the problem, it would ultimately result in the amputation of her leg. Still, when the amputation was finally done, it lifted a tremendous weight off of her shoulders. She had gone through five surgeries between March 2010 and June 2011 trying to save the leg. “After the leg was gone, I finally felt worry-free,” she says, explaining that the time and effort to try to save it with surgeries had been more difficult than the amputation. Once the amputation was done, she says, she could move on with her life.
Discovering the best medicine
Asch-Martin had actually stumbled on physical fitness as a “medicine“ more than a decade earlier. “In 1997, my first marriage was coming to an end, and I was going through a depression,” she says. “My doctor put me on antidepressants, and they just made me worse.” At that point, she decided to take matters into her own hands and joined an allwomen’s gym. “I found that to be my magic pill,” she
says. “The endorphins I got from doing cardio and other exercise were, without a doubt, the best medicine that anyone could prescribe.”
Passing it on
After she’d been working out at the gym for a while, other members started asking her for help. “I told them I didn’t work there and that they needed to speak with someone who did,” she says. “Oddly enough, they still wanted me to help them so the management at the gym hired me, and that’s how my life’s path took a new turn. I was soon certified as a personal trainer, and then my fitness instructor’s certification followed. I quickly became one of the most popular trainers and fitness instructors there.” In 2002, she received her ACE (American Council on Exercise) certification,
“I found that to be my magic pill. The endorphins I got from doing cardio and other exercise were, without a doubt, the best medicine that anyone could prescribe.” which is recognized nationally, although she’d been certified through the Canadian Personal Trainers Network (CPTN) since 1997. She then began working for Bally’s Total Fitness in 2003 before starting her own personal training business, Personal Affects, in April 2009. “Physical fitness is essential for everyone,” she says. “Humans have such bad habits. They destroy their bodies, and the only way to help them is through teaching and guidance and explaining how their
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Amp it up! magazine MAY/JUNE/JULY 2012