Merv Martin is 63 years old. He is a mischievous husband, father of two with two grandchildren. He exercises 6 days a week. Merv attends Studio Glo for 2 x 60 minute sessions per week with his wife, Marie. He started Personal Training 14 months ago.

Marie Martin

I would like to introduce you to Merv who is 63 years young and my husband of 40 years. Merv was overweight and had never exercised, even as a child. He ate fairly healthily so he thought, except when he bought his workers pies and chips etc! He rarely got sick, so in his opinion, did not feel the need to do any exercise or change his eating habits, although he was always saying that he really should lose some weight as his shirt size kept growing…

So one day I said to him that I really would like to get my arms around him again, like I could when we were first married. I had been going to the gym for several years and because of my own health, had started training with a personal trainer.  

Liz would work me really hard, and still does. I kept going home and telling Merv all about this personal trainer that I had who was really good, and asking him, would he like to come along for a session? After many, many, many months of gentle persuasion he decided to give it a go.

So we started training together with Liz at Studio Glo and after 18 months Merv has shed 16 kilos but has now plateaued. He still has some goals that he would like to achieve so Liz and Merv are now working with a naturopath to try and get his metabolism going again.

When Merv first started training there was lots of heavy breathing and sore muscles. Even now, we both still get sore muscles but by Christmas 2005 Liz had us both fit enough to climb Kilimanjaro (although I didn’t make it to the top).

Next is the Wall of China at Easter!

Some of the advantages that Merv has noticed from all the hard work that he’s put in over the last 18 months and continues to put in, are:

• Fitter for work and leisure activities
• Stronger
• Copes with extremes of weather much better
• Better Posture
• That little bit of competition between us that makes it fun     

                                 MERVS EXERCISE REGIME

• Gets up at 4.00am week days and walks on the treadmill for 45 minutes
• Does 12 Pushups and some abdominal work
• Comes home from work and rides the bike for 30 min
• Sunday or Saturday walks the 1000 steps at Ferntree Gully
• Has one day off a week

It has been great to see Merv change for the better. The fact that he still does all the hard work is a tribute to him and I’m positive he will keep it up because of his obvious health benefits and all the other things that come with it.

Liz Yochum

As a trainer my aim is to assist each person to gain their individual goals but, yes – many times there is a ‘but’, - a trainer can only do so much. It is up to the client to take the next step and take responsibility for their own progress. Merv has taken this next step. He is committed to his goals and has never shirked, complained or sabotaged, what has been asked of him (neither has Marie).

This is the secret. It is not earth-shattering, complicated or hard to understand. The simplest solution to a problem is often the hardest to implement, but Merv took the bull by the horns and ran with it. How do you change an attitude? Find the trigger, find what motivates you, dig deep, learn what it is you want, and go for it. Merv did.

I can sit here and say that anyone can do it. You can! But do you want to change some ingrained behaviours to gain the goals in fitness and wellbeing that you want for yourself? Do you want to make the sacrifices in time, eating habits, exercise routines, or psychological blocks to make a positive difference in your sense of wellbeing, self-esteem, strength, fitness and health? Merv did.

Merv and Marie are still committed to their goals. These goals have changed as they reach the next milestone, but isn’t that fantastic? They are a great couple to train and I feel very privileged that they still allow me to be a part of their ongoing fitness regime. Thank you, but more importantly, well done!

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