When Larry P., an engineer at Loral Space Systems, joined Mountain View AXIS a little over a year ago, his main goal was to get back to exercising regularly. A former runner with some lingering knee injuries, he also wanted strength training guidance tailored to his specific needs.

“I’m one of those people that needs to be forced to work out,” he laughs. “I’m a couch potato by nature, and as a result I don’t push myself very hard. Fortunately, Alex is able to push me to the edge and beyond!”

Preferring running, Larry never trained with weights before coming to AXIS. Training with Alex Stowbunenko has been a learning experience both mentally and physically. "It’s been great to learn new types of exercises and to realize what I’m capable of with respect to balance, endurance, and agility,” he says. “My favorite thing to do is drills on the speed ladder.”

Training with Alex also helped Larry find the inspiration to change his diet, a move celebrated by his wife and daughter. “I started by cutting back on portion size and making healthier substitutes when I could, like choosing soy burgers instead of meat burgers. It took some time to get going at first, but once my muscles got bigger, I started burning calories faster, and I dropped twenty pounds. It was actually sort of effortless at the time.”

Besides helping him to lose weight, the exercise/diet combo helped Larry lower his blood pressure to the point where his doctor took him off medication. Encouraged by these great results, Larry is setting new fitness goals and is confident he can achieve them with his trainer’s guidance.

“I look forward to my workouts with Alex because he’s so personable and positive. He takes into account my needs and limitations, and helps me focus on my strengths.”

Debbie P. has been training two days a week at the Mountain View AXIS with Master Trainer Megumi Masuda since 2002.

“I decided to get a personal trainer at the recommendation of my sister,” she explains. “I needed some help finding motivation, and she had heard great things about the team of trainers at AXIS.”

Since starting her program with Megumi, Debbie is stronger, leaner, and feeling athletic for the first time in her life. “I notice a difference on the days when I don’t exercise,” she says.

Debbie’s most recent success was losing 10 pounds in the Winter Fitness Challenge. “My doctor told me that I had signs of pre-diabetes, and that was a big incentive for me to lose weight,” she explains.

Rather than eliminate much-loved food favorites, Debbie decided to up her exercise. First she added bursts of jogging to her daily walk, and before long she was running instead of walking her dog. In her sessions with Megumi, she worked on building muscle so that her body would burn more calories at rest.
Her main goal now is to maintain her recent weight loss and continue to build up her strength.

“I’m 56, and so it’s very important for me to do weight-bearing exercise to prevent osteoporosis. Fortunately, using the free weights at AXIS is my favorite thing!”