.JPG)
The author, Will Garcia, early 2011
Although I have known of Arena Fitness for the last 10 years and of the amazing classes that they offer, I didn’t always go. At least not consistently! I’m talking maybe once or twice a year!!! Why, you may ask? Why wasn’t I going to a gym (free of cost) with knowledgeable trainers at my disposal to help me? Well, to be honest, I was just really lazy and stopped caring!!! Growing up, my brother (Arena Fitness owner Joe Garcia) and I were extremely athletic and constantly trained day and night. I suppose once I reached adulthood (21) I decided that I needed a break from training and for some reason decided to become a couch potato. Well, 8 years of sitting on your butt without exercising will do some serious damage to your body. Even though there were many times I would find myself being extremely frustrated and unhappy with my appearance and all around health I would for some reason resort back to being lazy with the feeling of “why bother?” I didn’t have the patience to commit myself fully to changing my lifestyle back to what it used to be. I had the long-term wants with the short-term goals. I was looking for a miracle pill or exercise.
A year into the journey and over 50 pounds lighter!
So, what finally clicked or drew me to want to start exercising consistently and turn my life around for the better? And, more importantly, why choose to go to Arena over some other gym? A few things, actually!
One, I saw over the years the type of close-knit community Arena was creating among their clients. The way everyone was able to joke around playfully with each other but at the same time motivate one another to reach whatever goals they had set. That no one was above or better that anyone else. They were all there for the same purpose, and regardless of whether you had been training there for a week or for many years, you were guaranteed to be inspired or inspire someone else to not give up and to work hard. I wanted to be a part of that. I, too, wanted to inspire others. To help turn their lives around and be active and eat right. To be able to tell someone with confidence that they, too, can do it. I was tired of looking in from the outside and wondering how or why these people felt like this and why I had been putting off that feeling for so long. Why was I torturing myself for so many years and feeling miserable when all I had to do was walk in through those doors at Arena, lace up my sneakers, set REALISTIC goals for myself, commit and say “hey, can I join?” It was that simple!!!
February, 2013: 75 pounds lighter, leader of the Adventure Racing Program and the top Arena Fitness finisher at the Live Ultimate 10k!
Secondly, RACES!!! For the last year and a half Arena has been participating in numerous races, primarily obstacle-course races! The classes and training sessions are designed to prepare you not only physically, but mentally as well. I was raised to be a competitive athlete, and a damn good one at that (just being honest here), so this appealed to me tremendously. I saw these races as a great tool to get me motivated to get back into shape. At first I started with a simple 5k. Afterwards I thought, okay, not bad! But I wanted more. I saw that certain race companies out there had different levels of races that challenged you more and more. So, I stopped thinking small and started thinking which races would challenge me the most to train hard and eat clean not only for a few months out of the year but would force me to do it year round. I didn’t just want to go out there and try these races, I wanted to go out there and dominate them at ALL levels. I wanted to be ready for anything at anytime. The classes and semi private training sessions at Arena embrace this philosophy to prepare anyone for anything which is what sets them apart from many other gyms.
After finishing the first of TWO Spartan Beast races last year!
I may have a biased opinion because my brother, Joe, is one of the owners and because now I am a personal trainer and instructor there, but I truly and honestly do think I would not have been able to do all the races that I do, or transform my body and mind as well as I did in such a short amount of time without their help. They consistently motivated me on a daily basis to eat right and to not give up. That, in time, the results will come and to not get frustrated with myself but to have patience. I think that’s the most important thing that I have learned. To have patience! Arena has changed me not because the trainers push me to do well, or the classes are challenging, but because the people there, clients and staff, genuinely inspire each other daily to train hard and not give up on their goals. Not a day went by that I wasn’t inspired or motivated by someone as soon as I entered Arena, for which I am forever grateful, and because of them I feel that the goals or challenges that I set will always be met!
Will Garcia is a personal trainer, group training instructor and Adventure Race Coordinator for Arena Fitness.
