Before joining Urban Athlete, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. After a year of surgery and chemo therapy, I developed right arm lymphadema. I started to work with a trainer twice a week that was trained in working with women that had lymphadema. After a year, in was time to try a gym. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to keep up in a gym with people that were healthy. I was worried that I would run into problems with my arm with lymphadema. I was very self conscious about the compression sleeve that I had to wear on my arm. Lastly, my body, stamina, and strength were not what they were before my surgery and cancer.

Given my two years prior to UA, I felt weak and unattractive. I had gained weight in the year following my surgery and chemo and I weighed more than prior to the diagnosis. Urban Athlete brought me back to life. I feel mentally and physically strong and healthy. And, my arm with lymphadema is strong and has shape and muscles. I have lost weight and I fit back into my clothes.

The UA trainers have been amazing. When I first started at UA, my workouts had to be modified. Initially, because of my arm, the trainers were excellent about making sure that I didn’t push too fast and that the weight and repetition increases were incremental and slow in progression. Now, I do the same workout as everyone else. The trainers have also helped me with nutrition and my diet. I don’t even think about the compression sleeve that I wear on my arm when I’m at the gym – it’s just part of what I wear to work out.

Urban Athlete is not a gym. Pamela and the coaches are not trainers. They are much more than that.

Urban Athlete has become a home of sorts to many of its members. Pamela and the coaches, family.

Our family entered the doors of Urban Athlete a little over two years ago with the same expectations and hesitations that many experience when beginning a new chapter in the quest for fitness. Within a few days we learned that this was something truly special. The members are friendly, honest, helpful; true members of a special little community. There’s no “strange guy lifting weights way too heavy for him” or “skinny chick that I swear is judging my extra 10lbs.” Everyone comes here to improve and maintain their physical health in a safe, comfortable, challenging and encouraging environment. As a family of previously competitive athletes, we can proudly state that after training at Urban Athlete, we are in better shape now than during peak competitive years….perhaps a tad slower, maybe…

Urban Athlete is sacred to our family. Pamela, the coaches, and members have helped us realize that fitness and health can be fun and while it certainly is not easy, hard work coupled with an incredible support system can certainly make the journey much easier.