From Scientist to Personal Trainer; with life and commitments always getting in the way of Anastasia becoming a Personal Trainer, she decided at the most unfit point in her life, that it was time to make a change both with her health and in her career.
A love for cycling
Growing up in Melbourne, Anastasia tried many sports and loved bicycles ever since she can remember. Until this day she is still riding and loving it both as exercise and also the experience it gives being outdoors and being able to go anywhere. Anastasia has also done sports like baseball, brazilian jiu jitsu and fencing, but her biggest achievement still has to do with cycling and was when she completed the Around the Bay race in a day, which is a 250 km cycling event.
The long road to becoming a PT
Being a Personal Trainer was always in the back of Anastasia’s head, however she went on a different path to start with and completed a Bachelor of Science before working as a Pathology Scientist both in Australia and overseas. After that Anastasia went on to working in TV and she was a part of the Wentworth TV series crew, plus working a few years in warehouses before embarking into the fitness industry. In 2013 she decided to become a Personal Trainer, it was just the right time. Anastasia’s husband has been a PT since 2008, and she says she should have done the course back then, but life and other commitments got in the way, however it was still always in the back of her mind that it was something that she wanted to do. Anastasia’s own fitness kept going up and down through the years, and the ironic thing was that she decided to to the Personal Trainer course at her most unfit moment in life. However, it was the best decision she made and she loves what it has thought her, and continues to teach her every day.
Anastasia’s favourite part of being a Personal Trainer is seeing her clients realise what they can achieve when they push themselves out of their comfort zones. Also it is the only career that Anastasia has chosen that never feels like it is a job, she enjoys every single day of it. Anastasia is one of Fitness Enhancement Franchisee Sam Taylor’s many great one on one and Boot Camp Trainers in and around the Camberwell area of Melbourne. She loves functional training, animal movement pattern workout as well as “out of the box” workouts that are different and unexpected.
Five questions with Anastasia Stone:
What is your biggest achievement as a Personal Trainer?
Getting clients to keep training with me and actually seeing them enjoying the sessions. Actually I lie, they don’t enjoy being tired/sweating/exhausted/drained at the time of training, but the amazing feeling they get at the end of the session they very much enjoy! Even though all my clients are improving each time they train, I have been stoked to have a client go from hardly being able to do one push up off a sofa armrest to doing 10 in a row on the floor, and another client couldn’t perform one burpee when I met her, yet can now do 10 so I guess my biggest achievement is seeing my clients achievements!
What is your most memorable training session?
All of the sessions are memorable as I get to see clients manage to do things they thought weren’t possible but the two examples above are pretty memorable.
What is your favourite exercise as a trainer?
The burpee and any core exercise. The burpee because it’s an all body workout without the need for any equipment other than your body. Like I tell my clients…you might be strong in your upper and lower body but if your core is weak then you’re prone to injury and loss of strength will limit what you can do with the rest of your body.
What is your favourite exercise or sport outside of work?
Riding.
What is your favourite quote?
I guess I have two favourite sayings rather than quotes. The first is “One Life, One Chance, Make it Count”, and funnily enough the second is a song’s lyrics that I try to live my life by nowadays:
Enjoy yourself It’s later than you think The years go by As quickly as a wink Enjoy yourself Enjoy yourself It’s later than you think
Check out more Fitness Enhancement Personal Trainers; Ida from gymnast in Sweden to PT in Australia, our newest Melbourne Franchisee Demi, and Steve who is passionate about sports and health.