member spotlight
STAFF MEMBER
RACHAEL MARTIN
Rachael and her son JJ , age 11 , and daughters Reagan , 16 months , and Alyssa , age 9
Photo by Jon Martin
HAC Personal Trainer Rachael Martin has done it three times – gained over 50 pounds and lost over 50 pounds – and she has three amazing children to show for it .
24 HACHEALTHCLUB . COM
As a personal trainer , Rachael has built her career on making people fit . She has found success in connecting with clients looking to get healthy , in part because of her success doing the same thing – three times .
She has always been active , ever since she was a kid . Cross country and track distance events in high school gave her a passion for running that she ’ s carried with her into her adult years . Her high school also ran a program that introduced students to different sports and activities to lead a healthy life , one of those activities being spending time in the weight room . That ’ s where her love for strength training began .
Rachael is a strong believer in listening to your body , and pregnancy is especially the time to do so .
Knee trouble led her to spending “ too much ” time in the athletic trainer ’ s room , but from working with the athletic trainer , Rachael discovered the possibility of a career in sports and fitness . She studied Kinesiology at Penn State and continued her own journey of fitness with her passions of strength training and running .
Rachael married her husband Jon in 2002 , and they had a few bucket list items to accomplish before starting a family . For Rachael , that was visiting Disney World and running a half marathon . She accomplished both dreams in March of 2005 and then became pregnant with her first child in June . She and Jon had two more children , with their youngest born in the summer of 2016 .
GAINING THE WEIGHT
Rachael is a strong believer in listening to your body , and pregnancy is especially the time to do so . While her three pregnancies were all very different , they each ended very much the same : with a beautiful baby and a mom who found herself 55 pounds heavier . Despite her natural desire to want to continue exercising as she always did , Rachael approached exercise during each pregnancy as her body wanted her to .
With her first child , running just didn ’ t feel good , so the elliptical was her cardio of choice , as well as continued strength training . Both of which she did up until the week before delivery . The second pregnancy rang