Day 252: Toni Marano
“I remember this quote that said what you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals, and I know that might sound kind of corny, but I really think there’s a lot of wisdom in a simple sentence like that.”
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Toni Reece: Thank you so much, Toni, for agreeing to be part of the Project today, and before we begin, can you please introduce yourself?
Toni Marano: Hi. My name is Toni Marano.
Toni R: Fantastic, Toni Marano! What do you do?
Toni M: I own a Pilates fitness and wellness center that specializes in injury prevention and the promotion of health and fitness.
Toni R: Okay, okay. Toni, when you think of the word inspiration, who do you think you inspire, and how does that happen?
Toni M: Well, I certainly hope that I offer some source of inspiration to my clients or students. Our health deserves thought, and if you talk to anyone who’s experienced some type of injury or health issue, they’ll tell you that prevention is really the best method possible. Health is really the principle instrument to enjoying your life, so I think that by living an active, healthy, and productive life, we inspire people.
Toni R: How does that happen, Toni? By living that life and demonstrating that, how does it inspire people? How would you describe that?
Toni M: Well, I think that people who are active and fit are just generally more happy, and I think that’s really contagious. All of us really want to spend more time around positive, outgoing, people who are excited about their day.
Toni R: I have to agree with you on that one. What do you think happens when people are inspired in this way to explore their own potential? Is there a way that that happens? Do you think that you do help people to explore their potential?
Toni M: Well, I certainly hope so. I think the most effective way to explore potential, I think, is really to ask questions and really listen to the answers. I think listening is really key. I think that gives any program direction. I find that if I really want to ensure a positive outcome, after I know what my client’s needs are, I need to be certain that my clients understand my instructions. Prescribing exercise for home programs is challenging, and educating my students is critical for their success.
Also, we can never underestimate that motivation is a key factor in exercise adherence, and what motivates one person is unlikely to motivate another, so my job really is to determine which factors motivate my students to adhere to the exercise or fitness program, and as the program progresses, it should maximize an individual’s potential.
Toni R: And that potential would be to succeed, to go further, to be healthier? What does that look like?
Toni M: Well, it really depends on what my client’s needs are when they come in. I have some clients who come in with weight loss needs. They’re concerned about gaining weight. I have some clients who come in with back issues, lower back issues. They have some kind of a wrist injury. Each program is specialized to get them back out on the road. When someone wakes up and they have chronic back pain, it’s impossible for them to enjoy their life. It’s really … it never leaves their mind. They’re always focused on how uncomfortable they are.
No one can live a productive life when they’re constantly in pain, and so it’s really very important to make sure that these needs are addressed. It really affects people’s lives in very dramatic ways.
Toni R: So it’s really by allowing someone to get healthy, whether it’s through exercise for weight loss like you said, or there’s some sort of other systemic problem going on that’s blocking them from living to the best of their ability, that’s really where that potential comes in. It’s the potential to be able to live the best that they can live.
Toni M: Yeah. I mean, the word potential, you know, it doesn’t even … when someone’s not happy with themselves, I mean, thinking about their potential is the last thing on their mind. They’re just, you know, getting by day to day. I don’t know, maybe it’s the area that I live in, but for women weight is really a big issue, and I don’t think people realize it.
Taking 10 pounds off is really not that difficult. It is probably just small little bad habits that can be eliminated really easy. There’s all this information in the news, and some of it is accurate and some of it is not, so really finding out what works for my clients is really the way that we move to discover, so they can go out and discover what they’re good at. It really opens up all these doors for them.
Toni R: What inspires you?
Toni M: What inspires me is challenge. I get really excited about a challenge. I understand that most people don’t get excited from the challenges of exercise, but I do. I’m an information junkie when it comes to food and fitness. I don’t think most people know that it’s been estimated that 50% of premature deaths in the United States are related to modifiable lifestyle factors. There’s clearly a need for effective prevention programs and efforts aimed at reducing risk factors and improving health and wellness. Wellness involves choice – choice and behaviors that empathize optimal health and well being. Being a part of this process is really inspiring to me, this exchange of energy that I have with my students. My students inspire me.
Toni R: When you find yourself – and maybe you don’t – but if you ever do find yourself with a day where you’re going, “You know, I could use a little inspiration here,” where do you tend to find it? Are there tools or resources that you reach for on a consistent basis that kind of fill you up when you might need to be inspired in different ways?
Toni M: You know, Toni, really for me I get that from other people. You know, reading a book is really a great way to find inspiration when I’m feeling like I need something. Really, all a book is, is somebody talking. So you know, I can sit down with that material and let that person talk to me, and there’s so many creative people who have come up with these ways and methods of doing the same thing, but a little bit different, and I think it’s really, really amazing. People amaze me.
It’s really … in my industry, most of the time I’m asking people to do something that they really don’t want to do. For one, if they have an injury, it’s uncomfortable. It’s a little painful at first, and asking someone to do these exercises is not really fun for them. To watch them work in ways and struggle and do these things that eventually is really in their best interest is … it’s really powerful to watch that happen.
You know, I think my clients really give just as much back to me as I do to them. It’s just that communication with other people I think is really … I think that’s inspirational to everybody, not just myself.
Toni R: It’s interesting – there’s words that come to me when I’m listening to people in these interviews, and the word I just wrote down for you is engagement, and it really … that’s just what I’m hearing that you thrive on that engagement; engaging with your clients, engaging with information, engaging in the science and fitness. I don’t know, that’s the word that’s just coming to me listening to you.
Toni M: That’s so funny. I think that’s completely true. That’s key; engagement. When people are engaged in life, they’re happy, they’re curious, they’re trying to learn something. I think that sometimes when we finish school we think that we’re done, you know? It’s like we’ve learned everything we need to know, and now we just need to get on with our life and we’re in this routine, and I think that that routine really needs mixing up.
One of the things that I hear over and over again from my clients is that they’re bored. They think this is boring, and when someone gets into a routine that feels boring to them, that’s not good. And that’s so easy to fix with all the information that’s out there, with the internet and books. You can do the same thing with a different person and have a different result, because people are so different.
Toni R: Absolutely. And that’s why that engagement has to be customized, doesn’t it?
Toni M: Absolutely, yeah. Absolutely. People are so unique.
Toni R: So how do you explore your own potential?
Toni M: How do I explore my own potential? I think that to explore my own potential, I think it’s really important to be where you’re needed, which is really engaged in what you’re doing right now as to being present. I’m sure all of us are familiar with that term, being present, but it’s really important to be present.
I remember this quote that said what you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals, and I know that might sound kind of corny, but I really think there’s a lot of wisdom in a simple sentence like that. So I have these goals, but instead of being goal-oriented, I’m more process-oriented, and really more curious of what it’s going to take for me to produce the desired outcome.
There’s these different dimensions that add to the content and quality of our lives, one of them being physical. But you know, others would include things, you know, social, emotional, intellectual, and by exploring my own potential that really requires, you know, attention from me in these areas. And I also think it’s really important to surround yourself with other curious people who ask a lot of good questions. This keeps life interesting and challenging.
Toni R: Toni, you’ve been fantastic with the information that you’ve given and how you really describe not only how you inspire others with the work that you do, but it really does translate into your everyday life. And one of the most important takeaways for me is that you have to achieve these goals, but it is a process for you, but you have to be present for that process and learn and engage others along the way, and what a gift you’re giving by being that way, the gift you’re giving to others. And for showing up on the Get Inspired! Project, we can’t thank you enough.
Toni M: Well thank you. Thank you for having me.
Toni R: You are quite welcome. Thank you, and take care of yourself, Toni.
Toni M: You too.
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For more information about Toni Marano: www.tonimarano.com
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