The health scare

As is so often the case, Judith’s amazing transformation started with a shock to the system.  “I had an appointment at the Doctors, and to my amazement he diagnosed me with Osteopenia.  It turns out that this is a condition which makes your bones thinner.  This scared me, especially as the next stage of the condition is Osteoporosis, a health condition that weakens bones, making them fragile and more likely to break.“

Judith takes action 

So Judith decided a change was needed:  “I wasn’t overweight but I wasn’t healthy either“.  With a bit of research, and some Doctors advice, Judith knew she could increase bone density with some strength training and weight bearing exercise.  “I knew I needed help with this.  I couldn’t afford to make a mistake and make my condition worse.  So I did my research and looked for Personal Trainers with the knowledge and expertise to make things better.  There was one name that kept coming up –  Mark Ames, the Founder of Pure Performance.” 

Mark’s assessment of Judith revealed a few key issues:  “We discovered that Judith had a high body fat percentage and very little muscle at all.  We needed to start with a phase of muscle building – not in the body building, hypertrophy sense but rather the lean, athletic muscle that would help us to do the strength work Judith needed to increase her bone density“.  

The fight back

So that’s what Judith did.  She turned up at the gym to do full body training four days per week.  She stuck to her nutrition plan and made improvements in other lifestyle areas – sleep, stress management and hydration.   “Judith came to us with zero weight training experience but she absolutely nailed her target – so much so that we were able to move on to the strength building phase ahead of schedule“.   

Armed with the lean, athletic muscle, Judith began work on building up her strength.  Mark explains:  “Strength training is using muscular force against resistance.  Muscles adapt to any type of resistance.  Studies show that by stressing your bones, strength training can increase bone density and reduce the risk of osteoporosis.”  So four times per week, Judith turned up for her training, working on upper and lower body split sets (Monday – upper body, Tuesday – lower body, Wednesday – rest, Thursday – upper body, Friday – lower body, weekend – active recovery).  

Nutrition was also key:  Judith wanted to put muscle on but she didn’t want to get fat as a result.  “I have always been a bit self conscious.  The most important thing for me was to overcome the Osteopenia but I wanted to be healthy and look great too.  Good luck Mark!”  Judith filled her diet with foods that heal, and dropped the junk food.  She drank plenty of water every day and took some vitamin supplements over a consistent period of time to boost her deficiencies.  

A happy story has a good ending  

There was icing on the cake for Judith too.  At the end of her 18 weeks, Judith did a photoshoot with a fitness photographer with Mark attending to support her: “We were just so thrilled for Judith.  She was faced with a really tough diagnoses and it says a lot about her that she decided to step out of her comfort zone and take really positive steps towards getting better.  I was amazed at her work ethic, she turned up to the gym in rain or shine and did everything I told her to do.  She deserves this win!”  

For Judith, the impossible was made possible:  “I look at those photos and still can’t believe it is me“. 

Judith – that is the real you – well done on your amazing transformation!