Meet Shirley Jeffreys, a senior who’s been doing personal training with Kate Willer, and has shared how much of a difference it’s made—her legs are straighter, her posture is less hunched, and she credits Kate as being a key part of her progress. She’s been using our new machines and says that she recommends us to every senior she knows! Learn more about Shirley and her fitness journey below.
What initially brought you to the J and into personal training?
I moved to Cincinnati from Johnson City TN the summer of 2021 to take care of my granddaughter who was born on June 20 of that year. My daughter and her husband were members at the J and bought me a membership as a part of their plan. Initially much of the time I spent at the J was spent at PJ Patch with Maggie, my grandbaby. I walked my dog daily around 3 miles a day and didn’t think that I needed anything else. Early in January ‘23 I experienced some issues with knee buckling which I ignored and on Jan 23 I fell down the back steps of my house and broke my nose with the resulting black eyes. I came to the J for physical therapy. I learned a lot about my condition during the therapy and when treatment concluded, I asked my daughter who I could continue to work with to get back my strength and prevent the condition from recurring. My daughter recommended Kate and even set up my first few appointments.
What were your goals when you first started training?
My main goal when I started was to continue to strengthen so that I would never fall again. I had never done any training with a trainer before and wasn’t sure what to expect. I knew from the rehab that I had numerous weak areas in my overall core strength.
How have your goals evolved over time?
This is a hard question to give a simple answer to. I think the best answer is that my goal each time I go to work out, is to do better than I did the last time in some area of my workout.
How did it feel to deadlift 100 pounds at age 73?
Honestly Kate worked me up to it in such a way that I didn’t feel like it was any kind of a big deal. Kate is a great trainer and always explains why we are doing things. She taught me the correct way to lift the weight first then we increased the weight as I felt comfortable.
What did that accomplishment mean to you?
I still work full time in the field of Control System Engineering, which remains a male dominated field. One day during a discussion they were discussing strength, and I shared that I had deadlifted 100 pounds that day, not once but 16 times. There was dead silence in the meeting. Someone said: “you are kidding right?” I said I wasn’t. I am not sure that they believed me.
How has working with a trainer and being part of a small group impacted your fitness journey?
In the past two years, Kate and I have faced lots of challenges. As an example, I recently broke my left wrist after a freak fall at Amberley Park. I let Kate know, and I quit going to the group sessions for about 6 weeks, but Kate designed a program for me to do with all the rest of the pieces of my body and we kept right on going with the one-on-one training. She informed me that somehow if the right hand continued to work out, it helped the left hand to recover faster when it was able to start again. We are still working through the left-hand recovery, but it did happen much more quickly because of what Kate did.
What has your experience been like using the new Keiser pneumatic machines?
I love those machines. It is almost like a combination aerobic and weight training experience because I am breathing so hard at the end of a set. Right now, Kate has me working on power and explosive movements which have really helped me react much faster to the normal slips and stumbles of life. (My dog’s favorite place to walk is French park and when we were there on Saturday there were lots of slippery areas and muck to jump over. I could not have handled that 3 years ago). I love the fact that I can see the velocity and power of each repetition, both average and max. Kate watches the velocity of each rep and can tell when we are at a weight that is challenging me. Recently we raised my weight on the belt squat to 130 pounds, so even though I can’t deadlift yet because of my left wrist, I am still gaining strength.
What current goals are you excited about?
Honestly, I am most excited about working with all the pneumatic machines. It has been a learning experience to figure out the best form for each of the machines. It took a while, but I finally got the correct calf machine form down this past week. I look forward to getting trends and statistics session to session at some time in the future, because I believe that it will be even more motivating.
What’s your favorite exercise and why?
Right now, I think that it is probably the belt squat. It is different from the deadlift but is one that lets me push my overall weight limits until my left wrist fully recovers. But honestly it will likely be something else next week.
