A Success Story

About a year ago, Carol Dawson walked through our doors here at Innovative Fitness. She had gone through a lot of adversity through out the last 10years and came to us (persuaded/accompanied with a close friend) to change her life. Eight months prior to her joining IF, she had had gastric bypass surgery, had knee pain due to her weight and her self confidence was the lowest it could get.

She was 370lbs when she walked through our doors and is now currently 294lbs. However, our (myself and a fellow coach Kevin) main objective was not about her constantly thinking about her weightloss. We wanted her to enjoy coming here to workout and have fun. We set her up on a program, persuaded her to come to her sessions half an hour early to do her own cardio and held her accountably and educated her on nutrition.

The friendship started right away with both Kevin and I. We each brought something different to her workouts and provided a proper but fun workout. She couldn’t do the “big destinations” like the hiking series or the 10km races, so we made a point of creating our own in “house challenges”. The look of determination and hard work that was on Carol’s face was rewarding after every challenge she accomplished.

Carol’s Challenges:
1. Getting on the Stairmaster and doing 10floors.
2. 2mile bike test
3. Kayaking – she never thought she would be able to get in a kayak again
4. Walking up 24th St.

and lastly

5. THE GROUSE GRIND.

Last Tuesday, Kevin, Carol and I accomplished this challenge. Carol’s family and friends thought she was crazy and was definitely not going to make it. However, Kevin and I believed in her. We trained for it, we came prepared, we kept her motivated the whole way up and we were 100% behind her every step of the way. She accomplished this goal in 1hr 42min, which is an amazing time! The smile and brightness in her eyes is something you can’t described. She was on top of the moon (or mountain) and ecstatic that she proved all her family and friends wrong that thought she couldn’t do it.

She is an amazing person and I am truly humbled to be able to be apart of her journey. Helping a person achieve something they thought was never possible and to be there when they do, is something everyone should experience.