Leonie is 41 years young, works as a primary school teacher, and played korfball and swam in her youth but had to stop due to various injuries. Her hobbies (currently) include walking; she goes on long hikes four times a year (unfortunately, this is not possible at the moment due to Corona) and also walks one or two times a week in the area around Rijswijk and The Hague. Furthermore, she likes to spend her free time meeting up with friends, shopping, going out to eat (which I still do), reading, and watching TV. Read her story below about what she has achieved. A year and a half ago, a friend persuaded me to do a trial training session at HealthCoachPlus.
I have always been reasonably athletic, but after an Achilles tendon injury and a burnout, I gained a lot of weight and my fitness level was very low. Something had to change, and I wanted to do so with the help of a personal trainer. My main goal was to get fitter, gain more energy, and consequently feel better in my own skin. After a good conversation and the trial training, we made the decision and started working out. The first training sessions under the guidance of Personal Trainer I found Maarten tough. Tough because my fitness was really poor and my posture during exercise wasn't good either. After the trial training, Maarten asked what my goal(s) were, so that we had a direction to work towards. My goal was to go on a walking tour 10 months later, and to be able to go for the longest distance (18.5 km).
In addition to working out once a week at HealthCoachPlus, I also started walking more on my own every week. The first few short walks were quite an effort, but here too, just like with the training sessions, I noticed: the more often I did it, the further I could go, and the better it went. During the training, Maarten provides the encouraging and motivating words. He pays close attention to execution and posture during the exercises. Besides working out and the guidance I receive, I also use their LIJFSTIJL app. In this app, I could keep track of what I ate, as well as my exercise moments and other important aspects of my lifestyle. Additionally, you can schedule your workouts in advance and enter exactly what you did.
Scheduling it in advance ensures that you make an appointment with yourself, and that ensures you actually follow through, even if you don't feel like it at the time. It feels so good when you see that you are achieving results, but even better when the people around you notice it. In the beginning, I didn't see it myself, and it wasn't until people commented that my clothes were really too loose and I started comparing photos that I saw it myself.
I could feel it, but I still doubted if it was really true. I have achieved the result I never dared to dream of. Not only have I lost 22 kilos, but my fitness is much better, I enjoy working out more, and I am a lot more self-confident. The personal training sessions have made me feel more energetic, stronger, and fitter. That is why I have chosen to continue with the personal training sessions with Maarten, but this time with a different workout buddy : )
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