This isn't going to be a quick review so before I go off and write my novel about how grateful I am for Brandee, let me sum it up by saying she is truly one of a kind - YOU SHOULD HIRE HER.
I found Brandee after moving to Los Angeles from New York. I have never been someone who exercised, mostly because I have a number of pretty severe physical limitations, but when I moved from NY I struggled with how sedentary LA life is. In New York you walk 5 miles a day or more just getting around the city. I discovered that in LA if you don't make time to exercise you can walk as little as 500 steps in a day! It was a difficult transition. I sent messages to a number of personal trainers in the LA area, explaining my limitations/medical history and describing the trainer I was looking for and Brandee was a perfect match. She was in fact the only one who was excited about working with someone like me. I have no idea where I would be without her.
You see I have misshapen joints, I am missing ligaments and cartilage and am also just straight up missing a bone. I am a mess. I can't run. I can't do squats or anything that puts any amount of strain or torque on my knees, and my ankle doesn't bend past 90 degrees. I can walk (which I like), I can swim (which I dislike), and I can work with Brandee (which is saving my life). That's about it.
I like to call her the anti-trainer trainer. When I close my eyes and picture a trainer I either get a muscle man in a tiny tank top that takes fitness WAY too seriously and is kind of mean about it, or I get a woman who weighs 100 pounds soaking wet, who thinks she knows everything and is gleefully condescending. Brandee isn't any of those things. She is vivacious for sure- super intense personality, but she is encouraging without babying, she listens, she is thoughtful, and she works really hard to make exercise work for you - whatever that means to you.
My experience in the past with fitness people- trainers, pilates instructors, yoga instructors etc.. is that they are either too bubbly, too hippie or too hard ass and most of the time they think they know more about the human body than they actually do. This has resulted in injury for me and a whole lot of frustration. After the last pilates instructor I had, even with the modification she gave me, I ended up spending 6 months in and out of doctors appointments recuperating. I have NEVER had that experience with Brandee.
The thing about Brandee is that she got into training after her own medical trauma. It was for different reasons, but we actually share a condition/symptom called foot drop. Because of her experience, Brandee is THE BEST at finding ways to make exercise work. She never pushes me to do something I can't do. She encourages me to listen to my body. She is super creative about coming up with exercises that work muscle groups that I wouldn't normally be able to work otherwise. When she doesn't know something or is unsure, she admits it and then researches whatever it is an comes back to me with solutions. On top of all of that she is flexible, affordable and you don't even have to leave your house! Its been over a year now and I just can't imagine life without her. read more