Verena Fitness

Passions/Hobbies I don’t know what it was but I always had a thing for helping people. I remember in kindergarten where we had to show up wearing a costume of what we wanted to do as a chosen profession when we grow up. I was dressed as a nurse, cap and all. I’m pretty sure that influence came from my parents. My dad, may he rest in peace, was a doctor and my mother a nurse. My father had his own clinic in the Philippines. From what I recall as a young child, my father helped out the patients even though they had no money to give him for payment. In return for his service they would would give him food, livestock, or just their gratitude. I saw that and realizing at a later age that he had so much passion for helping people. I wanted to be like that too. My parents are my heroes and they were the foundation that shaped me to become the person I am today. Throughout The Years I have always been an active child and a huge tomboy. When little girls wanted to be at home playing dolls, I was outside playing sports and climbing trees. I favored playing softball in my grade school years. In high school, I dabbled in track and field for a little bit but never stuck to it, partly because I was asthmatic as a child. I continue to struggle with it as an adult. My brother, sister and I used to play sports together often and when my brother started lifting weights I also started to take interest in it. I started lifting weights at 15 and really haven’t stopped since. Fitness remained a part of my life through college and later in life. When I went to college I made the decision not to be a nurse, or pursue any health profession for that matter. It might have been all the science classes I would have to take. Maybe it was visiting my mother at Cook County Hospital as a teenager, the smell of sickness has never left me to this day. I decided to find another way in making myself useful to society went to college for business marketing. After I graduated, I became a real estate agent and thought that would be a way I could help people achieve their dreams. I was an agent for a few years until I became pregnant with my daughter. My husband (Phil) and I decided that I would become a stay at home mom. Being a Mom As a mother, the most important thing is caring for the welfare of my children and providing them with the best nutrition, education, and parenting I can. The most important thing in my life is to be a good role model for my daughters. The decisions I make everyday are influenced by the needs and well-being of my children. However, even as much as I love being a mother, I wanted to do something for myself. I decided to go back to school and study early childhood education. I became an active participant in my oldest daughter’s school when she went to preschool. I noticed that many parents around me were active in their children’s education, many were also conscious about their children’s nutrition. It was also painfully apparent that some were more naïve about the impact that poor nutrition could have on themselves and their children. Our country has an alarmingly high rate of obesity for children. Some experts are calling it an epidemic. I decided that I wanted to combine what I learned from my background in early childhood education with my passion for fitness in order to promote healthy living in children. My goal is to leverage this knowledge/passion in order to change the habits of parents and children so we can have a better tomorrow. I am Certified Fitness Trainer, Nutritionist, Certified for Pre and Postnatal Fitness and Certified for Specialize Exercise Therapy.