Alexis Reddig

It was actually a Jazzercise class that I went to, it was like New Year's Day of 2020. One of the instructors was talking about how she had stopped weighing herself and she was focused on how she felt in her clothes. How she just felt in the world. That resonated with me. I wanted to be stronger and feel good and feel like I could do things like lift my kids and go up the stairs with them or go on walks or whatever it would be without any issue. Like just feeling good, like I could do it. That has kind of stuck with me too. That idea of getting stronger and not worrying about numbers on a scale. It's hard for women to do that but after my daughter, I mean my core was really weak and that's one of the things I wanted to strengthen the most. And so that's what led me more to do weights. Yes, cardio is important. Yes, I can still lose some fat, but I wanted to tone up more than I wanted to just get rid of mass you know what I mean?

"Jazzercise is a great cardio workout. And I do miss that. I mean, it was fun too. But I just remember - I don't think that I was building as much muscle as I wanted, my stamina was getting better. Like I stayed at using five pounds for a long time.

"I'd already made my mind up before I came in, that I was going to sign up that day. I had a good impression. It was workable for my schedule and my budget, and it just sort of fell in line and it's been falling in line since."

My schedule was one thing that I wanted to factor in. And I wanted something more focused on me instead of like, group exercise classes. I think they're super fun. But I needed somebody to like, pay attention to me, and make sure that I was doing it right. Nobody corrects you in Jazzercise. So I wanted that attention too of just being able to get that correction, that feedback, ask questions, that sort of thing.

One night, I just looked up a bunch of places and sent the email questions to a bunch and just waited for people to contact me back. I just decided in my head, I was like, I need to do something. And I felt good. Like, okay, I'm going to do something different. I'm going to get myself on a schedule to work out, I'm going to get my body in better shape. This is like, such a cliché thing to say, but I do want to be able to move when I'm older. And I want to be able to do fun things with my children. And I want to do fun things for myself. So I need to take care of what I have.

I was pretty open to everybody's model, but that's me being the kind of person I am. My interpersonal experience with whoever I talked to also weighed in on that. One place, which was, I guess, is like really popular and everything, the explanation of what they had to offer was just so quick and rushed and like, okay, bye, you know. Like, I only have 10 minutes to talk to you. And that's fine. I understand people are scheduled to the brim. That's just the kind of world we live in, I guess. But I just didn't feel like I'm coming to you for attention - And you can't even give that to me on the phone for very long. It just kind of turned me off.

You contacted me, and you kept in contact, and everybody else was falling off. I was waiting to see if the YMCA in Fulton would have a spot for me. It took like a week and a half to two weeks for her just to tell me that she was too booked up. And that kind of like irritated me. My time is precious. You told me about the trials again, and stuff so I was like, let's give it a shot. Why not? So I could sit here in research all day long, this place that place, or whatever, but I was just ready to make a move. And the other places were not. There was one other place that was in the running for sure - But he did kind of poopoo Beyond Meat, which is one of the vegetarian meat options. It's probably not the healthiest version of whatever. But neither is a lot of the food that we eat. And I did appreciate that you refer out to professionals (dietitians) who are trained and educated in that area.

I imagined it being challenging to fit it in, to be honest with you, time-wise, but I wanted to do it. Then I also had to commit financially because I could be spending that money and putting it into my kid's savings accounts that I opened for them. And then I had to weigh like, do I want to spend that money on myself? And I even talked to my girlfriends about it and weight options and stuff and just decided that I want to do it because I wanted to get stronger and feel better and kind of get abilities back after having kids. But my body is extremely different than it was back then obviously. All that I invest in my emotional health. So why not my physical health?

Alexis continues to grow stronger each month that she comes into the studio.

Some strength training highlights include:

• Squatting 135lbs for 6 reps on 4/25/23, up from 60 lbs for 6 reps on 11/8/22
• Sumo Deadlifting 155 for 3 reps on 4/25/23 after starting with 75 lbs for 8 reps on 11/4/22.
• Hip Thrusting 205 for 5 reps on 5/11/23 after Glute Bridging 95 lbs for 10 reps on 10/6/22.

More in her own words:

"I'm excited that I got two more negative push-ups out recently. Those were so hard for me, they intimidate me. The other day, I got nine in that first set. I was excited about that. I could feel - like I didn't immediately crash into the ground. That was definitely cool. Seeing my weights go up is cool. I've noticed just carrying my daughter in particular. It's just - I'll pick her up and she's just lighter. And I know she's not so you know, she's a growing girl, so I'm stronger. She's not lighter."

"You'll feel stronger. It's a relaxed and fun environment and time goes by really fast. You get the instruction that you wouldn't get if you were trying to do it on your own.

You'll have a good time here if you're wanting to work on strength. We have mostly women who I'm in class with. Somebody who's not looking for a gym. If they want a small studio environment, obviously this is a better fit rather than the big gym.

It works best for someone who can come in here, look and see what they're doing, do it, you can correct them along the way - they can ask questions along the way and then they get their stuff done and they're gone. It's better for people like that. And it seems like you have a lot of those people you have a lot of highly educated people that I've come across - not saying that you have to be highly educated but there seems to be a personality congruence between these folks that come in so they probably would like it better. It's cool to be together doing this." - Alexis