A Lakeland personal trainer has a special affinity for training people with disabilities.
Stuart Sagraves trains disabled people at the Planet Fitness in North Lakeland.
One of the people he trains is Shauna English, who is blind. She brings her service dog, PJ, to the gym, and Sagraves taught PJ to walk on a treadmill next to Shauna.
"I saw it on the internet," said Sagraves. “Dogs walking on a treadmill. I said to Shauna, 'why don't we get PJ to walk on a treadmill?' She was up for the idea."
Sagraves said he decided to make a special effort to train people with disabilities after helping care for his dying grandmother for two years.
That sense of compassion came through to Shauna English the first time she met Sagraves.
"I was able to open up to him about what was going on with me, and I felt like I made a friend that day," said English.
Sagraves, in turn, said he is inspired by Shauna.
“I couldn't imagine not having my sight," said Sagraves. "She gets out and does it by memory."
Gregg Hall is another of Sagraves' clients. Hall had half of his brain removed when he was 10 as a last ditch effort to cure seizures.
As a result, Hall is very weak on one side of his body. But he enjoys every trip to Planet Fitness to see Sagraves.
"He makes it seem like you can't wait to come back the next day," said Hall.