PNF Transformation - Bill Lane

I’ve been training with Mark York for over seven years. The other day he asked me if I would write something about our time together. Here goes.

I’m 63 years old and like so many men my age, I started looking to get fit and healthy in my 30s. I joined gyms, had a pool membership for a while and tried two different personal trainers. My prior best results were in the late nineties when I worked out three times a week with a co-worker.

In January of 2006, I went into the old Family Fitness and joined. I had intended to find a trainer there. Mark was the person who took me on my orientation and so he’s the one I asked about training.

He started by asking me what my goals were. I told him I was looking to get and stay healthy and active. I didn’t have any interest in building “big” muscles. What I didn’t want was to keep ending up with back aches every time I did a project around the house. I wanted “activity longevity”.

He told me about core strengthening and conditioning and described some of the things we would do. I think it sounded to both of us like we were on the same page.

For all these years together, I have left my training entirely up to him. We started with core strengthening and still regularly do core exercises. We have had a pattern of doing certain things for a couple of months and then changing it up. At different times I have carried him on my back up and down stairs or around the parking lot, swum laps, and even done push-ups and squats on his paddle board. One thing about Mark, he sure is creative!

Most recently, I’ve been lucky enough to get into a LIVE FIT group. A year or so ago, when PNF first started these groups, several women approached Mark about doing a 5 a.m. class. That happened to be my time slot, but I told him that if I could go to the class, they could have the time. Now, many six-week sessions later the group is still going strong. There are three men in it now. Occasionally we even out- number the women! Group workouts are awesome! They are a combination of cardio, core, strength, endurance and team camaraderie! I absolutely love them.

My experience is mostly with Mark, but I have trained with Whitney, Travis, Nick and Allison. They all seem to me to have some basic common characteristics. They care! They want their clients to succeed and will do everything they can to make that happen. They are innovative. They know their stuff! They can all tell just by watching you exercise if something is hurting or bothering and they have alternatives for you.

For me, training with Mark and training at PNF have truly worked. I feel good. I am probably in the best shape I have ever been in. 

Thanks Buddy.