My Story

I think it’s only fit to explain my fitness journey thus far - to see where I’m from, where I’ve gone, and where I’m going. It’s a long, winding course; but I’ve learned and grown from the struggles, and I hope you can too.

In high school I fell in love with long-distance running. I initially joined the track team because my friends thought it would be fun, taking up sprinting under the assumption that shorter distances were inherently easier. I very soon learned that sprinting was rather difficult - and, quite honestly, I sucked at it. I was the slowest sprinter on the team, an easy target for teasing. The following summer I started running longer distances and joined the cross-country team, pleasantly surprised to discover that I wasn’t half bad; and endurance became my thing. Unfortunately, my first season of cross-country coincided with the onset of celiac disease, which caused severe weight loss and anemia. My running performance plummeted as a result, but after a proper diagnosis and treatment, my condition improved.

The rest of my time in high school, I steadily made progress in my sport - whether it be the standard 3-mile cross-country course or the 1- and 2-mile track races. Even when I fractured my metatarsal one year, I was determined to maintain my endurance through stationary bike workouts. Once I considered myself to be a “good runner,” I decided I would never lose my “fitness” and get “out of shape.” I savored the runner’s high, the grueling yet invigorating feeling of a 10-mile long run. I was that girl - the one always running up and down the hills in my small town, occasionally eliciting jeers from the locals who couldn’t imagine why one would choose to run.

Running was my identity; the one consistency throughout high school and college, until the end of my first year in graduate school. I had to lay off the running after suffering an avulsion fracture in my right foot; and when I finally started to run again, it didn’t feel the same. I struggled with the notion that I might never be as fast as I once was; that my peak had passed, and I could no longer take pride in my pace. Yet, I improved slowly - until I sustained another injury, this time to my left foot. Following some time off and physical therapy, I once again returned to running. I felt slow. In some ways running became a stressor, a disappointment, a reminder that I wasn’t good enough (at least in my eyes). But I still ran. I tried, and gradually I saw progress. I can vividly remember, on my birthday during Fall 2020, my elation to have run 3 miles at a “reasonable” pace (closer to 7-minute miles). However, after that run I experienced a most peculiar thing. I got slower. My form degraded. I felt like I was tripping over my feet, like my knee was locking up or hitting the ground in a strange way. What was the point of running if my form was awful? I would just end up hurting myself again. My physical therapist couldn’t determine the cause, throwing out various potential reasons hoping one would stick. But no stretch or exercise, no form cue fixed it. So I largely stopped running, with the exception of occasional 1-mile “test runs.”

Luckily, throughout these series of injuries I gravitated more and more toward strength training. Strength training provided what running, at this point, could not: a means to challenge myself physically and see improvement. The less I ran, the more I lifted - and the more I lifted, the stronger I became. I could easily bang out pull-ups for at least 5 reps; I loved to bench with heavy dumbbells in my hands; deadlifts and squats were a staple in my routine. I might not be as fast as I once was, but I was certainly stronger than ever. Naturally, I wanted to dive into the field of resistance training - to determine the most effective exercises and workout routines, the best ways to ensure muscle growth and stronger performance. I discovered a handful of fitness podcasts that I played daily as I traveled to and from campus, and I avidly absorbed their content. Developing an ever-growing fascination with the field, I consumed hours of interviews, research reviews, articles, and books. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, I jumped further down my fitness rabbit hole; I used my extra time at home to determine the best at-home workouts and began offering workout plans and advice to my friends and family.

Since then my infatuation with fitness hasn’t wavered: I continue to see progress in my own performance and body, and I’ve begun to see similar improvements in my friends whom I’ve trained. It has been incredibly fulfilling, and I realize that everyone could benefit from what I’ve learned. Over the past couple years, I have come to recognize the gross misinformation fed to the public about exercise, health, and weight management. While I myself have never been overweight or dieted, I have seen the effects of this misinformation on family and friends who have felt ashamed of their bodies and have attempted to change themselves using common (misleading) notions about weight loss. The food and fitness industries have fed us lies for years; their claims are not only untrue but downright deleterious to our health. So I aspire to share my passion for resistance training with anyone who will listen, to combat the inundation of falsities flowing from social media and pop culture.

Writing has always served as a tool for me to understand and apply my knowledge; and knowledge is only valuable when communicated and used to help others. Through this blog, I hope to share my experience and knowledge, simultaneously learning as I teach readers like you. My fitness journey has been a bit circuitous, but it is far from over; and I’m excited to bring others with me as I traverse the path ahead.

"Runner Gina," 2012 "Lifter Gina," 2021