Abstract
Emma is a recent high school graduate who interns at Kindred Collective and wants to work with children through play therapy. As her interest in health ticked up, she realized that something in her fitness routine needed to change. She was working hard, and was religious with pure barre but felt like she just had to keep doing more to see results. So she reached out to SSF for a mix of in-person and online personal training. The result? This is the most confident she’s ever felt. This is Emma’s story.
"This is the most confident I’ve ever felt. I’ve gone through so many different transitioning points working out but I didn’t see any change. With this, I definitely do."Emma Spratt-Plunkett
A Bit of Context
Emma is a recent high school graduate who was a part of the A+ program in high school at rock bridge. She’s going to attend MACC cost-free for two years before attending the University of Missouri. She hopes to get a master's degree in psychology and to minor in health and wellness because it’s a hobby of hers and she thinks it would be good to dive deeper into that.
"Getting healthy and stronger and setting myself up for success like my future self. I don’t want to deal with a lot of health problems when I’m older and I just want to make sure that I’ve got it down now while I’m still young and thriving. I just want that to be the main focus as well but also feel proud of myself and what I’ve achieved. Just personal goals like that and feeling good about myself." - Emma
Addressing the Problem
Emma attended Pure Barre religiously (4-5+ times per week) for a long time and has worked with a registered dietitian so she knows exactly what her body needs.
However, Emma was upset and felt like she was facing some problems: She felt like her fitness routine wasn't working and she had to keep exercising more and more to see results.
When Emma met with SSF founder, Steven Mack, she had just started working out with her brother at Wilson's but felt like she needed a bit more help.
"My fitness routine was not working. I was really upset and did not see any results. I was working really hard but I wasn’t seeing any change with bodyweight exercises and I was like so over it.
I remember thinking I needed to change it up - honestly the summer before. I felt like I had to keep going on walks and doing other stuff outside of bodyweight exercises at a place. That’s when I was like, I need to do something else. I considered it but I didn’t fully dive into it.
I didn't know if it was my body type or anything like that or hormones. I just felt maybe I needed to do more to see change or keep doing what I’m doing but add more to my workout in a day." - Emma
Why Simple Solutions Fitness?
Emma came in for a consultation knowing that she ultimately wanted to feel confident enough to workout at a gym. She just needed a bit more help.
"I picked this place because you work primarily with women. Being a teenage girl this is a really good place to start. I like the way you talk about everything. You talk with more logic and science. I notice other people, they all kind of talk the same way and say the same thing like lift weights and have protein but the way you approach it is completely different. You use a lot of science and knowledge that backs up things and I appreciate that." -Emma
How Emma uses Simple Solutions Fitness
"I work with you all primarily through the app you have and you send workouts to me. It’s basically online personal training. An online personal program that’s designed for my specific needs.
The only time I get confused is if I see 3 sets of 12. Do I do each side? I can shoot you a text or I can ask my brother if I’m with him at the gym. Little things like that come up but they’re so rare that I can't even think of them.
The videos really help. Making sure I’m doing everything right and maybe even having someone there to make sure I’m doing it right. Like having someone checking my form. Filming myself, making sure my form is good.
One of my problems was - I was very nervous about going to the gym alone. Just because I have a big fear of hurting and injuring myself. I want to be able to work out and work out on my own. Your program allows me to feel confident in myself just because it has all the videos, the steps, sets, reps, and even how to breathe. I don’t even have to think about it and that’s what I appreciate about it.
If I’m going to go to the gym, especially being a teenage girl, I don’t want to have to think about anything - I just want to do it. You transition into me completing all my workouts smoothly and effortlessly without anybody needing to help me out through it. I’ve graduated from needing people to work out with me to completely doing it solo. Just powering through it and not needing anyone's help. That was a big thing - I couldn’t go and do any of it by myself - I mean I could if I was at home, but I would get really nervous like, I don’t know where to go next but having something planned out makes the process so much easier. I like stuff being efficient, and easy and I don’t even have to worry about anything. I just go to the gym and look at my app and do it." - Emma
The Results
The positive results that Emma has noticed since she started working with SSF have impacted several parts of her life.
- "I'm not a big person on weighing myself because I can get caught up in it but there has been a big change. Not bad or anything but I'm surprised."
- "My body fat percentage has gone down a lot which I'm like shocked about. I can notice it doing bodyweight exercises."
- "I don't have to go to the gym every single day. I thought that before but that's not the case with weight lifting and I love it because I get more free time."
In short, SSF has helped Emma feel confident about herself and working out on her own without having to worry about what she's doing.
"I tell my friends - I did pure barre for a long time and I was religious with it but honestly doing this I’ve found more love for having a personal trainer than pure barre. Honestly, it’s so much better. I get to go when I want to go. I get to have something that keeps me accountable and I get to look at where I started like at the beginning of March - I’m doing the same exercise months later, but my weight has changed so much. I can lift so much heavier.
With pure barre, it gets so repetitive. I was doing it for so long and I got burnt out on it but this is actually fun. I can listen to the music that I want to listen to. I just do my own thing and I really like it.
That’s what I’ve been telling my friends because they all understood that I was a pure barre junkie and I’m now switching it up on them. They realize that I really like this and stuff like that and they realize that they should go with me." - Emma
What's Next for Emma...
"My next goals are to keep doing what I’m doing but just getting stronger, using heavier weights while making sure my form is correct and just to keep going from there. Learning how to do different things like what things mean in the exercise world.
This is the most confident I’ve ever felt. I’ve gone through so many different transitioning points working out but doing this I’ve felt the most confident just because I’ve actually seen stuff change and to me, I’ve never been able to see any of my change throughout just doing bodyweight exercises and stuff. I could have been lifting heavier in classes but I didn’t see any change. With this, I definitely do.
It’s complicated but after doing weight lifting I feel so satisfied with a workout that diet culture doesn’t come into my brain anymore. It doesn’t filter in because I know I’ve done a good workout." - Emma