Amy Hackney - February 2019 Member of the Month

You may have seen this person around the gym a time or two and we are super proud to announce that Amy Hackney has been nominated for the February 2019 Member of the Month by our coaching staff! As said in previous stories, being chosen as Member of the Month is not taken lightly. The coaching staff like to highlight and recognize our members who show great character, grit, and passion. Amy has demonstrated a positive attitude every time she walks through the door, works hard and pushes herself each day, and is super passionate about her goals. If there is a challenge, this gal will achieve it and dance through each step of the way.

Her back story. Amy was born and raised in Whitewater, Wisconsin and has two daughters. The oldest is Sydney, 21 years old, who is a student at UW-Oshkosh where she is studying nursing. Lexi is 16 years old and is a Junior at Whitewater High School. Transitioning from being a stay at home mom, Amy has worked at Universal Electronics for the past three years or so in the accounting department and if you happen to stop in, you might see her working at the front desk as well.

Before joining NorthFit, Amy and her sister were runners. They had trained for a half marathon and then decided to go for the big one and trained for a full marathon (26.2 miles in case you didn’t know) for about a year, completing that milestone. One thing that is noted about Amy is that if she sets a goal, you better believe she is going to work her tail off to achieve it. Which leads us to our next topic, the NorthFit transition.

Amy’s NorthFit journey started in 2016/2017 when she was feeling like it was time for a change, wanting to maintain a healthy weight and lifestyle. There are two years noted because her and her sister became members at the old location, stopped for a bit because life happens, and then entered the Women’s Challenge in May 2017. Since then she has been an avid NorthFit member who strives to keep progressing in all the movements as well has her nutrition, which hasn’t gone unnoticed. The number one thing that keeps her coming back and excited about fitness, besides the fun workouts, is the people. When asked what she likes most about being a member, it is the community. She stated,

“it keeps me coming back. I like building friendships and meeting new people as it is hard to maintain friendships and NorthFit takes care of that.”

How many of you love working out with your closest friends for an hour a day?

Another aspect that brightens Amy’s drive is she loves seeing improvements. Who doesn’t? “Once you accomplish one little goal, then you want to master another one.” It is so cool how one little movement can rev up your confidence and carry you through the day. For someone who has not yet joined,

“Don’t be intimidated and just do it. It is intimidating, but just come regularly and you will realize nobody cares.”

Amy’s nutrition also has changed since joining NorthFit. Within the last three months or so, Amy has tuned into her diet and has removed gluten and dairy. To no surprise, she is seeing great results, junk food cravings are gone and she says it is

“amazing how you don’t crave things anymore”.

One of her favorite meals is baked salmon, sweet potatoes (love), and veggies. She even cut out coffee! That is a huge undertaking and accomplishment as there is a ritual for coffee drinkers. Waking up in the morning, walking to the kitchen to start brewing that hot cup of coffee, smelling the aroma. But to stop sugar coating it, the upside of not drinking anymore coffee is stomachaches are gone!

“Mastering nutrition and figuring out what works best with my body, gives me more confidence to eat properly”

even when dining out. Now Amy is not discouraged from dining out with friends and family as she is completely cool with it and doesn’t even care if pizza and beer are on the menu. She is comfortable and confident to know that her body does not enjoy those things anymore. As is said sometimes in the Instagram posts, you do you! How did she accomplish this? Amy dabbled into the mindset and then one day decided to challenge herself with her own nutrition challenge, and “then I did it.”

One fun fact about Amy is that she and Amy VanRens both attended UW-Stout, both lived on the same street, both lived in the same house, and both lived in the same room in the same house, but years apart. What a small world!

Overall, NorthFit has built Amy’s confidence, reset her mind to believing she can take on any challenge, has helped her to build lasting friendships, and accomplish her goals. Next items on the list are to tackle the handstand push-up and to not be afraid of the assault bike. She toggles between 6am class and 6pm class during the week so don’t hesitate to give a fist bump or a high-five and congratulate her on being our February 2019 Member of the Month!

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