Hey! My name is Samantha and I am a certified group fitness instructor and I work as a health fitness specialist in corporate fitness. I also am a bartender at several different bars/restaurants in downtown Chicago. I graduated Southern Illinois University with a B.S. in Exercise Science.
In college I worked at the student rec center teaching classes and I also had an undergraduate assistantship with a program my professor ran called Strong Survivors. Strong survivors is a 12-week program that guides cancer patients/survivors and their caregivers through a full body strength training workout twice a week. Also during the twelve week program, a weekly informational lecture was given to educate participants on the importance of physical activity and how exercising is beneficial for cancer patients to improve their quality of life and increase chances of remission.
This program meant a lot to me. When I was 11 years old my mother passed away from Breast Cancer. She was first diagnosed with the disease when I was 3 years old and continued her battle for as long as she could. Training these extraordinary people really proved to me what strength is.
My life was very different than what most kids had growing up. I had to overcome a lot of obstacles with my mother and later on with almost losing my father. When my father was 50 years old, he went in for a stress test because he felt like something was wrong, and it’s a good thing he did. My father flunked the stress test with flying colors and they immediately scheduled an angiogram, which turned into angioplasty, which went right into a 5-way bypass. We have hereditary high cholesterol and his arties were 90% blocked. It is a miracle he never suffered a heart attack.
This event was truly an eye opener for me into my health and lifestyle. I got my cholesterol checked and let me just say this, the doctors called and asked if I fasted for it because my numbers were outrageous. I was scared and I really needed to make changes in my life to avoid what my dad went through. So my freshmen year of college I began getting into strength training and working out in different formats. I started eating healthier and overall just tried living happier. This really is what influenced my decision in majoring in Exercise Science.
Fast forward to my life now and working as a fitness specialist in corporate fitness, I am able to do what I love to do. I get to educate, motivate, and help people take the steps to living a healthier life. Recently I decided to start a blog. So It’s a Sweaty Life was born. You can find workouts that you can do at home or at the gym, group fitness class workouts, fitness tips/motivation and also some of my own opinions on the fitness industry and trends we see in today’s society. I wanted to create something for people whether they are brand new to fitness/working-out or they’re an experienced and knowledgeable personal trainer. I hope that people can find something that inspires them and helps them live a better healthier fit life.
It’s a Sweaty Life, but it’s a wondrous one. 
Visit Samantha:
itsasweatylife.wordpress.com
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