Premier Member Highlight: Kyleigh Boyd
We often think of exercise as a tool to transform our bodies into something beautiful, effective, and strong. We exercise to stay healthy and live longer. What we don’t always consider is how exercise effects our brains. In the late summer of 2019, Kyleigh Boyd discovered just how much exercise could change her mental state, and it has since been a saving grace in her life.
In high school, Kyleigh went through a pretty rough patch. Her parents got divorced, everything seemed to be changing around her, and she felt as if she had no control over her situation. With an overwhelming external environment, Kyleigh shut down. She admits that for a while she didn’t like the person that she was. She says she was rude and hateful; she felt hopeless and worthless and in turn, isolated herself. She was constantly stressed, tired and lethargic and she completely distanced herself from her friends and family.
Kyleigh had played volleyball for 10 years growing up and has always enjoyed being active, but her stress and lethargy in high school sucked away all her passion and energy. In July of 2019, Kyleigh decided that she had had enough. She wanted to reclaim agency over her own life so she started attending Premier Health and Fitness Center. She says, “I could party and find temporary happiness in that, but I wanted to find long-term happiness. I wanted to take control of my life”.
In the beginning, she did some workouts on her own a couple days a week. By August, she started taking group fitness classes, specifically Becky’s Power Barre class and Ali’s Muscle Up class. In September, she began training with Ali. In just two months, Kyleigh already noticed the positive impact that exercise had on her. She felt less stressed and even happier.
In those two months, Kyleigh got a taste for a better life and she wanted more. In October, she decided to fully commit to a lifestyle of health and fitness. She began changing her diet, taking more group fitness classes, and quickly found herself on a schedule of working out 6 to 7 days a week. Kyleigh found a new love for indoor cycling, claiming to have fun competing with others in the room for the top Fitmetrix score. In fact, she became so passionate about cycling that a few months ago, she actually got her certification to instruct indoor cycling classes.
Today, Kyleigh is 19 and just finished her freshman year at Tallahassee Community College. She happily admits that taking control of her fitness journey has drastically changed her overall wellbeing and pretty much single-handedly saved her from her emotional despair. She is no longer constantly tired and stressed; she feels much happier; she is social again. Kyleigh seems to be proud of the young woman she is becoming, and she says she looks forward to continuing to push and fulfill her fitness goals. Kyleigh hopes to instruct cycling classes someday soon so that she can inspire others much like her instructors and trainers have inspired her. She knows what it is like to feel stuck – paralyzed even – by her own emotions, and so she wants to remind anyone who might need it, “You have control over your own life. Know that it gets better.”
