Ly Fang Tran

I've never been overweight or a big girl but an episode of events and a conversation with another Vision client is what made me pick up the phone and dial a Personal Trainer.  A secondment at work (exciting and rewarding experience), I found myself eating at my desk and skipping my lunch time runs. A couple of months down the track, a girl's trip to food capital Melbourne saw my clean eating going out the window. Sleeping in, eating at irregular times and eating whatever the group was having, my body was suffering. I felt gross and repulsive. An incident not long after my trip had my knees and legs bruised and inflamed. The incident force me out of exercise for 2 weeks simply because I was exhausted and couldn't walk.

A combination of these events, I was 5 kilos heavier. I went back to yoga and started running again but I couldn't shake it off.  

Initial consultation. When I was told, I was going to be pulling weights, I was freaking out inside. "Me, lift?! Woah buddy, let's rewind, wait, did he just say weights?!". I'm a figure skater, a sprinter, not a lifter, I'm going to looking like freaking Arnie I told myself. What I have gotten myself into was another thought I had.

Weights were foreign to me, "I don't want to bulk" I would constantly protest, "you won't bulk" Kyle tells me. And he is right, I haven't. He is good like that, watering down any insecurities that I had.  

Since picking up resistance training I'm lighter on my feet and much fitter than my figure skating days and it's a credit to Kyle and the team.

My relationship with my legs hasn't always been peachy. Bless with legs that gym goer's dream of, for me I couldn't see what they saw. Almost every time I was at an event someone would say or make a comment about my legs or my butt.  I even had people off the street approach me about my legs, I kid you not. 

"Damn, you have nice legs"-  they say.
 "You lift don't you"- some guy would assume.

"So, what are you? hip hop or contemporary?" Dancers would ask. 
"Look at those quads!" Gym goers would preach.

"I'd' kill for pins like hers" I could hear her say. My favourite so far-

"So, like... what do you squat?"  They ask. 60kg PB I'd grin and I'm only 45kg I'd say with a smirk. 

While I have never been fond of my legs, trust me it's a love-hate relationship. My Trainer and fellow gym goers can attest I'm a picketer against any compliments made about my legs. I have come a long way. I can say, I've got legs and am starting to see what others do (baby steps guys- still learning to accept those compliments). My friends and colleagues have seen a change and difference in me and not it's just not the physical change. This change and difference you ask? I still don't know what that change is, but I know it's something different but a good different they say. I'd take their word for it. 

In the studio, Kyle (my Trainer) brings out the best in me. Especially on days I feel that I can't do another rep or when I'm swearing underneath my breath because I feel I'm at muscular failure and when I say I can't lift anymore but he says and knows I can. He has help me rediscover and tap into the talents I didn't know I had and has fostered my ability to do better.  A skipping challenge he proposed had me surprised that I could skip rope.  

Wondering why I couldn't do long distances, Kyle explained that the reason why I was a better at sprinting is because I had fast twitch fibres wired into my genetics (thanks mum and dad!) Who would have known I surely didn't. This made sense- aesthetically, if you stick me next to sprinter or dancer that's what I resemble (as oppose to a marathon runner). Resistance training at a slow pace is definitely a workout and challenge for me but I'm getting better. 

Also, a credit Kyle's marvel PT skills is that he had the faith me in, the faith in us, is he knew we could run a Spartan race. Obstacles, mud, burpees, barb wire crawls, sand bag carry, toblerone tunnels, burpees, hurdles, nets climbs, 4ft walls, more mud and did I say burpees- yeh those burpees. Kyle instinctively knew and reassured us that we could run a spartan when we had our doubts (he already knew we could do it even before we started).   

Spartan 20/17- 2hrs and 24 mins. Crunched my stats- ranking in top quarter in my division and category.  Boom! Spartan rookie no more.

The team and fellow clients at Surry Hills are a squad like no other.  Supportive, encouraging, understanding and mostly passionate. Passionate about feeling great (they too are looking incredible). These guys are an amazing bunch and could happily spend my weekend with them.   Less shy than I was when I started and a little more confident now and it's because of them. My new friends from the Studio are a rare breed. We lift, we squat, we run, we plank (while crying in pain) and we certainly don't shy away from a burpee challenge.

My eating hasn't changed that much, ok, I lie, it's my portion size that has. Oh, and I'm hungry all the time. Ask me how I'm going, Yeah, good and hungry is what you will get out of me.
I've always have been an eater and have mostly eaten well but the program has taught me a lot of nutrition, mostly about the relationship between fuel and performance in the Studio and of course our results. Diet wise, well not a one-eighty change. I no longer have toast for breakfast or pasta for dinner. It was only apparent when I decided to remove it from my diet I didn't feel sickly bloated or heavy (little did I know that wheat was wreaking havoc on my system). But I will have a little of it for special occasions just small doses. Other than that, I don't shy away from nut butters, sweet potatoes, dark chocolate or cheese but will be picky about the protein powders I consume (because we are all a bit precious about what WPIs, WPC or the casein we are having).  

Fat loss or a diet lifestyle change isn't a walk in a park. It surely won't happen overnight. But it is easier sweating it out in an environment where the culture is great. 

What next, I have some goals. Next 9 weeks maintain my 10% BF and Spartan 2018.