I had been working out for many years, starting with swimming to strengthen the muscles of my back. I had soliosis surgery at age 14 and in my 20's I started having severe pain. My doctor then said, more surgery or try exercise. Well, I was, up until that point, a dedicated coach potato and heavy smoker, so this was kind of a major mental shift for me but I began my swimming twice a week and I started to feel so incredible that I added aerobic tapes twice per week. All of this eventually led to quitting smoking and starting my workouts in a gym. I became one of those gym rats, you know, a permanent fixture in the place. A few years later I underwent fertility treatments and became pregnant with twins. I was put on immediate bed rest. So, 7 1/2 months and 80lbs. later, I had my boys and was thrilled, exhausted, but thrilled. At their birth, I instantly dropped the first 40lbs. but the remaining 40 took quite awhile to drop since over the 7 1/2 months spent mostly in bed, you can imagine where my muscle tone was. Anyway, I worked and worked and the weight came off. After reading about Cathe in Fitness magazine, I tryed one of her tapes and thought, oh my goodness, I'll never be THIS fit. But I kept at it. Over time Cathe's encouraging personality and that way she can make you feel like you can do anything, I became good at her tapes. This gave my the confidence to do something I never would have dreamed of doing before. I decided to try getting certified to teach aerobics myself. I've always felt that I was never going to be good at anything, but somehow mastering Cathe gave me the strength to go for it. I got my certification and have been teaching for a few years now. I also eventually had to have further back surgery this past January, but thanks to my fitness level, I recovered in record time. I firmly believe that Cathe Friedrich and her confidence in us, got me to a place where people actually think I'm an athlete. Me! Thank you for listening to my story