October Member Spotlight: Olivia Tettambel

Have you had the chance to meet Olivia? If you are a morning workout person you may not have because Olivia is much more of a 6:30PM workout person. While we are now regulars at Saturday morning mobility, I first got to know Olivia sharing many of those ends of the day workouts and I always enjoy working out with her.  Olivia was born, raised, and educated in St. Louis City.  Her childhood did not include organized sports but was full of active vacations.  She grew up backpacking, hiking, canoeing, sailing, etc.  Her active life slowed down when she reached adulthood and found a husband who did not enjoy the same activities.  Prior to Forward Fitness her exercise was sporadic, and event or accomplishment focused.  No thought was given about overall health or what was next. For example, if she wanted to do triathlon (check), run a half marathon (check), hike the GC rim to rim (check), century ride (check). Once the accomplishment was reached or the event passed, she lost interest and motivation to continue and found a new task to complete.

Olivia had this to say about why she joined Forward Fitness, “I literally drove by Forward Fitness on my way home from work every day for about a year.  One day I stopped in and thought I will do this for 3-6 months and move on.  Five years later, I can say it was the best decision I made.”

She had this to say about keeping fitness a part of her life for so many years, “I love the fact that Team Training or Fit Camps change every 4 weeks and my semi-private changes every 8 work outs.  I enjoy the trainers and most importantly, I would miss my work out buddies if I did not show up.”

We asked Olivia what made health/fitness important to her and this was her response, “Watching my parents age really drove me to figure out how to incorporate fitness into my life. I wanted fitness to be a habit and hobby not a task to be completed.  As a two-year breast cancer survivor, fitness is even more important in order to maintain my physical and mental health not to mention range of motion.”

Olivia’s fight against breast cancer has been her biggest challenge and one that she has fought brilliantly.  She had this to say about it, “One of the biggest challenges for me was rehabbing after a bilateral mastectomy due to breast cancer.  Forward Fitness was able to tailor everything to address my limited range of motion and improve my range of motion.  More importantly, Forward Fitness helped me embrace my new body.  So working out really was not about just gaining back the strength I lost but gaining back confidence in a new body.”  She has too many accomplishments that she is excited about of to list but rehabbing after her mastectomy and being able to do a Turkish Get Up are two that she is most proud of.

A fun fact about Olivia, “I can touch my nose with my tongue which makes for an interesting conversation.”

Her advice to someone considering adding a fitness routine to their lives, “Just do it! You won’t regret it.

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