About the Journey To The CORE, LLC:
Journey To The CORE, LLC (Commit, Overcome, Renew and Energize) is an organization that was formed by Sherryl Zoltenko, as a means of pursuing a vision that was given to her by God. The goal of the CORE is to facilitate and enable others to lead a more full and productive life, through the balancing of their mental, physical and spiritual needs.
We are excited to share with you the evolution of Journey to the CORE, LLC from a vision to a reality.
The “journey” began in April of 2007, when Sherryl made a commitment to face and overcome the weight problem she had battled since childhood. She was inspired through her friendship with Brazilian native and three time world champion of the Professional Bull Riders, Adriano Moraes. He inspired her to reach down deep inside and find the warrior spirit that God had given her. In the beginning of her journey, Sherryl did not realize that the battle was about much more than just changing how much she ate and disciplining herself to do some form of daily exercise. She quickly found that the battlefield is for the mind and in the mind.
Sherryl discovered that conquering the battle for the mind, not only changed her outside appearance, but the very CORE of her confidence and self esteem. The battle for her mind became much more than just exercising and losing weight. It was about recognizing the value, purpose and potential that God saw in her life as one of His children.
Sherryl committed to driving 630 miles to Tyler, Texas each month for a three day work out session with her trainer, Tony Cruz of XTC, Xtreme Training and Conditioning, who she met through Adriano. While working out in the gym in Texas, she met other women who were also being trained by Tony. These women, along with Tony, Adriano and Adriano’s wife Flavia, became strong encouragers for Sherryl and she soon realized the tremendous strength to be gained from cultivating positive relationships in her life.
When she would return home, after her monthly trip to Tyler, Texas, Sherryl committed to working hard in her “garage gym” twice daily. In each workout session, which would last up to two hours in duration, she would replicate the exercise routines which were taught to her by Tony. Committed to overcome the aching muscles and sore feet, her rigid exercise routine, along with eating a well balanced diet, allowed her to lose 140 pounds in a year. Others saw not only the physical transformation that was taking place in Sherryl, but more importantly, they were attracted to the renewed and energized person that was emerging. Women from her community of Superior, NE asked her to share some of the things she had learned and what she was doing that was allowing this amazing change that seemed to be coming from within. She was gaining confidence in herself and her abilities as she began realizing the difference this was making in her life and the impact she could have on the lives of countless others.
She initially began working at the local high school track with a small group of women who were comfortable being around one another and exercising together. From the onset, it was understood and agreed upon by all involved, that trust within the group was an absolute essential, if they were to succeed. This group of women put sweat equity into themselves and each other in their workouts, pushing and encouraging each other to overcome their fears of failure. As they gathered each time to work out, not only did their relationships strengthen, but each individual’s self esteem and confidence grew as well. As the summer went on and the work outs continued, Sherryl saw the same thing happening in Superior, NE as she had experienced with her new lady friends from the gym in Tyler, TX. As their friendship and trust in each other grew, Sherryl began to refer to these ladies as her “core group”, because they were no longer gathering just to exercise, but for the time of bonding and encouragement as well.
As time progressed, Sherryl felt that God was leading her to organize an event that would benefit women in her local community of Superior, NE. She wanted the event to incorporate the mental, physical and spiritual aspect for each individual that attended. When she shared this idea with the “core group”, the event planning process began. As they brain stormed to come up with a name for the event, they agreed that the entire transformation process had been a journey that was still in progress and would continue to be an ongoing process for each of them. One of the most surprising benefits of this journey, was the core group of friends that had developed, therefore, they came up with the name “Journey To The CORE, LLC.
To this group of women, the CORE represented many things, with the key words being to Commit, Overcome, Renew & Energize. They saw the need for not just women, but all people, to have a CORE group to associate with that can be trusted, not only with their feelings, but trusted to push and encourage each other through the mental battles and fears that every human being encounters on their journey through life. In the physical sense, all strength comes from the CORE as well. The CORE muscles give the human body the strength to control movement in our day to day activities as well as performing in athletics or in the gym. The CORE being in the spiritual sense is God. He is the center of our being and no person is complete without a relationship with Him
About Sherryl Zoltenko
Sherryl L. Zoltenko is a 53 year old farm wife from Hardy, NE. She and her husband James have been married for 33 years and have been blessed with two sons, Lannin and Cole, daughter in law Melanie and two wonderful grandsons, Chandler and Taran. Sherryl has struggled with overeating from the time she was a child. Like many others, she tried various weight loss programs and would lose some weight only to gain it all back and more, thus losing hope and intensifying her low self-esteem.
In March of 2006 Sherryl established a personal friendship with Professional Bull Rider, Adriano Moraes. She was deeply inspired by the Brazilian born bull rider, when she would hear him tell how he used his tenacious warrior spirit to ride his bulls to victory, many times under incredible odds. In November of 2006, at the PBR World Finals in Las Vegas, Sherryl witnessed Adriano fight through excruciating back spasms to become the first and only 3 time World Champion in the history of the PBR
When Sherryl saw this, she thought to herself. “Do I have that kind of warrior spirit within me?” Adriano introduced her to his trainer, Tony Cruz of XTC, Xtreme Training and Conditioning and Tony accepted the challenge of finding and pulling out the fighting warrior spirit that was hidden deep within Sherryl. He made her believe she could conquer the un-rideable bull in her life and that was to lose weight and become healthy. Tony did what no one else had been able to do and that was to give her the confidence to push herself and achieve victory, so she could be the woman God created her to be.
With Tony pushing and sometimes pulling, Sherryl lost 140 lbs in 12 months. Sherryl has now taken off 160 lbs and has had the surgery for excess skin removal. Many people had encouraged Sherryl to have lap band surgery but she felt God calling her to overcome by perseverance and self discipline. Throughout her entire weight loss journey, Sherryl felt this was God’s project and quitting was not an option.
Sherryl now has a passion to inspire and encourage other people to live victoriously and become the person that God created them to be. Sherryl wants other people to experience the success that has transformed her life. She realizes that the challenges that she faces each day is not just for women, but all people face ongoing challenges throughout their lives and that life is a journey that requires constant perseverance. A Journey to the CORE, LLC to (Commit, Overcome, Renew, and Energize).
In the near future, Sherryl plans to write a book about her journey, with the sole purpose of inspiring and leading others to get to the “core” of themselves and transform their lives.
It is Sherryl’s hope that through her book, speaking engagements and events such as this one, many others will also come to realize their strength, true self worth and value deep inside them.
Sherryl plans to receive her training certificate this winter, further helping others to be “fit for whatever life brings their way.” Whether you are a child developing agility and building self confidence, professional, laborer, a stay at home mom, or an athlete, you need to be able to be mentally, physically and spiritually stronger to fight the day to day stress that life brings your way.
We can renew and energize our lives through committing to overcome, while building strong and positive relationships based on the power and faith of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power, of love and of self discipline”. 2 Timothy 1:7 NIV