When UWindsor employee Camille Armour wanted to get back into running shape, she had to look no further than the other side of campus.

Armour (BA 1991), senior development officer in the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, worked with a personal trainer from Lancer Recreation before running the Detroit International Half-Marathon last fall. It was her first and longest timed race in eight years.

“I had not been consistently active in a long time,” Armour said. “Now, I feel so much stronger. I feel accomplished… I have a feeling of well-being.”

Armour learned about personal training at the Toldo Lancer Centre by chance at a lunchtime Employee Wellness event led by Mike McMahon, fitness and sport conditioning co-ordinator at Lancer Athletics and Recreation. During the session, which involved a casual walk around campus, Armour asked McMahon about whether Lancer Rec offered personal training. She said she recognized she needed help to regain the fitness she had enjoyed before the aches and pains of aging and menopause started wreaking havoc on her body.

“Having my body hijacked by hormones was no fun,” she said. “I didn’t recognize the body I was walking around in. I was also getting married the following spring, and I wanted to get in shape and feel better.”

McMahon told Armour about Lancer Rec’s offerings and matched her with personal trainer Isabella Anes, a Lancer women’s basketball athlete and kinesiology student.

“She was a perfect fit for me,” Armour said. “We were a team.”

Armour said the accountability that comes with working with a personal trainer helped her be disciplined about her fitness and nutrition regimen. She started keeping a food diary and lifting weights.

She worked out in various locations within the Toldo Lancer Centre. “Even when I was definitely the oldest person there, everyone was very respectful, and I never felt out of place.”

She started her personal training sessions in September 2022, with the goal of feeling and looking better in time for her May 2023 wedding. By January, she felt so good, she signed up for the Detroit International Half Marathon taking place that October.

Personal training at the Toldo Lancer Centre comprises 55-minute sessions where you work out one-on-one with a trainer. There is currently a roster of 14 personal trainers.

“We have amazing staff that can help anyone along their fitness journey,” McMahon said.

The cost of personal training through Lancer Recreation is about half what other facilities in Windsor charge. There are starter packages priced at $79 for three sessions, or $136 for six. UWindsor students get a discounted price.

“Our prices are extremely competitive as we are a service department of the University,” McMahon said.

Prices are set to go up in May, but those who buy packages before the increase will get the lower price.

University employees and their families can use the Toldo Lancer Centre at no charge, but they require a paid membership to use the new fitness centre. A personal training package comes with a full membership allowing clients to work out in the state-of-the-art gym at any time for the duration of the package.

As an added bonus for non-University employees and students, signing up for a personal training package entitles clients to free access to the entire facility, including the pool and suspended track. Those are amenities other gyms can’t offer.

Another advantage the Toldo Lancer Centre has over other fitness facilities is the variety of spaces for personal training sessions, said McMahon. These include private studios, a new fitness centre that spans two floors, and the Forge Fitness Centre.

Armour, who has already signed up for two runs this year including the Detroit International Half Marathon again, said she has reconnected with other runners in the community. She has also inspired her husband, Tim, to get more active.

“As a former professional athlete, he has maintained a certain level of fitness, but seeing me head outside for a run, even in sub-zero weather, makes it hard for him to stay on the couch. He has become much more consistent with workouts, which is the key.”

Armour credits personal training with setting her on the path to better health and wellness.

“I would encourage anyone to do this.”

For more information about personal training, contact McMahon at mike.mcmahon@uwindsor.ca.