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As spring blooms, our bodies awaken from the winter slumber, often eager to engage in outdoor activities and exercise. However, with increased act...

Igor Anic is a professional Handball player for the last 15 years. He's 34 years old and a former French national player, world and European champion. He's currently living and playing in Nagoya, Japan.

He likes to share his life and experiences on social media. He uses Instagram and YouTube where he shares his journey about moving to Japan, living on the other side of the earth, and all the challenges his family and I are facing with coming from France and now living in Japan.

Julianne Hodges likes to participate in almost all things physical activity. She used to play softball, swim, golf, and cross country and now regularly exercise in a variety of different ways. Sports and fitness have always consumed a large part of her life and after she quit playing competitively, she had to shift to recreational and lifestyle fitness. She used to do a lot of running, swimming, and biking because that’s what she was comfortable with but within the last year, she’s taken up lifting and calisthenics while still doing cardio. She likes to participate in a variety of different training styles to prevent boredom, burnout, and to stay healthy overall. She's been able to build muscle while still being able to maintain a consistent running pace and flexibility. She thinks it’s so important to find an exercise that you enjoy rather than participating in the exercise you feel like you have to do simply because it works for others.

Luke Dulac performs with his Cyr Wheel. He started doing it when it became apparent that the pandemic and lockdowns were going to close gyms and conventional sports for an unforeseen amount of time making his traditional fitness routines impossible. He was spending more time online than before and at one point he ended up going down a YouTube rabbit hole where he found out about a Cyr Wheel. It is a giant steel hoop that is used for circus acts. You get inside it and spin around similar to how a coin spins on its edge when it is dropped.

As soon as he saw it, he knew that not only would it be a very intense workout and that he could continue to get stronger during quarantine, but also that it would be one of the few things that he would find more fun than pole vaulting. After a lot of convincing his parents, they have finally agreed to order the Cyr wheel. They ordered the wheel on Etsy. When the wheel arrived, they did some rearranging of the furniture. Their house had an addition put on and is bigger than it was originally, leading to a unique large open space. They cleared out this area of the house and it was big enough for him to do the wheel in. He's been using the wheel there ever since then.

Shannon Mackey is a personal trainer at Northern Illinois Combat Club and she also trains online! She loves helping her clients and she wouldn't trade this job for anything in the world. For her, being a fitness enthusiast not only helped change her life but others as well!

In her teenage days, she made sure she stayed very active. She was in track, cheerleading, and she took multiple dance classes from hip hop, Latin, ballroom etc. She didn't get into bodybuilding until she was in her early 20s. She met a great coach that saw potential in her right from the start. She always had a very high metabolism so it was easy to maintain her weight. She started doing bodybuilding competitions and she raised a ton of eyebrows instantly. With her very first competition, she placed 2nd taking home 2 trophies. This was such a huge highlight of her life. She was hooked on competing and wanted to win so after that she kept moving until her next show came. Next competition, she won! She placed first in Greenbay Wisconsin in 2020. She can't explain how happy she was to have this achievement.

The next thing she wanted to accomplish was passing a course for fitness instructing. She wanted to teach group classes aerobic dances. She went from various schools and gyms to teach elementary students and adults. Every time they came in, she just wanted them to enjoy themselves. For her, being fit is supposed to be enjoyable!

 

Kerry V. is a 38-year-old middle school counselor, mom of two, and an avid runner. She's been married to his best friend from middle school for almost 12 years and resides in Orange County, CA. She's been active her whole life growing up as a dancer and owning a fitness studio at one point, but running wasn’t on her radar until she got older. She hated running when she was younger and complained at any time and had to do it! But after she got married and knew they planned to have kids soon, she got the itch to run a half marathon. She loved it but vowed to never do it again because 13.1 miles is just way too far to run.

Fast forward 6 years later, she has given birth to both her kids and the idea of running another half marathon came into her head, but she wanted to do it faster than the last one.

She finished her first full marathon at the end of 2018 in 4:26. She's gotten her half marathon time down to 1:43 and her marathon time to 3:47, with her 5th full marathon coming up on 11/13 where she’ll attempt to BQ for the first time. The time goal for her age group is under 3:35.

 

Victoria Tapp is a NASM certified personal trainer. She's always been active. She grew up playing tennis, basketball, track, cheerleading, volleyball, etc. Once in college and graduate school, her athletic life slowed down like most. She needed to find something to keep her active and something that she also loves. That's where bodybuilding came into her play.

These days, she is traveling around the world a lot. Due to that, she only does online training now. It is a blessing for her to be in this digital age. She's able to obtain more clients and work with people from all around the world. She's also pursuing fitness modeling which is her other passion.

 

Andrew Khaw's sports are Rock Climbing, Ninja Warrior, and Baseball. His accomplishments are making it to Australian Ninja Warrior and winning his very first rock climbing competition. He watched Ninja warrior with his family each year and trained for it, and given the opportunity to compete in it.

He decided to compete in his first Rock climbing competition without any expectations and he ended up having a blast and taking out the gold medal.

Baseball was the first-ever sport he played and still loves it. It has helped him with his life when he needed a bit of a reset.

 

Miranda Maverick is a UFC fighter. She fought in the flyweight division that is 125 pounds, and right now, she is ranked 14th in her weight class in the world. She's been fighting for about six years. She started Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) about 7 1/2 years ago. When she started BJJ, she's almost 17 years old and grew a passion for it in just a couple of weeks. That is also when her MMA journey began. She's now a multiple world champion in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and currently a brown belt. In MMA, some of her key accomplishments are turning pro before she turned 19, winning the Phoenix series 2 tournaments for Invicta FC, which was three fights in one night, & finally making it to the UFC after many hardships and times of feeling lost or hopeless

 

Nikki Bowman is a self-proclaimed athlete and women's nutrition specialist. She loves all things related to fitness, food, and spirituality. Growing up as a kid, she didn't always have the best approach to a healthy lifestyle and as a result, she struggled with many body image issues. When she was 13, her dad introduced her to the gym and began taking her on the weekends with him. Instantly, she fell in love with how weight training made her feel and how it was beginning to change my body. She also began to look at her nutrition more closely and educated herself on the constituents of a good diet so she could support her training. By 15, she made up her mind that the health and fitness field was where she belonged and where she should establish her career. She achieved her Bachelor of Science in human nutrition from the University of Guelph in 2018 and currently working in a health food store where she assists customers with nutritional guidance and supplementary support. She loves her job because it is so rewarding to help someone find empowerment in their own health. According to her, it also allows you to see the incredible impact that good nutrition and natural health supplements can truly have on one's life. She hopes to continue building her knowledge of nutrition and eventually open her own practice to assist individuals who may struggle with their body image or who wish to improve their relationship with food and exercise as this is a matter very close to her heart. 

 

Tara Jenkins is from Melbourne and has been in the health & fitness industry for the past 8 years & has been a high-level athlete since the age of 10.

She began her fitness career in track & field. She traveled all over Australia competing in 400m, 800m, discus, race walking & the odd pentathlon. She realized at the age of 10 that if she works really hard at something & dedicates herself to it, she can go places & achieve some great things. This cemented her mindset in life & still has that same work ethic to this day.

Once she became tired of track & field, she learned Gridiron & bodybuilding simultaneously as they complemented one another. She represented her state as a full back & running back & also gained sponsors within the bodybuilding industry as her athleticism & physique were in good shape to help promote these companies.

Towards the end of her gridiron career (she was about 28), she dived headfirst into CrossFit as she loved that it was so hard and there's so much to learn. She became obsessed with getting fitter, stronger & perfecting the movements. She focused all of my energy on becoming a better athlete every day and by the age of 31. She also represented Australia in the CrossFit Games.

She has been working on her strength & mindset every day in my garage & holding back until we get it all clear and she can refocus on competing again.  

 

 

Ashten Buck is a previous gold-winning competitive bodybuilder. But then, she has decided to give up the sport for something that's a little more... slow. She realized that the prep work of the sport was putting a lot of stress on her body. The overtraining and undereating were causing her hormonal imbalances and chronically elevated cortisol. Over the last few years, she has been incorporating Pilates and HIIT training throughout the week. Slowing down with pilates did not overstimulate her nervous system, and the HIIT training keeps her blood sugars regulated for the week. Even though she doesn't physically feel like she's pushing herself to the limit, her body composition is the best it has been since her competitions.

She is a Naturopathic Medical Student and her daily life is very busy. She has 11-course semesters with practicals. Aside from school, she also works for Healthy Planet, doing product education and creating educational content for their social media. Pilates has become a saving grace for her because she can do them from the comfort of her own home and choose the length/intensity of her workout. In her downtime, she likes to spend it with her partner and her dog Maverick. They usually go hiking, camping, or just hang out at home and do absolutely nothing.