January Member of the Month-Marty S.

Congratulations to Marty S. for starting off the year of 2017 with our first Member of the Month recognition. Marty has been with us for a few months now and has progressed very quickly and shows great effort in each and every one of his sessions. We knew that Marty was very passionate about bettering himself when he has talked to us about his success in road biking. We are excited to see how much the resistance training and fitness classes translate to his road bike in the spring and summer coming up. Marty has also had quite an interesting health history that he does not use to hold him back and it shows in the intensity that he brings with him to each session. Keep up the awesome work Marty!

In 2005 I was diagnosed with a benign tumor growing on my spinal cord in the area of the C3-C4 vertebrae. I had surgery (actually 2 surgeries over 2 days) January 2006 to remove the tumor. Due to its location on my spinal cord and how it was wrapped around the cord, they couldn't remove it all. I was out of work for a good 8 weeks or more recovering.

Approximately August 2010 it was determined the tumor had regrown to the point where another surgery was needed. Surgery was performed in September 2010. This time after surgery I had radiation treatment to hopefully stop the tumor from growing. So far so good and it hasn't regrown.

In November 2011 I had a pacemaker implanted after being diagnosed with a second degree AV block. Everything has been great since the implant.

Throughout your lifetime, how long have you been working out for and what do you enjoy most about fitness?

I started cycling senior year in high school. Started racing in college and continued through grad school. Last year of grad school I was pretty serious and had a few weeks where I rode almost 20 hours total. Did some lifting in the off season for a few years during that period. Rode and raced on and off for next few years, nothing consistent. Got really out of shape so started running. Have done 3 marathons. Stopped running, got way out of shape again and even wasn't riding at all up until March 2016 when I got a bike again. Logged over 4000 miles in 2016 and looking for more in 2017.

The thing I enjoy most about fitness is the feeling of my body performing at a high level, whether speeding along in a bike race or lifting more than I lifted before or just feeling good day to day.

Since training at K.Shan Performance, what have you learned the most about fitness as well as about yourself?

Learned most - probably how critical your core is to everything. I "knew" that from hearing it so often but actually working it and engaging it in almost every exercise you have us to really teaches you about it. The thing I learned about myself is that I just might be able to lift heavy things! I got back into aerobic shape on the bike relatively quickly but had doubts about seeing improvements with the weight training. I am surprised and happy with how things are going.

What do you like most about the workouts? And what is your favorite exercise?

I like the challenges of each workout and how seemingly different exercises all tie together reinforcing the goal of each particular day. Also really like how everything keeps flowing...we're constantly moving.

Favorite exercise is probably the kettle bell rope pull. That one is fun! Second favorite is OOC and especially the sledgehammer since I need to work my shoulders.