That day in January of 2001 was supposed to be one of the happiest days of my life, but it marked the start of one of the saddest periods I have ever gone through. My husband Mike and I had flown back to Indiana (where I went to graduate school) so I could defend my Ph. D. dissertation. When I called my parents to tell them the good news – that I had successfully defended my dissertation and was now officially “Dr. Leanne” – my dad told me that my mom was in the hospital. Less than two weeks after being diagnosed with cancer, she passed away at the young age of fifty-five. Our entire family was devastated, and I felt like the bottom had dropped out of my world. My mom and my husband were my two best friends, and she was taken away from us so suddenly. Eight months later, I lost my grandma, with whom I was also incredibly close, and I entered a downward spiral of depression.
I had been an avid exerciser ever since I was fifteen, when I first started attending Jazzercise classes with a friend. Having never been athletic, exercise was as much a form of stress relief for me as it was a way to keep fit. Throughout high school, college, and graduate school, I worked out at the gym on a pretty regular basis, but after losing my mom and grandma in 2001, I slowly began to put on weight since I ate to relieve my feelings of sadness and loss. The following year, a new job made it hard for me to attend the group fitness classes at the gym that I had always loved attending, and my thirties marked a gradual shift in my metabolism that meant I could no longer eat whatever I wanted to and still stay slim. In 2006, I made the commitment to start working out at home so I could fit in regular workouts again. I purchased a few workout videos, and felt like I was slowly getting back into shape.
In 2007, however, after returning from a vacation to Mexico, I noticed a photo of my husband and me that we had taken on our trip that made me do a double-take. It was
a photo of the two of us taken while we were standing outside a restaurant, but I looked so much larger than I had thought I was. I hadn’t realized just how out of shape I’d become over the past few years. Although I had been consistent with my home workouts, they didn’t have the intensity I needed to really see changes in my aging body, especially since my metabolism had slowed down so much as I entered my thirties. I was determined to kick things up with my workouts, and decided to order my first few Cathe workouts that summer.
I had heard of Cathe’s workouts from the Collage Video catalogue, but didn’t have all of the equipment I needed to buy them. Finally, that summer of 2007, I saved up some money to purchase a step and four of Cathe’s toughest videos: Muscle Max, Drill Max, Imax 3, and Body Max 2. I chose these four because they were rated on Cathe.com as the hardest videos in Cathe’s repertoire at the time. I thought I’d be up to the challenge – but almost died when I did the first one (Imax 3)! Cathe’s personality pushed me to work hard, and I loved doing her workouts so much that I looked forward to my daily sessions with her. It was like having my own personal trainer there in the room with me! I quickly added to my Cathe collection, and now have almost all of her DVD’s.
Most importantly, Cathe’s videos motivated me to pursue weight-lifting on a more regular basis. I had dabbled with weight training over the years, especially in my twenties and early thirties, but Cathe made me fall in love with lifting heavy. I’d always been a “cardio junkie,” but now I was more excited about doing weight work. Cathe’s workouts make me feel so strong, and they have completely transformed my body in a way that all my years of endless cardio never had.
When STS came out, I did one round of it and had great results. I’m now in the middle of a second round of STS, and have more muscle and strength than I have ever had in my entire life. I’m turning thirty-nine this August and look better than I ever have before. (As a side note, my husband and I first started dating the summer before we turned nineteen –so he’s known me for quite some time! — and he is always telling me that I look my best now.)
During these last three years, I’ve gained a wealth of knowledge from reading the posts on the on-line forums, and have made many friends there, too. Meeting Cathe in person at the August 2008 Road Trip was another highlight in my fitness journey.
Since I started working out with Cathe, I’ve gone down three sizes in my clothes, and now wear a size zero. For me, however, being fit and healthy is about more than just looking good and fitting into a certain size: it’s about remembering that life is uncertain, and that you have to cherish each and every day. Last month, my dad underwent cancer surgery, and, while he is recovering well from his surgery, it was yet another reminder of how precious life is. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of my mom, and I remind myself of how proud she would be of me for taking care of myself in healthy and long-lasting ways.
