If you are keeping a checklist, there is a big one at the top for two people working to achieve their fitness goals.
Cindy Barnes and Chris Eustace both set those goals as of Jan. 1, a New Year’s resolution if you will, and despite the more than 80 per cent odds they would not continue with their programs, the two have soldiered on and are looking at the next six weeks to see what happens next.
Barnes said she has been dedicated to the program and worked hard over the six weeks and has noticed some changes.
“Just in clothing alone, there is a tremendous difference for me,” she said.
“My endurance has also come up. There is a huge improvement there.”
She added that she has made the commitment to come to the gym three times a week, gets there early and does what she is scheduled to do. She has even changed her lifestyle at home by setting an alarm for when she is working and, when it goes off, she gets up from her desk and goes for a walk in order to keep her energy building and program intact.
“I have been a good girl,” she said, laughing. “I am here on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. I am more regimented and I think having a set routine is helping me get where I want to be.”
She said her hiccup in fitness has always been running, and getting going on that portion of her routine has been tough.
Barnes said she is a walker, not a runner, so this activity is outside of her comfort zone.
“She is grumpy, but she does it,” personal trainer Chris Hammond of Good Life Fitness interjects while throwing her a glance and a grin.
“I’d like to see if I can succeed a little better with it. Chris has been pushing me and I have been working with another girl, Lisa. She has gotten on (the treadmill) with me and pushed me to keep going,” Barnes said.
Staying on track
“Cindy have been coming in regularly and generally gets here half an hour before my session,” Hammond said.
“She gets in lots of stretching as part of her warmup and she has told me being on a schedule, and her change of diet, has given her great results.”
When Barnes started in January, she said she wasn’t going to be fixated on numbers, and she is still applying that principle, but in order to measure where she is at in the journey, she noted she has lost five pounds and six inches overall.
“Cindy has just entered a more high-intensity interval training (HITT) phase. She gets more reps, gets her heart rate up, designed for weight loss,” Hammond said.
“I also need to make sure she stays on track with her schedule and nutrition.”
‘Frontier’ of fitness
Eustace, who has different fitness goals than Barnes, has maintained the program set out in January of keeping him fit and on schedule to meet his goals as they apply to his overall fitness and ability to do his job more easily. He works for Parks Canada in the summer on projects that entail a vast amount of physical exertion.
In addition, he is working on the set of the TV series “Frontier,” which sees him on his feet for long periods of time in some tough terrain that requires strength and conditioning.
“Because he has been on the set of ‘Frontier’ for the past four weeks, he has missed some sessions,” Hammond says. “His schedule is brutal and we haven’t been sure when he is able to work out. We want to make sure his mobility and strength is still good.”
Hammond says Eustace enjoys what he is doing and still works out two or three days a week.
“We are about to enter into more of a strength phase. We will be doing three to five reps based off of his maximum lifts. We will be doing explosive movements and reps with greater weights.”
Eustace knows what he has to do and what has held him back somewhat, but is ready to get back to work.
“I have been a little bit shaky because of my schedule,” Eustace said Wednesday prior to his workout.
“I’ve done what I can right now based on the plan Chris sent me. I have been doing it at home by myself,” he added, noting he is not exactly where he wants to be at this stage, but he realizes the fault is his.
“Life gets in the way sometimes. ‘Frontier’ wraps up next week and then I can get back to working out properly,” he said.
“I just want to feel good. I missed some time and I know it will be a relief to get back to working out. I would like to be a bit bigger, not a bodybuilder, but would like to look like I work out.”
NOTE – The Telegram will do another update on the fitness goals of Barnes and Eustace on March 29.
