Less Intimidation, More Movement: My Approach to Fitness

I’m going to guess that you already know your fitness basics, you’ve probably even had plenty of fitness spurts, and you’ve been out of the zone for a while now, but you’re ready to hop back on the bandwagon and, this time, make it a real lifestyle change. I'm hoping to help you feel more comfortable, less intimidated, and ready to get your movement on!

My approach to fitness is a fine combo of training for real life (functional movement) and preventing injury and illness (encouraging you to slow down). In every aspect of my work, I want you to get to know yourself better so you can start loving the life you live. This includes fitness and movement. I never ever thought of myself as an athlete. When I started on my own fitness journey in 2011 I was simply going for weight loss. I lost 15 pounds over one summer and enrolled in personal training school that Fall, simply because I wanted to help others feel healthier and accomplish their goals the way I had with my own. Oh my goodness, how it has become So. Much. More.

When one of my teachers threw out the idea that every single person is an athlete to their own life, I didn’t fully grasp the concept at first. Even if you’re not into sports (at all), really think about this:

If life is the game, then you are the athlete, for your life. Don’t you want to be able to live a long and full life, playing the game for as long as possible, with as little injury and as most energy as you can muster? We have a choice and that choice starts now, not after you’ve landed yourself in the hospital with a major injury or sickness. ​

​Having grown up being raised by my grandparents, I feel as if I have a little different look on life then maybe the average person has been exposed to. I’ve been looking at older age straight in the face since I was a little girl. It’s only natural that I look to the people who I care about most and want the best for their health, but it has also made me think about how I want to be living when I reach that point in my own life, too.

​Most of what we view as life's "natural declines" have turned me into a strong believer that most (if not all) of those declines are preventable. That is what my fitness philosophy has developed around. I believe that it is extremely important that you take your health into your own hands so that you can take your life into your own hands. This is how you learn to love your life and be truly healthy and happy. No one else can give this to you.

​We’re all aging. That’s just the way life works. I don’t believe that age is any excuse to let our bodies go and to not want to take care of yourself. I’m not talking about your looks and keeping that skin from sagging. Think of being in your eighties and still being able to go up and down a flight of stairs, drive the car around, play with your grandkids, or even go out with friends and cook your own meals. Real Health: not that glamorous stuff. Though, I will say, glamour most certainly does come with real health, naturally. We seem to have this vision in our heads that getting old sucks and our bodies are naturally going to give way the older we get. I beg to differ.

We've all seen those miracle stories floating around the internet of the elderly getting fit, and if you have ever been a member of a gym or group fitness center, then chances are you've seen, first-hand, members of the senior community making a commitment to their health: still doing yoga, group fitness, or lifting their own weights out on the floor. I know that's the kind of health I want in my life. 

Here is an extremely powerful commercial from the Canadian Heart and Stroke foundation that really does not differ much from being American, and probably not terribly far off from any other country, with the rate our Western diet is spreading across the glove. Ever single time I watch this video, it gives me chills, if it doesn't bring a tear to me eye.

Remember, you have the power to take your health into your own hands. This is your life and this life is made up of a series of choices that you make. What do you want your forties, fifties, sixties, and beyond to look like?


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