Keeping Up With Ike & Dawn: Project You Week #1

This past summer, we invited our membership to apply for an exclusive spot in our Project You! personal training intensive. The objective? To take six members through a special fitness journey in just four weeks under the guidance of Director of Fitness Sarah Vecchio and Assistant Director of Fitness Dave Moseley — our very best health and fitness experts.  Project You! kicked off this past week and all six have embraced the program with different goals and expectations from losing weight to getting stronger, becoming more aware of their bodies and self-care to simply learning how to workout in different ways for different results. We are so proud of this group! In case you’re wondering what it’s all about, we asked two participants, Ike Shibley and Dawn Sarig, to recap their journey for us. Follow along for tips, inspiration and a glimpse at what it takes to spark change and try something new.

Project You! Week #1 — The Checklist

✔ Pre-program InBody body composition screening
✔ One-on-one health and nutrition assessment with Dave or Sarah
✔ Jump start group meeting
✔ Myzone heart rate wearable assigned
✔ Myzone app interactive group chat live and ready
✔ Daily check ins with Sarah and Dave via Myzone app
✔ Workouts Of The Day (WOD) assigned

Project You!  Week #1 —  Q&A with Ike and Dawn

Body Zone: Why did you apply to be a part of Project You?

Ike: I honestly applied partly to work with Sarah because she was the first trainer I ever had and was the trainer that taught me the most. I’ve been able to work out on my own for the last decade because of the solid training that Sarah provided. Not all trainers want to make themselves ultimately irrelevant but Sarah excels at listening to clients and then being an incredibly patient teacher who corrects firmly, but kindly, and then provides suggestions for my own workouts until we meet again. Beyond Sarah’s expertise, though, I loved the description of the project — AND it seemed like a value! I figured I could use a bit of a kick in the butt to change my workout routine. I was in a groove, or was it a rut, doing cardio 3-4x/week and strength 1-2x/week. I thought that if I wanted to lose a bit of my visceral fat I needed to ‘kick it up a notch’ (to paraphrase Emeril).

 

Dawn: I have always wanted to try a trainer. I really want to get in better shape for my son’s wedding in December. I am a runner but would love to be a little faster. I workout all the time but I just never feel like I lose any weight and I cannot tone my stomach. I would love to decrease my body fat and I would love to try something new.

Body Zone: It’s the end of your first week. How did it go?

Ike: I wanted to kick some serious butt this week. I wanted to get my strength done early so that I could then get to the WODs later in the week. On Wednesday I burned close to 900 calories. That’s a ton for me. BAM!

Dawn: My first week was great! I did all of my prescribed workouts. This program has forced me to go to the gym. Also, I knew that I needed 30 minutes of cardio yesterday — per our plan, so I jumped on the stepper. I loved that I could watch my heart rate via my Myzone app.

Body Zone: Did the program push you to try anything new?

Ike: I wanted to try two different group fitness classes because I rarely do exercise in groups. I did SPRINT on Tuesday afternoon with Kathy and it was intense. HIIT has become a well-researched fitness regime that delivers quality results quickly. I like the idea of that. I pushed myself but probably held back a bit because I didn’t quite know what to expect over the course of 30 minutes. Next week I’ll be able to burn even more calories in half an hour. The WODs that Dave created are new and fun. The other group members seem to be enjoying these workouts a lot. We all communicate via the MYZONE app.

Dawn: The weight workouts are new for me. I am loving the Workouts Of The Day (WOD) — totally new for me as well. I’ve always wanted to try these workouts but didn’t know what to do.

Body Zone: Any feelings of accomplishment so far?

Ike: Using MYZONE has been fun. I like being able to see my heart rate and to measure my calories. I still don’t want to monitor my diet: my basic dietary philosophy is from Michael Pollan who wrote “In Defense of Food.” Here’s his rules: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. I make healthy meals without worrying too much about calories. I eat a variety of foods in moderation. Knowing my calories burned helps me gauge how much I’ve worked in a given week. Knowing that it takes almost 4,000 calories to lose a pound of fat, I like seeing the calories I burned so that I have a better sense of whether I’m going in the right direction, weight-wise.

Dawn: I’ve always worked out on my own — I’m a runner. I love the feeling of learning new things and having a challenge. It inspires me.

Body Zone: What are your goals for next week?

Ike: I think next week should result in less pain in my muscles. I was pretty good this week except right across my upper back. The ring rows were a killer because I don’t ever do them — thanks Dave! I do think I have a better sense of how much I can push myself so that I can work even harder than I did this week. I’m a bit concerned that as the novelty of the program wears off I’ll start to slack but hopefully being aware of the potential decrease in motivation will help me keep an even more motivated attitude.

What is ultimately driving me right now is that at the end of four weeks I get to see my InBody results again to compare. I’m hoping to lose some visceral fat and gain some lean muscle mass in both upper and lower body. I think the skills that I’m learning in Project You will help me to better utilize Body Zone’s various resources. Right now I kind-of come in, work out, and leave. I like that I’m connected more to the gym — to Alicia, to Chris, to Andre, to Dawn, and of course to Dave and Sarah. (Can I say that Dave and Sarah are truly awesome individuals — smart, caring, and even sometimes funny!) I like the camaraderie of group fitness and I may even start to incorporate more group classes in my fitness routine.

Dawn: I’m really looking forward to trying new things. Workouts that push me in ways I never thought possible. I’m hoping to be less sore. And since I’m going to be away, I’m happy that I can do my cardio component anywhere.