FORT GEORGE G. MEADE, Md. – It was a typical morning at the gym. People checked in and stood around for a briefing. Music played in the background while the announcement for the day was read. The target time, time cap and how participants should go about their strategy was explained. After that was warm up and a practice round before the real workout began. One hour of high intensity level exercises. A mix of cardio and weightlifting including: wall balls, jump-rope, handstand pushups, handstand walks, deadlifts, plus more.
Generally, functional fitness training is geared towards intermediate and advanced power lifters. However, members range from different sizes and skill levels. Those who are not progressing as fast as they want, or they’re struggling with a certain skill, can reach out to any one of the
coaches to get that further push.
The functional fitness mentality is being one as a group and promoting a supportive environment that motivates each other.
U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Noel Diaz, an instructor at the Defense Information School on Fort Meade, Maryland, loves this motivational atmosphere.
“That's the biggest thing about functional fitness training. Most gyms are going to be a very friendly community, especially in this area with a lot of military,” said Diaz. “A lot of people you can relate to, but it’s definitely a great place and a great thing to do.”
Diaz first started high-intensity functional fitness training in 2019 after her husband deployed to Afghanistan. Left alone to raise their five-month-old daughter, Diaz would go to Gaffney Gym whenever her schedule allowed it. Eventually she found a gym where she was able to bring her daughter.
“During that deployment was a big challenge,” said U.S. Army Sgt. Victor PerezVargas, an instructor at DINFOS. “She was trying to get something to unwind her mind and the pain. I know the challenges you face when you have your spouse deployed.”
PerezVargas has known Diaz for about six years and has seen the progress she’s made in her fitness journey. Her need to be active gave her the opportunity to not only persevere through the challenges but utilize the discipline he knew she had in the process.
Diaz grew up in Hackettstown, New Jersey. There she coached at her high school and was also a cheerleader for 11 years.
“When I got into my freshman year of high school, I coached until my senior year for the town and this group of girls I grew up with,” Diaz said. “I’ve always had a passion for helping others and coaching.”
When she got involved in functional fitness training, being one of the more advanced athletes in the gym motivated her desire to help others. It also pushed her to elevate to new heights by exceeding her goals and creating new ones to conquer.
“I love functional fitness training, but I really wanted to focus on making progress in my lifts, and it was kind of hard to do both every day,” Diaz said. “We have some lifts in our program, but it wasn’t progressing as fast as I wanted to. I just wanted to strictly lift.”
At that moment Diaz decided to take on weightlifting and transitioned to a functional fitness coach. She got her level one certification in 2022 and began coaching at her gym.
“I highly encouraged her to do the training,” said PerezVargas. “I told her you’re going to be able to train and coach other people to be on the same level as you and you're going to see the results of your training that you did over the years reflected in other people.”
At first Diaz had doubts, but ultimately decided she had what it took to be a good coach. She was somebody that was going to continuously hold her athletes accountable for whatever goals they set. Checking in with them and constantly pushing them outside of their comfort zone like she did herself.
“We might have athletes that always use a band when they’re doing pull ups. As a coach, I think pushing someone would be ok,” she said. “Let's move down a different color, or let’s take the band away and we’ll scale the pull up reps accordingly. Pushing someone, seeing that potential in them and always following up in my opinion makes a good coach.”
One session Diaz was coaching early in the morning during the five a.m. class. There was an athlete who had asthma or some sort of breathing problem when she did certain movements.
“I remember her running outside crying trying to breathe. I went to make sure she was ok. She told me she does something with her breathing and I told her to take a break,” Diaz said. “She was still coming back, but was she scaling how she should be when it comes to her lungs? No. It would happen every time she was here. Crying sitting on the side saying she couldn't breathe. You can only help someone so much.”
This is one of the biggest challenges she faces. Athletes with pride and who know it all. It’s hard for her to give feedback because some athletes don’t listen or understand. It takes time and patience to get gains and see results. She wants to be sure they do their workouts correctly to reduce the chance of injury.
Getting gains and results are something Diaz knows all about. One of her greatest accomplishments was getting stronger with the Olympic weightlifting.
“She was trying to go into competitions,” PerezVargas said. “I know for a fact she was trying to do weightlifting in order to be stronger and have more stamina during the competitions.”
Diaz also began coaching other people in weightlifting. PerezVargas recalls attending training one day and noticed how attentive and satisfied everyone was. When they spoke about it later, Diaz expressed how happy she was to see other people accomplish their goals.
PerezVargas also remembers how sore he was for the weekend after doing the workout with them.
“I was not able to jump in my truck the whole weekend,” he said. “But I really liked that moment. I really liked the environment that was created. That was good. I feel like being part of the community, being part of everyone who was doing the workout. Especially when she was coaching and explaining to me.”
Diaz still participates in functional fitness training every now and then, during her coaching sessions with the group, for the camaraderie and to stay conditioned.
“There will be times where I will join the class for a workout if it involves a barbell, although I may not be as conditioned as I used to be when I did it all the time,” Diaz said. “I fly through certain movements when it comes to the barbell because it’s all I’m doing. I’m strong and to me it’s like my hard work is paying off. If I were to go back to functional fitness training, I think it’d be a whole new level for me.”
Diaz does admit that there are more differences between functional fitness training and weightlifting than just the exercises.
“It’s motivating, I love weightlifting, but it can be pretty lonely,” Diaz said. “Just because there’s not a lot of people at my gym that actually just strictly do weightlifting.”
Diaz believes the loneliness helps her dial in more mentally and focus. It’s one of the big changes she had to adjust to.
Her advice for anybody who’s interested in doing functional fitness training or weightlifting is to just go for it.
“I know it can be scary at first for people. Especially if they walk into a gym. It might look or feel a little intimidating,” she said. “But most of the gyms that I’ve dropped into, if I’m traveling or just my gym in general, have a good community.”
What matters most is the energy people put into it. And if one day someone is not coming with their full potential, others will help them get there.
| Date Taken: | 02.09.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 12.29.2023 17:36 |
| Story ID: | 461078 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 35 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, How one woman found solace in exercising and coaching, by SGT Devin Davis, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
