From day one, Jeannie has been a bright spot in the community. She shows up with energy, laughter, and excitement to train and to connect. She doesn’t hesitate to talk to other clients and trainers, to smile at everyone, and to give her session her all. The strength that she’s built in the past year is inspiring, as is her willingness to learn and challenge herself every week.

Name: Jeannie Chu

Age: 37

Length of time with Hyatt Training and date when you started: January 23, 2019

What were your goals when you started? My main goal was aging gracefully, and Hallie has helped me be more specific in defining what that actually means.

What are your goals today? Mobility, balance, and strength (especially grip!)

What has been your biggest challenge? I’m not someone who loves working out. When I look around Hyatt Training and see so many people who genuinely enjoy working out, I’m pretty envious of their motivation. Left to my own devices, I am the person who needs to blast music as an external motivation or, let’s be real, make excuses to avoid the gym. Working with Hallie really changed all of that. She encouraged me to reframe my fitness goals around building strength, which made gym time more fulfilling. She’s helped me learn to stay present and focus on my movements, making my workouts more effective, safer and rewarding.

What have been your biggest areas of improvement? Showing up? I kid, but that’s pretty true. As a result, I am so much stronger than I’ve ever been! We moved to PDX over a year ago, and there’s been a lot of lifting and moving things. It’s a lot easier to ‘lift with your legs’ when you have the core and posterior chain to support these movements (not to mention knowing what fancy terms like ‘posterior chain’ actually mean!).

What is your favorite thing about Hyatt Training? It’s a brightly welcoming, clean space with great energy. The trainers are knowledgeable and delightful. It’s also nice that the trainers all workout in the space themselves, showing members that they practice what they preach and the outcome from consistency.

What is your favorite thing about your personal trainer? Oof, tough question because there are so many fantastic qualities about Hallie! She’s fun and funny. She clearly loves what she does and that passion shines through in how she approaches her work. She’s a fitness nerd (and I mean that in the most complimentary way), and she’s incredibly generous with the knowledge she has, from exercises/form to nutrition to shows to binge. She can tell me to do something that I genuinely don’t think I can physically do, listen to me whine about it and redirects my energy to get it done. She has Jedi mind trick ways, and I am grateful to her.

What is your proudest achievement or biggest accomplishment since you began working with Hyatt Training? I carried 20 giant bags of soil all by myself! But more seriously, I’m proud that I’ve consistently progressed. Movements and weights that once felt impossible have somehow become possible.

What have you learned: To be kinder and more patient with myself.

What advice would you give to other people starting on their fitness journey? Let yourself enjoy the journey, not fixate on the end goal. Because if you think about it, the end goal is living a fuller life. And if you let yourself celebrate the small wins and notice how you’re feeling better and stronger (in between feeling slightly sore), the journey can be as rewarding as achieving your goals.

If you remember, do you mind sharing why you chose to start training at Hyatt Training? Upon moving to PDX, I was on the hunt for a new gym. I had just started working with a trainer in NYC, and I felt a big improvement from taking fitness classes to 1:1 training. I chose Hyatt Training because it’s all about 1:1 training for maximum results. After visiting the space and working with my trainer, I knew I made the right decision.

Hyatt Training success stories feature our amazing clients and their inspiring achievements. Here’s a link to more great real-life stories from our clients! If you’d like to participate (or know someone who should), email us at Go@HyattTraining.com.