Everyone starts their fitness journey at different points in their lives and for different reasons. For Malcolm, it was in his late 50s, motivated by his daughter’s engagement.
“My older daughter was getting married, and I had to get fit for the wedding!” he says. “So we came up with these great slogans like, ‘Sweating for the wedding.’ I wanted to lose weight, I wanted to increase stamina, I wanted to look decent in pictures.”
That was how his journey began, and almost two years later, he’s more dedicated to his health than ever.
Early results
When asked if he met his goals for the wedding, Malcolm says, “My stamina has gone up greatly. My strength has improved a lot. I sleep better. I feel happier. And the wedding was wonderful. It was a 16- or 17-hour day and I was fine the whole time.”
Roughly a month later, Malcolm and his wife held a local party to celebrate the nuptials with a larger group of around 200 guests. “I had full energy to do that,” he says. “And that was an even longer day. So I’m very, very happy that Anytime Fitness has helped me — you might say — recover my life.”
Readjusting a lifelong mindset
When Malcolm was growing up, his father downplayed the importance of exercise. “He felt like if you just did the work you did every day — home repairs, yard work — you didn’t need the gym. So I had this idea that exercises and gyms were just elitist mindsets. And that’s total fiction!”
Like many, Malcolm viewed the gym as just one more thing on an already busy and stressful schedule.
“When I was working — I was an elementary school teacher — it was a very stressful job,” he explains. “I couldn’t get to the gym as much as I wanted. And I didn’t appreciate how much coming to the gym could actually relieve that stress. It really is relaxing to do a vigorous workout and then just let it all go.”
His advice for those who second-guess going to the gym? “Free your mind of preconceptions and allow things to come to you. Once I started to give myself permission to let other ideas come in about what fitness looks like, what exercise looks like, then I was opened up to so many possibilities.”
A magical symbiosis
When it comes to personal training, a trusting relationship between trainer and trainee is important. For Malcolm, his connection to his coach, Katy, is everything.
“I cannot say enough about her,” he explains. “To be completely blunt, I think if I had been with any other trainer over these past two years, I probably would have moved on. She’s always pushing in a super friendly, supportive way, and she knows that I can do more than I think.”
Malcolm and Coach Katy work together for an hour twice a week at AF Brodheadsville, PA. “At the beginning, a half-hour was such a struggle to get through,” he says. But with Katy’s support, encouragement, and tough-love approach, one hour flies by these days. “I’m always like, ‘Ah! I want to do more!’”
Malcolm has had surgery on both shoulders over the past decade, so there are times when he isn’t able to perform a movement or exercise. “There’s never a session where Katy wouldn’t ask how the shoulders are doing. If something didn’t work, she’d modify it. She always addresses where my aches and pains are, where my tension is, and how I’m doing with each exercise.”
But the true key to their success is that it’s fun. “There is a kind of magical symbiosis with it,” says Malcolm. “I’ve gotta say, over the hour, we’re probably laughing 20 minutes of it. It’s just so fun.”
The feeling is mutual for Coach Katy. “I am so thankful I am his trainer,” she says. “He is an amazing person and works just as hard as he is awesome. Malcolm is on his way to greatness and this is just the beginning of what he is going to achieve. We train hard but sometimes laugh harder.”
Looking to the future
Now that the wedding is over, Malcolm’s motivation and goals are focused on always improving, whether that’s in small or big ways.
“I train because I want to be healthier, live long, live in a stress-free mindset, I want to lose some fat, maintain the muscles, have good posture, good stamina, good strength,” he says.
To measure progress, Katy and Malcolm use the Evolt 360, a full-body composition scanner that goes beyond just measuring a person’s weight in order to give a more holistic picture of someone’s overall health.
“She’ll go through everything with me,” Malcolm says. “If everything isn’t necessarily going in the right direction, she’s so patient with me. She’s like, ‘Ok, we’re going to get better!”
What’s next for Malcolm?
“My wife and I are getting ready to do a baseball tour through the Midwest, and I’m pumped for it,” he says. “I know I’m not going to have any issues running up the stands and all, because I feel healthy. And honestly, I couldn’t say that a few years ago.”
If Malcolm’s story inspires you to start your own fitness journey, find a gym near you and start creating healthier habits today!
