Member Spotlight: James Schooley

Back in the late 80’s James joined G&M for the first time back behind the old Commisso’s and never came once. Not a good start to his fitness journey and a scenario that does happen unfortunately.

Over a decade later in 2000, his employer was paying for gym memberships and he started coming regularly.

“I got into a routine, lost weight, quit smoking and started eating healthier.”

James stuck with this for 3 or 4 years and was feeling good.

Then another scenario started to play out that also happens a lot. Life stuff started coming up and he was in and out of the routine after that, not being as consistent. This was followed by getting back into a routine of going to the gym in the mornings before work and getting back on track. Then COVID hit and James tried to maintain his routine without the gym.

After that he retired and started to travel for a couple of months, again getting out of routine and falling into a rut.

“I was off for 9 months. I gained 25lbs, developed some aches and pains and had trouble sleeping.”

“It was a tough transition going from getting up and working all day to not having that anymore.”

In February of this year, he decided enough was enough and decided to hire a trainer to help get him back on track and get some accountability to stick with it.

In just over 4 months since then, James has lost 20lbs, got rid of the pains and at the end of the day, he gets a good nights’ sleep.

“Aaron has been very helpful. Working with him has made a big difference.”

James enjoys riding motorcycles both on the road and offroad and says his workouts has helped him be able to enjoy his riding even more.

“I have more strength, energy and better balance when I’m riding. It’s given me a lot more confidence.”

James just finished a 10-day camping trip where he also put his fitness to the test doing lots of hiking as well as doing some exercises given to him by Aaron to stay in routine.

Next, James is off to Argentina for 2 months and will be joining a gym there as well.

“Fitness is just part of my lifestyle now. Fitness is so important to me. It has given me a new lease on life and has opened so many new doors for me.”

James is most proud of the fact that he is back into a routine and sticking to it.

Had he not taken that step back in February to get back in shape he said his physical and mental health would have continued to decline.

Instead, he looks forward to the future.

To others out there who may have been in a similar situation as he was before he got back into a regular routine, he says to just start small.

“Get your foot in the door and just do a little bit to get started and go from there. You will feel better.”

James says that G&M has been a great place for him.

“It’s family oriented and has a lot of other friendly people that are also retired. We all help each other along and keep each other motivated.”

Congratulations James on accomplishing so much in just 4 months! We are glad that fitness has been able to help you enjoy your retirement!