For the fifth time in relatively short SpartanFit’s history, one of our trainees has reached the milestone of 50 workouts. Iva, Ivica, Matea, Rafaela, and now Roberto Maričić 🙂
Each of their journey to this achievement is unique in many ways, and in this case, it was quite emphasized. Roberto is my good friend with whom I spent countless years sharing the good and the bad (although there wasn’t much of the latter) at ‘Turist Selce’, our small and beloved tourist agency in the center of Selce. I mention this for a special reason because three years ago, during my last working season there, when I started developing training programs, I showed many exercise examples to Roberto, with occasional involvement from the rest of our team. The comments at that time about the exercises and training in general were not negative per say, but they went along the lines of ‘I could never imagine myself doing something like that’. Meanwhile, our bosses (Jasna and Mila) also found their way into fitness and healthy lifestyle through my involvement in their lives, and Roberto expressed the same desire in early September last year. I won’t lie; it surprised me a bit at first, but I always like to repeat how genuinely happy I am when someone new joins us because I know that person has decided to change something for the better in his/her life, whatever the goal and underlying motive may be.
As our interaction continued in this aspect, week by week I noticed a progressively more serious and ambitious approach from Roberto, which automatically encouraged me to provide more support in terms of designing personalized workouts for him, as well as give advice on all other important fitness areas of one’s life. I also commend Roberto because, along with Matea, he was the only one to sign up for our first SpartanFit challenge, which he successfully completed. Recently, he also joined our nutrition counseling group and diligently tracks and records everything he eats for the past few weeks, where I hope my advice is making the whole process easier for him. From the feedback provided so far, I know that he started adopting quality eating habits, such as adding a healthy breakfast to the mix. Diligence and consistency have been evident from the beginning, as Roberto has been training since September without any significant breaks. In early April, he switched to another program we offer, ‘Superset 4’. According to our agreement, our interaction will continue during the summer months as well, which is quite rare to say the least.
As our friendship has strengthened and deepened, and we are similar in many ways, our training topics are diverse, although the emphasis is always on fitness and everything related to it. Roberto is the epitome of the famous Audrey Hepburn quote, which would be freely translated as, ‘I don’t take life seriously, but I take what I do in it seriously’. I can surely identify with that approach, and since our interaction is progressing on an upward trajectory, I am confident that we will continue on this path. Ultimately, I am extremely pleased that there has been an obvious change in Roberto’s mindset, which I always emphasize as something that must happen on a personal level for us to start something. Likewise, I am of course extremely grateful he decided to put his trust in me as a guide on this journey. Considering everything we have achieved so far, I believe I have justified that trust, and we both look forward to what lies ahead (except for lunges maybe).
Original release date: May 25, 2019.