by Kate N.
TechnoGym members ignited with enthusiasm as they entered in a 5 week challenge. Directed by Lyn Tierno and her staff, was a competition of strength and cardio. Both categories, women and men, participated in pursuit of the 1st place title in one of the four divisions: women’s strength and cardio, men’s strength and cardio.
Using a bracketing system similar to March Madness the contenders worked to exceed the weekly totals of their opponent and the winner moved on to the next round. The participants used each other throughout the weeks as motivation to help push their personal bests even farther. They found themselves getting closer to one another as a community whose bond was built from mutual determination. We also found that everyone was coming to the gym all week for hours a day. This behavioral change has made it easier to continue with their good habits in the near and distant future.
As the weeks flew by and the end drew near, the few left anticipated who would win the bragging rights and who would let their post workout soreness get the best of them. Walking up and down the stairs became a harder task then they had imagined; however, their aches and pains did not reflect in their results.
In the final championship round Judy Phillips came in 1st place for women’s cardio after a total of 306 miles and Bruce Wild for men’s cardio with 102 miles. As for the strength championship Sharon Hillwig finished the last week with the highest total of 1,583,690lbs and Tom Ciacciarelli with 2,535,554lbs. If you thought the championship totals were amazing, take a look at the totals members made for all 5 weeks. For the women, 1st place Judy Phillips did 1,117 miles, 1st place Sharon Hillwig lifted 2,855,010lbs and 2nd place Barbara Gomez lifted 2,888,753lbs making Barbara part of the 10 million lb club. For the men, 1st place Tom Ciacciarelli lifted 5,142,265lbs and 2nd place Bruce Wild lifted 5,746,220lbs.
The following is a complete list of winners, Thank you to everyone who helped make this happen; Lyn, Team Techno, and special thanks to the participants for their astounding performance and spirit!
Women’s Cardio: 1st Judy Phillips 2nd Annmarie Palmieri
Women’s Strength: 1st Sharon Hillwig 2nd Barbara Gomez
Men’s Cardio: 1st Bruce Wild 2nd George Vdokakes
Men’s Stength: 1st Tom Ciacciarelli 2nd Bruce Wild