JACKIE’S STORY OF RISE UP GLORY

FIRST DAY JITTERS

Full disclosure: I was terrified before starting Rise Up In 6 Weeks. I came across Results Fitness when as registration for Rise Up opened up, deciding to not just join a new gym, but also sign up for their 6 week total body transformation program.

I knew I wanted to get back into a regular workout schedule, but it had been so long since I had stuck to something consistently, and I was scared I wouldn’t be able to do the workouts.

I have never thought of myself as an athletic person, so signing up for something like this was way out of my comfort zone. After seeing all the equipment at the Result Fitness “playground” during my Strategy Session, I was even more intimidated.

I had no clue how to use any of it, and everyone else looked like pros. A nice and comforting part about Rise Up was being part of a group text thread for accountability and to cheer each other on. I remember texting the group the day of my first class, digging for any details about what I could expect for the workout.

Their answers sounded like a foreign language to me (I was Googling “workout finisher”), and I had so many jitters walking into the gym for my first group class.

As soon as I arrived for my first class, Coach Josh paired me up with two Results Fitness Warriors (all members are called Warriors!) who had been part of RF and could help “show me the ropes”. Both were so friendly and encouraging that I was immediately set at ease, and once class started, I found out that the fast-paced circuit training was actually really fun, and a great way to tune out all the other noise and stress from my day, which I loved.

When I finished my last set that very first day, another RF Warrior I hadn’t even met yet grabbed me by the hand, lifted me to my feet and gave me an energetic high five. I’ve never felt so welcomed at a gym before, and I’ve tried a LOT of fitness classes over the years. This is the first place where the coaches knew me by name from the moment I walked in the door. Their kindness and positive energy are contagious.

Before Results Fitness, I could barely lift a weight over my head. During my initial few classes, I was just lifting my arm above my head with no weight for some exercises.

From there, I moved up to five pound weights and slowly but surely, I’ve continued increasing from there. I still have a lot of goals to crush, but fast forward to today, about 9 months later, and I can now chest-press 18 pounds for the first time! I feel so much stronger overall than I did back in January, and that was one of the main things I wanted to accomplish by joining!

I also struggled with seeing results.

Like I said, I’ve tried a lot of fitness classes and in the past, I either grappled with keeping up with those classes consistently, or I would go often yet feel like I wasn’t seeing results from all of my hard work and eventually give up.

The Results Fitness community and coaches hold me accountable (the coaches even text me to check in if I miss a class, so no skipping!) and taught me to schedule classes in advance to stay consistent. And I noticed results in both my strength and in weight loss very quickly with Rise Up, which kept my motivation high.

LIFE AFTER RISE UP

In many ways, I feel like a completely different person now that I’m an RF Warrior.

I think the biggest difference, or maybe the most important difference to me, is in my mental health.

I have struggled with chronic anxiety and depression for most of my life, and I was fighting through a pretty severe depressive episode when I started Rise Up. We had to chart our level of happiness during the Rise Up orientation, and I remember charting mine as a 1 out of 10 and feeling like I wanted to cry.

In the beginning of my RF journey, the classes and the sense of community I found within them were some of the only moments during the day i felt relief from the mental pain I was in. Regular exercise has done wonders for my mental health. By March, when I finished Rise Up, I felt like a new person. I felt genuinely happy, healthy and strong.

When I revisited the happiness chart at the end of the program, I ranked mine as an 8 out of 10.  Not only did I do something new and completely out of my comfort zone when I joined Rise Up, but I ended up winning at the end, which was shocking, but felt amazing.

I can’t believe how far I have come in such a short time. My confidence has increased greatly as I conquer new goals, and that confidence has stretched past the gym and into my personal and professional life, too. I feel more confident as a leader and public speaker and more secure in who I am as a person.

The physical transformation is also pretty incredible. I love I’m able to hike longer distances with my dog without getting tired and I’m more knowledgeable about nutrition, so I can make healthy meals that give me more energy. Results Fitness has basically changed all aspects of my life for the better.

In 6 weeks, I developed a consistent exercise routine working out at least three times a week, lifted weights for the first time in my life, kicked depression’s butt, ate a lot of vegetables, lost 13.7 pounds, gained about 2 pounds of muscle and reignited my passion for life.

I can’t emphasize enough how different Results Fitness is from other gyms or fitness studios.

Its rave reviews are why I joined in the first place, but I didn’t truly understand the hype until I started coming to classes and saw for myself how much the coaches care and how wonderfully welcoming the community is. It really is a support system in every sense.

Even during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Results Fitness kept me sane and kept my anxiety at bay with online classes and nutrition videos, and even loaned me weights so I could work out at home. The staff truly goes above and beyond in everything that they do.

If you’re looking for a welcoming community, genuine coaches who care and an effective program that delivers results, you need to get started with Results Fitness without hesitation.

If I can do it, I truly think anyone can. I was the person who was always picked last in gym class, and that stuck with me. I had been telling myself I was not good enough or strong enough or athletic enough to do something so challenging for a long time.

Doing Rise Up and not just joining but belonging to Results Fitness is one of the best decisions I have made for myself in my lifetime. It’s not just making a decision to join a new gym or start a new fitness challenge; it’s deciding to prioritize taking care of yourself and to join a community that is welcoming, supportive, funny, and kind.