We’re back with the second monthly member of the month post, this time taking the chance to celebrate another one of our strong Endeavor Fitness Women, Kim Hemmelgarn.
A member for four years now at Endeavor Fitness, Kim demonstrates daily what it means to give your 100 per cent effort for each workout. Whether it’s rowing, running, lifting or doing some god-awful burpee/box-jump or other gymnastic laden workout, Kim doesn’t groan, she puts her head down and flat out works. According to her, she even loves this stuff.
“I loved it from day one!” She says. “Finally a gym where skinny is not the goal. A place where you would be foolish to judge anyone by their physical appearance b cause everyone has something that they excel at, and everyone has room for improvement.”
Before coming to Endeavor, Kim said she had tried it all. Shakes, drops, pills, fasting, gym classes, jogging, and any other fad under the sun but wasn’t happy with the results. Although she wasn’t the barbell mastermind that she is today when she first laced up her shoes on day one, her work ethic alone allowed her to work through some physical limitations and now excels at nearly every movement.
As a coach, Kim makes it exceptionally easy to instruct a class, especially at 6 A.M when the sun is still in bed and frankly so should I be. While it may be hard to get points across with ease at that time, Kim can understand the most simple of cues and goes at it with rigor that would suggest her life depends on today’s workout.
When it comes to things that prevent her from waking up that early and coming to the gym, she says she isn’t short on things that she could list off.
“I can name a few…a husband that works away 50 per cent of the time, 25 minute drive just to get to the gym, four young kids at home, 30 animals to care for,” she says. “The list is long and a little different for everyone but the reality is simple, if it is a priority you will find a way.”
When it comes to finding the member of the month at Endeavor Fitness, it can be a challenge not because there’s no one to honour but it’s like picking between someone who’s PR’d five times, someone who comes in every single day and someone who cheers their A%$ off for everyone else every single workout. Is there really a winner there?
But this month, coach Jolaine Undershute had this to say when she approached me to nominate Kim.
“I nominate Kim because of her unbelievable transformation through her determination, dedication and work ethic,” Undershute said.”Kim has overcome challenges she kept saying she’d never do like rope climbs and handstands.”
So when it comes down to it, we’re celebrating Kim for being the member we all want to be everyday.
“She is a fantastic role model and she has four kids but still makes time to train five days a week.”