About
How did you get into fitness?
About 20 years ago, someone else got the corporate job I thought was mine. It was a pivot point in my life. I started studying to become a personal trainer, and found I LOVED it! I loved the whole transformation process. Not the changing of who we are, but the revealing of our best selves - who we were always meant to be - healthy, vibrant, and free.
What is something only your close friends know about you?
I used to be a real rebel (okay truth be told I still am). I sang in a rock band in the 80s, smoked, drank too much and was basically was the antithesis of what "good health" looks like. If you knew me in my teens and twenties you wouldn't have held out much hope for me.
What’s your favorite food indulgence?
Butter Pecan Icecream and Pumpkin PIe. I guess by that answer you can guess my favorite holiday too...Every Thanksgving dinner is a success in my world with those to food indulgences.
What’s your favorite exercise?
Push-ups (all variations) followed closely by the Lunge with a Twist. These two exercises have tranformed my body and are staples in my workout.
What’s your biggest passion?
I study behavior, habits, and change, because I am completely obsessed by what makes people tick. Training people for over 20 years has brought an acute awareness of the fact - knowing what to do and actually doing it are are two completely different things. I want to help people succeed, and that means more to me than just telling people they need to eat healthy and exercise. The linchpin in the whole system is training the mind first. Identity and values drive behavior. Telling someone to eat veggies at every meal is ridiculous to someone who's never learned how to cook one that tastes good.
What's the one thing you wish everyone would get.
The size of the goal or problem does not determine the size of the change. As Aristotle says "We are what we repeatedly do." Small habits done daily over the course of a year can COMPLETELY change a body and a life. So the one thing I wish I could change is the mindset that solutions have to be big and quick. One of my favorite saying is by Seth Godin, "The long way is the shortcut."
What’s your favorite drink(s)?
Water with lemon, coffee, & wine. In that order. That's pretty much all I drink.
What do you love to do when you’re not working out, teaching, or recording videos?
I love cooking and hanging out around the dinner table with friends, family and good wine. I love to travel, but I'm also a homebody who loves to cocoon with a good book or movie.
I homeschool my daughter 3 days a week, so I'm in a constant state of learning, whether it's the psychology of eating, or 5th grade math, I'm always learning something new.
What’s your motivation to stay healthy?
Freedom. I want to have the freedom and feel confident in my own skin. I want to do all the things I love, with the people I love without being limited by pain, lack of mobility, disease, or size. Being fit and healthy is all about freedom and confidence for me. I struggle with confidence and self-worth. If you look at other woman in the fitness industry making exercise videos you typically see a busty, 20ish body, with thin shapely thighs and chiseled abs. That's not me. I'm a 51 year old 5 foot 4" woman who never graduated the training bra. I'm normal height from the waist up, but as soon as I stand up ...well short and stout sums up my genetics.
So I have a few fitness habits I do everyday and it provides the freedom and the body I want to live life to the fullest.
What are those habits for you?
There are 5
- Mindset - Quiet time in the morning to be still, give thanks, and reflect on life and what's important in my journal.
- Daily movement - my workouts are very efficient, usually about 30 minutes a day.
- Daily planning and tracking of what I eat. My Fitness Pal makes this a breeze.
- Drinking at least 2 liters of water a day. I measure it out in the morning so I know when I get there.
- Getting consistant quality sleep. I start my evening rituals between 9-9:30 and am usual up between 5-5:30)