Alexandra’s #UNSTOPPABLE Journey
Over 4 years ago, Alexandra Koprek began her fitness journey to maintain her weight and feel healthy and more loving of her body. Since then, she has actually gained weight, although it looks like she has lost it!
As an active person since childhood, she is always looking to push herself, which is why the gym is her go-to place.
“Xperience changed my confidence a lot. Prior gyms I had worked out at made me really uncomfortable,” said Koprek. “It wasn’t until I started working out at Xperience in Roseville that I started to feel OK, I didn’t feel judged. The environment felt safe and welcoming.”
On top of a new gym, a change of mindset is what she needed to dominate her fitness goals. “I used to have the mindset that quick changes were needed, until realizing that my fitness journey— life journey is a day in, day out thing. There is no quick fix,” Koprek said. “What helped me tremendously was taking progress photos. I try to do weekly basis and wow, the changes! These photos are a few years apart but I’m glad I have them to reflect on where I started and where I am now. I can’t ever tell myself that “nothing changed” when in fact, everything has changed. My body, my confidence, my activity level, all of it.”
Alexandra knew the effort she was putting into her health was paying off every time she would get a new PR. “Each time I add even 5 more pounds I am ecstatic because it means I’m growing not only physically with gaining more muscle but also mentally. Mental toughness has far surpassed my physical strength to keep pushing 1 more rep each time.” said Koprek. The feeling that Koprek gets after a workout is also what keeps her motivated. “How satisfied I feel after crushing a workout doesn’t compare to words. I always feel more apt to take on my day… I started to see a level of change in my productivity with work and overall a better sense of happiness and gratitude for life and those around me.”
To stay on track with her fitness goals, Koprek will continue to set and crush her fitness goals.
“Each new day is another chance to set new goals and achieve them. Some days I have to make modifications based on outside factors, you just have to keep yourself focused on what exactly you are trying to obtain,” Koprek added, “even with the gym closures at the moment, I still do my best to meal prep and hit my macros for the day. Trying not to be sedentary all day, hitting some sort of step goal/walking my dogs while working from home.” said Koprek.
She talked about the Covid-19 pandemic and how it has affected her gym routine. “The pandemic changed a lot, obviously the gym had been closed for a while and again they are shut down, but because of how hard I worked in the gym, my body still craved that exertion level so I started to do home workouts, go for walks/runs and even hikes. It’s not the same without weights but it’s something to keep me going in a time where things have been so uncertain.”
As far as advice goes, Koprek says that the most important thing is to trust the process and love yourself along the way.