Member Spotlight: Meet Mark & Aileen Bush from the Foglia Y!

Mark & Eileen Bush, a husband and wife team committed to living a healthy lifestyle together.

We are a husband-wife team that have made a commitment to fitness and healthy living. We reside in Volo, Illinois, and have two children and two dogs. We are die-hard Chicago Cubs fans and enjoy traveling as much as possible.

When we first started coming to the Y, it was difficult because we didn’t know where to begin. Our schedules were crazy (like everyone else’s) between kids’ activities, work travel, home projects and life, in general. We knew we needed to take our health/fitness seriously and set a good example for our children. We struggled with not knowing the best exercises to do, how to perform those exercises, we were intimidated by the equipment, and unsure on how to begin this journey.

We started by taking some personal training sessions at the Foglia YMCA, with Jon to learn the basics and establish a good foundation. This grew to participating in various classes the Y has to offer. These classes and instruction gave us the building blocks to structure workouts on our own, so we could continue to progress. We’d like to give a special shout out to Jon for his support and guidance during this journey. He helped us gain the confidence we needed to succeed.

What we have noticed and really like about the Y is the sense of community here. It’s more than a place to just exercise (i.e. Halloween for the kids). Our kids are comfortable in the kid’s zones, playing ping pong with others, basketball, swimming and more. It’s a place where our whole family can come and spend time together.

We’ve also gotten to know many employees and trainers at the Y. Everyone has always been super helpful, friendly and patient with our kids. Overall, we’ve always felt a sense of positivity and family here at the Foglia Y.
We continue to learn that fitness isn’t a destination but an ongoing journey. No, we haven’t reached our original goals; but have redefined what our goals should be, and we have seen more (and different) progress than what we expected and that keeps us motivated. We are going to keep working hard to reach milestones; but we have learned that this process has been about establishing a routine, having patience, and enjoying the journey, together.