May we introduce ….. Jo, at Rossis. Fitness Instructor and Personal Trainer at Rossis.
Jo started working in the fitness industry in Hull as a Gym Receptionist back in 2006 and loved it. She was inspired to work out seeing the amazing progress made by others and was offered the opportunity to study for an NVQ and become a Fitness Instructor. In 2010 she left to study Physiotherapy at University and took a long career break after having her first son and experiencing mental health issues. Once she was comfortable balancing family and career she qualified as a Personal Trainer and returned to work in the fitness industry. She loves her job at Rossis – it takes her out of her comfort zone and it is very social too. Jo feels very lucky to be part of the team, saying it’s such a friendly and supportive place to be.
She loves helping to keep others motivated and remind them that the smallest achievements should be celebrated just as much as the larger ones. She always remembers that each individual has their own goal and the most effective exercise will change from person to person . For Jo, she says that’s running; supporting her own fitness goals (to run stronger and further) and help maintain her weight.
Jo feels lucky that her job requires her to exercise, helping to keep her fit and healthy. She teaches Spinning four times and week and Fitness Yoga twice a week. She acknowledges that between work and family commitments, sometimes it can be tough to make time for herself to exercise and she’ll schedule 30 minutes in her lunch break or even workout at home with the children. Her own proudest achievement was to run a marathon “I loved it, hated it, laughed and cried, ran and hobbled”. It was tough and mentally challenging for her but she refused to give up.
Jo says she’s an “all or nothing kinda girl” who is always either building up to something magnificent and training really hard to achieve it or she’s relaxing and letting her body recover from whatever she’s just done! One of her 2020 goals is to work more on consistency. Most important in her life for Jo are her family, her mental health and her job and that a good day involves running, drinking tea and eating cake. For the future - she plans more marathons, possibly even an ultra-marathon and would love to attempt a Triathlon but says she’d need to learn to swim first! She wants to gain more Class qualifications – Aerobics, Aquafit, Fitness Pilates and Barre) and also more personal growth; wanting to be able to share her own mental health journey fully once she feels more confident in the hope that it inspires others to try exercise as a form of therapy.