I met Amy Van Cleve and started training with her in 2010. My daughter introduced me to Amy and is the one responsible for getting me excited about getting involved with AVC Elite Training since she was already participating in some of her training. At that time, Amy was training a group of people to take on the Trans Catalina Trail on Catalina Island for April 2011. Through the encouragement of my daughter, and Amy’s confidence in my ability to accomplish this goal, I decided to go for it and give it a shot!

The training for Catalina included the Group Training on Mondays and Wednesdays along with big endurance Saturdays. In addition, we hit some mid week training within the group and/or on our own.

Taking on this challenge was the best thing I could have ever done for myself. This is coming from a person who HATED TO WORKOUT, but after I started Amy’s training I started to love it and realize how much better I felt. Plus, it was downright FUN!!

I am currently training for Catalina 2014 in April and am feeling every bit as strong and confident this time around as I did back in 2010.

The Group Training is tough, but Amy and the other trainees in the group make coming to train so much fun that you never realize just how hard you are working. Granted we are working our butts off, but at the same time everyone is laughing and joking. Before you know it all the muscle burn, sweat and struggling is over. Time always goes by so fast! You always feel GREAT by the end of the training session because you just worked your butt off and had fun while doing it.

Amy continually changes up our training all of the time so you are not doing the same workout over and over again. In addition, she keeps things fresh, always coming up with new movements while keeping our safety in mind for each of us. She works with everyone at their own personal fitness level putting a lot of time and emphasis on our form. I will say that there are a lot of things that I can’t do, but Amy helps me at my level by modifying certain movements so that I can get the same results.

I am definitely building muscle and doing things I could never do before. That’s such a great feeling for me personally.

Amy has taught me how eating well and keeping hydrated helps me perform in our training whether it is the Group Training, Trekking or Running. Amy has taught me how to incorporate electrolytes into our training and the importance of nutrition. I now understand why it is vital to fuel ourselves properly before, during and after our training.

In addition, all of us in the training understand the value of recovery and how that is such an important variable to great quality training. This was big for me! I didn’t really know anything about recovery in the past. My thoughts were “Well, I am sore as all out and there isn’t a darn thing I can do about that other than to wait it out until it goes away.”

Amy taught all of us that not only nutrition and hydration play a large role in the recovery process, but other things help us too. I will tell you right now that I don’t always like it at all, but Amy is a big advocate of the foam roller.  IT HURTS like heck, but it works!!  You do recover faster and very importantly you prevent yourself from injuries through foam rolling.

Amy is also an advocate of FLUID Performance and FLUID Recovery.  These are much easier to implement than the foam roller…It doesn’t hurt to drink a FLUID! LOL!    And…..FLUID works!  I can tell the difference when I drink it and when I skip it.  
Amy has a long list of things for us do in the recovery process, all of which works. It’s not always easy to get it done being so busy with our personal lives and all of our training, but I understand that we have to do this in order to be successful in reaching our goals.  It is all worth it!

Amy has been a trainer for a very long time.  Many of the people in her training have been working out with Amy as their coach for many years. I guess you would say that I’m one of the “newer” trainees on board. Amy is a great person who cares about you. She does not want any of us to get hurt and is very concerned about our overall health and fitness. Amy takes her job seriously.

I have done the gym thing and hired personal trainers over the years and I will tell you that AVC Elite Training is nothing like anything out there. I also love being outdoors and not stuck in a gym.

Amy keeps things on a personal level. Yes, it is group training, but it is also very individualized. The challenges are great, but the rewards are greater!

And again….Did I mention that it is FUN?!!

~Kim F.

Are you ready to escape the gym and discover new fitness challenges? Come experience the rewards – and fun – of AVC Elite Training today!