When you walk into Northwest Fitness, you may notice that the establishment enables its patrons with a non-judgemental sense of camaraderie, comfort and courageous determination. When you look in any direction, you will see smiling mouths, determined eyes, sweaty brows, and people being educated on how to better themselves and their understanding of their own bodies. The entire essence of this health center can be summed up in the spirit and presence of one particular instructor, Shan Shan Price. What brought me in to inquire about membership was that I was looking for a gym with more flexible hours than the gym I was attending at the time, No more, no less. I did not count on encountering a trainer like Shan Shan.
I am not a stranger to personal training so upon meeting Shan Shan, I was familiar with some of the motions we were going through as well as the usual questions trainers ask when you first start a program. I gave the typical answers one would give, circling around aesthetic and superficial reasons for looking good. Then Shan Shan asked me a question no trainer had ever asked of me before. She asked, "What is the real reason you are here?" Before any physical training even started, she asked me to dig for a deeper reason and before flexing any physical strength, she asked me to flex spiritually and mentally. That was what told me I had found my new trainer. She didn't accept just the superficial, she asked for real strength. In the short six months I have been working with Shan Shan, I have experienced results and changes in my body and mind that I have not seen in years.
Shan Shan has a sharp eye for catching and correcting seemingly miniscule mistakes that make major differences when corrected and the true form is done properly. She corrects and explains in detail the reasons behind every motion, every movement, in order to improve form and function. Her knowledge of the body and exercise science is unparalleled. There is no wasted movement in her training. Her care and concern for her clients comes through in the fact that she greets every one of her trainees a smile and a wave, even on days she is not scheduled to meet with them.
Her resolve shows through in her own training. You can see her thought process and the determination to constantly improve, she employs the same determination to improve the well-being of all of her clients. Most importantly, Shan Shan constantly reminds her clients of their own personal responsibility: she implores me to practice it with discipline when it comes to my own training. I have grown to count on the relationship I have built with Shan Shan these past few months and although I greatly surpass her in age, I have definitely grown to see Shan Shan as a mentor and guide just as much as I do a physical trainer.
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