My Journey to Health

Hi! I’m Diana, and I have been working out with Jerome at Daily Grind Fitness–off and on–for a few years now. He’s asked me to come on here and share some of my struggles and achievements with you all.

While I mostly feel like getting fit is ALL a struggle, I figure some of you can relate, and perhaps we can all encourage one another to get our Grind on!

Working Out with a Personal Trainer

I have been training with Jerome twice a week for about two and a half years now, and I’m still working toward my goal of getting fit and gaining endurance to help me with my work as a television producer.

I want to be strong, and I want to be able to handle lots of physical work. Right now, another goal I have is to fit into the clothes that have been languishing in my closet for years.

You see, my husband and I produce a Catholic travel show for TV called The Faithful Traveler. As the producer and second camera person, I need to be fit enough to handle the heavy amounts of walking we do on our shoots, while lugging around heavy equipment. As the show’s host, well, let’s just say I need to lose some weight.

How I Met my Personal Trainer

I met Jerome in November of 2010, during his bootcamp days. I was trying to get in shape for an upcoming shoot in the Holy Land (where Jesus lived–Israel and Palestine), so I worked out with him mostly in the evenings outside in the cold, rain, and snow. Sometimes, I’d attend his morning bootcamps, too, just to get that extra workout in. It was brutal, but I loved it. Surviving a workout in the rain and snow is a great way to feel like a badass!

We filmed The Faithful Traveler in the Holy Land in March of 2011, and when I came back to bootcamp, I found that the ridiculous amount of tree pollen in the air mixed with my allergic asthma made it very hard for me to work out outside. Working out is hard enough, but doing it with a lack of oxygen is soul sucking. So I sadly told Jerome I couldn’t work out with him anymore–never considering working out with him privately…

Later that year, I turned 40, and as a present to myself I got depressed and gained 40 pounds. Happy birthday, indeed! That was 5 years ago. I’m still trying to get that off.

Treat Your Workout Like a Business Meeting

I wrote about my struggles with weight on my own blog, and how, in August 2013, as I prepared to film a new series in Portugal, I sent Jerome a text:

[A]s I sat by the lake in my fat clothes wishing I felt better about myself, I texted Jerome.

“Hey!” I said. “I have one month to do something to myself before I have to fly to Portugal to film our next series. Can you help me?”

Of course, Jerome said yes.

Let me tell you now reason why I love working out with Jerome: I don’t have to think. I just have to trust. Before, when I’d be home getting ready to work out, I’d have that paralysis that comes with having too many choices. This is how my thought process would run:

Should I do Chalene Extreme or a Bob Harper video? Should I jump in the treadmill and try to do Couch to 5K, or should I try my Total Gym? How about yoga? Maybe I should do yoga? What do I feel like doing? Nothing…

Ugh. Maybe I’ll work out tomorrow…

When I met Jerome in his amazing studio the week after we got back from the Poconos, he said one thing to me that stuck out: “Your workout is like a business meeting. Don’t miss it.”

More than a Personal Trainer

If you’re blessed to know Jerome, you know what a wonderful teacher, guide, and mentor he is. You know that the Daily Grind Studio is a safe place where you are encouraged, not yelled at. Where muscles are built and fat melts away, along with whatever is worrying you.

I hope you’ll take this journey with me, as I tell you a little but about my lifelong path toward health and happiness, with my dear friend Jerome Robinson by my side.