By Lila Baltman
Jodi Books-Stokes is no newcomer to the Scottsdale fitness scene. For many years, this dynamic Scottsdale native worked as the fitness manager and aquatics director at the Hyatt Gainey Ranch, The Scottsdale Princess Resort and Spa, and owned Goddess Fit women’s gym facility from 2014 to 2018.
Throughout her 30-year career, thousands of men and women have seen their bodies, minds, and overall health improve dramatically as a result of training with Stokes and hiring her to be their personal concierge fitness coach. She has played an enormously supportive, encouraging role in many people’s lives, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“As soon as the pandemic started and everyone stayed inside their homes, I would drive over to my clients’ homes and drop off sanitized fitness equipment for them to use and then I would drive back to my home so that we could continue our private, one-on-one workouts together virtually over Zoom,” says Stokes, who also wore PPE around those who did opt to train with her in-person. “My clients all wanted to continue their weekly, private coaching sessions to keep them on the healthy lifestyle path that I got them started on.”
Now, Stokes is excited to announce that she has written and published her first book titled “Water Exercise” that she hopes will get people moving and exercising in the water and enjoying their swimming pools a great deal more this spring and summer.
Featuring easy, step-by-step instructions, “Water Exercise” is a motivating book that teaches the reader how to tone up, lose weight, and increase strength, flexibility, and cardio endurance.
“As the weather warmed up, Jodi moved our workouts into the pool and these pool workouts have been a godsend over the hot Arizona summers,” says fitness client Rachel Boyer Shuman. “It is challenging to maintain a regular exercise program in the extreme heat of the summer, but Jodi has found a way to provide her clients with consistent, challenging, and effective exercise with her water exercise program.”
Stokes says that she wrote “Water Exercise” to give people the feeling of having their very own water fitness instructor right there next to them in the swimming pool. “Here in Arizona, we are so blessed to live in a climate where we can exercise in our swimming pools for several months during the year and I really want to encourage more people of all ages to take the plunge into water fitness and start living a healthier and happier life.”
“Water Exercise” is available to purchase for $9.99 on Amazon. For more information, visit jodistokes.com.
