Testimonials
Damian’s passion for exercise is life-changing. His routines are individualized and challenging but never more than you can handle. His extensive knowledge and enthusiastic commitment to his work and to his clients is the perfect scenario for success. He is a role model to his clients in leading a healthy and fit life and shows that it can be achieved. With Damian, I have gained the confidence to walk into any fitness center and face the mirror. Because of his efforts, I am stronger, more flexible, have better balance, and more importantly, working out has become fun.
I worked with Damian for over a year while he was in Virginia. I would describe his workout approach as a holistic one. He is a very dedicated trainer and spends a great deal of time tailoring workout programs specific to his clients’ needs and abilities. The programs he designs are very different than what I call the typical gym workout. Your mind and body are engaged and a great emphasis is placed on muscle awareness. Be prepared to have your form evaluated and assessed! Damian wants his clients to be challenged and motivated.
I first met Damian two years ago while he was working as a nutritional counselor and exercise therapist on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Right away, I felt that he was easy to talk to and a wealth of knowledge on nutritional concepts. I sat with him several times for my own personal guidance and also introduced my daughter to him for nutritional counseling. While working with him concerning the emotional reasons for overeating, she had a wonderful breakthrough in understanding the triggers of her own habits. The insight that Damian helped her to discover has been invaluable in her journey to health and wellness. Damian considers the whole person; Spirit, soul, and body.
I found the help I needed while under the excellent care of Damian Motlo. His knowledge and expertise by helping bodies to heal, and the innovative ways he finds to help uncover his clients’ needs, are marked by his professionalism and concern for each person he cares for. I cannot say enough wonderful things about him.
For a lot of people the difficulty isn’t finding a way to be stronger or more valuable, but convincing themselves that they already are those things. For me, Damian Motlo was a monumental conduit in my process to discover what I already contained within me. Rather than rushing to prescribe a new diet or quick-fix method, he actually listened. He encouraged me to slow down, to really hear what I was telling myself, to really hear what my body was telling me, and to move forward driven by patience and confidence rather than shame. The most mind-blowing part? When I started growing in leaps and bounds, he let me go to continue learning on my own (though he still occasionally checks up on me as a friend). Instead of trying to turn a continual profit off my weakness, he empowered me to believe that I was capable.
Damian goes well beyond the skills of a typical trainer with his broad range of expertise on the human body; innovative techniques for stretching and strength training; his ability to motivate clients of all skill levels and knowledge of nutrition and food. He is engaging and personable and his sessions are enjoyable, yet demanding. With his many years of experience, he is well suited to train mature clients. He is committed to ongoing education and training and keeping up on new techniques and products, so sessions never become stale. He lives his beliefs and his personal passion for wellness and fitness come through in his instruction, seminars and informal conversation. You will get not just a stronger, healthier body by working with Damian but also a great education and, maybe a good friend .
I don’t really know where to begin. I read and completed “The Slow Down Diet”, all of the assignments included, and it gave my perspective on health a dieting a complete turnaround. Granted, I am always tempted to fall back into old patterns of thinking, but the book provided enough truth to dispel the lies I had been telling myself. How relieving it is to know that I HAVE strength and a desire to care for myself, I was just too distracted to see it or to enjoy anything. So thank-you so much for starting me on that journey of valuing myself enough to slow down and engage the world, my food, myself, etc.
The other big part of my journey has been learning to trust in patience – to trust God to bring hope and to fulfill what I’ve been hoping for. Hope is such a big deal. To hope, despite all the stories you’ve told yourself throughout your entire life, and wait for something to happen against all odds, AND THEN TO SEE IT HAPPEN changes things because you’re not afraid to get your hopes up the next time.
For almost a year now (or whenever it was we started talking) I’ve been praying, reading, unraveling, and hoping. Teaching myself to enjoy and let go of what it going on around me, and also to pause and examine what it going on within me: to ask where the stories need to change, what created them in the first place, and where I need to forgive. Through all of this, I clung to the hope that I would see my body change. I began to say aloud “I am losing weight”, even if I didn’t feel it. And granted, I also came to terms with the idea that, if it didn’t change, I STILL wouldn’t waste time focusing on having to look a certain way when I could be living an energized and attractive life right now. Even if I didn’t lose weight physically, I felt myself losing the heavy burdens of lies, guilt, self-deprecation, failures, and obsessive behaviors. (I’m not all there YET, but I’m not longer afraid to face them).
I started dating someone who never makes me feel like I am second-best. He tells me that he loves how I look and means it, but still encourages me when he sees me challenging myself at the gym (which I just started doing 2 weeks ago). I love the feeling I get from pushing myself. Every time I complete a workout, I feel like I’ve destroyed one more voice telling me “You can’t do that, you’re too weak, you’re the ‘chubby kid’.” I am realizing my own power, whether physical, mental, or emotional. I can see a challenge and not shy away out of fear of failure.The biggest of all challenges has been to love myself, and I can honestly say that slowly, I am learning to do that.
I know it because I see it manifest in the ways that I take care of myself. I could legitimately go on for days about how this process has changed my life overall. I play musically differently, I interact with others differently, I think differently. I have an entirely different perspective of my Creator. It’s all kind of insane, but it’s wonderful. I still have shitty days, where I eat ice cream straight out of the freezer …but it’s happening less and less, and a few times I have even stopped and gone “This isn’t me anymore, I can deal with my emotions.”
If I look over the lists of goals I had set for myself and the feelings I wanted to gain in this process, I see so many of them happening it blows my mind. And then just this week, I’ve had 3 people ask me if I’ve lost weight. And most of the time I go “I’m not sure, I stopped weighing myself almost a year ago”, But I know I have lost weight, and it feels great to see that happening, because it’s NOT the solution to all of my problems anymore, it’s just an added bonus to the healing that’s already taken place.So thank you again, for walking with me to this place. It has transformed so many things, and it wouldn’t have been the same without you.