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Cindy Lane Ross, formerly Cindy Celeste Lane, grew up in Mobile, Alabama

In middle and high school, Ross excelled as an outstanding tennis player. Ross had a manager to help with the decision making of what to do next with her career. Ross was ranked #1 in Alabama and top 5 in the Southern division, she moved to Nick Bollettieri's Tennis Academy in Florida after her ninth grade year.

At 17, Ross turned pro at a tournament in Woodlands, Texas, before competing in a two-month circuit in Mexico.

Ross trained at Harvard the summer before she went back to school and lived in Cambridge for three months before accepting a scholarship to Union University in Jackson, TN. This was when the first signs of her illness began; she started having excruciating pain and loss of feeling in her wrist, and developed what doctors thought to be carpal tunnel syndrome from countless hours on the tennis court. After three opinions, and the option to do surgery, Ross had bilateral surgery in both hands and after months of recovery and rehab, she transferred to the University of Mobile and was part of a team that competed for the NAIA national championship and won.

However, her wrists went out again and after two more surgeries later doctors told her that her tennis days were over.

“I had no clue what I wanted to do in my life because tennis was all I knew," Ross said. "I was still getting my basics in school but I did not really have a major set."

She married her best friend, Jason Ross in 2000 and began working odd jobs. When she began experiencing stiff joints, she assumed it was from over-training in the gym. But it continued to get worse.

“The doctors were still not sure of what I had," she said. "There was a point where I was taking 26 pills at night and 24 pills in the morning, and that was not including the chemotherapy I was taking. When I found Dr. Thomas Myers, he was my Godsend, and diagnosed me with an inflammatory disease with overlapping symptoms of different autoimmune problems and treated me for rheumatoid arthritis and lupus."

She said Dr. Thomas Myers, a local rheumatologist, diagnosed her with an inflammatory disease and began treating her for rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, a chronic autoimmune disorder that can affect joints, major organs and tissues. She had to have a total hysterectomy at age 22 and a lumpectomy of her breast after a tumor was discovered. She also underwent surgery for a benign tumor in her spinal column. With her health issues and family members also experiencing major health crises, her father had an amputation, her brother lost both legs and her mother had a heart attack- Ross became severely depressed and her weight increased to 226 pounds. She continued caring for her mother, who died of congestive heart failure. Her mother's battle with heart disease inspired Ross to return to school and start training again.

"I lost 30 pounds before teaching aerobics again in Jamaica, and my weight continued to drop, so I set a goal to get into the best shape of my life by my 30th birthday," she said. "I got down to 140 and felt great and I finally figured out that with good nutrition I did not have to work half as hard in the gym."

By 2007, her weight was down to 110, and she was doing photo shoots as a model. Her brother, also a tennis player, had lost both of his legs to diabetes years earlier. He died in 2008 at the age of 34. Three months later, Ross graduated with a degree in exercise science with concentrations in Cardiac/Pulmonary Rehab at the age of 31.

"I walked across that stage with diploma in hand in honor of my mom on the anniversary of her death and that was the greatest day of my life," she said. "Although after graduation, my father lost his leg to diabetes as well.”

Ross is strong and has a very positive attitude each and every day, even though she continues to have surgeries on her joints and has to maintain on two chemotherapy shots a week for the rest of her life.

"I am in good health and keep my disease under control with diet, exercise, medication, and great doctors," Ross said. "I love people and I live each day to the fullest. I get up each morning in the early am to work out for myself and leave the remaining of the day to help others."

Cindy Lane Ross has experienced her share of challenges in life. She has overcome weight issues, sickness and death in her family, and she finds a way to grow stronger despite ongoing problems with her personal health. She has dealt with two partial joint replacements and a complete wrist fusion in her dominant hand. Ross currently takes two chemotherapy injections and an anti-malaria drug to suppress her immune system. The right medicine and a good exercise program is what gives Cindy the strength and will power to encourage others!

"I embrace the fact that I have rheumatoid arthritis and it makes me a stronger and a more determined person." Ross said "I always put a smile on my face and make the most of my life, and I live each day like it could be my last, I have made fitness and health my lifestyle and I receive great benefits from it. While completing school I started my own personal training business in 2008 and I began training again, growing my clientele base. "

Thinking that she was going into Exercise Physiology and was going to work in a cardiac/pulmonary rehab unit, Ross said she realized during her intern that she would rather be on the preventive side, rather than the aftermath of a sickness. So after graduation she continued to personal train and in 2009 Cindy decided to put together a program called Bodies By Cindy Boot Camp that included accountability, nutrition, multiple options with time, and this concept exploded. After two short months of teaching boot camp, Cindy hired her first trainer. In April 2010 her husband, Jason Ross, joined her in the fitness industry. Cindy and Jason opened their own personal training studio in 2010 and they currently have 14 on staff. Cindy and her team have held boot camps in multiple cities with hopes of reaching more and more people.

In Sept. 2010 Cindy was featured on the cover of Arthritis Today magazine. Ross finished her first book in 2011 and it is available on Amazon or you can go to her online store. Over the past year she began speaking out to more people on different topics. Cindy is the cover model and feature story for Health Monitor Magazine July 2013. Ross has become a recognized leader in the Fitness Industry and with her collegiate and professional tennis career, living with Rheumatoid Arthritis for 16 years, having over 22 surgeries, losing her mother to Scleroderma, a brother to Type I Diabetes, and through her own self-discovery, Cindy shows great fortitude and is motivating audiences nationwide! Cindy will leave you in Amazement as she unfolds her story of illness, accomplishments, knowledge of health, fitness, and nutrition!

Ross wants to continue to inspire people to lead a healthier more productive life! Ross said,

“I am blessed because I love what I do and I have a wonderful team of trainers that have the same vision, motivating one person at a time!"

Ross has been teaching fitness and working as a personal trainer since she was 18. She has taught at several local fitness centers in Mobile, including the YMCA, Cory Everson's Power House, World Gym, Springhill Athletic Club, Omni Health Club, REC Center at the University of South Alabama, and Anytime Fitness, and now owning her own Personal Training studio, Bodies By Cindy, INC. Bodies By Cindy Boot Camp & Personal Training studio just got voted #1 Boot Camp & Best Workout in Mobile, AL. Cindy also teaches group fitness, spinning, kickboxing, boot camp, yoga and aqua aerobics in the Caribbean, with this concept she wants to bring fitness and health awareness around the world!

To learn more about Cindy Lane Ross, and her compelling story that will not only move you emotionally, but it will make you want to jump up out of your seat and go accomplish that goal you have been struggling to meet, you can buy a copy of her book, Body Type Blueprint which will is available on Amazon.com or go to the Bodies By Cindy online store.

Her story with lots of pictures & emphasis on

1.      Arthritis Today and Health Monitor ( Coming out in June)

2.      News/ Segments

Who Cindy writes for: Ask The Trainer.com, Boot Camps United.com, Livestrong.com