My Exercise Journey

I grew up playing a wide variety of sports, with soccer being a main focus, but I always took tumbling lessons. I loved the feeling of flipping, spinning, and even falling. Tumbling later turned into cheerleading, which somehow brought me into the pole vaulting world (track coaches tend to recruit gymnasts since they have core control and are comfortable flying through the air and falling down). When pole vaulting became more serious, I decided to eliminate soccer from my athletic trifecta and focus my time on track and cheerleading. I had hopes to do one or the other at the collegiate level but hadn't yet decided which. I ended up winning State when I was a sophomore in High School. In my senior year, I decided to retire my plexiglass pole and go all-in on cheer, because that seemed like the cooler thing to do in college. In hindsight as an adult, pole vaulting actually sounds so much cooler.

I began teaching Pure Barre when I was in my earliest of twenties, when cheerleading and pole vaulting were no longer an option. Ironically, when my sister Susanna dragged me to my very first Pure Barre class, I hated it.

Not because it was too hard, but because I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.

But something about it stuck with me. Maybe it was the challenge. Maybe it was the fact that I wasn't immediately good at it. Whatever the reason, I went back. Then I went back again and somehow ended up wearing a mic and leading the class.

I fell in love with group fitness classes. I loved creating a challenging workout for a community of (mostly) women who wanted to be stronger. What started as an activity I reluctantly tried became something that shaped a huge part of my twenties.

Now, in my latest of twenties, I am an avid workout class attendee, although I haven't been on a mic in a few years. I would love to pick back up where I left off whenever my work travel slows, but for now I will happily settle for being on the other side of the room.

These days, my workouts look a little different than they did when I was on the track, falling into the pole vault pit, or bouncing around the cheer mat. I am much more interested in consistency than intensity, and I view exercise as something that supports my life rather than something that defines it. Some weeks that means lifting weights. Other weeks it means taking a barre class, going for a walk, or squeezing in a hotel gym workout between meetings and flights.

What has stayed the same throughout every phase is that movement has always given me confidence, structure, and a sense of accomplishment. From soccer fields and cheer mats to the pole vault runway and barre studio, exercise has been a constant thread throughout my life. And while I may never again launch myself ten feet into the air with a fiberglass pole, I am grateful for every version of fitness that has shaped me along the way.

track

track

track

sally rychlak pure barre