MEMBER OF THE MONTH : Kelly Long
How long have you been a member of Avenue Tennis?
I have been part of the Avenue Tennis team since the beginning. I'm the Marketing Manager for Avenue Tennis, so am a little embarrassed if I'm honest to have been nominated.
Tell us about your experience with your Personal Trainer (Chess Adams) and your wellness journey...
When we first opened the doors to Avenue Tennis, I was on a mission to get back in shape. I fell out of love with the gym a few years ago due to a lack of time and motivation. With the opening of our Avenue Tennis Gym, 2017 was supposed to be the year that all changed. However, that wasn't meant to be after a knee injury, back injury, a shoulder injury and then finally a severely sprained ankle. 2017 was a right off!
It all changed at the start of this year when Chess gave me some exercises to strengthen my shoulder as advised by our Avenue Tennis Osteopath, Christina. I hadn't trained shoulders or chest since November because of the pain, so Chess gave me a workaround. Due to this, my shoulder improved drastically, and I'm now pretty much back to my regular training. I decided to have Personal Training with Chess once a week, my holiday was looming, and I needed to make up for last year fast. I know I'm somewhat difficult to train, if there is an exercise I dislike, I will point blank refuse to do it. So burpees are a big no go! Chess pushes me way out of my comfort zone (without a burpee in sight) to a whole new level that I don't think anyone else could push me and somehow with a smile on my face. I never dread my Personal Training sessions with Chess, in fact, I look forward to our Thursday evenings. The massive sense of achievement I feel after each gruelling session pushes me to continue my training on my own.
Every few weeks I book a sports massage with Chess, to prevent injuries to avoid another year like 2017. Chess also looks at my training plan as a whole and has created a push, pull and legs routine alongside advising which and how many fitness classes to do each week. This way injuries are prevented, and I don't overtrain.
What is your next step?
My goal now is to lose a further 3% body fat, continue to build muscle and improve my overall strength and stamina.
Chess:
Kelly has been training at Avenue Tennis for over a year now, but at the beginning of April this year Kelly decided to start personal training with me. Kelly is the kind of person that if she wants something she will go and get it, however, Kelly felt she needed an extra push to reach her goals. I have now been training Kelly for around 3 months, and her results have been fantastic. She has dropped a massive 5.1% body fat and still managed to gain 1.3kg of muscle in our short 3 months training together.
Although personal training helps Kelly stay on track and keeps her motivated, another significant aspect of how well Kelly has done is down to Kelly changing her whole outlook on fitness. She works hard in the gym 6 times each week and take's part in Jacob's Monday morning Body Pump class, plus two Group Cycle classes. Kelly tracks all her calories and ensures she gets the correct amount of nutrients in her diet and drinks 4 litres of water daily.
Kelly also ensures she completes a minimum of 10,000 steps each day. And because Kelly's job is desk based she spends around 30 minutes on the treadmill walking at a steady pace to achieve that goal. I feel very proud to say I have helped Kelly along this journey and will continue to do so for however long she needs me. Well done Kelly, you’ve done amazing!
