November Member Spotlight: Amanda Latshaw

Like most dedicated Body Zone members, Amanda Latshaw seeks her daily time with a personal trainer and workouts on the training floor as a way to reinvigorate mind, body and soul. But 26-year-old Amanda Latshaw isn’t like most BZ members.

As a young adult, she was diagnosed with a swath of chronic illnesses and a blood disorder that make even the most mundane activities — tying shoelaces, walking stairs, or standing up — often painful and challenging. One of her chronic illnesses, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, or EDS, makes her susceptible to dislocations and hypermobility — all factors that make an otherwise healthy young woman like her prone to injury. But Amanda, who works everyday to help others as a play therapist (she’s also fluent in American Sign Language), doesn’t see her illnesses as an excuse to not go on with her day-to-day, or her life. In fact, she’s sought an ultimate refuge in working out.

When Amanda spends time staying active, she’s not only meeting her fitness goals, she’s achieving wellness, too. Even a short run can work wonders in relieving the chronic pain she deals with: Her workouts are equally about sustained pain relief as they are anything else. She works with BZ Trainer Emily Gordon twice a week on exercises that are specifically curated for her.

Emily’s prerogative is to ensure Amanda’s workouts are safe yet productive. No one workout is the same for her, as Emily makes sure she adapts workouts based on her current state and needs. She is always monitoring her heart rate, and checking Amanda’s form and technique to make sure she’s not hurting herself.

Emily and Amanda are truly in-sync when it comes to the trainer-member relationship. “She adapts to meet my health needs and my body’s limitations that often vary from day to day,” Latshaw told us in an interview. “She is an amazing trainer but has also become my friend and cheerleader.”

Amanda Latshaw is a truly remarkable member of our Body Zone community: There’s no question about that. But outside of the “gym,” she’s a rockstar. She’s a part-time swim instructor at Body Zone, working with children with special needs. And, last spring, she ran the Broad Street 10-miler and raised $800 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in her father’s honor. Her father was recently diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia, and she’s determined to take that head-on like she always does.

Her two biggest fitness goals to date? She’s two weeks away from hitting her “100th day of exercise/100 pounds lost” challenge — we will be celebrating with her on November 18! And she’s on a journey to complete a triathlon with the Leukemia and Lymphoma’s Team in Training Program.

Above all that she balances in life, her creed that keeps her going is most inspiring: Whatever it may be, “when your plan isn’t working, get creative and find a way to overcome the obstacle,” she says. “Just don’t give up.”