Matthew's Story

I received your email about sharing a special event that we competed in and I wanted to take the time to share mine with you. Last year around this time, I was approximately 260lbs and very unhealthy. I was at the beach with my girlfriend and we had joked about doing a triathlon at the end of the summer. I had no real intentions of doing this race but said ok to appease her. Anyway, what started out as a joke, became a bet and soon turned into a serious goal. I was scared to race this event because I had never competed in a triathlon before, had stopped working out and was in horrible shape. Also, I didnt know how to train for an event like this and lacked some motivation. I knew that I was overweight and had to make a change and realized that this event was going to spark my weight loss journey. I decided it was time for a change and I walked into the Arena Club and signed up for membership. Alot of my friends from work trained at the Arena Club so they helped convince me to take the plunge into joining. I quickly realized that I was in over my head and didnt want to embark on this journey without some help. After my initial fitness assesment, I decided it would be in my best interest to hire a personal trainer and that is when I met Dennis Wright. I told him about my goal and we quickly started to train together. Dennis helped me regain my confidence which I had been lacking for a long time. After a few months in the gym, I started seeing all types of results. My clothes started to fit better, my endurance was better, and my energy level increased. Everyday I woke up and felt like coming to the gym to work out. Long story short, September came and after months of training with Dennis, it was time for my first triathlon. I competed in the Great Atlantic Ocean Sprint Triathlon in Seaside Heights, NJ. the race was a 1/2mile ocean swim, 14.5mile bike and 3.5mile run and finished it in just about 2 hours (Not the best but I wasn't last). As I approached the water for the beginning of my race, I was nervous and anxious. I overcame my fear by thinking of all that I had accomplished in the gym with Dennis and that gave me the confidence to start the race without any further hesitation. Even though it was one of the hardest things I have physically ever done, I finished the race with a smile across my face. After that day, I realized that I had regained my focus on my life and placed a great emphasis on exercise, health and nutrition. I would like to report that since joining your gym 1 year ago, I have lost and maintained about a 30lb weight loss. I have seen an increase in my muscle strength and self confidence. Also, I got hooked on triathlon and have signed up for 4 races this year to keep me motivated in my training.  I would just like to extend a thank you to the Arena Club for providing me a safe, friendly, motivational, supportive staff and environment for my training. All of the classes the Club offers along with the ability to swim in the lap pool has been very beneficial to me. Also, I would like to say thank you to Dennis Wright for always being there for me and giving me the tools to change my life, he is a great trainer and your facility is lucky to have an employee like him representing you to other clients. Again, I wanted to share my story with you because for me, it was a huge success in my life. I apologize for not including any pictures because the only one I have from the event is not my best and I didnt think many people would want to see it. Anyway, I appreciate the opportunity to share my story with you and I look forward to another year of training at the Arena Club.
 
Respectfully,
 
Matthew L. McGuirk

Frank's Story

I compete in about a dozen open water swimming events per year.  I did a 3 mile race on the Nanticoke River with fellow member Mark Sposito on May 1.  I have a busy June and early July with 5 long distance swims in 6 weeks.
 
I have the following lined up:
June 4,   7.5-mile Potomac River Swim
June 12,  4.4-mile Great Chesapeake Bay Swim
June 18, 15.5-mile USMS National 25K Open Water Championship  Noblesville, Indiana
June 25,  5-mile Chester Swim4Life (I think several of the Masters team will be at this one in distances 1,2,3,4 or 5 miles) 
July 9,    10-mile Kingdom Swim Newport, Vermont 
 
I'll let you know how things go.
 
I don't appear to be one of the most fit guys at the club but I did lose and manage to keep off about 50lbs over the last few years.  Right now I am spending about 10 hours a week in the pool training for upcoming events.  The staff is great and so are the other members.  Stop out at the pool and say hello sometime.  I am pretty sure most of the guards know me by now.

Rosanne's Story

Hi Earl.  I returned to competitive swimming this year after a 25 year break !  I competed in 4 US Masters swim meets including the Maryland State Championship meet at Loyola University (there are no qualifying times).  I placed last in my age group (40-44) in all my events but. . . . I got back up on the block and I'm excited to keep working hard and do better next year !!

-Rosanne Mooney,  member of the Masters swim team

Tracie's Story

Last year I joined Arena and got a personal trainer for my daughter Celia Xecominos. Adam kucked her butt. She lost 27 inches !! and 33 pounds n still going. Adam and Arena got my daughters life back!! She continues to work out and shed the pounds as she gets healthier.

Thank you!!! :)

Tracie Talany,
proud mom!

Elizabeth's Story

I have been working with Nicole for two years and have lost weight and inches. I am stronger than I have ever been. I look forward to my weekly training session because I know she will greet me with enthusiasm and a different workout each week. Her dedication and drive have pushed me to try new classes and get out of the same weekly exercise box I was in. I have continued to improve and push myself thanks to the efforts of Nicole. She continues to make a positive and healthy impact on my life.

Greg's Story

I've been training with Nicole Bosley-Smith for about a year now. Before she got a hold of me, I weighed 212lbs, my all-time-high weight. My diet was lousy, my energy level was non-existent and my blood pressure was inching into dangerous territory.

I work in academia, which is not exactly the most physically active occupation to begin with, and twelve years ago I transferred to another campus and into an even more sedentary job. Starting at a low of 155lbs, I gradually edged into the 170s and then into the 180/190s as our duties became more desk-bound and eating out became an irresistible excuse to "get out of the office".

About a year ago, I hit my worst: stress in my personal life had my already bad habits at even worse levels and I found myself completely worn out all of the time. Finally, an unrelated potential health issue shook me up enough to get help. I needed to get off my butt and back to a gym.

I had tried the whole gym-thing before, but the lack of convenience and garbage location had me making every excuse not to go. Luckily, the Arena club was literally next door.

I opted to go with a personal trainer in order to have some accountability and help while I attempted to get back into shape. They paired me up with Nicole and I started working with her once a week.

Scarcely a year later, she's given me the diet and exercise tools I needed to completely "re-boot" my health. Now, thanks to a mix of encouragement, butt-kicking, humor, creativity and (sometimes infinite) patience from Nicole, I've lost nearly 40lbs, gone from 38 jeans-size to a loose 33 and slimmed down from a XXL to a L shirt size.

I can't thank her enough for getting me back in shape, helping me maintain my progress and initiate a complete, sustainable change of (now finally healthy) lifestyle!