So I, I, I went there to visit.
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  Now he was in the city, but working kind of the area out
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  there the Washington, Oregon, you know, and my husband is
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  still very much working. So we're kind of getting those
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  longer European trips kind of plan.
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  So love it. Yeah, it, it, it's it we're
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  again, we're in this kind of phase part where, you know,
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  working or some working or not working.
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  So you know in there. But I've never been out that
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  way. I've heard it's really.
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  It's really beautiful. Yeah, it's beautiful.
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  People are great. And yeah, lots to see.
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  You know, you go from the coast to the mountains to the other
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  side of Washington. It's beautiful.
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  Oh, that's amazing. And where will you guys?
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  Do you have any destinations in your sights for Europe?
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  In Europe for me, it would be definitely probably the British
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  Isles and Scandinavia, and I think my husband's that way too.
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  And then with Italy is a close, you know, second.
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  Yeah, absolutely. We had a trip to Germany this
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  last spring with my husband's work, and that was great.
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  We had a local guide and took us around and we kind of got off
• 10:33
  the beaten path a little. And yeah, it was busy.
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  We were hopping all the time. But great fun, great fun.
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  Oh, that's amazing. There's I have a goal to go to
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  Germany because my last name is Shrup and there is a festival in
• 10:46
  Germany called Shrup Fest. You have to do it.
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  It's a bunch of, it's basically a bunch of like probably high
• 10:52
  school kids. It's like a car meet festival
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  thing out in the middle of nowhere.
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  I don't think it's very glamorous, but I just have to
• 10:59
  go. You have to and make a T-shirt.
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  I mean, they shrug from wherever, you know, America or
• 11:07
  whatever. And they'll, they'll, they, they
• 11:09
  love Americans. Oh, that's good.
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  Yeah, it's it's a point. I've not been to Europe yet at
• 11:13
  all, so that's amazing. You know, what would you say are
• 11:17
  some of the things you're most proud of accomplishing so far?
• 11:20
  Has it been just sticking to that routine for so long?
• 11:23
  Something else? I'm definitely sticking with the
• 11:26
  routine. I mean, if, if it hadn't, if I
• 11:29
  didn't feel welcome or didn't feel that I fit in, I'm one who
• 11:35
  it just is gone. I, I kind of sense that and I'm
• 11:38
  done. So obviously I'm still here.
• 11:41
  I, I've loved the variety of, you know, we're not just, you
• 11:45
  know, going up to the weight sets where you know, we're,
• 11:48
  we're doing, you know, the, the TRX and different things.
• 11:53
  And I've just loved the challenge that as soon as you
• 11:55
  maybe feel a little comfortable with something, you get thrown
• 11:58
  something else. It's like, oh, this is a little
• 12:00
  hard. I don't love it at first, but in
• 12:02
  a way that's like, you know, these TRX pull ups, I'm still
• 12:06
  trying to make friends with them.
• 12:08
  Someday, someday I'm going to make friends with those.
• 12:11
  But I'm I'm still working. So I would say really the
• 12:16
  variety and just, and, and the coaches.
• 12:18
  I, you know, I can't say enough about the coaches just being
• 12:23
  very positive and keeping us going and noticing when things
• 12:27
  need to. Like, I'm, I'm happy when
• 12:31
  someone tells me you're not quite, you know, your back is
• 12:33
  rounded, OK, I'll fix that. Or, you know, you need to be a
• 12:36
  little more this way or that way.
• 12:37
  I'm fine with that. I think that's what coaches are
• 12:40
  for. Yeah, Yeah.
• 12:41
  Well, you do a great job of moving like independently and
• 12:44
  seeking out challenges by yourself, which is great because
• 12:47
  then we just fine tune. We're like nice work.
• 12:50
  But that's always been something that I think that mindset has
• 12:53
  really helped, I'm sure. Yeah, and you have a great,
• 12:57
  you're an owner and you've hired great people.
• 13:00
  And I'll always remember you, Phil with in your first class is
• 13:04
  sometimes I think just Phil know how old we are.
• 13:07
  But I laugh at that because you know, you can adjust things as
• 13:10
  you go and you were always going to throw a lot at us.
• 13:14
  I did. I did.
• 13:15
  Did you? Didn't.
• 13:17
  There was no hiding. No, I, I think about some of
• 13:19
  those circuits because as we talk about our programming and
• 13:22
  I'm just like, I used to do this stuff and I'm like, that is not,
• 13:25
  you know, talking 7-8 years ago I was like, I would not do that
• 13:28
  Now, you know, I was still a fairly new coach when I opened
• 13:31
  this place. Maybe you should just have like
• 13:33
  a Saturday retro class or something and say Phil 2018.
• 13:38
  No one would come back. They'd be like, what has gotten
• 13:40
  into. There.
• 13:41
  Yeah, I'm the frog in the fry pan.
• 13:43
  So I just kind of, you know, went through it.
• 13:44
  You just made it your own, which is great.
• 13:46
  But you know, I think our, our population was a little bit, a
• 13:50
  little bit younger. I mean, everyone was right.
• 13:52
  But as I've gotten older and now, like I didn't have two
• 13:55
  kids, I was single. Like, my life's different and it
• 13:58
  gave me such a unique, you know, genuine outlook on life and what
• 14:04
  that looks like and what people need.
• 14:06
  And then the people who have stuck with this, they've also
• 14:09
  gotten older. So we've kind of realized what a
• 14:12
  really well-rounded program and approach looks like.
• 14:15
  Because I imagine if we kept things the way they were, you
• 14:17
  might not still be, you know, still a tough workout, but.
• 14:21
  Just more. I guess more approachable by any
• 14:26
  walk of life. Exactly.
• 14:28
  Yeah, I, you know, you see people here of all, you know,
• 14:33
  ages, shapes and sizes, and it's just inspirational to see them
• 14:36
  all working out. They're here because they want
• 14:39
  to. Everyone wants to get better, no
• 14:40
  matter where you're starting from.
• 14:42
  So it's it's just inspirational to see these, these folks doing
• 14:45
  this. Everybody.
• 14:47
  I agree. It's like it like you say, just
• 14:49
  kind of stick with it and results, they just come.
• 14:53
  They they do, yeah. As long as you can stay
• 14:55
  consistent. That's the hardest.
• 14:56
  Part. That is the hardest part.
• 14:58
  Life tries to pulse away. We're juggling so much things
• 15:01
  just they they tend to push our own priorities for ourselves
• 15:05
  down. So the goal is to just keep it
• 15:08
  on the pole. Don't let it totally fall off.
• 15:11
  So if you fall off a little bit, just get back on.
• 15:14
  You'll be fine. I.
• 15:15
  Think we all want to do things so perfectly, you know?
• 15:17
  Like I, I struggle with that, you know, so I want to have the
• 15:20
  perfect workout every time. Exactly.
• 15:23
  It's, it's tough. It sounds like you've got really
• 15:25
  good, good idea what that looks like.
• 15:27
  Just as they say, don't break the chain, right?
• 15:30
  Just keep coming. Yes.
• 15:31
  And good. Things will happen, right?
• 15:34
  Has anything surprised you about what you're able to do now as a
• 15:38
  result of staying consistent? I mean, there wasn't like a
• 15:41
  giant transformational shift over the last several years.
• 15:45
  You just kind of did the thing, but has there ever been a point
• 15:48
  where you've kind of surprised yourself?
• 15:50
  Oh yeah. You know, when you kind of jump
• 15:52
  from, let's say you're doing something with 10 LB weights,
• 15:55
  I'm just going to, you know, pick maybe something smaller and
• 15:58
  then you jump to say 15 and go, can I do that?
• 16:01
  And at first it's, it's, it's a little tough and, and then you
• 16:04
  realize, yeah, I can do this. I can, I can add on and not be
• 16:08
  afraid of that. And to push and other sometimes
• 16:13
  you push a little, little hard because I want to make sure not
• 16:15
  to, you know, have the recreational injury, if I can
• 16:19
  help that. And then maybe pull back a
• 16:21
  little bit, then consolidate those gains and then move a
• 16:24
  little forward. Yeah.
• 16:25
  So that's great. Yeah.
• 16:27
  And sometimes you see muscles, you say, Didn't know I had that
• 16:30
  muscle. Yeah.
• 16:31
  That's the fifteens right there. There you go.
• 16:33
  And we do have 12 and a halfs. Too.
• 16:35
  That's right. That was a good thing, Phil.
• 16:36
  The 12 and a half 17 1/2. I used the 22 1/2 today.
• 16:41
  The the last quarterly survey we did the most common theme of
• 16:45
  what could we get for the gym. I was asking like, do you want
• 16:47
  cardio equipment like stair climber?
• 16:50
  Like 5 people said 22 and a halfs and 27 and a halfs.
• 16:55
  I was like, OK, that's totally fun about.
• 16:57
  It if you're going it's great, like 20 then to 25.
• 17:00
  It's a big job. That's 25.
• 17:02
  Percent. It's a big increase, yeah.
• 17:04
  Sometimes it's 30 so. Exactly.
• 17:06
  I'm all on that one. So no, I was just like, well,
• 17:09
  great, because usually, you know, that's, that's an easy
• 17:12
  thing to do. Like there's nothing
• 17:14
  catastrophic like 27 1/2. And then and I think then you
• 17:17
  feel a little more comfortable making that next thing.
• 17:19
  OK, I'm going to. I'm going to push through to
• 17:21
  that next one. Exactly whatever we can do to
• 17:23
  help get comfortable with that somewhat uncertain area is
• 17:27
  always good. How else would you say your
• 17:29
  workouts have kind of carried over into other areas of life,
• 17:32
  whether it be work or hobbies or anything like that or travel,
• 17:37
  anything in particular? Oh, definitely.
• 17:38
  You know, we, I'm thinking of, like I said, gardening.
• 17:41
  I mean, you're hauling stuff around.
• 17:43
  I mean, the summer my was, I was hauling bags of mulch around.
• 17:47
  I've got 4 bags to go. I can do it.
• 17:50
  I can do it. It will, I don't know if I could
• 17:52
  have done this, say five years ago.
• 17:54
  So also in travel, it's, you know, you're hauling things
• 17:57
  around and usually you're starting, you're OK, but if you
• 18:00
  have to keep going with something, So is that more
• 18:02
  endurance that I feel? I can, I can do that.
• 18:05
  And even like with cycling, I think my legs are stronger.
• 18:09
  They just, they just, I kind of hit the wall later than I say
• 18:14
  would have because I've been biking a long time, you know, I
• 18:17
  say, you know, recreational biking, it's not like I should
• 18:20
  go up for 40 miles or anything. But there's always a point where
• 18:23
  you go, everything's going great.
• 18:24
  And then you go, oh gosh, I have to turn around and go back.
• 18:27
  So I think my my legs, I've definitely have some endurance
• 18:31
  there. Do you?
• 18:31
  What type of biking do you do? Typically it's we have great
• 18:34
  trails around here. You know, Hennepin County, you
• 18:37
  know, Minneapolis. Other than having to dodge the
• 18:40
  light rail construction, usually we'll get off the road just for
• 18:44
  safety and you know, go out to Lake Minnetonka, go downtown,
• 18:48
  you can get out to Eden Prairie. So really taking advantage of
• 18:52
  the trails that are here. We have an amazing trail system
• 18:55
  and it's it's easier to get most places than a lot of people
• 18:59
  think. Yep, exactly so.
• 19:00
  We got to soak it in right now, unless you get the the big fat
• 19:03
  tire winter bikes, which that's right, people are pretty die
• 19:05
  hard kind of moving on like reflection lessons.
• 19:09
  When you think back to when you first started, what stands out
• 19:13
  most when you think about where you're at now versus, you know,
• 19:17
  8, eightish years ago? Well, I know when I first
• 19:20
  started, I, I had a Co worker who she and she says there's
• 19:26
  this nice guy, I've met him and, you know, let's go try it.
• 19:28
  There's some free classes. And I was like, I don't know,
• 19:30
  you know, I, I, I did fitness classes, but they were, they
• 19:34
  were, they were on a smaller scale community ad and they were
• 19:36
  great. You know, certain times and I
• 19:38
  just wondered if I was up to it and would this just be I'm going
• 19:43
  and going to make, you know, it's a personal training plays.
• 19:46
  I don't know. So that was my first
• 19:49
  trepidation. So I just jumped in.
• 19:51
  It was good to have. We talked about the buddy
• 19:54
  system. So it was good to start out with
• 19:57
  a buddy because then we could then commiserate the next day
• 20:00
  and go, jeez, does your arm hurt or just, you know, hey, we're
• 20:03
  going to be fine. So.
• 20:06
  That's where I, I got in and it was like, I say, if I had
• 20:09
  started on that first day with say where I am now, I would have
• 20:13
  said, forget it, this isn't me. But I, I kind of, I feel like I
• 20:17
  got into a river and you know, you just start going with the
• 20:21
  flow and sometimes you hit Rapids, but you just, you just
• 20:23
  keep going. So again, that's consistency.
• 20:27
  I've more said I can do this and I'm just going to be consistent
• 20:31
  and make it a priority. And then to, you know, because
• 20:35
  you were just two doors down, I think the convenience and then
• 20:38
  right, the accountability, those make it a lot easier.
• 20:41
  Huge. Like, I get it.
• 20:43
  Some people are like, I don't want to drive 15 minutes.
• 20:46
  You know, it's, it's tough, especially in the winter.
• 20:49
  But I think more importantly, you had that, that social
• 20:52
  dynamic too. And we always, I always loved
• 20:54
  when people be like, you know, we'd see you guys, there'd be
• 20:57
  three or three or four of you maybe, and you all kind of
• 21:00
  ganged up on us. It was great.
• 21:01
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 21:02
  So we're like, OK, we did our job a little bit.
• 21:05
  What is one thing you learned about yourself in this process?
• 21:07
  Anything surprising just about your character and how you
• 21:10
  operate? I guess of this whole fitness
• 21:13
  thing that I guess that I, that I did it because it hadn't been,
• 21:17
  if I hadn't been 2 doors down, you know, a lot of things in
• 21:21
  life really are serendipity. So if I hadn't been 2 doors
• 21:24
  down, I probably would not have jumped into a, I'm going to use
• 21:27
  air quotes here personal training.
• 21:29
  That's for the, that's for the really serious people.
• 21:32
  That's for, you know, and, and I don't know, that's not me.
• 21:35
  So it really, it really is a lot of serendipity and, and just, I
• 21:41
  guess it was, you know, going out of my comfort zone too.
• 21:44
  So I'd say people get out of your comfort zone.
• 21:46
  Give it a try. Yeah.
• 21:48
  Oh, absolutely. And, and anything that looks
• 21:52
  interesting, even if it's scary, if it keeps us moving in
• 21:54
  fitness, it's like, and whether that's, you know, us or
• 21:58
  anything, right, anything that's like, I can install this into my
• 22:01
  weekly flow. I think for you, it's like this
• 22:04
  works for me and everything else that's important that I have to
• 22:07
  do because our job is not just to be in shape.
• 22:11
  We have so many things again that we're juggling.
• 22:13
  So Yep, and I had the young kids and I know, and I see people
• 22:16
  around here and it's a juggle and I'm inspired that, you know,
• 22:20
  they are making time because that's what it is.
• 22:23
  And, and it's hard kids just, you know, they, they take your
• 22:28
  time. Oh my God, I do.
• 22:30
  Yes, yes, it's of course worth it, but it does make it much
• 22:34
  harder. Everything is more
• 22:35
  unpredictable. It does.
• 22:37
  And that could be kids or that could be jobs deadlines, and
• 22:40
  that could be, I mean, it could be a million things.
• 22:43
  So the aligning, you know, theme there is like, OK, what can
• 22:48
  anchor me to two workouts a week?
• 22:49
  Because that's enough, right? Is there anything you would, you
• 22:52
  know, you kind of said it, it's just, you know, the idea of
• 22:55
  getting out of your comfort zone.
• 22:56
  If someone was in your shoes or like someone totally brand new
• 23:01
  to what might be very intimidating environment, even
• 23:04
  though they know it's good for them.
• 23:05
  Is there anything you would say to that person or a piece of
• 23:08
  advice you would give? I, I would say we, this word has
• 23:12
  come up consistency and just be kind to yourself and set out
• 23:17
  with consistency. And if you do have a rough
• 23:20
  month, don't give up. Just just get back in and keep
• 23:25
  going. And it, it, it, it, it'll all
• 23:28
  start to flow. And you know, ask for what you
• 23:32
  need to if if something isn't working or you or you need a
• 23:36
  little more help, ask the coach. I, I think, I think any coach
• 23:39
  here would stop or stay after and help.
• 23:44
  So ask for what you need. You know, and you said you know,
• 23:47
  if you have a bad month and a lot of times I want to tell
• 23:50
  people like no, it's when right, because there's.
• 23:52
  Going to be not if. But but no, that's the thing.
• 23:56
  The mentality of a lot of people is like, I'm going to try to get
• 23:58
  there twice a week for the rest of my life.
• 24:00
  But like, you know how we know that life's going to throw us
• 24:03
  out. There's travel, there's there's
• 24:05
  illness, there's all sorts of things.
• 24:06
  So, you know, aiming for that always something and not right,
• 24:12
  100 or nothing. That's right.
• 24:14
  That's right. It's kind of that January push
• 24:17
  where everyone kind of kind of says I'm going to do this and
• 24:19
  just keep the January mentality, just be the tortoise versus the
• 24:24
  hare and it'll it'll fall into place.
• 24:29
  I love it. What would you say has been the
• 24:31
  most challenging part of your journey?
• 24:33
  Like where have the biggest maybe obstacles present to
• 24:36
  themselves? Boy, as far as obstacles, well,
• 24:40
  you know, we, I, I endured as many people did the pandemic and
• 24:47
  I remember that. And I think we had two stints
• 24:51
  of, of looking either at our iPad or our phone and, you know,
• 24:56
  trying to do the things at home that you folks here were giving
• 25:02
  us. That was, that was quite a
• 25:03
  challenge. And it was right at that time
• 25:05
  when I thought I, my form was bad because my, I first had
• 25:11
  something in, I thought it was my foot and then it kind of been
• 25:14
  my hip. And I said a few years later I
• 25:16
  said, yeah, I got to get this checked out.
• 25:17
  So I found that it's more my my heredity that my hip was one hip
• 25:23
  was going bad, it was arthritis. So I did just this last year, I
• 25:28
  had a replacement. And I will say talking to my
• 25:32
  doctor that don't be afraid of that.
• 25:36
  It's all been great. And he said that they the best,
• 25:42
  his best patients are ones who just want to get back into it.
• 25:46
  They just are saying, when can I get back to the gym?
• 25:50
  So that was my challenge. I had to go two months last year
• 25:52
  with it, without it, but I was doing my my T, my PT exercises
• 25:56
  in the place and couldn't get, couldn't wait to get back once
• 26:00
  January 1st hit. So that that was a physical
• 26:04
  thing. You know, you always think
• 26:05
  you're invincible or you're, you're not going to get what
• 26:08
  your mother had. Well, there I was.
• 26:11
  Well, you took it in stride though, you know.
• 26:13
  Everyone here is great. Yeah.
• 26:15
  Well, that's that's amazing. I remember telling us about that
• 26:19
  and you were just like, here's my game plan.
• 26:20
  This is when I'm coming back. This is when it's gonna.
• 26:23
  Work. Right now it's.
• 26:23
  Gonna be good so yeah, I'll just be back then, huh?
• 26:25
  Yeah, OK, that sounds good perfect if you had like the
• 26:31
  perfect perfect weekend. Let's just say perfect week
• 26:35
  where you have nothing else to do which already but you have a
• 26:37
  little more time for now. But what would the perfect
• 26:41
  weekend look like for you? Well, the perfect weekend.
• 26:44
  Well, starting off Friday night, you know, that's usually the
• 26:47
  kind of the fun night. Maybe go out with my husband
• 26:49
  then and catch up on a movie when we get back.
• 26:52
  And then at least one of the mornings we like to go get our
• 26:56
  coffee and sometimes just a little treat fill just a little
• 26:59
  treat. And we also I, I just think
• 27:04
  physical fitness in there, whether it's walk, whether it's,
• 27:07
  you know, walk slash hiking, biking, anything in there.
• 27:11
  And then just maybe a nice home cooked dinner on Sunday night.
• 27:15
  There you go listening to our jazz station.
• 27:18
  Oh. I love it.
• 27:19
  Yeah. There's a place in Saint Paul, I
• 27:21
  think it was called, like the artist quarters.
• 27:22
  Oh, yeah. Have you been there?
• 27:24
  I have not, but I that's related to one in Minneapolis that, you
• 27:27
  know, a million years ago was went to.
• 27:30
  My one of my good friends went to McNally Smith before they
• 27:33
  shut down and so and he was on the Jazz and I was like, I don't
• 27:36
  understand this at all because he knows all the the keys and
• 27:40
  I'm like, it sounds good. I just don't understand.
• 27:43
  It we went. There a couple times and I was
• 27:45
  like, that was a really cool place.
• 27:47
  So different than what most people are used to for live
• 27:49
  music. Right.
• 27:50
  But oh, I love that. It's great.
• 27:52
  I didn't know that about you. Did you guys like?
• 27:55
  Jazz. We like jazz.
• 27:55
  And what's your favorite movie? Oh, my favorite movie.
• 27:58
  What type of movie perhaps? I, I really like character
• 28:01
  movies. So if you go back, The Graduate
• 28:05
  is always just a great movie. Things like, Oh, you're putting
• 28:10
  me on the spot here. And I'll think, I'll think of
• 28:12
  many, but it's really it's, it's, it's character, it's, it's
• 28:15
  driven, it's driven by dialogue. You don't get a lot of those
• 28:18
  these these days, it seems like. But that's that's the type of
• 28:22
  movie that I that I like. Other than fitness, what's
• 28:26
  giving the most joy right now in life?
• 28:29
  Having some more time in your hands since you know, the shift
• 28:33
  in work life and whatnot. Yeah, I, I, I, I love nature.
• 28:37
  Like I say, I like to garden and my focus is native plant
• 28:41
  gardening. And I've always been a bird
• 28:43
  watcher. I come from a bird watching
• 28:45
  family. And when I say bird watching it,
• 28:47
  it's more like I'm sick. There's, you know, what am I
• 28:49
  looking at? I, I haven't taken any trips,
• 28:52
  but especially at the, in the spring and the fall when you
• 28:55
  have the birds moving through. And I, I just love that it's
• 28:59
  just a quiet thing and it's just, it's like, it's magical.
• 29:03
  And when I have my Hummingbird feeder out in the summer, that's
• 29:07
  magical. I mean, to have them come and
• 29:10
  you feel like, Oh, my yard's a good place.
• 29:13
  Yeah. So that's it's.
• 29:15
  It's simple and I love it. Yeah, life seems to get so big
• 29:19
  sometimes when we break it down and we can slow it down, at
• 29:22
  least we take the chance to. Those little things are they're
• 29:26
  so much bigger than we think. Yeah, as they say.
• 29:29
  Life's great. Well, gosh, thank you, Ann.
• 29:32
  Is there anything else you kind of wanted to share about
• 29:34
  anything else here? I'll just say I love the
• 29:38
  participants here. We have.
• 29:40
  I come to a lot of the noon classes and the gals and the
• 29:43
  guys in the noon class, they're just really fun there.
• 29:48
  There. It's quite a variety and I think
• 29:50
  we just have fun with Sean and good times.
• 29:53
  Join us. Yeah, absolutely.
• 29:56
  Good. Well, thank you so much for
• 29:58
  doing this. Like I said, it's time goes
• 30:00
  fast, but you've been a staple in this place and you'd help
• 30:02
  shape it. Been through all the ups and
• 30:04
  downs and renovations and COVID. So we just appreciate you and
• 30:09
  and I do personally for doing all this.
• 30:12
  Yeah, thank you for all your hard work.
• 30:13
  And you're welcome. All your continued support,
• 30:15
  Yeah, awesome. Go get them.
• 30:17
  Thank you guys for listening. We will see you guys on the next
• 30:20
  one.