Client Spotlight: Denise Irving

What keeps you motivated?

I have always been pretty active and enjoyed playing sports throughout my life. But, I think what really threw me into caring for my health and fitness journey so passionately was after my mother was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 53. She was so young! As her cancer progressed other outlier diseases popped up, but the killer disease was emphysema. A few years into her cancer recovery she began losing lung capacity and that quickly turned into her reliance on oxygen 24/7. It was brutal to witness.

Eventually, it wasn't cancer that ended her life, it was the emphysema. She lost the battle at the young age of 63. The day before she passed away, she took my hand and made me promise that I would always protect my lungs, at all costs. Of course, I made that promise to her, and shortly after that is when I started running. When I was 49 I decided to run a half marathon in her honor. After training for months and finishing that half I had too much skin in the running game to walk away from it. However, I made the leap from road running to trail running and never looked back. When I'm out on the trails alone, I think of it as "our" time together, and fill my mom in on my life. The funny thing is, running is the sport that I'm probably the worst at, and yet my type A personality forces me to keep going.

Fast forward to July of 2020, in the midst of the pandemic my husband was diagnosed with cancer. A punch to the gut for my family. Because of Covid, he had to go to all of his treatments alone, but he was (and is a true champ). He had so many obstacles to overcome. There was a period of time that I wasn't sure he was going to make it. Watching him go through all of his treatments, surgeries, complications, and recovery was an eye opening experience AND a wake up call to take care of this one body I was gifted. I'm happy to share that he is doing well, is healthy, and now on his own fitness journey.

By August of 2021 I was floundering, lost, yea I would hit the gym for spin or go to Orangetheory or run, but I didn't know what I was doing, and certainly didn't know my way around the weight area of the gym. I had no idea what a "macro" was, or how many calories I needed, or how foods affect body composition. I realized that I needed help if I wanted to live a long and disease-free life. I needed to find someone to trust who knew what I needed more than I did. That led me to where I am today. Right where I'm supposed to be. I'm always motivated, inspired and in awe of my coach, and all the amazing athletes in this community who share their imperfections, weaknesses, strengths, insights, support, and so much more. I know I want to age gracefully, be healthy, maintain a reasonable weight I'm comfortable with, have mobility, balance, be agile, and most of all to be STRONG, for myself and for my family!

If you were to design your favorite workout, what would it be?

I love all workouts, especially ones that make me feel like I just did some bad ass sh*t! But, really for me it's all about variety. I get bored easily and quickly. My mind is always racing, so my ideal workout would have a lot of different exercises built into it that blend strength, boot camp style exercises, and some HIIT cardio.

Why is it important to you to live a healthy lifestyle?

I think that to live a healthy lifestyle is a symbol of control over your body, destiny, and represents discipline and freedom. Being healthy for me means no limits, being open to new things, and always growing. I'm always inspired by watching what others can do, and often get that feeling, like "wow, i want to do that too." At the end of the day, it comes down to living your dash. I don't want to just LIVE my dash, I want to crush it!