Most people who go to the gym are looking for much the same thing - they just want to get in better shape. Some people are trying to shed the pounds accrued during pregnancy. Others find themselves working out to get back into the dating game. In places where the great outdoors plays an active part of so many lives, like Denver, more people are training for "sports" that most people would consider extreme.
Rocky Mountain Transplant
One
personal trainer in Denver has combined exercise with the outdoors. 38-year old Lauri Ann Stricker, an avid rock climber, owns Evergeen Pilates. She first learned the discipline in her hometown of Chicago, but when she moved to Colorado she fell in love with the mountains and decided to take her Pilates instruction business outdoors.
Falling In Love
"I had never been to the mountains, I hadn't hiked or camped, but as soon as I did, I fell in love with it. It changed my life," she says, noting that everyday life is so full of distractions. "When you're outdoors, there's none of that. It's very pure - you feel the ground beneath your feet, the sun on your face. It centers you." Pilates would be considered cross-training for those who enjoy skiing, snowboarding and rock-climbing. "Pilates makes you more aware of body and movement, the biomechanics of posture and alignment," she says, noting that exercise is the best way to prevent injuries in the first place.
The Denver mom's vocation as a personal trainer, combined with her love of nature, has now expanded her life in another direction altogether; Stricker's book, Pilates for the Outdoor Athlete, was recently published by Fulcrum.
