This family’s approach to fitness is yielding great results

In February, Schell Brothers started its annual biggest loser contest designed to help employees get in great shape. This year, Antonio’s Training had 31 people sign up to complete our 12-week body transformation to guide them through the contest. Many of these people joined for a little friendly competition, while others used it as an opportunity to get in shape for summer. However, for Justin and Michelle Hetherington, it was a chance to transform their bodies while learning to live a healthier lifestyle as a family.

Justin completed the program last year with great success – he lost 40 pounds and 23 percent of his starting body fat, which is an incredible overall change. However, what made his fitness journey even more impressive was the fact that he did all of this with a torn rotator cuff. He needed shoulder surgery to repair it, but decided to continue the program and put the operation off until he finished the competition. To accommodate Justin’s injury, we modified his program to eliminate all overhead or pressing movements, and added more back and rear delt exercises to stabilize his shoulder and strengthen the muscles around the damaged joint. We also did band work to bridge the gap between therapy and training. This worked well and allowed Justin to finish strong with great results. 

Justin had his shoulder repaired last fall and was just finishing therapy when he joined back up for the program. In addition, he recruited his wife Michelle to join him this year so they could complete the program as a team. “I needed to drop some weight, and I saw the results of people who did the transformation. And I wanted to support Justin,” said Michelle, and that’s exactly what she has done so far. Not only do they support each other with the workouts and cardio, but they cooperate at home with the diet, making it a lot easier to be successful.

“With my wife doing the program this year, everything is much better, because not only am I accountable to my trainer, but also to her,” said Justin. “She makes sure that all foods are weighed and that they are the correct portion sizes.”

So far, the family teamwork is yielding great results. They are only at week four of the 12-week transformation, and Justin has dropped 20 pounds, far exceeding his results at this point in the program last year. Michelle has dropped 10 1/2 pounds as well.

“I learned to change my schedule to around to accommodate my workouts,” said Justin. He now gets up at 5 a.m. to go to the gym and do starved cardio before work, and he also does workouts on weekends to be sure he gets everything done. “It takes commitment, but it’s well worth the results.”

Michelle said she is finding the program challenging but doable. “The workouts are hard, but I enjoy them. The diet is really difficult. I used to drink a glass of wine after a hard day at work, but that’s no longer an option on this program,” she said.

There is still plenty of time for results with this challenge. The Hetheringtons are not even halfway through the 12-week transformation, and already their results are excellent. Their decision to do the program as a family makes the workouts and dietary changes a lifestyle, not a short-term fix. They are getting in shape and learning to integrate proper food choices at the same time. When asked what their goals were for the program, both Justin and Michelle said they wanted to lose weight, and to look good and feel comfortable in their clothes. As an added incentive, they are planning on taking some new family photos when the 12 weeks are over, and they are much lighter and leaner. There is no doubt in my mind that this is a life-changing experience for the Hetheringtons, and they will continue living a healthier lifestyle.