I first met Jeff Hall in July 2007 through a boot camp he runs in conjunction with a website I’d just joined called Healthy Body Club. The boot camps were advertised as being for all levels of fitness so, even though I was still fairly severely overweight at the time, I’d been going to a different gym (on and off, mostly off!) for about eight months and I thought I’d be OK. Boy, was I wrong about my fitness, and it took me about three minutes to realise it when even the brisk walk that we used for warm-ups sent my heart rate shooting up over 175bpm, partly through unfitness, but also partly through sheer terror at what I’d got myself into! Anyway, the boot camp didn’t really improve much for me from then on – it was incredibly hard. I coughed and wheezed for about an hour afterwards as if I had asthma (I don’t!), but I survived it thanks to Jeff taking things very easy on me.
Had it been any other trainer taking this boot camp, I am pretty sure I’d have gone running screaming in the opposite direction and never, ever gone back for more, because it wasn’t a very positive experience for me, but fast forward to two months later. My gym membership was coming up for renewal. I didn’t want to keep paying for something that wasn’t working for me. I was bored stiff with always working out by myself and I was extremely unmotivated, but I knew I had to do something before I regained the 17kg of weight I’d worked hard to lose. I visited several gyms in my area and none of them felt right, and only as an afterthought I visited Jeff’s gym, Hall of Fitness. This has turned out to be the best decision I could have made!
When I started at Hall of Fitness, I had never boxed in my life, nor done any exercise classes (other than water aerobics!). There was so much I couldn’t do at first, but Jeff was never anything but incredibly patient with me, helping me see that it was about doing the best I could do within my own limits. For the first three months or so I spent many, many hours simply riding an exercise bike because Jeff advised it was safer for me to do so because it would not impact badly on my joints the way weight-bearing exercise would have. I started attending boxing classes and, though I had been quite fearful about how I would handle them physically and mentally, found I could do them after all. Not only Jeff, but also his associate trainers such as Mandy were so helpful and encouraging, which in turn helped me to feel more relaxed and comfortable. More importantly, I started to see that exercise could be
fun! I’d spent most of my life loathing exercise and going out of my way to avoid doing it, but I enjoyed the boxing so much, both the exercise itself and the social aspect of exercising with others in a class situation. In a matter of weeks I started to see significant improvements in my fitness. At one stage, through my own inexperience with exercise, I sustained an injury, but even that did not stop my progress. Jeff was brilliant in helping me recover from the injury. His many years of experience in the PT field and qualifications as a masseur were absolutely invaluable.
While improving my fitness was certainly an important goal for me in joining Hall of Fitness, losing weight was the main outcome I hoped to achieve, and from the moment I started training with Jeff I have lost weight consistently, steadily and safely. My grand total stands at 41kg so far, 24kg of which I have lost since Jeff has been my trainer. Jeff has given me invaluable ongoing assistance with finetuning my eating plan and encouraging me when my weight loss has temporarily slowed. I have every confidence that I am finally going to reach my goal weight with Jeff and Hall of Fitness fighting in my corner, so to speak!
When I think back now, that day I decided to walk into Jeff’s gym was a crucial turning point for me. If I hadn’t made the decision to give Hall of Fitness a try, I think I would have continued on my negative downward spiral of regaining the weight that I had lost and having to start all over again, like I have already done so many times in my life. It’s impossible to overstate just how important Jeff’s role has been in helping me turn my life back around. As I write this today, I look back to where I was a few short months ago, and I know how much I have changed in both my attitude and appearance. I am fitter than I’ve ever been in my life already and I want to become fitter still. I enjoy exercise and I make it a priority in my life because it gives me a natural high that no chocolate bar ever could. J I feel so much stronger and more capable than I ever have, and I could never have imagined that exercise could have so many great fringe benefits! I believe Jeff Hall is a brilliant trainer and I have no hesitation in recommending him to anybody who wants to make a difference to their health and fitness, but especially to anybody in a situation like the one I was in. His dedication and passion for what he does are truly inspiring and they have certainly brought out the best in me.
Debbie Couglan
