Fitness As Therapy

Sometimes fitness is therapy. Sometimes it's not about weight loss or working on the beach body. Sometimes it's about survival. It is, of course, the best stress relief. But also about keeping in a routine, one thing that you can count on to be there when everything else is completely upside down. In my fourth week of guest contributors telling their fitness story, Janel and Jerad Barnett, two of my strongest, most veteran, and loyal clients, tell you their story. A story about how fitness was their outlet when their daughter Ally was diagnosed with cancer. Jerad even remembered doing KM bootcamps in the hospital room while Ally slept when they couldn't make it to class, amusing the nurses and staff. It kept them sane. Thank you @janelbcpa for sharing your story!

When we started training with Kevin Manning back in 2008, our goal was just to get in better shape. What we didn’t know at the time, was that a storm was about to hit our family. In 2009, our oldest daughter Ally was diagnosed with leukemia. She would have to undergo nearly three years of chemotherapy. Ally spent many, many days and nights in the hospital. It became our second home. This can be extremely taxing on a family and can also take a large toll on a parent’s mental state. While many would use this as an excuse for inactivity, we became more committed than ever to getting our workouts in. We would trade times staying with our daughter so that the other spouse would make their session with Kevin or attend a weekly bootcamp. We made it a priority…at this point the workout became a time to let off some steam, fight the stresses, and above all the training became therapy for our minds. By keeping our bodies strong and our minds clear we were in a much better state to take care of our daughter. In the nearly eight years we have trained with Kevin, I can count on one hand the number of times we have had to cancel. We are committed. Thank you Kevin for continuing to make us strong, both mentally and physically, and never letting us give up on our goals. And thanks to God that our Ally is now a survivor!