success story

Eugene Pasquarelli

This experience has been something that has been greater than life-changing. I know this might sound like something out of a Dr. Phil book but really it isn’t. I started with Kris in May of 2004. I was walking around at 209 to 212 pounds and I was just a big slug. An opportunity came up where I needed to be in shape, and in a timely fashion. A friend and co-worker recommended Kris to me.

So I took her up on it. At first sight, I nearly turned around and walked away. Here was this fit and vibrant blond and here I was, this oversized guy walking up to her. My first thought was to turn away, I thought I was a lost cause. My belief at the time was that this person only trained very fit people, like herself and she’d probably toss me to the wayside. But I had nothing to lose so we ended up talking. A few days later we had our first workout and I will always remember it. I couldn’t sit comfortably for two days and I couldn’t bend over, I was so sore. I kept thinking, what is she doing to me? But I kept on and here I am to this day. I’ve lost close to 30lbs and kept it off. However, I’m not done yet. I want to see 170 lbs and I’m pretty sure I’ll see it and stay there.

Every time I have a session with Kris, it is always something special. I still think that whoever thought up this notion of fitness, working out, strength training and going to the gym should be tortured and shot but I guess that concept is here to stay. As I said before, life is different. Kristina has taught me to work out better, eat better and live better. This is a new lease on life and if someone had told me one and a half years ago that I could lose all this weight and be back to where I was before grade 12, I would have laughed at them and told them to pour themselves another shot and have a good, stiff drink.

Prior to training with Kristina, I couldn’t even run one lap around the track without collapsing. Now I run six in consecutive order and my goal is to hit six laps under eleven minutes. I can actually do seven chin ups without help. Do the Sun Run? A year and a half ago, I would have said, “yeah, you go right ahead, have a good run. I’ll meet you at the finish line in my truck with a huge platter of ribs and curly fries and a case of Miller Genuine Draft.” I never dreamed that I could even do the run, let alone complete the ten kilometers in under an hour. There is so much more that I could list but I’ve cut a lot out.

She monitors me and yes, while I do miss the taste of ribs and curly fries, I wouldn’t even dream of eating so much now; I’d be sick for days. Being Italian just makes it harder. Our life is based on food like homemade bread, pasta, meat and frying it all. Kristina knew this so while I do have some, my entire family has changed food. My mother initially thought that I was changing religion and urged me to go to confession right away and then make sure to have the priest convert Kristina to Catholicism because she just wasn’t right.

She’s over that now and family meals are prepared with more thought. Our pasta consumption is lower but and we make it different. We eat more fish and chicken and turkey and we rarely fry stuff. My own lunches consist of more greens and protein. I bike to work rather than drive. I run more, I work out more. But most of all, as a younger person, I got sick a lot. I must have caught every cold known to mankind. Now, my body is much stronger, I haven’t gotten sick for a long time. My health has improved greatly and my own doctor has said my health is way better that it has ever been.

For lack of a better term, the Kristina Experience is something really special. With Kris, you get a someone who brings her strength, knowledge, experience, aggressiveness, resiliency and most of all, her big heart. How she trains herself is the same as how she trains others. The physical part is easy, trust me. It’s the mental part that she works on and motivates that me to hit new feats.

As someone who has worked for the public service for most of his life, I believe that if more people paid to attention to people like Kristina, our society would be much healthier. We would free up resources in healthcare for more serious cases. I’m sure we’d need a podiatrist here and there for some of those aches and pains but we as people, we would be much healthier mentally, physically and spiritually. Kristina is a long term thing for me and I appreciate and cherish the fact that I have the privilege to train with her. Thanks Kris, for everything.

Eugene