Fit for a Change
Written by Michael Harris
There was one resounding statement the Fit For A Change contestants made following their final weigh in – “I feel better.”
After six months of competing and listening to their personal trainers bark at them to keep going, the contest is over. Jason Dalrymple, perhaps the one contestant who wasn’t bothered by a nagging injury, claimed the top spot.
“I’m not done yet,” says Jason, trained by Al Cardiello at Omni Fitness. “I want to keep going with my health and fitness so I can live a longer more fulfilled life.”
For others, injuries plagued them and limited them in their workouts, like the two herniated discs Stephanie Hannon suffered throughout the competition.
“I had that going into the contest but I just didn’t know,” says Stephanie who was trained by her husband, Blake, at Body Transformations in Clermont. “I was in a lot of pain after just giving birth eight weeks before the contest. I thought the pain was from just hanging around and not working out.”
Brian Walch, trained by Hemant Hariprashad from the National Training Center in Clermont, had double trouble during the contest. First knee surgery limited his workouts and then in April he was shelved due to being diagnosed with prostate cancer.
“The two surgeries really hampered me,” Brian says. “I wouldn’t have got through it if I didn’t have Hemant there telling me to ‘quit crying,’ ‘buck up,’ ‘you can do it,’ ‘it will get better.’ All those things he did to encourage me and to fight through.”
“Initially there was a lot of pain with the (knee) surgery and then with the prostate surgery it was the shock of, you know, someone saying cancer,” he added.
But to report, Brian confirms that he’s fine now and won’t stop training. In fact, he and his wife Debbie were going on a trip to China where he already scoped out the hotels and yes, they do have gyms.
For Dr. Michael Snyder, a bum knee and a cranky shoulder were the issue. He and his trainer, Heather Wyman from Leesburg Regional Medical Center’s Wellness Center, had troubles.
“These nagging injuries kept off the weights and off the program,” he says. “I had a knee and a bad shoulder that prevented me from working out with weights for almost two months.”
Kris Graham didn’t have any injuries, but his momentum was slowed when he had to change trainers for the last two months. He credited his new trainer, Bryan Baker, with giving him a jump start on his training regimen.
“When I started training with Bryan, everything really started coming off,” Kris says.
But in the end, the contestants all said they feel better and won’t stop until they reach their goals.
Pick up a copy of the August 2009 LAKE Magazine for the complete Fit for a Change contest coverage.
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