Name: Jessenia Martinez
 
Age: 23
 
Exercise/Sport: Fitness Competitions & Boxing
 
 
 
 
 
5am: Wake up.
 
6:15 am– 7:30am: Hit the gym (weights and cardio).
 
8am – 9am: Get 5 year old son ready for the day and drop him off at daycare.
 
9am – 4pm: Work.
 
4:30pm: Pickup son up from daycare.
 
4:30pm – 7pm: Quality time with son (dinner, homework, reading and play).
 
7pm – 8pm: Boxing.
 
8pm – 8:30pm: Put son to bed.
 
9pm: Household chores.
 
10pm: Bed.
 
Think your schedule is full?.. Just a typical day in the life of this week’s ExerciseToronto.Com athlete of the week:
 
Jessenia Martinez, 23, Toronto, ON
 
If you went ahead and Googled ‘the power of exercise’ you would come across countless studies that link the correlation between physical health and personal development.
 
If you were to look at these studies closely, you would discover many of the characteristics that an individual has to posses to maintain their fitness are essentially the same components they need to get through everyday life.
 
You must have a goal. You must have an action. You must have an end result.
 
For this week’s ExerciseToronto.Com, exerciser of the week, Jessenia Martinez, 23, this is exactly the formula she followed.
 
“When I first started the (Shape Your Life) program I was 220lbs. Unhealthy physically and emotionally, I was also in a very unhealthy relationship. I decided I wanted to be a positive and healthy role model for my son and needed to make a change.” Says Martinez,
 
“I wanted to be able to take him to the park and play soccer with him, without feeling tired and drained.”
 
What happened here was Maritnez, had reached her breaking point. She came to a realization that enough was enough and it was time for her to make a change. The vehicle she used to start this change was found at the Toronto-based ‘Shape Your Life’ program.
 
The program was designed with the goal of providing female survivors of violence with an opportunity to participate in a boxing program, to help them heighten their confidence, achieve fitness results and develop strength in self-defense.
 
As mentioned above, when Martinez reached her breaking point she was weighing well over 220lbs. Today, her hard work has paid off as she has dropped over 100lbs. and is training for a WBFF (World Body Building Federation) event to compete in the Figure Fitness category.
 
“I knew I had found something I was passionate for… I had developed the confidence in myself as a woman, it made me feel powerful. That day, I knew that anything was possible, the sky was the limit.”
 
Admittedly, Martinez wanted to make the changes to her health to better her overall quality of life. But it was her love for her 5 year old son that truly made her get where she is today. “I had been told by doctors, at the rate I was going my son would not have had a mother by the age of 15.” Says Martinez.
 
Day to day, Jessenia’s passion and commitment to health and family can serve as an inspiration to all of us. Over and over again committed people prove that if you want something bad enough you can achieve it, and hard work always will always lead a way to success…Martinez continues to be a testament to this.
 
Jesseina Martinez, an inspiration for fitness enthusiasts at all levels and a fitting recipient of this week’s Exercise Toronto.Com athlete of the week.
 
 
ExerciseToronto.Com Staff.