Client of Month Shoutout to Rick Jaffe!
“I didn’t care or think much about taking care of myself for a long time. Now, it feels really good to exercise. I like getting better, I like how it feels when I’m doing it right and everything is connecting.”
In Jan. 2010, Rick reached out to me to begin working out. Inspired by his wife Kim, who had been working out with me regularly for a few years already, Rick was ready to make a change.
At 52 years old, Rick was just a year younger than his dad was when he passed away of heart disease. Approaching age 53 was something Rick had always been a bit fearful of, and at 52, something really clicked—he wanted to get fit, lose weight and be healthy so that he could live a long, healthy life.
About six years before beginning personal training, in the midst of helping coach his son’s soccer team, Rick realized that he couldn’t really run a full lap around the track anymore. Having played soccer and basketball throughout his childhood and in high school, this startled him.
So he made the decision to start riding his bike to commute to work, telling himself that even if he had to walk his bike up the steep hill home, he wasn’t going to quit.
Fast forward to 2010, despite having continued biking regularly to and from work for about 6 years, Rick found himself about 30lbs overweight. He was ready to commit to making a bigger, more effective change.
As of today, Rick is down 30lbs, continuing to crush his goals, making huge changes in his health, and most importantly has a renewed outlook on the importance of and satisfaction from making his health a priority.
Rick had an incredible year in 2017, winning our 8 Week Clean Eating Challenge in the spring, as well as taking third place in our burpee challenge in March 2017. He has continued to progress, consistently attending classes in addition to his personal training sessions.
“With the cleanse [Clean Eating Challenge], I really changed my diet and really started hearing what you had been telling me. I have become way more intentional about eating, and not just taking seconds because it’s there. I try to have healthy snacks on hand so I’m never starving. It has become so much easier to make healthy decisions and be in control.”
Over the past 8 years of working together, Rick has stayed committed to his health and fitness, with a couple frustrating setbacks from injury, but overall persevered and stayed on track.
“This time has been different. I am and have been inspired by Kim [wife]. I am inspired by watching other clients get stronger and do awesome things. You have continued to support me. You know how to push, but you listen and adapt. You always have a plan of what I can do, and you continue to motivate and inspire me. I see you [and Pascha] push yourselves, like doing the Tough Mudder, which is inspiring. You walk the walk.”
This 8 year and growing relationship with Rick has been an awesome journey to be a part of and witness. I have seen such an incredible amount of growth, perseverance, and commitment from him.
I’ll leave you with this quote from Rick, because it truly brings the biggest smile to my face, I’m so proud of him. “I have learned to turn off the internal critic. I have stopped caring if I was the weakest or slowest or if I had to walk my bike up the hill. And now, when I finally take a moment to look up and see where I’m at, I’ve surprised myself….I feel strong, and really feel like I am sometimes right up there at the top of the class. And it feels really awesome.” This folks, this is what it’s all about.