Centr Team

5 life-altering lessons we learned from Centr members

Building muscle on a hectic schedule? Jordan knows how

Jordan was already a keen athlete who ran half marathons. But when she was beaten to the finish line in her last race by a seriously strong marine, she found a new goal: to stack on muscle.

Her biggest opponent in this new race was nutrition.

“In order to get my body to adapt, I had to add a few hundred calories every few days,” Jordan explains. Easier said than done when you’re raising a young family and doing shift work as a nurse.

Jordan’s advice for you? “Plan, plan, plan.”

“On a 12-hour shift I take breakfast, lunch and dinner with me. I start my day drinking a smoothie between the gym and work – that way if my day starts off crazy with patients, it buys me some time until I can work breakfast in.”

Jordan would also like to remind you that the results make all that hard work and planning worthwhile.

“Building muscle has made me a better nurse, lifting and pulling people all day. And a better mom, chasing after two small kids! I’m also confident it will make me a faster, stronger, more well-rounded runner. I'm giving the world my best self and that makes it all worth it.”

Starting from absolute scratch? Eric’s got you

Eric believed he was “destined to be a big guy for the rest of my life and there really wasn’t anything I could do about it”.

From getting out of breath tying his shoelaces to being “clueless” about nutrition, he was facing down “every hurdle known to mankind” at the start of his fitness journey.

It wasn’t until he joined Centr that he realized he was capable of much more than he thought.

Eric’s advice for you? Be a turtle.

"If you try to completely overhaul your life overnight you will get frustrated and burn out quickly,” he says.

“Just make small adjustments that you can stick with, and when those changes feel comfortable, add a few more. One of the biggest mistakes people make in starting a fitness program is looking for a quick fix with immediate results.”

Eric has more advice for beginners here.

Facing a crossroads? Follow Cody’s lead

Cody was heading in the wrong direction with his weight, suffering from gout and depression. When he joined his wife on a ruck march endurance challenge, he found himself in a world of pain. And then something snapped.

“I decided ‘Screw this!’ It was time to turn this thing back onto the right route. I quit drinking cold turkey, started doing the Centr Power program and cooking some of the meals in the app,” he says.

Cody has lost 50lbs (22.7kg), but it’s the mental changes that have turned his world around. “I became better at my job. A better husband and father. I wasn’t depressed anymore and found my life was still worth living. I found myself again!”

Cody’s advice to you? Along as you’re alive and kicking, there’s hope.

“The only way I turned my life around is by understanding that I am not out of this fight until they bury me. We either have the choice to become victims to everything, or we can stand up and shout ‘WE ARE NOT DONE YET!’ and make this life what it should be for ourselves.”

“In this life, your body is yours. You have the choice of how to use it. You and only you can make this happen! So how do you want to use your time?”

Struggling with illness or injury? Rebuild like Christine

Just a few years ago, Christine was at rock bottom. An autoimmune disorder led to neurological symptoms that impacted her whole body, leaving her legs feeling like “cement blocks” and making sound “physically painful”.

While the illness impacted her ability to do everyday tasks, like folding the laundry or going for a walk, Christine was also carrying the grief of multiple miscarriages.

Then, inch by inch, day by day, the rebuild began. First with specialized physical therapy, then with Centr workouts at home.

“It has taken nearly nine years of blood, sweat and tears – literally,” Christine says. “But I did it. I rebuilt myself from the ground up.”

Christine’s advice for you? Remember that movement is a privilege.

“When you’ve lost your ability to move without extreme symptoms for years… every single workout, run, lift, walk and stretch is an absolute gift,” she says.

“I’ll never take ‘exercising’ for granted again. It is a privilege to move my body. I am grateful for every drop of sweat I can earn. Always.”

Read more about how Christine went from rock bottom to fitness warrior.

Want to take care of your family? Take a cue from Joey

As a 54-year-old father of five children under 17, Joey’s workout goals are all about being the strongest family man he can be.

“I want to be able to throw my two-year-old in the air and catch him with perfect precision over and over and over again,” says Joey. “I want to be able to carry my 70lb (31.8kg) nine-year-old on my shoulders for that last half mile of a long hike. And I want to be there for my wife and kids for decades to come.”

“My youngest won’t graduate from high school until I’m 70,” he adds. “This makes taking care of the guy who takes care of everyone else absolutely essential.”

Joey’s advice for you? Stick to a routine and keep it simple.

“I know if my workout doesn’t happen first thing in the morning before the rest of the family is up, chances are it’s not gonna happen. After a little prayer and meditation time, I take my supplements, fill my gallon of water, suit up and hit my little home gym,” he says.

Bonus: get a podcast going to learn while you sweat. “You just can’t find time to read with a family like mine, so it’s a huge life level up to be able to work on my body and mind at the same time.”

Joey would also like to remind you that there’s no need to complicate things. “My entire gym consists of a bench, 30, 20, 15 and 5lb (13 to 2kg) dumbbells, and a yoga mat. That’s it. With this little set up and my phone to run the workout programs, I’ve put on 15lbs (6.8kg) of muscle in my last three years with Centr.”