I view my body in a positive light again

I had been undergoing treatment for my unanswered desire to have children. This was a hard and painful process, which had negatively influenced the way I perceived my body. I wanted to get off the couch and experience what I could do with my body. These desires led me to Stronger than ever, where I started working with Martijn.

During the intake, we talked extensively about my desires and my experiences that had led me to be disappointed in my body. By now I feel good working with my body in a positive manner. Martijn looks at what the options are, and there is room for both sadness and humour.
Since then, a miracle has occurred; I got pregnant! Now I have a new goal, to stay fit during my pregnancy!

Suzanne
Nurse

Lost 66 pounds – from Obese to Athletic.

After being heavyset basically all my life, I made a change 2 years ago. I was tired of having to lug around all those extra pounds, and despite playing football 3 times a week, I wasn’t feeling fit, and I was pretty heavy. Through the gym I was training at, I ended up with Martijn, and we immediately got to work. I didn’t have to think about it for long, and I saw it as a challenge.

We agreed to start with one session a week, and later on in the year it became once every two weeks and then once a month. We started with the basic exercises, and then combined them with more advanced exercises. After several months, I had lost over 30 pounds, and after a year, that number reached 66! People were always asking what I was doing, and I was being showered in compliments.

The combination of a weekly dose of strength training with Martijn and my changing food patterns eventually led to spectators at my football club telling me I was flying across the field. For someone who’s always been heavyset, that’s the best compliment imaginable.
I’ve reached my goal, lost 66 pounds, and I never want to go back to the way I was. Martijn showed me that you can achieve anything, as long as you make a clear plan and think ahead, step by step. An important personal achievement for me, apart from the weight loss, is running the Leiden 10k. A year ago, that would never have been an option.

And of course I set my girlfriend up with Martijn as well, and she’s had a flying start.

Thanks!

Jeffrey
Nurse

 15 lbs weight loss in 10 weeks

Over the past ten weeks, I’ve lost 15 pounds, and when I’m sitting on the couch I can see what I’m doing when I’m tying my shoelaces, I no longer have to go by touch.
For several years I’d been planning on working on my fitness, endurance, measurements etc., but thankfully I kept finding an excuse not to. My physiotherapist once gave me three personal trainers’ addresses, because I was convinced that without that extra push I would definitely give up, and probably never even start (which I had proved so far…). But the note with the names and phone numbers was now crumpled up and unreadable, lying between the socks in my gym bag. In late January 2017 I’d had enough and asked her for the names again.

I told myself to ‘stick with it this time’ and called Stronger than ever on a Monday. I could have my intake on Tuesday, and the first appointment to really get started was the Monday after. I had explained to Martijn during my intake that I’d rather die than do ground exercises and hated well-intentioned cheerers-on on the side lines (the ‘three more, two more, come one, you can do it, one more’ types). Once I got home, the phone rang: it was Martijn, telling me I could come over and train right away, and that this Saturday, we could do a ‘very early morning’ session at 7.00. To this day I am not sure if that session was purely meant to test my motivation.

By now, after twenty sessions, I’m doing ground exercises (thankfully he didn’t turn into the side line type!), and without complaint! I have muscles in places I didn’t know there were any. I do challenging exercises in the gym (the fact I ended up there makes my old college mates snigger; when they were working on their health and fitness in a similar place 45 years ago, I was always making fun of it).
I always go, no matter the weather, I cycle to my training hour at the most impossible times. No, I even go half an hour early. And what’s more: I’m happy to do it, to the amazement of my lifelong girlfriend, who gave up getting me to exercise 35 years ago. Over the past ten weeks, I’ve lost 15 pounds, and when I’m sitting on the couch I can see what I’m doing when I’m tying my shoelaces, I no longer have to go by touch.
Try it for yourself! I am dedicated to my possibly out-of-reach goal, which Martijn tells me is achievable.
Tom
Retired dentist