MEET CHRIS
“Exercise is as much mental health as physical health for me. My husband and I have a lot of demands on us, and exercise de-stresses us big time.” - Chris
Hi! I’ve always been an athlete. I grew up in upstate New York figure skating, playing soccer, and running sprints in track. My twin brother was also a great athlete so my family was always at sporting events, either doing or supporting.
After college and graduate school, I struggled a bit with what to do not having the sports structure set for me. After receiving my masters from Syracuse University and moving to North Carolina, I began practicing as a full time medical social worker and joined a local sportsplex nearby. Eventually I met my husband and we worked out together and started doing running races as another outlet. My husband went on to become an ultrarunner.
Family & Fitness
We have two children. Our daughter is 20 years old and a junior at UNC Greensboro. Our son is 22 years old and lives here at home with us and is severely affected with autism. Right before my son turned two years old, he was diagnosed, and my daughter was not quite a year old. I kept exercising but my focus and energy was on my young family. Once the kids were in school and I had a little more time I knew I needed more. My son only slept a few hours a night and needed so much from me, and I was at the kids’ schools all the time helping and volunteering, so going back to social work didn’t feel like an option. My husband fortunately made a good living as a clinical pharmacist in a hospital, so I didn’t need to work, but I needed an outlet, and I decided to become a group fitness trainer/instructor. It was the perfect outlet for me and I am really good at it! I’ve been doing it for 20 years now.
Personal Fitness & Sunny
My own personal fitness outside of the gym, and my need for goals has always been very important as well. I’ve done fitness competitions and run countless races. Through the years I bought equipment for workouts at home. I eventually got really into teaching indoor cycling, and was never comfortable cycling outdoors with traffic, so I decided to buy an indoor bike that I could work out with at home, and also use to prepare my cycle classes with. That was over 10 years ago. I did not want to make a big financial investment on one, so after some research I decided on the Sunny Pro bike. I loved it, which honestly surprised me because I was so used to the expensive gym bikes. I still use it all the time and actually have two now, one for home and one for our vacation home.
When the pandemic hit last March and we went on lockdown, having home workout equipment was even more valuable. Exercise is as much mental health as physical health for me. My husband and I have a lot of demands on us, and exercise de-stresses us big time. I ride on my Sunny Pro a couple of times a week. I was able to take my private fitness job home by creating a virtual platform through Vimeo to continue doing classes that could be submitted to clients. I’ve been using my cycle for my own workouts plus also to create and record some workouts for my clients!
I am 52 years old and fitness is a huge part of my life, and always has been. It brings me tremendous physical and psychological benefits and has helped me manage stress during difficult periods. I have no intention of slowing down, but certainly as I age my fitness looks different. I don’t do as much plyometrics as I used to, and cycling, weight training, and swimming have become an even bigger part my routine. Glad to have my Sunny Health Pro bike!!!
