My Journey To Becoming A C.E.T.
“Every accomplishment begins with the decision to try.” – Anonymous
Have you ever wanted to accomplish something but had no idea how to start? Felt paralyzed by the unknown? Well, that’s exactly what happened to me. In 2015, my friend, Julie Grosvenor, a Certified Cancer Exercise Trainer (CET) by the American College Sports Medicine (ACSM) approached me about her job. Julie taught a fitness program at the YMCA for cancer survivors, “The Living Strong, Living Well” program. The program is designed, sponsored and managed by Stanford Health Improvement Program. It’s a twelve-week fitness program offered to adult cancer survivors through the YMCA at no cost. The goal is to improve muscle strength, build muscle mass, increase flexibility, reduce the side-effects of treatments and fatigue, increase overall well-being, and so much more. Julie asked if I’d be interested in becoming a trainer at the YMCA for this program. I said “Of course”; but at the time, I was teaching classes at Alkalign, taking on the new role of Development Coach, raising two active boys in high school, and my husband traveled a lot for his job. The timing wasn’t right. However, I decided to write down my GOAL of becoming a CET and shared it with my friends. It worked!
In October of 2017, Julie called again and offered me the opportunity to teach a weekly class for cancer survivors. I jumped in with both feet. After shadowing a few times, I started teaching the Exercise for Health fitness class sponsored by Stanford Health Care (delivered by Sunflower Wellness) in November. This became the gateway to my end goal: ACSM Certified Cancer Exercise Trainer. In January 2018, I decided to set a deadline to take the exam. I scheduled it for the first week in March and then planned out a study schedule. As the exam date approached, I realized I was heading to the finish line to attain my certification. On March 9, 2018, I sat down at the desk and started to answer approximately two hundred questions over three and half hours. At the end of the exam, I hit the “complete” button and instantly felt a little nauseous. Did I study enough? Did I learn enough while shadowing cancer exercise consultations? The word, “PASS,” popped up on my screen! I felt a wave of satisfaction and accomplishment but also a realization: “I’m not at the end of my GOAL but at the beginning of my next GOALS.”
The Certification Cancer Exercise Trainer provides me the opportunity to meet with cancer patients and survivors to develop individualized exercise programs to ward off side-effects, combat fatigue, improve bone density, increase muscle mass and decrease the probability of depression and recurrence. I have completed numerous hours of shadowing the exercise counseling consults and now conduct the sessions on a weekly basis.
I love how my work as a Development Coach and fitness instructor at Alkalign Studios aligns with my goal of training and providing exercise counseling to cancer survivors. Alkalign Studios focuses on the 7 functional movements (squat, lunge, walk/gait, push, pull, hinge, rotate) and educates our clients to make the connections between how they use these movements in their daily lives. I feel there is a common goal among Alkalign Studios, Sunflower Wellness and the Stanford Cancer Supportive Care Program to help clients improve muscle strength, joint flexibility, mobility, range of motion, mood (increase happy endorphins) and cognitive skills, as well as reduce anxiety, fatigue, and depression. I am happy to be a small part in a client’s and survivor’s day when I can educate, motivate and support them regardless of where they are in fitness or in their health journey. My thanks to Alkalign for my foundation in fitness and to Sunflower Wellness and Stanford Cancer Supportive Care Program for the opportunity and your
support during my journey.
Pauline Goloubef
Certified Cancer Exercise Trainer, Oncol Wellness
Master Instructor, Alkalign Studios
