The Goal: Running Faster and Stronger
Achieving fitness goals, such as running faster and stronger, is one of the main reasons you hire a coach or personal trainer. A good trainer will help you achieve your goals and also make sure to address the areas of your body that may not be functioning correctly. It’s a balancing act of progressing towards your goals and pulling back to fix things that are holding you back or could end up becoming injuries.
Balance Achieving Goals and Doing Things the Right Way
Many potential clients don’t understand this balance and can have the mindset of achieving goals at any cost. They’ll throw themselves into a high-intensity cardio program with a restrictive diet to lose weight quickly, or rush through an exercise movement with poor form to get as many repetitions done as possible. One of the most important things we do at Go Fit Now is educate clients so they fully understand how to safely achieve long-lasting health and fitness success.
Occasionally someone asks for our help who is most interested in doing things right, who is willing to dig deeper to enhance understanding and address weak links. Kendall is one of the most outstanding we have seen in a long time.
I first noticed Kendall at the gym we train clients from because she worked out hard and was often helping other friends with their workouts. She was new at that gym and was obviously a very keen fitness enthusiast. Her friendliness was impressive and I liked her right away.
Within a couple of weeks Kendall reached out for some pro coaching. She wanted to be sure her weight training form was correct in order to lift heavier. She had some specific goals for herself that didn’t involve getting hurt and she had recently qualified as a Spartan Elite Athlete so was keen to get stronger and faster for upcoming events.
Running Faster in the Face of COVID-19
Then the gyms closed due to COVID-19. All races were cancelled. This could have been a great reason to stop an take a break. Instead of giving up, we came up with a plan to continue training outside of the gym while maintaining hygienic distancing and here is what happened…
Last weekend, at the end of six weeks of quarantine in Los Angeles (that’s six weeks without any official runs), Kendall ran a 10k timed “race” and earned a new personal record (PR). From a previous PR of 54 minutes, she was down to 49:52. And that’s without dedicated running training or a gym environment.
I encouraged her to stop timing herself and to switch her focus to sprinting intuitively for 10 to 15 minutes. She started focusing on how hard she felt she was working, rather than basing her progress on a pre-made (AKA cookie-cutter) model.
Along with her 10 to 15 minute intuitive runs, she was hitting the weights, doing a bunch of conditioning work including kettle bell training and, most importantly, addressing areas in her body that were out of ideal alignment based on our initial and ongoing assessment.
Kendall – Agent of F.I.T.
Kendall is a true Agent of F.I.T. (Fitness Intelligence Training). She shows up, listens, applies what she learns and encourages others via her Instagram @kendallrosenberg. She is a total bad-ass with a giant smile and a huge heart.
Pay attention, folks, you’ll be hearing more soon!
