Don't throw in the towel

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April 9, 2008

By Cara Spilsbury

Personal fitness trainer Michelle DuBois loves working with all ages, but the groups she finds the most inspiring is her group of women 40 and older.

DuBois, a former international body builder and fitness model, trains a diverse group of clients. Some are young and trying to get in shape. Others are older and trying to regain control of their lives.

"I love what I get from my young ones, because the younger you start, the better your life will be," she said. "But some of my most inspiring clients are the women my age who were ready to throw in the towel."

One of her clients, Beth Jewett, 42, of Merrimac, never thought she'd be able to change her whole body. But after three years of training with DuBois, it was possible.

"She's just wonderful," Jewett said. "You get days when you have a bad attitude or you don't really see the point, but she knows how to get you going."

Jewett said that because DuBois is a woman and about her age, she knows exactly what women in their 40s want to get out of training and what they need to get motivated.

"She knows how to deal with all of us," Jewett said with a laugh.

But DuBois also understands what it means to have get back into shape.

When she was 29, she was a mother of two who had just given birth to her son. She could have let body and mind give way to the stress of motherhood, but instead she hit the gym. Soon into her training, her personal trainer realized she was not only motivated, but had the genetic gift to be a topnotch body builder and fitness model.

"The second I picked up a dumbbell, I knew I was in love with it," said DuBois.

After her international career, DuBois decided to slow down and share her expertise and love of fitness.

Today, in her mid-40s, she runs her own personalized training and nutrition business called The Next Step, out of Choice Fitness Center on Water Street. She's been helping people train for 12 years.

During her career, DuBois was intensely dedicated to her body building, paying attention to everything that went into her body. She never had a drink of alcohol. She never had chips. And she never indulged.

But for her clients, she says the key to losing inches and improving their life is balance, even outside the gym.

"What I tell people is that you can do it all, if you balance it correctly," she said. "It's about consistency. You can't do it for six weeks and expect results. You have to do it as a choice — life-long."

She encourages her clients to think in inches rather than weight on a scale. That's why she has them pick out a pair of pants from their closet they'd like to fit into again, or buy a pair they want to wear someday. To DuBois, it is a more accurate gauge of achievement.

DuBois warns people to stay away from fad diets and latest crazes.

"If they work, why don't we all look great?" she asked, adding that some of the simplest things, like drinking enough water and getting plenty of sleep, can improve health dramatically.

DuBois enjoyed her international career, but she finds her current work more satisfying.

"As a fitness model, you reach thousands, even millions of people. But in the gym I get to touch one life at a time and I like this so much better. Some of my clients have been with me more than 10 years. You really get to help people and change their lives, and you get to see it happen."

DuBois loved travelling the world and seeing her face and physique in magazine after magazine, but as her children, Sage, now 17, and Harrison, now 15, grew up, she wanted a more normal family life.

"I had to balance both those lives for a long time," she said. "It was a lot of fun, but it was a very different type of life."

Recently, she's been in contact with the owner of Oxygen magazine, whose pages she graced regularly.

She hasn't been featured in seven years, but she is hoping to get some press for the group of 40-and-older women she trains.

DuBois is in the beginning stages of writing a book about nutrition and fitness, as well as launching a Web site with her significant other, Michael Atwood, called the Health Club Diet.

No matter her age or the stage of her career, one thing is sure: Dubois' passion for fitness will never cease.

"I love this work," DuBois said. "I love what I can give, and I love what I get from it as well."

For more information about The Next Step Personalized Training and Nutrition, call Michelle DuBois at 978-373-0323. Her schedule is pretty booked, but she is still taking clients in the mid-afternoons.