January 2020- McCohn Muscle Client of the Month

Heather’s story began back in 2013 when she started having some pretty serious health issues. After several appointments with doctors and specialists she was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. UC is an autoimmune disease where the immune system basically attacks the digestive system, cause inflammation and as you can imagine, some pretty crappy symptoms (yes pun intended haha).

There is no cure for UC, but for most people the disease can be managed through medication, healthy lifestyle, and diet. However, since the disease can't be cured, it's very common to experience flare ups where symptoms become pretty bad as well as periods of remission with little to no symptoms. It was pretty devastating to learn in her mid 20's that she would have a health condition that couldn't be cured, and that it would affect every aspect of her life.

For a long time she was just getting by, but she didn't really have the motivation or energy to do much of anything. Fast forward to January 2018 when she reluctantly signed up for McCohn Muscle's 6 Week Transformation Challenge with Q. McCohn after her coworker (shout out to Astrid) convinced her and another friend to sign up.

Suad, Heather, and Astrid = Team Dynamic

She was nervous, but also excited to see if the exercise and accountability for healthy eating would help her feel better. Long story short, it did! She felt healthier in 2018 than she felt in a long time- she lost weight, gained muscle and her UC almost seemed like a bad dream.

At the time she was trying to run in several 5Ks throughout the year, and she really wanted to push herself to run a half marathon. It was something she never thought she could do, but her year of working out with Quentin gave her the confidence that she could.

More struggles came while training for her half marathon. Things started getting really stressful for her at work, and the stress from work combined with her ramped-up training schedule caused her UC symptoms to creep back in.

She was in denial since she had been feeling so good the past year. She thought that things would get better quickly, but they did not. During her half marathon she felt so sick she ended up missing her goal by almost 7 minutes. She knew it should have felt like an accomplishment that she pushed through and finished, but she wasn’t feeling the fact that she didn’t achieve something that she had trained so hard for. Then there’s that internal depression or sadness of being sick again after a year of feeling so great. On the outside she looked fit and healthy, but inside she was slowly falling apart.

Things took a turn for the worse on July 4th 2019 when she went to the ER, where she was then admitted to the hospital for 5 days. During this time she lost over 15lbs (including most the muscle she had spent the last year building), and she was told that she would have to have surgery to have her colon removed if things did not get better soon. She was put on a new treatment plan and sent home to work on getting healthy again.

Her road to recovery took a lot longer than she was anticipating. Even as her digestive issues were getting better, she started dealing with severe joint pain and swelling. The iron in her blood dropped to the point where she was close to needing a blood transfusion. Her hair started falling out, and the steroids she was taking cause her to gain 20-25lbs. It was one thing after another and she struggled mentally with getting back to the level she was in the past year.

Even though Heather endured these health challenges, she did not give up on her dream of being the healthy, fit, happy girl from 2018. She knew that if she could get her health back on track, she could have another chance to find that girl again. She could have a another chance to reach her half marathon goal. Even through all the sickness, she was determined to do all she was physically able to.

For a long time, she was only able to take short walks around the block, but her walks gradually got longer and longer until she felt confident enough to go back to the gym. It definitely wasn't easy- there were several weeks where she almost passed out during every workout. The key is: she never gave up.

At McCohn Muscle she approached every workout with intention. She never knew when her health issues would flare back up, so she pushed herself every day to do her best, and she was super motivated to come back stronger that she was before.

She saw the mental focus pay off in November when she got a new 5K personal record that was almost 2 minutes faster than her previous record, and then she beat this record by 30 seconds a week later.

Ask Heather what her journey has taught her and she will likely say that she appreciates how fortunate she is. She takes the time to count her blessings and focusing on the positive helped her get through some pretty rough times. Also realizing in a big way what a negative effect stress can have, it's easier for her to not get worked up over little things.

We have teased her about becoming a Personal Trainer because she is always encouraging others to do and be their best. While training at McCohn Muscle she was able to

1. experience the relief that she is accomplishing her goals

2. understand that living with an ailment would not stop her from reaching her goals

3. learn that illness is temporary, and good health is not something people should be willing to give up on

Now she is back to her dream of being the healthy, fit, happy girl from 2018. She is finding that healthy girl again. She has another chance to reach her half marathon goal, which she is training for now.

This is exactly why we are passionate about health and fitness. There is someone reading this that is struggling with their health just like Heather was, and perhaps you may have even given up on the idea of being that healthy, happy person you once were. Heather is proof that with an ounce of determination, you can change it all around. Let McCohn Muscle help you find the confidence you need. Hit the link below and get more information about our 42 Day Transformation Challenge.

https://www.mccohnmuscle.com/sign-up

March 2019 Client of the Month

Our Client of the Month for March 2019 is Catrina Chanthasene.

Most people that train here have nicknames…..we call her Cat. Her husband calls her Cati. She started training at McCohn Muscle in June 2018. Her main goals were weight loss and muscle tone. She was already physically active since she had been running two miles, twice a week. She also was 10 months postpartum, and had the desire to look great and feel good about herself again.

She’s had a few medical issues she’s had to battle during her program, including migraines, joint inflammation, and swelling in her legs, ankles and feet. There was a time when Cat was training and she shared that she dealt with pain in her body (not workout related) every time she came in to train. What was amazing about it to me was that she never once showed it or complained. That’s when I knew she deserved extra energy and effort poured into her fitness and training program, because that’s what she gave, without grumbling. She fully embodied that McCohn Muscle culture of focus, dedication, and hard work. She was a perfect fit to work with a couple of the best trainers in Columbus.

Cat is FOUR MONTHS PREGNANT! McCohn Muscle has a few fitness babies around the city. The mom trains with us before she gets pregnant, continues to train while she is pregnant, then gives birth to her fitness baby. Cat is going to have the newest member of the gang in a few months. Even with her medical challenges combined with the difficulty of that first trimester, Cat stuck with it and is still in the gym pushing through every workout.

Besides being a great ambassador of McCohn Muscle and staying engulfed in our culture, Cat has gotten some great results with her training. In her annual health screening at work, she’s lost 26lbs from 2017 to 2018, 16 of those were while training here. Her body fat percentage dropped 8.8%, her BMI went from 29.5 (nearly obese) to 24.2, and her total cholesterol dropped from 184 to 156. We are proud of her success and we looking forward to more successes with her in the future. For now we’re going to focus on safely carrying this fitness baby while getting the most out of each workout.

Congratulations Cat!!!

Cat also participated in our Refer-A-Friend challenge we created at the end of 2018. She referred her husband, Pete, who is making his own run at Client of the Month

Tips to Eliminate "Toxic Time"

I met with a very valuable client this morning and she has been struggling recently to regain momentum. She was late to our appointment because she had trouble sleeping and was up half the night. She drank more coffee than usual the prior day and hasn’t been to the gym in over a week.

She didn’t travel for the holidays so I believed there was no excuse to miss her training sessions when we were scheduled. I also immediately believed that she would not have needed that extra coffee if she’d made her workout times @McCohnMuscle.

I asked her what she did at night when she couldn’t sleep. Her answer: TV.

She confessed that not only has she been watching too much TV, but she’s been binge watching shows she’s already seen! To top it off, she admitted to turning the TV on so she could scroll through her cell phone.

She named it “Toxic Time.”

Lord knows your favorite trainer enjoys a good movie. It’s a way to escape the stress that tugs on me everyday, enjoy entertainment, and visit a “new world.” Watching a good ball game is another way to relax, but once you start watching the ball game, then the highlights, then the guys talking about the ball game, and onto another game…..you’re doing a bit too much.

Here are some ways binge-watching negatively impacts health:

• weight gain and obesity

• increased struggles with cardio

• lower sperm counts

• antisocial behavior in children

Here are a few ways cell phone use effects health:

• weight gain

• shortened attention span

• causing car crashes

• increased anxiety

• tech neck (increased kyphosis)

Both of these lists are relatively long when you research. It’s obvious the risks of excessive use of our phones and TVs far outweigh the benefits.

I’ll show you a few ways to cut down on your Toxic Time and turn up on the person you really desire to be.

1. Turn your phone off an hour before you go to bed and don’t turn it back on until you are finished with your morning routine. Somebody’s like “hey Q, my cell phone is my alarm clock tho.” Ok, well, think about investing in an actual alarm clock. If not, set your alarm an hour before bed and turn your alarm off in the morning, and don’t open your phone again until your morning routine is done.

2. Read! You can finally get into those books you’ve had sitting around for months or years. Reading books and articles will fill your head with valuable information instead of TV and IG images.

3. Write! Writing creates clarity, clarity precedes genius (thank you, Robin Sharma). Let your imagination run wild. Be a Muppet Baby. Where do you want to go? How do you want to feel? What do you want to do? How would you like to look? Write it down! Then do it again. Hang up notes. Get karma on your side. The “universe” will work for you when you set your intentions.

4. Exercise! Movement beats meditation. Moving your body is the best way to feel better. It will also open up your mind for creative thinking and get you closer to your health and fitness goals. Don’t close your eyes to think about it, get up and get moving.

What do you think? Tell us in the comments.

Be militant in protecting your mental and physical health. Our January Transformation Challenge starts on January 14th. As of January 3rd we only have 12 more spots available. Move quickly to get your spot. You can sign up on our website, or give us a call if you have questions.

Much Love,

Q. McCohn