Karen Shaefer is one busy lady!
Karen is a fulltime dental assistant, busy mom and wife. On top of this, she also has a very active social life. Karen’s family is incredibly athletic. Both of her boys have played high-level sports and her husband Phil can be found cycling, hiking, snowshoeing or camping every weekend. When Karen turned 50 she decided she wanted to become more active and joined a running group. She trained and did the Sun Run but unfortunately stopped training the day after the run was done. Although this may have been the first competition she entered, we have a feeling (after seeing Karen’s performance in class) the boys got their competitiveness from her!
After trying out different forms of activities, Karen never really found anything that stuck. As she puts it “I’m famous for starting programs, but never finding anything to stick to”. Karen had always been intimidated by gyms feeling like she wasn’t thin enough, fit enough, or young enough to be there. She flat out just felt like she didn’t “belong”. Phil, Karen’s husband has been training with Club Sweat for a couple years. One day he came home and mentioned that Club Sweat was starting to run small group training programs and suggested Karen give it a try.
Although it took Karen a while to finally walk through the doors at Club Sweat, she knew she had found the right facility for her. Karen originally came to the studio to lose weight, tone up, and just feel better about herself! Although Karen had tried weight watchers, running and other diets, her life is just way too social ( as everyone’s should be!!!) Karen felt stuck and was sick and tired of losing the same weight over and over again.
Karen started slow and eventually eased her way into coming to more and more classes as she felt more comfortable. The best part about Karen’s story is that she was away for Club Sweat’s 28 Day Transformation Challenge. When she returned she took it upon herself to ask coach Ashley to hold her accountable while she did the challenge on her own. She stuck to it, crushed it, and achieved some incredible results! Karen lost 8lbs and a plethora of inches.
Karen, we love having you in class! Your attitude, drive and determination are infectious! We can’t wait to hear about all the activities you’re going to be crushing Phil in over the summer!
