We chose to feature Sandra’s amazing story on our website because her story is a story of an amazing women that is a mom (TOUGH MOTHER), house-wife, business professional and super athlete all at the same time, and one that most people whether female or male can relate to when it comes to joining a new club and doing something new with new people.
If you would meet Sandra in real life you would have no idea what this woman is capable of, her mental ability and her physical ability are tops.
Both myself and Anna trained Sandra for over a year at our gym where she demonstrated having the most important things anyone requires who wants to exercise and become fit, that is a drive to become better, mental toughness to keep going and routine.
Sandra now competes in adventure races one after the other like they’re going out of style! She’ll be doing Tough Mudder one day and Spartan Beast the next day.
I’ll let Sandra tell you about her fitness journey with us below:
A friend talked me into trying Cavemantraining at the gym of Taco and Anna. After looking at the website and reading the class description, I agreed to do it, but was extremely apprehensive. I’m 164 cm tall and weigh 48 kilos–not the biggest or strongest person around. I was also 41 years old at the time and had had 2 kids, my youngest being only 1.5 years old. Not exactly in my peak years. I was nervous about starting the class–so nervous that I was sick to my stomach for a few days prior to starting the class.
Since I’m small, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to lift the weights or keep up with the others in class. After seeing the trainer’s (Taco) photo on Facebook, I was worried that he might be too hardcore and intense for me. I thought that he might ignore me because I was small and I couldn’t keep up with the more fit, stronger people in the class. I was worried that the class was going to be full of hardcore, intense people that thought I was in over my head.
I got to the class and I was so nervous I thought I was going to vomit. What got me through that first class was realising that I could actually keep up, I was able to lift the same weights for most of the class, and I was able to do the exercises that everyone else was doing. During class, if I couldn’t lift a weight properly any more, Taco would just bring over a lighter one without comment, without making me feel bad. He had an excellent way of pushing me without making me feel bad about myself, or making me feel defeated like I couldn’t do it. He wasn’t intimidating or too intense, and he treated me the same as anyone else, encouraging me to push just that little bit more without yelling or putting me down.
What kept me coming back was realising that I could do it, I could keep up, and not everyone in the class is super fit and hardcore, like I assumed. There is so much going on in class that the other people in class don’t have time to watch and judge you either! I also realised that you don’t already have to be fit to do the classes, we’ve all got to start some where, and the trainers are there to get us fit.
A friend talked me into trying Cavemantraining at the gym of Taco and Anna. After looking at the website and reading the class description, I agreed to do it, but was extremely apprehensive. I’m 164 cm tall and weigh 48 kilos–not the biggest or strongest person around. I was also 41 years old at the time and had had 2 kids, my youngest being only 1.5 years old. Not exactly in my peak years. I was nervous about starting the class–so nervous that I was sick to my stomach for a few days prior to starting the class.
POCKET ROCKET SANDRA IS BOSS
She weighs just 48kg but it didn’t take 43-year-old Sandra McGinnis long to earn the respect of trainer Taco Fleur from The TOUGH Spot gym in Albion.
“She’ll beat the blokes at burpees and even tyre flipping. Sometimes the guys lag behind about a lap or so and she’s just going, going, going.” he said “They have a good laughabout it but inside, I guess they feel like they need to push themselves a bit harder next time.”
Sandra admitted she felt like vomiting before her first class. But she excelled, and now encourages other woman not to doubt themselves. “Just look at me and see how small I am and I’m able to do it. If I can do it, other people can too.”
Taken from City North News Thursday, February 6, 2014
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