Serene Routine

It took about three weeks for Jen Barnes to get over the initial pain that accompanies starting a fitness regimen.

The pain was worth it. One year later, Barnes has dropped 10 pounds and two pant sizes and gained considerable muscle mass. Defined abs replaced the pudgy tummy left over from childbirth. Toned thighs conquered cellulite.

“I changed my shape,” Barnes says.

Though out of shape, New Albanyarea resident Barnes, 43, wasn’t overweight. She had tried her hand at large gyms. She never paid for a trainer and says she often felt intimidated at the prospect of approaching people to ask about exercise machines. “Everyone just did their own thing,” she says.

The mother of two boys, ages 9 and 6, Barnes left her career as a molecular biologist to parent full-time. She used workout videos at home, but her routines lacked structure.

“I’ve always been small. I just wasn’t fit,” she says.

By Sarah Sole

Once her youngest son was in preschool, she began to consider using a gym. When she befriended a woman whose father owned a smaller gym in New Albany, she decided to try it out.

Upon her first visit two years ago, Barnes found Team Edge Fitness and Performance on Worthington Road Southwest to have an intimate setting lacking at larger gyms. She met trainer and owner Bob Fry and got to work. “I wanted to get better,” she says.

Barnes began training four days a week. After warming up with cardio, she worked on an individual strength training plan, working opposing muscles. She focused on interval training and strength training interspersed with blasts of cardio. The variety of exercises helped prevent her workouts from becoming too monotonous. “You just get through it and you see results,” she says.

She also participated in the Diet Doc program created by Joe Klemczewski. Instead of simply counting carbs, Barnes

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regulated her daily intake of proteins, carbohydrates and fat grams according to numbers personalized for her body. Every week, she was permitted a single “cheat” meal. “I didn’t want to give up the foods I liked,” Barnes says.

Though she didn’t have a weight loss goal, the regimen helped Barnes eat more healthfully, a practice she has kept up since concluding the diet.

As Barnes continued her focus on eating right and maintaining her regular exercise, people began to take note, complimenting her on her defined arms. In one year, Barnes dropped 15 inches total from her neck, arms, chest, midriff, waist, stomach, hips, thighs, knees and calves. She feels happier and more energized. The changes also boosted her metabolism.

“I feel like I’m walking taller and straighter,” she says. At 5 feet, 3 inches tall, Barnes was always told she was built for speed, not endurance. In high school she participated in track, running sprints and hurdles.

Last year she put the endurance concerns to rest by running two 5K races and one 10K race. When her oldest son gets a bit older, Barnes says she wants to run a half-marathon with him. “And I never thought I could run, ever,” she says.

Barnes reached another sort of milestone this past spring, when she donned a bikini for the first time since she and her husband were on their honeymoon.

Though she admits she isn’t a lover of exercise, Barnes says she made friends at Team Edge and isn’t intimidated anymore. The extra socialization is gratifying for the stay-at-home mom.

“You have to find what works for you,” she says.

Sarah Sole is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at laurand@pubgroupltd.com.

By Scott McAfee initiatives