“There Is No Other Place Like This”

Growing up, I was the kid everyone picked on. I was overweight my entire life, as far back as I can remember. I was also a very sedentary person, exercise, for me, was walking to get the mail, or raking leaves. Throughout my adulthood, through two pregnancies, I gained weight till I was almost 200 lbs, at 5’2” tall.  I tried EVERYTHING to lose weight, from starving myself, to Atkins, to South Beach…none of them worked. At almost 40 years old, I knew that I had to do something. I had no energy, I couldn’t sleep at night. My back was always hurting, I took naps frequently. My kids wanted to go do this or that, and I had no energy or desire to do anything.

One evening, I was at a local salon, getting my haircut, and someone pointed out a sign to me on the wall and said I should give it a shot. It was a poster that Chris Gray the owner of Punch Kettlebell Gym had put there, advertising the 5 week Boot Camp contest.  He said he knew Chris and he was a good guy who knew what he was doing. I thought about it throughout the month of December (2009), and finally, because the Grand Prize was a gift certificate to my favorite salon, I thought, why not, I’ll give it a shot. It’s only 5 weeks, and maybe it’ll give me the knowledge and motivation to start working out at the YMCA. Those first 2 weeks were the most painful 2 weeks of my life!  But I was hooked. I started seeing results within a week, and by the end of the 5 weeks, I knew I wasn’t going anywhere. I loved the kettlebell workouts, I loved feeling like I was getting a good workout, in 30 minutes. I’d walk out of the gym exhausted, but proud of myself for having gotten through another training session.  In those 5 weeks, I lost over 7lbs of fat!

In August of 2010, during one of my testing sessions, Chris suggested that I seriously reconsider my nutrition. I was journaling, but was not really focused on KNOWING what I ate. I started working with his nutrition coaches, and within a month, started seeing amazing results! In those next couple of months, I lost another 12 lbs of fat!
It is now a year and a half later, I have lost over 20 % body fat (more than half!), and 50 lbs of fat!! I still work out 4 times a week, looking forward to every training session. I have discovered that I LOVE working out! I like heavy weights and challenging myself. I am no longer a sedentary person. I walk whenever I get the chance, just because I like to do it. I have found that rock climbing can be a real rush! I would never have even tried to climb a rock wall a year ago, now I’m climbing walls in the “difficult” category. I have played paintball with my kids.  I look forward to every opportunity to DO something. I sleep better at night and wake up refreshed. I have the energy to get through my day, and I work 2 jobs and have teenagers.

The staff at Punch are amazing! They know what they’re doing, and they understand that each person is different and know what to do to help each one. They are completely dedicated to seeing that each and every client reaches his/her goal and are behind each and every one of us. There is no other place like this, you will most likely not get this dedication to YOUR life from a regular “gym”.

Dawn Creasy

Dover, Delaware