Recapping my experience training at Art Fitness gym is something that is actually pretty difficult…read more Difficult because, truly, I do not know where to start. But I guess the best place to start are the days leading up to my first session. I was in the beginning weeks of my senior year of high school, and all throughout my first three years, I was just a quiet kid. I did not always say much, and because of this I did not have many friends. I struggled with this a lot because my personality is NOT quiet or shy in any way. So, as I started senior year, I wondered why I just could not put myself out there, and be a social person.
One day, my parents asked me why I seemed sad or depressed, I told them. My lack of confidence as a person had been holding me back these past years, and because of it I was not where I wanted to be in high school. I look in the mirror, and I do not like what I see, which leads to me just sitting in the back of classes, going home right after school, basically hiding.
I tell you this part of my life because, although it is sad, those days are gone. Within a week after telling my parents how I was feeling, I signed up for a personal trainer at Art Fitness. My first day there, I met the leader of the gym, Alisa Rose, and I do not know if she knows this, but she made one of the best decisions possibly ever made. She told me that she could be my trainer, but she thought I would do better with a different trainer at the gym, a younger guy named Byshi Watson.
That is a decision that changed my life. The next day I started at Art Fitness, training with Byshi, and truthfully I gained an older brother that day. As time passed, my body began to change for the better, I started gaining confidence, liking what I was seeing in the mirror. The rest of senior year I found myself being the social person I wanted to be, and that is the person I always knew I was. Nothing was holding me back anymore. The best part was, training and working out was not something I was dreading. In the past, every time I tried to go the gym myself, I just hated it. It was not fun, I felt like I was doing everything wrong, the minutes dragged by. At Art Fitness, I looked forward to working out. Byshi challenged me in a lot of ways, I had never been so sore, and I do not wish those sprints in the parking lot on my worst enemy! Even with the challenge, I enjoyed it so much, because the whole time I was truly just hanging out with a great friend, a big brother. Whether we were talking about music, or how much we hate Kevin Durant and the Warriors, we were always just having a good time.
Byshi is the best trainer I could have asked for. He wants you to reach your goals, and he shows you how to do everything you need to do. At college, I show some of my friends the exercises he showed me at the school gym. I learned so much from him. Not only did he help me improve my body through exercise, he taught me the right things to eat and drink on a daily basis. He gave a meal plan that made a huge difference for me and helped me lose weight. His knowledge of fitness and nutrition is something I could always count on, I felt like I could ask any question and get an informed answer.
I have stayed training with Byshi, three years later, and even though it is on and off as I attend college in New York City, Byshi is still someone I can go to with any problem in my life at any time. I could never really thank Byshi and the people at Art Fitness enough, training here changed my whole life. It made me into the confident person I always wanted to be, the confident person I am today. I will be forever grateful for that.
