Welcome to another edition of Fitness for All with Cam Jenkins, sponsored by Lebert Fitness.
In this episode, Cam talks with Amy Bois. Amy is a titan in the fitness industry and in the adapted fitness world. She lives in Greenland, New Hampshire, where she not only trains individuals of all abilities under her Fit For Life banner but is also the chair of the Spina Bifida Association of Greater New England. She is an avid fitness enthusiast & loves being able to teach others what she has grown to love.
This article is sourced from the Fitness For All Podcast, a top health and wellness podcast. Listen or subscribe below
Where to subscribe: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Spotify | iHeartRadio | RSS
Scroll to the end of the article for links to important resources mentioned in this episode.
*The following podcast has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
Welcome to another edition of the Fitness for All Podcast. I am pleased to have on the podcast tonight Amy and Tyler Bois; welcome to the show.
Oh, thanks for having us Cam.
So, let's start off, I guess, Amy with you, and can you talk a little bit about you being an adaptive coach?
Absolutely. Yeah, so I am really lucky. I started my career in personal training. Probably it's been about four years now where I've focused on personal training, but been an instructor at a local gym here for over 10 years. I got into adaptive fitness training because my son really needed to have some motivation to get up and get moving. And he's like, yes. And once we started doing that together and I started to put my creative thinking cap on, I realized that there was such a need out there for trainers to specialize in adaptive training. So, I just very quickly said, not only can I help Tyler, but I can help so many that need to get out there and get moving and really bring my expertise to the table. So that's kind of how it happened.
Nice. And you have a business called Fit for Life. So, is that how it came to be a Fit for Life is because of your son, Tyler?
Well actually, so it's, I'm “Fit with Amy B.” That's what I go by on my Instagram page. And that's where I do literally almost all my work. That's where people can sign up with me for one-on-one personal training, small group training. That's where literally it all started was on Fit with Amy B. And that was over gosh, over four years ago. Now when I started that
That’s quite a long time for doing something like that. What do you see as far as like into the future where you want to take Fit with Amy B?
Well, you know, honestly we have a really diverse group. I definitely think adaptive training is my niche. I think that there's a need and it's something that I'm really passionate about. So I think, you know, over the next year we're going to see more adaptive programs and in fact, I've started working with brands on Instagram that are looking to help make their products geared towards fitness for all abilities. So I would say you're going to see me working with different brands to help them be more accessible and more inclusive.
Perfect. And Tyler, let's ask you a question. I see you all the time on your mom's Instagram and you're just working out like there’s no tomorrow. How's that going with your therapy and working out?
They’re really good actually. I'm going to this gym called Project Walk and it's been really fun, and it feels good to move again and not feel crappy all the time.
Yeah, Tyler had, and he'll tell you, he had been in pain, chronic pain, really for a very long time.
Still am, but better
Right. But better.
It feels good to move!
Absolutely. And this place is really motivating him to get moving. It's an adaptive gym here in Stratham, New Hampshire that was started by two parents because their daughter had suffered a very debilitating virus where it left her in a coma for four years. Her name's Victoria Arlen, she's actually an ESPN commentator. So, she woke up out of her coma after four years and the parents had her in a similar type of gym out in California and they decided to open their own Project Walk here in Stratham to really help their daughter rehabilitate and take her life back again. She literally had to learn every aspect. She was a full-time wheelchair user and had to essentially relearn everything. She’s everything back. She was on Dancing with the Stars as well. So it's been cool and the gym is just a great fit for Tyler. Lots of young coaches, they play music in the background, so it's been awesome.
Tyler, what are some of the favorite exercises you like to do there? Do you have any favourite exercises?
I don’t really have a favourite one, I just do whatever they do.
He did one today, Cam, the one where he was sitting on a Bosu. So, they create instability by having him sit on a Bosu and then they essentially throw balls at him and he has to hit the balls with his hands, like out of the way. So the whole point of it is to create instability and your core really has to work to stabilize and then to hit the beach ball. That's what it was. You did pretty good with that, Tyler it's kind of like extreme Dodge balling.
Oh. And that would be amazing to be able to play extreme dodgeball.
I like Dodgeball.
Yeah. See he's into Dodge ball.
I used to play it when I was growing up, back in the 18 hundreds too. So, it was fun.
Oh, come on Cam we know you’re not that old!
Amy with being an adaptive trainer what kind of philosophies do you have when you're training your athletes and how do you adapt to their abilities?
Actually, my philosophy is really, really simple. I train all my clients like they're an athlete. I don't put limitations on them. We certainly talk about, you know, their bodies and what they have going on, what their strengths are, what their areas of opportunities are, but I let them know right from the beginning, that movement is medicine and we are going to get you moving. It’s a joint relationship that we're going to have together, but I treat them just like I would any other individual who I was training and that's my philosophy behind my adaptive fitness business.
Why do you think it's important to do that?
Well, I mean, I think it's important to do that, especially since, you know, in today's society the disabled community, we're fighting for equal opportunity and for accessibility and exclusivity and the disabled community absolutely has a place in the fitness world. So, the more that we create an environment of inclusivity and also equal treatment, the more the perceptions will change of people living with disabilities.
Yeah. And that's just it. That’s what I always try to do too. All I can do is control my actions and what I say and hopefully with the information that we give to people, hopefully it will change and obviously, I would love for it to change a little bit quicker than it is, but it is changing and that's a good thing.
I absolutely think it is changing. I'm seeing the change. I'm having a lot more conversations with big brands online that are very interested in the adaptive fitness community. People are paying attention. So, this is the time now to get out there make your needs heard and to raise awareness.
Yeah. Along with that awareness. Tyler, if I remember correctly was part of a fashion show.
Oh yes. I was recently, it was fun, very fun.
What made it fun?
The clothes were cool. What did you like the out of the outfits? Which one did you like the best?
The shorts were awesome because they had Velcro closure. So easy on, easy off, no buttons, no zippers Velcro. Oh. And the shoes they sent him Merrill's slip on shoes that went right over his Allard orthotics, which was awesome. All these things were donated by who, do you remember?
Zappos. Zappos adaptive.
I remember mom!
He's rubbing my arm, “Mom. I remembered” yeah, they were awesome. They sent Tyler two outfits, two pairs of sneakers and everything that he tried on. Literally you looked great. Because I mean, when you feel good, you know, when you look good, you feel good, and you seemed confident.
I think it’s great for all people with disabilities to be able to have that line of clothing because they're much more confident and they're able to do it a lot on their own as well, which I think is phenomenal towards being independent as well.
Yeah, definitely. I mean, I think we're seeing a lot of brands follow in Zappos’ footsteps, like back to what I was saying. In that fashion show I think we had over 15 brands participate in that fashion show. Yeah, it was awesome. I mean, we even had Runway of Dreams, originator, Mindy Scheier was on there and it was just awesome. At the end we had a round table, and we had like four models that got to talk with the brands, the businesses. The round table was awesome because they ask questions and they got feedback and were very receptive to feedback making their products even better.
That's awesome to know that, that's out there and that the world is changing that much more to towards adaptability. So, as well Amy let's go back into the fitness area where you're an adaptive trainer also with, is it pronounced One Kakana?
Kakana actually. If somebody was going to search it, it would just go on to Kakana It's One Kakana on Instagram, that's their handle. But essentially Kakana is a startup business. It's still pretty new. It's a website geared for people of all abilities for adaptive fitness, a place where it's completely inclusive no judgment free zone and we offer live classes daily. Also, there's a complete on demand library where if you can't make the live classes, you can search on demand and take them when you have availability. Which is awesome. I teach with Kakana two times a week on Tuesdays at 9 and Wednesdays at 11. I did one today and I teach strength classes with them.
That's awesome. And how did that opportunity present itself to you?
Actually, interestingly enough Matt Nay is the founder of Kakana and he was talking with a few people that were involved in the beta testing of the program and this is how great Instagram is. One of the beta testers Laurie said, you know what, Matt, you've got to reach out with Amy B, she would be awesome. And initially they were thinking they were only going to hire disabled instructors to teach. But you know what the cool thing about Kakana is, is that it's a mixture of both and that's what it should be because it's inclusive. When Matt talked with me, he was like, my goodness, Amy. I'd say you're a pretty big cheerleader for the disabled community and I told him that I would love to incorporate Tyler into some of the workouts too, when he's ready. And that's, that's kind of how it got taken off.
That’s great. Tyler as much as you may or may not realize it, people see you and they are very proud of you and what you've accomplished, especially through some of the challenges that you've had. You have spina bifida and hydrocephalus which is also what I have as well. Can you maybe let the listeners know what some of the positives of having spina bifida and hydrocephalus is? Any podcasts that you've done to kind of send that out to the world, to let them know what spina bifida is?
Yeah. I mean, essentially by sharing our journey and what you're going through you’re creating awareness and letting them know that you can lead a very active and great life with spina bifida. Important to note because 15 is hard. This is a hard age when it’s not a secret when you're hormonal and you’re learning more about yourself and accepting your disability. But with all that said, Tyler definitely has had the opportunity to be involved with so many different things. And while spina bifida is not without struggle, because it's important to be honest about that, there's certainly a struggle, but I tell you with that struggle comes great clarity as to your purpose here in life and where you're going.
Absolutely. And Tyler, do you like any sports, or have you been playing any sports?
I did play tennis for a while and then Covid happened, and nothing has really popped up.
We skied a little bit this winter. He skis with New England Disabled Sports, which is at Loon Mountain here in New Hampshire. We ski through Maine Adaptive too, up at Sunday River, which is a great program. And then tennis, Tyler's going to be getting back into that. We've had some challenges with some upper extremity weakness, post spinal fusion, but with going to Project Walk and getting stronger. Yeah, he's definitely noticing just like today, what did you do today with a tennis racket?
Oh yeah. I hit a ball for the first time with a tennis racket.
Yeah. It hurt, like you said, it hurt, but it felt good at the same time.
It was good pain if that makes sense.
I think sometimes people don't get that. But you're moving and the more that you get moving, honestly it's been the one thing that has changed the most that has helped Tyler the most yes.
Movement. Like I was listening to you a little bit earlier on your Instagram feed and growing that movement is so important and I know that anytime I'm doing a workout with Mark from Lebert Fitness or on my own I, I totally get you Tyler on the good pain because I get good pain. The older I get, the more good pain I seem to have.
Yeah. I know. And I think maybe, sometimes people don't understand that whole good pain, but yeah, the more you get moving, the better off you are, you know, cause it, it takes away some of that stiffness and helps you with mobility and strength.
It makes you happier and a more independent person as well.
For sure. And kind of on the same lines still talking about spina bifida, Amy, you are on the chair for the Spina Bifida Association of Greater New England? Can you maybe tell our listeners what you do in that role?
I am chair of Spina Bifida, Greater New England, and we service Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. So, we cover that entire span, and our goal is to enrich the lives of people living with spina bifida, through providing resources, programming, bringing people together and just celebrating together as well. I've been the chair now for the last two years and been on the board for seven years and I'm telling you, we have some of the best programming available out there for our young adults, for teens, younger children. We're just constantly looking to provide the very best program that we can for our community.
Have you done any of those programs, Tyler?
Actually, yes. I've done that's to blame. Yes. Best of Bling, which is a teen empowerment program with like girls and boys.
What do you like the best about best and bling?
Basically. I just like it because it's a bunch of people that like know what I’m going through and just basically are like me, if that makes sense.
We bring the teens together for a weekend and we put together awesome programming. And like Tyler said, it's, it's a weekend where you can just be yourself. You're totally accepted. It's not awkward. Like people get you and it's, it's nice. It's nice to have that opportunity.
Yeah and that's what I've found as well. You know, be it through mental health or with my spina bifid, being able to speak to somebody that's going through similar experiences, so you don't feel so alone is so important to have.
Yeah, because I really felt alone with COVID and just pretty much nothing happening.
Lack of opportunity. It's been tough. Yeah. No, I mean, you're right. Tyler, it's been even more, you know, just in general, it's harder for people with disabilities. And then when you add on a pandemic and lack of resources and lack of services.
So, what do you do Tyler to have some fun or to keep yourself busy during the pandemic?
I pretty much just watch TV.
He loves YouTube, but what's your favourite? Who's your favourite YouTuber?
I don't know, I like tricking and flips.
Tell them why you like that.
Because my mom was a gymnast.
He, he gravitates to very dynamic movement and I think Tyler and I have that both in common because I was a competitive gymnast growing up. So, it was just so interesting that that's what he loves. That's what he loves to watch. It's called tricking.
Is it called tricking because of the dynamic movement?
I honestly don't know why it's called that it’s like break dancing and martial arts.
Yeah. It's actually very amazing. These people are athletes. Yeah. It's really cool. But this summer, luckily with the warm weather coming up, we do have a boat. So we'll be going out on our boat and we're hoping to teach Tyler how to drive our boat next year. He's like, I'm not going to do that.
If I’m on the same lake I have to make sure I have a helmet on incase I see you there with your friends!
We actually go out here on the seacoast, in New Hampshire. So we're actually on the Piscataqua, that area.
If you’re listening to the podcast, if you’re on the Piscataqu make sure you’re not there this summer when Tyler drives.
Right? Oh man. Yeah. Well, think about it Tyler, you’re getting close. Like over the next couple of years, you'll probably start learning to drive too because you're 15.
When are you able to get your license where you are, is it 16?
You can get your permit at 15 and then license at 16. You have to sign up with a driving academy.
So hopefully you can get that and start driving and then you can come up here and visit Mark and I, at some point.
Oh, we would love that! Yeah. Well, we’re all Canadian, you know.
I think everyone should be Canadian personally, but I might be a bit biased because I was born here.
Well, my husband is from the Canadian almost up on the Canadian border in Maine. So, that's like way up in Presque Isle, Maine. Both of his parents were Canadian and then they moved over into Maine after they got married.
So, you’re honorary Canadians basically. So, with the fitness Amy that you do, kind of jumping back to the fitness area, what is the key to having a good fitness program? Be it for adaptive athletes or the able-bodied athletes?
Well, I mean, I think the key is it needs to be sound; you know, I think any type of fitness program needs to be structured organized, not without fun. It definitely has to be fun, but you know, a good fitness program will incorporate strength training mixed with mobility, teaching people how to move their body without hurting themselves pain-free and then hopefully they're that engaged that they'll continue to do the program on their own going forward. By establishing a consistent routine that develops a habit and then the next thing you know, that person becomes invested in their wellness program.
Yeah. That's the hardest thing for me is getting into the habit because what, it becomes a habit after you keep doing it for 30 days or I'm not sure what it is?
No, you're right. Honestly, oftentimes accountability plays a big role in it. So, that's where I come into play as the coach trainer where I provide the accountability and the motivation initially, that's really where it's at and you want to start slow, you know, it's not something where oftentimes, you know, at gyms, you'll see people at the beginning of the year, they'll be coming for like two, even three weeks. But then they sort of burn out in a blaze of glory because they've come at it too quickly and either they're too sore to come back or they just have said this isn't for me. So, I always tell people short, actionable goals lead to long-term success. And you know, you didn't lose your wellness in a day and you're not going to get it back in a day. It takes time and commitment.
That is so true. For the listeners, where can they reach you Amy, if they want to take part in any of your programs. Maybe even before I ask that, maybe Tyler I’ll ask you one last question. Okay. So, my question Tyler is what advice would you give to someone who also has spina bifida and hydrocephalus?
Pretty much. Hang in there, talk to people. Don't get nervous because you're in a wheelchair, get moving. Just because you're in a wheelchair doesn’t mean life is always going to be so hard. Just keep fighting, learn, and just make people understand you.
No, no, you're right. You're right. I mean, I think, yeah, that was really well said. Tyler, I think, I mean, basically you're like, don't count yourself out.
I don't want to say something, and people get mad because honestly I feel like people like me are just outcasted and like not mentioned at all and I hear words all the time that are super offensive.
Well, that's where we come into play because we're raising that awareness too.
Yeah. It just annoys me so much that like we have to do that.
I know. I know it's tough, but that's why we're doing things. No, no, no. It's okay. And you're, you're great. Yeah. I mean, that's right. I mean, when you're 15, it's really it's, it's on the forefront, you know, and like trying to help change the dialogue, you know, how can we change the dialogue for people with disabilities to be accepted, be accepted just like everybody else creating a more inclusive world. I mean, it's, it's a challenge and it is tough and frustrating.
Having to do that, Tyler, I completely understand where you're coming from. It was a few years ago when I was 15 and in saying that even today at my young age of 47, I think I am actually born in the 18 hundreds. But yeah, it's hard to get the world to change, to see you as a person or, you know, cause I’m no better than you and you're no better than me. I think you gave some absolutely great advice for people, not only with people with spina bifida, but just people with disabilities. Always be yourself Tyler never, ever be afraid to say how you're feeling because that's how the world's going to change and it is exhausting when have to stand up for yourself, but I know you and I see you on the lives with your mom and see how much gusto and just passion you have. And you just keep that up.
Cam, that's actually called sass. He's got a lot of sass which will serve him well in life. He says what's on his mind. So he's got that covered.
If somebody wants to kind of pick any of your classes or do your classes, how can they find you?
They act really easy, you know, the best place probably to find me right now is on Fit with Amy B on Instagram. I post daily workouts pretty accessible on there. I work with many different brands and businesses on Instagram. I'm also on Facebook as well, Fit for Life with Amy. I know I'm not on Facebook as much as Instagram. It's just not, it's not the same. I'm on there for groups, so either one and then also on Instagram, if they prefer they can email me too. My email’s located on there.
If they're interested in training, I have personal training options available for all abilities. I definitely specialize in rehabilitative fitness, adaptive fitness is my specialty. But I also work with high school athletes. I work with, for instance, I have an 11 year old who I'm training right now who had a broken ankle who's coming back from that. So, definitely have a well-versed set of skill sets. But if anybody's interested, they can sign up for a training session with me and yeah, that's about it. And if they're interested in classes, they would want to go onto the handle One Kakana on Instagram to check it out. Or they can just type in Kakana in Google and the website will come up to sign up for classes.
Perfect. Well, Amy and Tyler, it has been an absolute pleasure having you on the Fitness for All Podcast, and I certainly hope to have you on again and I'm sure our listeners will be following your journey.
Awesome. Thank you very much, Cam for having us, we really appreciate it.
Contact Amy Bois at:
If you enjoyed this episode of the Fitness For All podcast, please head over to iTunes, leave a rating, write a review, and subscribe. If you listen on Stitcher, please click here to rate and review this show.
]]>
Welcome to another edition of Fitness for All with Cam Jenkins, sponsored by Lebert Fitness.
In this episode, Cam talks with Jason Brader. He is the Director of Sports Performance at Albright College. Brader is handling all strength and conditioning duties for the 24 varsity sports teams on campus. Brader comes to Albright following stops at Louisiana Tech and Alabama.
This article is sourced from the Fitness For All Podcast, a top health and wellness podcast. Listen or subscribe below
Where to subscribe: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Spotify | iHeartRadio | RSS
Scroll to the end of the article for links to important resources mentioned in this episode.
*The following podcast has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
That is a wonderful way to say it. Now let's get back to when you're training athletes. When you first meet an athlete, what's your process to get to know them and to find out the best way that you can help them be the best that they can be?
Well, I think the first step is to really set the expectations and I'm really big on setting what I expect from every athlete; I never push, or I guess tell somebody what I feel they can or can't do. That's not my choice. That's their choice. So, I impress this. I set the bar high and the standard’s set, but from there, every individual has the opportunity every single day to showcase their best, whether it's my children, the athletes I train. I tell them that when they walk out, they have the school's name on the front numbers on the front and back. But ultimately they have their father's name on their shoulders, and it's up to them every single day to live up to the name that their father gave them, but also to create their own name. So every single day you have that choice.
You have a decision to make, how am I going to create my name? What am I going to leave behind? I know I have my birth date and I know there's going to be a date after that. That's the day I'm gone. And I want to decide what that hyphen looks like, and I want to live life full. So basically that's the tone that I set from there. I have a knack and I feel my strength is getting to know the athletes. They want to approach me. I always have an open door policy. I want the kids to come in. I like talking to them every day. I'm a high five guy, give him a bump. And I think a lot of coaches, especially nowadays, depending on what side you're on, they want to impress their technical skills. They want to showcase how smart they are or what they've read or what they're doing.
I know with Mark, Mark's a guy that he and I, we hit it off right away because he's such a personable guy and he's a guy that you want to be around. And basically, I didn't care what Mark knew. I knew that he had a great product and that wasn't what sold me because I knew that I could do a ton of stuff with his bars, with his straps and all that stuff. But what sold me was him and just his aura and I think that great coaches have that. They have that vibe where they're going to make, regardless of where you are, it could be the worst conditions in the entire world. They're going to make it the place to be. And I think that's what I love to do with my athletes and just hone in on that mental toughness, attitude, and just instill that in every single person that I get to work.
Yeah. You're very right about Mark. He is a fantastic at motivating people and he just genuinely cares and is an authentic person. And I'm definitely getting the same vibe from you as well.
Yeah. People will never remember what you know, or how smart you were. They'll remember how they treated you.
And how they made you feel.
Yes. And I know there's been a lot of kids that they've come to my office, and they just disclosed personal things about their family, about their lives. They feel like quitting and taking a step back and I'm able to encourage them with my life story. They don't want to know about how good I ran the ball or what my athletes were in college. I'm able to share them my hardships and tell them they can do it. And there's nothing that I could say or tell them that's going to get them out of it, but I can give them that punch in their arm. And maybe just a little boost because everything we need in life, everything that we need is within us, everything. So regardless of how tough your life is, you have the makeup, you have the energy, you have the know-how, you have the instinct to get to where you need to be. Nothing I can do can help you, but you have what you need inside of you to be able to extract that and having the courage and faith.
I do understand that ultimately, that a person has to do it themselves. It has to come from within however, it is also I'll say comforting, and I'm not sure if that's the word, to know that somebody else has kind of gone through what you have gone through in life, because it can feel awful lonely. When you feel like you're the only person that's gone through something in life.
Yeah, of course. But ultimately your darkest days are called that because they're your days, they're your days. It's how you handle them right now with the pandemic. There's a lot of folks that are inside their house, even though they feel isolated, they're not alone. We're all experiencing the same thing. So what's your mental health? Like, what's your mental self-talk, how are you promoting yourself? Are you thinking negatively? Are you positive? Are you looking forward to potentially how life's going to improve or you capitalizing on some things that maybe you wouldn't have done or maybe avoided prior to these times. And are you able to learn more about yourself and thrive during these darker days? Because eventually the light will turn on, but you'll never know that if you quit. When you're around winners, when you're around people that have overcome great odds, I think that has no other choice, but to inspire you to become your best self.
Absolutely. And you're spitting a lot of truth on this podcast, which is wonderful. Kind of going with the adage of overcoming obstacles. You've been talking about on the podcast that everyone does have obstacles. How do you help your athletes to overcome obstacles? Let's say using fitness, because that's what you're doing at the end of the day is helping to improve their fitness levels.
Well, the first thing you need to do every single day is move that's a given. And if your eyes are open, if you wake up, you need to get up. The very first thing everybody needs to do is have some type of a word, some type of focus, some type of goal for that day. Every single day when I was down at LaTech and when I was at Bama, I would wake up and I missed my family. I missed my gym, my facility, my athletes, and my role of being a leader. When I would wake up, I said to myself, let's go, let's get this party started. And people may look at that and say, yeah, well that's corny or that's not me, but that's what helped me. If I was going to be away and if I need to wake up early and if I need to live this day, why not make it my best day?
There's a point in everyone's life that we're going to be unable to do what we're doing right now. And guess what, you and I were on this call, we're on this podcast and we're able to, so we're taking advantage. So, basically this day is going to be a great day because we're going to choose to make it great. Whenever I'm working with my athletes, I tell them if you're up, make it count, make account, be where your feet are focused on what you're doing right now and punch the day right in the mouth, because you're either going to be a nail or you're going to be a hammer. And I like being around hammers and my best groups, every single workout, every single day. What time slot do you think is the best workout group? Is it the 6:00 AM or do you think the groups get better as the day goes on still? What do you think?
would say 6:00am because I think that starts the day off right. It sets the tone, and it gets you awake and working out and being able to accomplish things you want to do for the rest of the day.
I agree. And what happened was when I initially started to train the teams at my current school a lot of times coaches, they said let's get these younger guys in with the older guys. Let's intermingle these athletes, so they learn what we're about. And I stopped him. I'm like, no, we teach them. I teach that as soon as they enter the program, they know what I expect. They know it, and the expectations are high. So, basically what I did, I told the guys, I'm like, look, let's get all the elite guys there, people that never miss; the guys that love it. I want to get them in the very first group. So we have the energy, we have the top guys who want to be there and basically we'll get them in. And I know they're going to have a great group. They're going to have a great lift and that's going to kickstart their entire day. In theory, a lot of guys were like, well, the guys who missed, they probably miss because it's too early. So as the day goes on, maybe we give them the later times. And that's what we did. And the people who missed the early lifts, guess what they also did. They missed the later lists. So it's nothing that we're doing. It's not the time of day. It's something about them, the way they approach things, the way they approach challenge. They tend to be the guys that have excuses. When we encounter these groups, we try to reach out to them and see what's happening, why they're missing, how can we help them? So, I think that's something that I was able to learn from that from pinpointing what guys have it right away, looking at the guys that may struggle and find out what it is that they're lacking and how maybe we can encourage them and help them.
Was there a theme as far as for the people that didn't have the “it?” Was there a common theme as to why they didn't have the “it” and what it took to get them to have the “it?”
I think it really came down to the mental state of thinking. Things were not going to be easy. And a lot of times people know what they've done to get to where they're at and what that means is what you've done last month, last week, yesterday, that's, what's gotten you to where you're at right now. And maybe you were successful with doing that stuff. I don't know. As far as like say maybe your best might not look like my best, my best may not look like Mark's best. But ultimately all our prior experiences has gotten us to where we're at. And a lot of these guys, they get in, they have a rude awakening when they find out, guess what? What's gotten you here. Isn't going to keep you here. It may not help you thrive here and you need to reboot. So, I tell them, you need to reset, reboot and redo. Okay? So whatever you're failing at right now, you need to reset yourself. You need to reboot, get some fire and we need to find a way to win. And ultimately we try to map out a plan for them to help them. And they need to realize that life is hard. College is hard. Being a professional is hard. Guess what if you're called doctor? That means you put a lot of work in, they're not calling every one doctor. They're not calling everyone attorney, teacher, coach, because it takes work. So ultimately a lot of these guys just need to learn what it takes to take that next step.
Absolutely. And I think that's going to resonate for a lot of people listening to the podcast. But I did also want to say that sometimes you can work hard at something, but just not be right for the position or what you're doing. And you need to kind of shift and find what you're meant to do as well.
Yes. And that's a great point. A lot of times people equate working hard with automatically winning. Do you think the national championship game would, would you agree that when Alabama played Ohio state that both teams work exceptionally hard? Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, of course. You don't get to those games without working hard, but ultimately just because you work hard, doesn't mean you win. And I often hear coaches or parents describe their kids as being good kids and hard working. Ultimately, I always ask them, well, isn't it the expectation that you work hard, that you're a great guy. That's part of being a success, but just because you win or lose that day, doesn't ultimately dictate who you are individually or as a team. So, basically you made a great point Cam by stating that just because you work hard, maybe doesn't mean you're going to win, but it doesn't mean you should discontinue working hard. It should inspire you to maybe even change your course. Maybe find something else or maybe in other ways to win, because what you're doing may have some attributes or components that can help lead you to winning, but you're just falling short. So, I think it's very important to be around folks that can help you decide, like maybe what areas you're working hard at, but maybe not helping you reap the most reward. And maybe you just have to change your course up a bit.
Yeah, absolutely. Now you are the director of sports performance at Albright college. Can you let them know what you're responsible for, being the director?
Yeah, so I work with 14 varsity sports. So I really have contact with all the teams, all the athletes, both men and women's teams. I work with all the coaches directly and I build, I create, I implement, I track everything from designing the workout plans to the recovery. I assist in helping them formulate ways to improve their health as far as your diet workouts, everything. So I'm really all in, in almost every aspect of what they're doing. So I got to plan around their practices. I have an assistant, who's also an athletic trainer. She helps me, she does an awesome job and I really get to mentor her. I train our interns and I have my hands tied into almost everything there as far as athletics.
For the people that want to be able to buy your book or catch you on your podcasts, can you let the listeners know how they can do that?
Yes. So, my book is called, “Why Not Me?” and it's authored by myself, Jason Brader. You can go onto Amazon.com and purchase that book. This book isn't only for people who are suffering from addiction, people that are put themselves into maybe bad situations. It's not only for them. You could be an athlete, you could be a business person. You could be somebody who's struggling in life or at a crossroads that just needs a little punch in the arm. Maybe need some advice and wants to learn some techniques on how to dig yourself out of a pit. So don't feel that you can't purchase it because you're not suffering from maybe addiction. I think it's a great book, a great purchase for anybody who wants a punch in the arm and wants to find ways to win.
And your Why Not Me podcast? Is that available on all your favorite pod catchers?
Yes. Yep. So, you can go on Apple, you can go on to this one, what's this called? This is the podcast. So basically, every single podcast service steps, or you can go anchor all the major podcasts you can go on and that's also titled Why Not Me?, and we talk about a lot of top ranking and conditioning to my book, different things that have happened to me and some of my guests and their lives. It’s really inspiring. It's a great podcast and it's a lot like this where you get a lot of people on that are inspiring, that are hardworking and want to help you win.
Jason, I want to thank you so very much for being on the podcast today. I think people listening to this podcast are going to be able to take a lot of great information on, how to make their life better and to also start to say, why not me? This has been Jason Brader on the Lebert Fitness podcast. It has been a pleasure speaking with you and I certainly hope to have you on the podcast again.
You bet man; it’s been awesome. Thanks, Cam.
Contact Jason Brader at:
If you enjoyed this episode of the Fitness For All podcast, please head over to iTunes, leave a rating, write a review, and subscribe. If you listen on Stitcher, please click here to rate and review this show.
]]>
Welcome to another edition of Fitness for All with Cam Jenkins, sponsored by Lebert Fitness.
In this episode, Cam talks with Jason Brader. He is the Director of Sports Performance at Albright College. Brader is handling all strength and conditioning duties for the 24 varsity sports teams on campus. Brader comes to Albright following stops at Louisiana Tech and Alabama.
This article is sourced from the Fitness For All Podcast, a top health and wellness podcast. Listen or subscribe below
Where to subscribe: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Spotify | iHeartRadio | RSS
Scroll to the end of the article for links to important resources mentioned in this episode.
*The following podcast has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
Welcome to another edition of the Lebert Fitness for All podcast. Of course, it is always sponsored by Lebert Fitness. I'm your host Cam Jenkins and today on the show, we have Jason Brader, and he is currently the Director of Sports Performance at Albright College. Jason, welcome to the show.
Thanks for having me Cam.
So, Jason, just so our listeners can get to know you a little bit better. Can you tell them how your journey led you into sports performance?
Oh boy. Well, it goes all the way back to my high school days. I was a football player. I'm from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and I eventually went off; I became an All-American running back in college and I really enjoyed working out. I enjoyed the physical and mental preparation that was involved in becoming an elite athlete. I always wanted to do something as far as creating a gym or a workout environment that was conducive to creating elite athletes. I wanted something that would work on speed, agility, strength, but most importantly, the mental aspect of training. There was nothing like that around where I'm from.
So, the person, this man Ed, trained me during my college days and that stuff, and he did speed agility. He was the man. Basically, when I graduated, I partnered up with him and I traveled to Pittsburgh. I worked with Pitt's football team and did the speed agility part of the training. From there, I got hired to teach psychology. My college education was in psychology, and I coached track and field. During that time, I was basically training athletes on the side, creating state champion and national class sprinters and jumpers, and a lot of people were contacting me. They were like, hey, would you train my son? Would you train my daughter? And from there I basically created FASST Performance, which stood for Functional Athletic Speed and Strength Training. I named it that because I wanted the training to be functional. I wanted it to transfer to the field or court. I started that inside my basement, and from there, I went to a baseball academy. So, I was teaching during the day and at night I would coach track and field, do the strength training at the school I taught at. Then I would go to this small spot that I would train these kids. From there it expanded and then it eventually grew to an over 5,000 square foot training facility and I worked with athletes from youth all the way to the pros. It became the place to be. Everything that I imagined; it actually eventually became. So it was really exciting. Really great.
You mentioned that you went to school for psychology, I believe you said. I know you've trained lots of professional sports players, can you talk about the mindset and the psychology behind it and how important that is in today's world when we talk about mental health?
Yes. So, when I was a junior and a senior in high school, my mom and dad passed away from cancer and my background was really rough. I came from a tough past, a tough background, my father was an eighth grade dropout, and we were rock bottom poor. During that time I really was struggling. Athletics really kept me in check, and I had a lot of coaches and mentors and friends that really helped me when I lost my mom and my dad. The mental toughness, being able to push through adversity that tough guy mentality, was something that I fostered from a younger age because I had to, it was like a “survival of the fittest” type mindset. When I created my facility, one of the things that I really molded my training around was, “if you bet against us, you're going to lose” just that unshakable mindset. When the athletes would come to me, I would get a lot of kids that were going through hardships. A lot of parents that came and they might not have had the money to pay the full freight, but they worked hard, and it made me think about myself growing up and how bad I wanted it.
One of my top athletes, a man named Kevin White. Kevin White was a high school athlete and was pretty good, but he didn't really start to blossom until his senior year in high school. He called me and said, “hey, look, I have my brother and I, and I have a few friends that would like to train, and I know that you've worked with a lot of top athletes around where we're at and specifically wide receivers. I would want to come in and train.” Kevin comes down and his brother, actually both of them and a few friends, and right off the bat, this kid had it. He jumped out the roof, had a great physique, six foot-three, body chiseled. He looked at me and said, “look, I can't pay the full freight, but we all work at McDonald's and what we'll do every month, we'll come in here and we'll each pay you a hundred dollars.” Right off the bat, I'm like, I like this kid. Every month, like clockwork, he would come in, he would pay a hundred dollars and they would line up and they would say, thank you, shake my hand and then eventually he was my best salesman. I asked him, Kevin, where are you going to college? And he's like, well, I, I didn't have really good grades. I don't have offers, but I'm, I'm willing to work. So, I'm looking at this kid and it just baffled me how he didn't have a chance to play college sports.
I went to a junior college in Scranton, Pennsylvania called Lackawanna college and the same staff that coached me was still there, so I contacted them, and my good friend Coach Granding said, well, we looked at him and we're really unsure about this kid. He looks okay, but he's not quite there yet so we bypassed him. I told Charlie, I'm like, look, coach Granding, that's bull. You need to take a hard look at this kid. So, the coach comes down, a few of their staff comes down to my gym and we go out back and we're thrown around in a drainage ditch and the drainage ditch has rocks and all, you know, it's not flat. He’s making unbelievable catches one hander, over the shoulder, diving and after he was done there, they're like, look, we're going to sign him.
He goes up there, he gets hurt and he had to come home and they're like, look out for them. So, Kevin comes down, he's training and he's doing the whole nine and he eventually goes back, becomes an All-American there, gets offered by West Virginia, finishes up there becomes a Nicholl Finalist, and eventually the number seven pick by the Chicago Bears. Kevin White’s his name, right now, he's playing with the San Francisco 49ers. He is just an example of a guy who came into my gym with the chips stacked against him and he really bought into the whole, me against the world, back against the wall mindset; something that I really relished and something that I instilled in all my athletes, basically teaching them, being uncomfortable is what's going to help you thrive not only in sports but life as well.
That's a great story of somebody who just came into your gym and could have quite so many times and didn’t and is now living their dream of being able to play in the NFL. That’s a great story. Let's move on to your business because you did talk a little bit about your FASST Performance business. Can you talk a little bit about that company? I know that you invented a couple of things as well. Maybe talk about that and your overall experience of your business that you did have up until 2019.
Yes, I started fast performance back in 2001 and I started from the ground up. A lot of times, people who start a business think that they need to have a business background. They think that they need to go to college for that. I never did. I've always been entrepreneurial. I enjoyed making my own money thinking of ways to earn. When I started it, I started out from my basement, and I would purchase a few items at a time, and I would gradually purchase more. I would take 0% cards and I would have a year to pay off big ticket items. I would buy squat racks. I would buy barbells. I would purchase weights and I would slowly chip away and when the (credit) card would come due at the end of the year, I would have everything paid off. So, I gradually just purchase things. As I brought in more clients, I would expand what I was doing. When I taught, my teachings salary, I live with. My training. I would purchase more and more equipment and I never use that as like really extra income to build my lifestyle. I wanted that to be the expander for what I love to do, and that was coach and train. So, eventually I owned everything inside my gym and I was able to really just be concerned about the rent and insurance and all that. It really was a great model. I did very well, and I was really able to market to the elite athletes or younger athletes that wanted to be in a tough environment and I kind of molded my business around that. I didn't need to have a pretty place. I didn't need to have mirrors. I didn't need any of the glitz and glamor because I didn't market that. It really helped me cut down on costs. I think it's very important to be very lean not to have a lot of expenses and basically never bite off more than you can chew. I learned that when I was a young kid being poor, I had to be very smart, I had to be creative and that carried on to creating my gym.
I have some of the same values instilled in me by my parents where they're saying things like you can't pay off the credit card then do you really need to purchase whatever that is? You need to be able to pay off your credit card every month to try to manage my money as well. So, I understand where you're coming in from the lean perspective. Now you are also a podcaster and you've also written a book called “Why Not Me?” Can you tell the listeners a little bit about the book as well as how you came to choose the title of “Why Not Me?”
All right. So Why Not Me? is based off of my life story. As I mentioned earlier, I lost my mother and my father to cancer when I was in high school and basically I endured taking care of them and seeing them suffer from my freshman year all the way until the day they passed away. I really never was able to express all the deep down emotions and feelings that I had, that I was never able to overcome after they had passed away. I had a very self-destructive lifestyle. I wasn't a drinker in the sense that I would drink every single day, but when I would drink, I would drink on the weekends. I would binge drink and I loved playing blackjack. I loved going to the casino. Back in 2009, I had gotten laid off from my teaching job. At that point, I expanded my gym, and I had a lot more time on my hands and what happened was the casino moved into my town.
At first, I went in there and I could play casually and kind of have a good time and not overextend myself. But soon I would leave my gym, I would have a few drinks and I would always make my way to the casino to gamble. I would rifle through thousands of dollars and being such a conservative guy, being a frugal person, I didn't understand how I was able to have a limit of $2,000 a night that I would basically say I was all right with losing that. And that sounds completely absurd to a casual person, a regular Joe on the street hearing somebody would be willing to lose $2,000. When I was drinking, it didn't bother me, but the next day when I would wake up, I'd be hung over, I’d feel that I neglected my family and just the remorse and the sadness. Just that, that feeling of being an inept father and husband just was killing me, and I lived this way for years, I would go to my gym, and I would train these athletes. I could inspire them and I could give them pep talks. I would go around and speak about my hardships that I encountered as a kid. I did all these things, but I was living a lie.
So, back in 2017, my daughter was about to turn 12 and the night before I went out, I drank, I went to the casino, I gambled, and I lost. I came home and I know that I told my wife numerous times, and I was going to stop drinking, I wasn't going to gamble, and I came home, and I woke up and I said to my wife, I'm done, I'm finished. I'm tired. I'm sick of feeling like crap every single day, waking up feeling like I've let everyone down, but more importantly, I was letting myself down because I knew that I had so much potential. I did so much good up to that point, but there was just this empty feeling so, that day I said to myself, I'm done. I went to AA and I went for 30 straight days and I didn't have one drink and I was starting to feel good. As I sat there, I saw a lot of men, a lot of people that struggled for years, 20, 30, 40 years, and they were attending AA every day, every single day for 10 15, 20 years. I said to myself, there's no way with all the goals I have and all the things that I need to get done, that I can sit here and go to AA for all these years, so at that point I stopped going and I haven't had one drink, not a sip since that day.
After about a year sober well, it was actually about eight months. My wife and I would talk, and I was just unhappy with my training, my gym and I needed change, and I wanted to become a college coach, that's one thing that I always wanted to do. The way you needed to approach that was by really taking a step backwards, going backwards and I needed to get to a college and become an intern. I contacted about a hundred schools and from a hundred schools, I had gotten contacted by, I think my age, I was 41 or 42 at the time, and nobody wanted a 42 year old intern. That's the same thing as being the 40 year old, if you've ever watched it, the forty year old virgin.
I was the most experienced first real guy in the entire world, and it just bothered me. I'm like, I reached out to these guys and why am I not getting a hit still? Eventually at that time, I'm substitute teaching, I have my gym, I'm doing that, and I received an email from FAU. Florida Atlantic contacts me, Lane Kiffin who's an outstanding coach, was the head coach at the time had just gotten there, and I thought to myself, wow, this is a younger coach, this guy’s got a lot of passion, this may be a great fit. So, I tell them that I'm going to go there and coach, and just before I was about to leave the University of Alabama contacts me and they asked me, they're like, hey, would you like to come here and help us out? And if you know about American football, Alabama is the place to be they just won the national championship this past month. A lot of those guys, I helped train.
So, I decided to go there. I told Florida Atlantic that I wasn't going, and I found a place and I went there. I originally thought that I would go there for the summertime. But instead, they asked me to stick around, and I was away from family, I ran my gym back home. During that time, I kept a journal and I wanted to chronicle my journey where I was, where I had come from and where I was trying to go. And every day I would just take notes about the people, the feelings I had, how I felt about not being around my family, how I was fighting addiction. Everyday I'd write. So, the fall comes around, the football season comes and goes, we get to the national championship game and lose to Clemson at the time. And they asked me, they're like, hey, would you like to stay for the spring? Now a four month journey became eight months. And my wife and I talked and she's like, Jay, you're doing so well, you have to do it, and without sacrifice, you can never experience success. During that time, I'm just struggling and thinking about my past and how I was able to overcome so much, and I just really got locked in on the day. So, I'm writing, I'm planning, and I’m moving closer to becoming a college coach and all the while there I'm not being paid. Most people, my age with the family with a gym up north would need to have something coming in, if you're going to take that risk. But I was paying for two places to live and I just found a way to win. So, eventually I got hired by Louisiana tech, and they have one of the top strength coaches in the entire world, a man named Kurt Hester and Kurt Hester is your atypical person.
He's a guy who’s a lot like me, he's a grinder. He's a tough guy. He's someone that goes against the grain, and he gave me my first chance to become a hired coach. What was a four month experience was now leading into over a year. So, I go to LaTech in Ruston, Louisiana which is this tiny town. During that time, I'm writing this book and I would run the stadiums and I would do all this stuff and what people don't know, too, I was 251 pounds in January of 2019. I was always in very good shape, but then I got a little bit heavier every year and I got to a point where I was just too big so, I decided to lose weight. When I went down to Tech, I was really losing all this weight. I was running. I was training and feeling really good.
Every morning I'd wake up at four, I'd run the stadiums and I'd run a few miles and eventually I got down to 203 pounds. So, I'm writing about this journey, this great journey, and it always came down to one thing. Why not me? I saw all these great coaches, legendary coaches, like Nick Saban, Scott Cochran, who was a legendary strength coach at Bama, who's now the special team’s coordinator at Georgia. These are men that I wanted to follow, men that I wanted to emulate, men that I wanted to really become, and I knew that I could, and I was finally living that dream. Even though I wasn't getting paid the same as those guys, in my mind, I would ask myself why not me? So, that's why I titled the book that, and I explained my journey of overcoming alcohol addiction, gambling, and taking risk and giving the strategies that have helped me get to this point. Now I'm back home, I was able to get a job, now I drive an hour, but I'm with my family and I'm always moving forward, and it feels good being alcohol free, having a clear mind, having great health and all the things that I wanted to be. The way I picture myself for all these years, who I wasn't and the facade that I had, the masquerade that I was playing, all that's behind me and now I'm really fulfilling my life goals, so why not me?
That's an amazing story. And you're such a great storyteller and you mentioned about how there was a hole, or a void and it sounds like that hole or that void is now complete and it's not there. Is that fair to say?
Well, I think there's always a hole. I think everybody has a hole that they're trying to fill up, whether it's financially, emotionally, spiritually there's something that we're trying to overcome. There's always something that we're trying to fill in the gaps and I'm never a content person. Once I reach one goal, I always ask myself the same question. Why not me? Why can't I do that? I see something and I'm like, wow, that's a challenge. Let's try to get there. So basically, I'm never really settled, but the difference is, I don't try to fill that void with emptiness. So, you can't fill a void with empty space. If that makes sense. A lot of times people who will reach out, want to kind of say, well, if I can do this, I'll feel this way, and maybe if I don't feel this way, I could do something else that's going to help me feel better, but I can do it without putting in the work. I think now I realize that life isn't easy and once you figure out that life isn't easy, it becomes easier. So, I don't need to reach for a bottle. I don't need to try to avoid tough conversations or tough experiences. I can just go and attack it. Basically, I think there's always a void, but I think that's a good thing because if you don't have any holes, any voids within your life, you're not being challenged, and you can never grow.
Part 2 of this podcast coming soon.
Contact Jason Brader at:
If you enjoyed this episode of the Fitness For All podcast, please head over to iTunes, leave a rating, write a review, and subscribe. If you listen on Stitcher, please click here to rate and review this show.
]]>
Welcome to another edition of Fitness for All with Cam Jenkins, sponsored by Lebert Fitness.
In this episode, Cam talks with James Norris, founder of Handi Capable Fitness. Handi Capable Fitness (HCF), was born from the inspiration of James Norris and his trainer, Joe. Joe realized that the journey James was on—from enthusiastic, but not-so physically fit to hosting the annual HCF Walk—had the potential to encourage others to take on the same challenge. James created an Instagram account to share both his successes and failures with other Handi Capable athletes. After just the first few video posts of James working out, the positive feedback was overwhelming. There was clearly a need for an or organization like HCF.
This article is sourced from the Fitness For All Podcast, a top health and wellness podcast. Listen or subscribe below
Where to subscribe: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Spotify | iHeartRadio | RSS
Scroll to the end of the article for links to important resources mentioned in this episode.
*The following podcast has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
Welcome to another edition of the Fitness for All podcast and it is sponsored by Lebert Fitness. I'm your host Cam Jenkins. On today's show, we have James Norris, who is the founder of Handi Capable Fitness. James, welcome to the show.
Cam, thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.
Now James, first and foremost, I noticed on your website, you talk about your journey to a healthier lifestyle and part of that was walking a 5k. Can you tell me a little bit about that experience?
Sure. To dial it back just a little bit how my fitness journey began, and then I'll get into that because it'll feed right into it.
I worked in radio for six years, took a job out in California and shortly after getting out to California I was laid off, fell into a depression, gained a bunch of weight, started to eat unhealthy; the whole nine yards. Moved back to Boston after the year lease was up and I realized I needed to do something. So I just joined a local gym and fell in love with fitness and I've lost 65 pounds since then. But, I then started to go to another gym, Mike Boyles Strength and Conditioning, and there, we worked more on my walking. I woke up one day and I said, you know what, it would be cool to do a 5k. So, I went into the gym, told my trainer, and that's what we started to train for. Unfortunately, I fell a little short of the 5k, but in spirit of Handi Capable Fitness, I still wanted to do the walk and show people what's possible when you push yourself a little bit.
I know that you have Cerebral Palsy. Do you want to let the listeners know a little bit about Cerebral Palsy and how it affects you?
Cerebral palsy is traditionally caused at birth. For me it was about the age of about two and a half that I was diagnosed, there abouts. How it all started was I went in for a hernia operation and it was during that operation that the mass came off my face and my brain was without air for five and a half minutes. So, for me it affects my leg strength and predominantly my left side.
I know that you now host a HCF walk. Can you explain to the listeners why you chose this fundraiser?
For me, as, as I alluded to before, the whole purpose of me exercising or taking on this role was to start walking so I could walk better with a walker, and I said, you know what, if I'm doing this, we might as well bring some other people into it as well. Other handi-capable athletes, able-bodied individuals, whoever really wanted to take part. We gave the proceeds to Boston children's hospital because growing up that's where I had my surgeries, and they really played a huge role in getting me to where I am today.
Can you talk a little bit about Handi Capable Fitness and how this came to be and where you have it moving forward?
Sure. So, alluding back to how I said that I joined a gym and just kind of fell in love with fitness, originally, everything I was doing in the gym was new and growing up in Boston, sports is kind of ingrained in our blood. I played challenger T-ball and challenger basketball, but it never really scratched that competitive itch for me. So, when I got into fitness, I knew I was never going to be the biggest or the fastest guy, but like I said, everything I was doing was new and I was finally able to get those competitive juices out. So, my trainer and I started to just document my own journey through Instagram, to show my friends and family across the U.S all the different things I was doing. And he said, you know what, James? He says if you're doing this, there has to be other people that you may inspire. So, that's how Handi Capable Fitness was started. I just began to document my own journey, but then I also started to see other handi-capable athletes that were doing amazing things and I wanted to give them a little bit of the spotlight and to show other people that, hey, just because you have a challenge, that doesn't mean that you are defined by said challenge. I took it a step further and in July started the Handi Capable Fitness, nonprofit, and the goal of that is to connect individuals with challenges to services and equipment so that they can live a fit and healthy lifestyle.
Can you talk about that and how you get that out to the masses or to people that follow you?
Basically, our goal, like I said, is to raise funds and, you know hopefully get grants here in the future so that we can help provide equipment, so people with challenges can live a fit and healthy lifestyle, whether that be a special wheelchair that they need, workout equipment, entry fees into a race, like a Spartan race, or anything like that that’s going to get them up, get them active and get them moving,
Get them moving, which is very important to do especially for handi-capable athletes and people, because from what I've seen and from my experiences some of them don't get out quite as much as they should, including myself, and leading an active lifestyle.
A hundred percent agree with that, and I don't know about you, but I know for me personally, and other people that I've spoken with within the community, it almost becomes more of a mental strengthening as well, because, it just provides another outlet for us to feel better about ourselves, build confidence, that sort of thing.
For the handi-capable athletes, do you train them yourself or do they watch your videos, and you get them to do some exercises that way? Or, do you set them up with trainers?
No, I don't train them myself. Eventually, I do want to get certified so that I’m able to do that. The goal of Handi-Capable Fitness is to just kind of give people ideas; we tell them, hey, you want to make sure that you check with your doctor first, then it's more of an inspiration. Then as the funding comes in through the nonprofit, one of our goals is to connect them with trainers, physical therapists, nutritionists, whatever's going to help them lead that healthy lifestyle.
That's great. A little bit earlier in the podcast you had mentioned Spartan racing. You did a bit of that as I understand, as well as rock wall climbing. Do you want to talk about those experiences and how it may be different for a CP athlete compared to an able-bodied athlete?
Oh, 110%. It was an amazing, amazing experience, and it was kind of something that was almost like my awakening into the handi-capable realm of all these different athletes and that sort of thing.
How the Spartan race came to be, I think it was two years ago now they did their first ever pair of Spartan race in Laughlin, Nevada and it was a team of, I believe it was five and they had athletes of all different abilities. You could have somebody with CP, you could have somebody that was an amputee, spina bifida, whatever the case may be. And they formed a team, did the obstacles, and it was you did all the obstacles with the help of your teammates and that's it. So it was a three-and-a-half mile course. I want to say it was 21 different obstacles and it was absolutely amazing!
Do you know whether or not the Para Spartan racing is becoming a big thing or is that just something in its infinite stages of coming out?
I believe that they intended it to be a big thing because they've now done two. Then with COVID they had to push it off obviously this year, but I do believe it's something that they want to continue to pursue and continue to do, because they've had a huge turnout for each of the two that they've done. Each of them have been on ESPN and have really drummed up some big noise in this community. So, I definitely see them going forward with it in the future. I would have to say. But I don't know that a hundred percent certain.
What about the rock climbing for you?
I just saw rock climbing through the adaptive climbing group, and I was like, you know what you know, mean I'm into fitness, but I'm always into challenging myself and pushing myself and doing things that I never thought was possible before I adopted this lifestyle. I said, you know what, let me just give it a shot and let me tell you it was awesome, but it was definitely, definitely challenging, but I would highly recommend it.
What part was challenging for you for the rock climbing wall? I know you said on your left side, and I have numerous friends with CP and their left side is the harder side for them. I'm just really interested on how you were able to do it in the challenges.
I had the help of my trainer actually, we went together, and we were tethered together, and I would use his leg to step up on or he would get on my left side to give me a little bit more support, you know, and we just kind of talked through, okay, well we want to go over here. Oh no, we can't go over here. Try this. It was very much a team building activity and it was challenging in the sense that, I go to the gym every day and I consider myself to be in pretty decent shape, but rock climbing, it's a totally different animal and it's a totally different kind of in shape, but I absolutely loved it.
That's amazing. I also wanted to touch on that you’re motivational speaker and you've traveled around the U.S as I understand as well. What's the main message that you speak about during your motivational speeches?
You know, I mostly speak to kids in the handi-capable community, and I want people to realize, you know, that, hey, we all come up against adversity, you know, but it's that adversity that really propelled us forward. For me growing up, all I wanted to do was work in sports radio. That was it. I never saw this nonprofit world or motivational speaking in my future, but I firmly believe it was those obstacles that got me to where I am today, and it's given my life a purpose. I want people to realize that, hey, you know what, adversity can really be a good thing because it can open our eyes to something else that we never saw coming. I want people to know that just because they have a challenge that doesn't define who they are and that they can go out and they can live their dreams and just inspire other people along the way.
Just that word inspire, I know within the disability community it can either be a good thing or some people take it as a bad thing for lack of a better way to say it. What are your thoughts on the word inspiring as it pertains to people with disabilities?
You know what? I can definitely see how people can take it either one way or the other. And I can only speak for me personally. For me, I don’t mind it when people say that I'm inspiring because you know what, whether you have a challenge or you're an able-bodied person, we all struggle with things. So, if somebody sees me working out or somebody sees me rock climbing or playing sled hockey, and they get motivated to go after their dreams, that to me is what it's all about. I want you to take the motivation and the inspiration that you see from me and turn it into something that helps you chase your dreams.
That’s a great way to look at it. You know, for me personally I'm trying to look at it that way as well. The word inspiring as it comes to people with disabilities my thoughts are that if it's something that a person with a disability is really trying hard to do, and you find that inspirational, great. But if it's just something that everyone does, and I think the example that most times is used is putting on your pants. Well, you know, to me that isn’t inspirational, or just getting out to do something isn’t inspirational, but I can certainly say without a shadow of a doubt what you're doing is certainly inspirational. That’s fantastic.
Thank you very much and likewise to you, I see your videos there and you are absolutely crushing it. So keep it up.
Thanks. I wanted to also talk about Handi Capable Fitness, and it's designed to help achieve their goals, meaning your client's goals. Can you tell the listeners what some of those goals were and how the folks achieved them?
You know what, basically our mission, like I said, is to just empower other people and let them know that, hey, no matter, no matter what, you can live a fit and active lifestyle. Again, how we want to do that is by helping people get the equipment that they need to do so, get the services that they need to do so, and also, just really help them build their confidence and help them see that they are able to do whatever it is that they set out to do. We do that through a little bit of mentoring. I do that personally, I mentor a couple youth that are absolutely awesome that have challenges, and I've seen them come a long way. But really Handi Capable Fitness, being a nonprofit, it really relies upon donations and support from the community. So, once we get the funding in, then we can go out and really impact the world by helping those people get access to those services and the equipment needed to live the life of their dreams.
With Handi Capable Fitness have you had to make any changes to your business model during COVID times?
Of course, I think you do to a certain extent because there was a little bit of plans to travel the country and do those things and actually meet up with some of these handi-capable athletes, but with COVID, we've had to pivot a little bit and do things through Zoom and that sort of thing, just like everybody else. In other ways it's been a huge blessing as well, too because now we can Zoom with people around the world and that's been a tremendous experience as well. So, we've definitely had to pivot just a little bit.
What is kind of one thing that you've learned through your experience of Handi Capable Fitness from when it started to now?
Oh man. There’s so many that could be drawn from, but it's the simple fact that I'm very fortunate in being the founder, that people have believed in me and my mission. It’s been able to make such a big impact in this community. I mean, never in a million years when I started Handi Capable Fitness, literally it was just kind of a hobby, and I didn't see it going the nonprofit route or the motivational speaking route. It’s just kind of taken on that life of its own but make no mistake, Handi Capable Fitness, hasn't gotten to where it's gotten to by itself. It's been the help of so many other people, supporters like you, supporters like Lebert Fitness. I mean everybody's been great and because of that, Handi Capable Fitness has grown and we're able to make an impact so, that I'm truly appreciative of.
That's amazing. If someone wants to start the process of achieving their goals or would like to donate to your organization or nonprofit organization, how can they do that?
They can visit www.handicapablefitness.com and there's a donate tab right there.
Perfect. That's pretty precise and concise. That's great. Is there anything else that you want to say about Handi Capable Fitness that maybe you haven't covered so far?
You know what, I don't think so, but I do want to just let the people know again, that just because whatever challenges you may have, that doesn't define you and you can go out there and you can live a great life. The thing is, and this goes for any anybody, handi-capable athlete, or able-bodied person, whoever, everybody was once a beginner, you know, The Rock didn't get to where he was just by waking up one morning and boom, next thing you know, he's a mega movie star and a WWE wrestler. No, it all started with him taking that first step and that's what we need to do as we head into 2021 here, 2020 taught us a lot of, I believe, great lessons and let's take those and don't wait for the new year to go after your goals, whatever it is, whether it's fitness related or something else, start today and start building those bricks, brick by brick and eventually you'll get to where you want to go.
I could not have said that better myself, James, because yeah, you just got to take that first step and you kind of got to go from there and the building blocks to success can be long and hard and it's certainly not linear.
A hundred percent. I mean, it’s a zig-zaggy road. If you keep staying the course and keep pushing on, then, then you can achieve those goals. And you know what, at the end of the day, take the video, you know, put it out there. Even if you don't think it looks good or whatever the case may be, you never know who you could inspire. And next thing you know that person has found the courage to go after their dream because they saw you doing something. Never be, self-conscious put it out there and look to help as many people as you can in the process.
Well, James, I just want to thank you for being on the podcast. Once again, this was James Norris, who is the founder of Handi Capable Fitness. You’ve been listening to the Fitness for All podcast here on the Lebert Fitness, sponsored by and hosted by myself, Cam Jenkins. James, thanks very much for being on show.
Cam, thank you so much. I really look forward to touching base with you soon.
Contact James Norris at:
Welcome to another edition of Fitness for All with Cam Jenkins, sponsored by Lebert Fitness.
In this episode, Cam talks with Donovan Green, celebrity Fitness Trainer and founder of Chair Workouts Donovan Green. Chair Workouts has been operating since 2008 and went virtual in 2012. It was created by one of the world’s #1 fitness experts who happen to be the trainer to Dr.Oz and many other top experts in the world. Donovan Green has also authored a book called No Excuses Fitness and has traveled all over the country to speak to thousands of people about fitness, lifestyle, and business. He is also a graduate of Integrative Nutrition and holds a black belt in the art of Jujitsu.
This article is sourced from the Fitness For All Podcast, a top health and wellness podcast. Listen or subscribe below
Where to subscribe: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Spotify | iHeartRadio | RSS
Scroll to the end of the article for links to important resources mentioned in this episode.
*The following podcast has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
Welcome to another edition of the Lebert Fitness for All podcast. I'm your host Cam Jenkins. On the line today, we have Donovan.
Do you want to introduce yourself Donovan?
Yes, I'm from Covington, Georgia.
Perfect. You have a very unique business, and it all has to do with chair workouts. Do you want to tell the listeners how that concept started off?
Yeah, absolutely. Well, first you know, I've authored a book called No Excuses Fitness, where it's teaching people basically how to exercise, even if you don't have the ability like most athletes. Then I had a trip in the Bronx called Six Elements of Fitness, where I taught people in the community in lower income communities, how to get healthy without having to spend an arm and a leg. So, from that point, I was training people like Dr. Oz doing a lot of online programs, lots of TV shows, lots of public speaking engagements. And the more I started talking about fitness and analyzing the journey of health, I realized that fitness began to focus too much on just the physical stature more as to how I look in the mirror and what does my butt look like? What does my chest look like? And that's where a lot of people started using more on healthier products to get to where their bodies needed to get to.
So, then I started looking at the older audience and of course the younger audience, who suffered with maybe an injury or maybe military who have, you know, had severe things happen during certain times of their life. And you had moms and cops and teachers and all these different things. Well, lo and behold, I had a good friend of mine, Richard at the time who was about 500 pounds and Richard was able to do 20 pushups straight at 500 pounds. He was still pretty fit, but he was struggling with many other ailments. I said to him, you know what, bro, we got you to take off 80 pounds at one point, now you're going backwards, let's try something different. I had him sit down on a couch and I said, I'm going to show you some stuff you can do sitting down, and you are going to feel the burn, my man. We started training. I recorded the whole thing. I wish I could find that video. This was years ago, like 2008 and at that point on, he had a fantastic workout. He sweated a lot and I loved it. So, what I did was I brought that video and showed it to Dr. Oz, and we did a segment called No Excuses Workouts on DrOz.com, which is still up there, this was years back, and that's what really catapulted me to start really becoming the chair workouts king, the guy known as the chair workouts, who teaches people how to use a chair to get healthy.
Myself being a former para athlete, this is the first time I've ever seen this, and I just think it's so unique and it's so great especially for someone like a para-athlete who would get a great use out of this.
Absolutely. And that's the key, right? The word athlete, I use the term chair athlete. If somebody was to type chairathlete.com online, it would take them to chairworkouts.com because athleticism does not come from oh, I used to do this when I was in college or I was doing this when I was in high school and I can't do it anymore, that's when I used to be an athlete. No, if you could move your body, you're still an athlete, you just have to move your body differently. So, for people that did what you did, and you have para athletes, you have all these other people that did so many things before but can no longer do specific movements, well, there are thousands of other movements that I teach you that you can do.
Now, here's the thing Cam, when I'm coaching people, I'm not coaching you nicely. I'm not saying, oh, you don't have any legs right now, so I'm going to be nice to you. No, I'm training you like an athlete. The only difference is that you're sitting down, but I did not say that the workout was going to be easy. The workout has to challenge your mind. It has to challenge your brain. You feel like you did it. And here's the thing, the wow factor when anybody tries the chair workout that I teach is they get a huge wow factor because they come in with the ideology that it's going to be simple. It's going to be easy. No, it's not, you're going to work and you're going to work hard and you're going to feel fantastic and not only is it going to feel good physically, but it's going to feel good mentally as well.
Let's maybe focus on the mental parts and how fitness really does help mentally, because we are in the times of COVID, and I know here where I am, we're kind of in a lockdown and myself in my apartment. So, can you maybe talk about the mental side of the fitness?
Absolutely. Fitness to me, it starts with the mental, right? When you focus on the mindset, mindset can do two things. It can encourage you, or it can discourage you. The mind really is where the media tends to attack, because we understand that the mind is a powerful weapon. And during these times of COVID-19 or quarantine and all of these issues, before COVID-19 here in America, we're losing 300,000 people dying every year. They're dying because of, you know, sedentary living; they're not doing anything active. When you're not moving your whole entire system, your circulatory system, cardiovascular, cardiopulmonary, musculoskeletal, lymphatic system, reproductive system, digestive system, all of these systems begin to shut down because you're not giving it enough movement to encourage blood circulation. Blood circulation has to happen in order for your health to increase. If you have no blood flow, that means that your brain is dying, your heart is dying, your kidneys are dying.
So, when we go to the mental aspect, the least times that you exercise, you are reducing the cells in your brain. As your brain cells begin to reduce, then your whole entire focus begins to reduce. Everything looks obscure. Once you begin to implement movement, then you automatically will start to feel better. When you're stuck at home, guess what? You're sitting down, you watch the TV. I'm not saying don't watch TV. What I'm telling you is to lift your arms above your head 20 times, lift your legs above your hips 20 times, you know take your arm to the front, move your neck, do something to keep yourself going. We're trained to believe that you need a gym to work out, when in fact you wake up in your gym all the time, that's your body. And that's where the mind takes over. The mind has to be powerful enough. You have to develop the catalyst so you can go beyond the world's issues because we will get destroyed, with this media, and the information being shared in the media if we don't stop to think for ourselves.
You mentioned before, I just wanted to go over this as well, that you were helping people out who were in low income housing or areas. Can you talk about that and why you're so passionate to help that part of the population?
Absolutely. We live in an age where water, we have to water, I mean, think about it. We have to buy water? A natural resource, that's given to us by the creator? That's given to us by nature. So, same thing applies to fitness. We live in a day and age that in order for you to have access to a gym, you have to spend how much money now per month, when you have four kids at home, and you have a low paying job in order for you to get a personal trainer. I'm not a cheap personal trainer, I'm a very expensive coach. I'm not even a personal trainer anymore. My fees that I charge, I work with millionaires and billionaires all across the country, so this allows me the ability to be able to focus on people that are low income, because the lower income class, which is where I'm from, are the ones who are keeping the country moving.
We're the ones working in the factories and the warehouses. We're the one doing this and doing that and deliveries and all these different things and we have no outlet. When I started my gym, I said, you know what? I need to create an outlet for my people in my community. When I say my people, I'm not talking about blacks or whites, we had a mixture of everybody. I went up and said, you know what? I'm going to open up my gym.
A good friend of mine. God rest his soul. His name is Joseph Agresta. He's the owner of Benzel-Busch, one of the biggest Benz companies in New Jersey. He donated $10,000 to me. I was able to get that money, put my money together. No banks, no loans. And I took my own money and opened up a gym in the area. It was such a blessing to see people having a place, not only where they can work out but where they can come and remove stress. We had different gang members come into gym. We had cops coming to the gym, politicians coming to the gym. Everybody who would have been enemies on the streets, the gym brought everyone together and they became the security for the gym because that became a hub where you could go and just be you and just have a good time. So that's the reason what started me to focus on the lower income people who couldn't afford me as a one-on-one.
You are a person of colour. How was it different for you being a person of colour and starting a gym and being an entrepreneur?
It wasn't different for me at all. I look at all of us as people of colour. If you're white, you have a colour. If you're black, you have a colour. If you're Spanish, you have a colour. We're all people of colour. So, when I say, you know, a person of colour, it's all of us. There was no difference for me because here in America, at least, I'm from Jamaica, right? But here in America, you have a lot of freedom that you can literally go out there and make movements. You can make money. You can create things. You can worship what you want to worship. You can go to school and learn the same way a white person can go and do it, a black man can do the same thing. See, I'm not a person to look at my life and say, oh, I grew in the Bronx and I'm poor and woe is me. No, I'm a hard worker.
So, what I did, I put my mind to it and started making amazing connections to people. I started connecting with people by traveling and going to different areas. I would leave the Bronx and visit wealthy neighborhoods and I would stay there and look at houses and I would see white people coming out of these rich houses and I would see black people coming out of these rich houses. I'm like, listen, anybody can do this. We need to remove the stigma of black and white and I'm black and I'm oppressed. The oppression word is a word that's put out there to keep black people down. I don't believe in black people being oppressed. Yes, there are certain things that is harder. Yes, you're going to find more negative feedback based on the stereotype that, Hey, he's black, he's probably a gangster or he's probably a drug dealer. But when I look at the reality behind that, I have a lot of black people who are in the hip hop industry that's portrayed that same thing. So, we, as a people, have to be able to reframe our stereotypes and really show people from the world that not all black people are gangsters. You know, not all black people are ignorant, not all black people are this. Just like how not all white people are racist and not all white people are smart and not all white people are rich. Not all Chinese people know Kung Fu. So, it’s about taking away these stereotypes and really start to live a more collective life and stop giving life to just the negative things.
Absolutely. One of my mottos is that, you know, I'm no better than you and you're no better than me. Also, something else that I live by is that everyone has challenges it’s just that some are more noticeable than others. You had some great insight into that and thank you very much for being so authentic in speaking about that. Now, for the chair workouts. Do you want to talk about what type of chair workouts that you do? Like as far as for strength and cardio and core, all of those types of exercises.
You know, chair workouts, there are plenty of movements that are much more challenging to do while you're sitting down rather than standing. I give people an overall perspective, a visual component of how you can train your body while you're sitting down. You could be in the office, because listen, you can go to the gym for an hour, and it does not take away your ability to get what's called the sitting disease. The sitting disease is where you literally shut down your cortisol, all your hormones get shut down, your muscles begin to lose itself, go through atrophy. Your heart begins to not work properly. The idea is to show you, hey, you can do a beginner's workout, an intermediate workout. You can do an advanced workout and I even have a section called Fit Camp, which is not chair workouts. We’re hitting cardio, we’re hitting strength, we’re hitting flexibility, we’re hitting mobility.
I work with the aphasia community which is people who have strokes, and they have a lack of limitations or movements on one side of the body versus the next. They speak a little slower; I would have to speak much slower, just like this for them to capture what I'm saying. So, chair workouts do not have limitations. We're doing weight training; we’re using resistance bands. We're using dumbbells, but doing all these different things, a plethora of exercises. It’s an all-around program that teaches you that you can do it and the slogan is “If you can fit, you can get fit.” That's the slogan.
That's a damn good slogan to have as well!
Thank you, man. It's a powerful slogan. What it does is it makes somebody think, it makes a person think; it takes away the excuses. Now in Canada, there's a show called The Marilyn Denis show, have you ever heard of that show?
Oh yeah. I've watched it once or twice before for sure.
I used to travel out there, and I used to do work with them. I did about four different interviews for live shows with them. It got a lot of people in Canada man, to really say, wow, we need to do this. We had the whole audience doing the workouts and it was fascinating! I'm always fascinated to see people working out and smiling. They work out and they're smiling while they're doing it. They're not grunting. They're smiling because they're saying to themselves like, whoa, I’m in a dress or have shoes on, and I'm able to do this. This is awesome. This is fantastic.
Well, I’ve only known you now for the last 15, 20 minutes, and I can just tell how passionate you are and the aura around you that you give off, it is motivating and makes people smile. Do you ever have challenges motivating people?
No, I don't. You know why? Because here it is right, I don't like to use the term, that I’m a motivational speaker, because I'm not, I I'm just Donovan, I'm like this 24/7. There are motivational speakers who have to put on an act to motivate people, me, I don't go outside saying, hey, I'm going to motivate someone. This is just my nature. I believe that human beings, we're all here collectively together. And I feel like, you know, the loneliest people are people who motivate. People think that you're so strong and you're this. No, we all go through struggles. But as far as motivating people, I choose to be me 100% of the time, like Mark Lebert. I met Mark maybe it was around 2012 or one of those things at a convention in Las Vegas and Mark and I immediately clicked because the energy we have is just quirky, we’re crazy, we’re not afraid to laugh and not afraid to have fun. And that's me, it's just having fun, right? It’s just making life worth living. Even if you have lost somebody you love, like I've experienced that recently, you have to make life worth living because you're going to wake up one day dead. Why not live your life to the fullest? You know, do your workouts, eat your food naturally, tell people you love them. The ones who really care, you know stop treating people bad, be comfortable in your skin and love life. You know? So that’s how I live my life, Cam, it’s just enjoyment.
That's a great way to do it man. What’s next for chair workouts or, you know, what's the five-year plan? What is next for Donovan for chair workouts moving on?
Beautiful question. That's an excellent question as well. Well, I'm an author. I have a book called No Excuses Fitness; it is my first book. I'm working on my second book and that book is almost done. But as far as with chair workouts, the plan, is we have the clothing line in place. We're going to start to create the chair athlete, clothing line, that people who were involved in this community, they can wear the brand and they can be a part of that brand. We're also going to be putting a resistance band system together for people who travel or are at home and they don't have the money to afford expensive equipment. I'm going to create things like that. Then, the initial goal is to get a certification program in place so that I can start to get other coaches learning my concept of chair workouts and showing them how we do it and expand it that way. So, that's the plan.
Right now, the website, it's all membership based. When people go on a website, they can access a library of all these different workouts for every single level. So, we want the website to grow; for this year, my vision, my goal, is to get 4,000 subscribers involved for 2021, and then after that, sky's the limit!
And it always will be, you can always move forward and keep doing better and that's what you're all about which is fantastic to see. Now, you have different kinds of workouts as far as from beginner up to advanced. Do you maybe want to talk about if you're able to articulate it, what can people expect from a beginner workout and what can they expect from the advanced workout?
Absolutely. A beginner is all seated. All of the exercises are all seated. You're sitting down the whole time. It's mostly you learning how to move your body and every now and then I'll implement some lighter dumbbells. Intermediate workouts, you're using mostly strength, things like your weights and your bands. You're still seated, but there are certain things where we're doing more elongated movements. Advanced workouts, this is where you go into the really hardcore chair athlete. Now you're able to jump out of the chair and use the chair as that prop. You’re going to heavier dumbbells. Now we're doing squats and we're doing lunges and we're doing leg lifts and all these different things. The Fit Camp section is for people who love to use barbells, doing pull-ups and dips and squats and jumping jacks and burpees. So, it goes through these different tiers and once you go through these tiers, the hope is a beginner will eventually start to fall into the intermediate because now they're getting better and stronger, and then they can get better and go into the advanced. Now they can look back and say, wow, I remembered when I was only doing only a beginner's thing. Now I'm in the advanced or in the intermediate.
People get a chance to kind of look at their results and say, this is fantastic, I never thought I'd be able to do that. Like I get people on YouTube, for example, who are in their eighties, and they will literally say, I'm sitting here in tears right now as I'm writing this, because I've seen a lot of chair workout coaches online, but I've never had somebody like you kick my butt. It's perfect, because like I said, I'm not saying to you, like, come on guys, you have five more reps, you can do this. No way! Let’s go, you got five more reps, as a matter of fact, give me 10 more because you can! I don't want to hear no excuses from you. I don't want to hear nothing. Let's go. Give me more!
I was watching one of your workouts yesterday and I'm thinking, oh man, if we were person to person, man, you'd be yelling at me nonstop and I would deserve it and I would need it!
Yeah, exactly. It's about family Cam. It's about just developing that rapport and here's the thing too imma tell you right. I have a lot of friends in the industry that are top celebrities, right and people won't know because I don't brag about it much, but what I do, I don't aim to become a celebrity. I'm not after that. When people sign up, they get access to me directly. So when I get on the phone with them, they're like, wait a minute. This is Donovan? This is Donovan Green?! I say yes, this is Donovan Green.
I like to reach out to my audience when somebody clicks the button and says, hey, I want to be a part of his program and I want to financially support by being a member. It means a lot to me. So I make sure that I get in that phone call and I spend 10 to 15 minutes with them. And we were just there talking about goals and all these different things and by the time we’re done, you know what, it built a stronger rapport because it's no longer that just virtual. Wow. I actually spoke to him online; I actually spoke to him over the phone. It was more direct, you know, so I keep it fun, and I keep it real.
I know that you have recipes on your website as well. Are those all your mom's recipes or how did they come to be?
I love to cook. I teach a lot about plant-based nutrition. I don't force my beliefs on people, but I teach a lot about plants and the power of plants. And I showed them how to make like in Jamaica we have a dish called stew peas, but normally stew peas would have beef or pig's tail in it, salted pig’s tail. But I show people how to make it without the meat, without the animal and people try these recipes. I make juices and smoothies and I'll show them different salads. So, I teach the overall concept of just loving your life and these recipes are fun. You know, oatmeal, how to make different wraps, veggie wraps, and banana peanut butter with strawberries, how my kids love to eat these how to make raw apple pie. So all these things I share on the website.
Yeah, and I'm thinking that I might be just cooking one of these tonight for dinner tonight. So, for the listeners, if they want to reach out to you, if they want to be part of the chair workouts, or if they want to get your book, can you give some of those details for the listeners?
Absolutely. All across the board is chair workouts. The website is www.chairworkouts.com. They can email me at donovan@chairworkouts.com. They can find me on Instagram @chairworkouts. If they go to YouTube, they could type in, The Best Chair Workouts or just chair workouts and they'll see a little orange icon with a chair and a stick figure doing a plank on the chair. So, I’m very easy to find, very simple. The book is called No Excuses Fitness that could be found on Amazon, Books-A-Million they can find it pretty much anywhere they sell books.
I'll ask you one more question about the book because we really didn't talk about that too much. How did that book come to be? And what's the process of putting it like that together?
That's a good question. I love it. So, here's another thing about me that a lot of people don't know I'm also a business coach. I teach people a lot about how to grow and expand their business. The book, when I had my gym, we had a no excuses mindset. The shirt said, “The word I can't, does not exist.” That's what we had on the shirt, and you can see the word I can't was on fire. It was literally a no excuses mindset. So, I was dealing with people who would come in and feeling down and depressed and sad and everything.
One day I came in my gym, and I saw everybody kind of wasting time in the gym. I told everybody, turn off the treadmills. I stopped the music, everybody get out, everybody out, we're going to take a jog around the block. Everybody let's go. And I started writing my book from that point. I started writing the book, writing things about, things that I learned, started writing about people. I dealt with different experiences and a couple of years later, I moved from the Bronx, closed my gym down and moved to Connecticut and I started putting some information out that I'm writing a book, I need somebody to edit, and this girl named Nicole, she introduced me to her husband, Richard Murphy. He became the editor for me, he helped me to edit the book and write the book together. We put the book together. I went through 20 different publishing houses. This is unheard of pretty much for a first time writer, but 20 different publishing houses went under an auction to auction for the book. They were going to see who's going to get the highest bid and I hooked up with a company called Hachette and that's how I got the book out there. It was awesome. I did a lot of self-promotions, did a lot of videos and to this very day, I'm still sharing the book and that was 2014, by the way, that was six years ago.
Now you’re starting on your second book and you're just overtaking the world and that's okay.
Absolutely. If any of your listeners are thinking about writing a book, the advice I'll give them as they start to create the skeleton of the book, right. Start to create different chapters and maybe they have blogs, maybe they have content they put on social media. You could always go back through those contents, copy, and paste those contents into a word document and start to add some meat to the content, and before you know it, you have your book already written and all you got to do is just pretty it up. That's it.
Awesome. Donovan, thank you so much for agreeing to be on the Lebert Fitness podcast. It's been an absolute pleasure speaking with you today, and we certainly hope to have you on again at some point in time.
Aw man, thank you and thank you for your listeners as well. I appreciate it. I had a great time. Thanks for being real.
My pleasure. Once again, this has been Donovan from Chair Workouts and you've been listening to the Lebert Fitness podcast, and it's hosted by myself Cam Jenkins.
Contact Donovan Green at:
Welcome to another edition of Fitness for All with Cam Jenkins, sponsored by Lebert Fitness.
In this episode, Cam talks with Jessica H. Maurer. She is a fitness business consultant and strategist who has presented and consulted for many brands internationally. Her passion is helping fitness professionals & businesses reach full potential through education, program & instructor development, and brand creation & awareness. Jessica is the Senior Director of Instructor Development at FIT4MOM and is a consultant for well-known fitness companies such as Nathalie Lacombe, Lebert Fitness, & One Day to Wellness. Additionally, Jessica continues to offer consulting services to locally owned businesses and fitness professionals.
This article is sourced from the Fitness For All Podcast, a top health and wellness podcast. Listen or subscribe below
Where to subscribe: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Spotify | iHeartRadio | RSS
Scroll to the end of the article for links to important resources mentioned in this episode.
*The following podcast has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
Welcome to another edition of the Fitness for All podcast. I'm your host Cam Jenkins and as always, it is sponsored by Lebert Fitness. On today's show, we have Jessica Maurer on the line, Jessica, how are you doing today?
Hi, I'm doing great. I'm so glad to be here. Thanks for having me on as a guest.
Well, thanks very much for coming on, we really appreciate it. Why don’t we start off with you talking a little bit about your experience in the fitness industry?
Sure. I started off in the fitness industry as a dancer who moved into group fitness into personal training and management, all pretty quickly. From management, I was lucky enough to become a master trainer for companies such as Savvier Fitness, That's Tabata bootcamp, The Bar Above Series, which led me to meeting Mark actually at a convention. I toured around the world presenting for companies that were mainly equipment based like Lebert Fitness, BOSU Fitness, and Hedstrom Fitness. From there, with my experience and management, with working with a ton of different educational companies, I really found a passion in helping people move their education into different places, so the digital world, the virtual world, and of course live training as well. I switched gears and created a consulting company where I help businesses reach their full potential through educational training, onboarding, and upskilling their instructor team, and creating brand awareness.
As far as the education part, how did that become a passion for you? How did you know that that was a passion that you wanted to make your full-time career?
When I first started in the fitness industry, I loved going to conferences and trainings. I thought that was the best part of our job, actually getting to travel, meet other people in the same field in the same world and learn new tips and tricks. What I quickly realized in the education world was, you don't know what you don't know, and every little tip and trick and asset that an inventor or an educator or a master trainer can give you, just sets you a couple of bars above the rest of the fitness professionals out there. It was a way that I could focus on education. I could easily affect personal trainers and group fitness instructors in a positive way, but that created a ripple effect because, I may only be able to train, you know, 20 to 30 trainers at a time, but they're going to go out there and touch hundreds of more people. I found that what was really fascinating about education is the ripple effect that it then created in order to keep spreading these little tips and tricks and pieces of advice to trainers who would go out there and use them in their communities
For the trainers in the communities. How do you train a trainer in the fitness industry?
Trainers in the fitness industry typically will go take certifications, live, or in-person, now virtually or on demand or digitally, where an expert in the field will teach them lessons they need to know, say about a piece of equipment, about a training style, about a class construct; whatever the trainer is interested in learning more about at the time. Education needs to be short, little digestible pieces of information that the fitness professional can turn around and use immediately, whether it is an extra cue, a new class plan, a new exercise or variation, or even foundational learning of what fitness actually is.
We used to think that fitness education was textbooks like big, giant kinesiology textbooks, where you study the book and you took an exam and for the most part, people still get their primary certifications that way. But beyond that, fitness education has really evolved to be much more interactive, much more playful, much more informative at the fitness professionals, own pace, own time, own structure. And that has really been exciting to watch over the last 10 years.
As far as Lebert Fitness, I know you mentioned a bit earlier that you've met Mark and started to have a professional relationship…
Oh, now I'm back. You cut out there for a minute. I'm sorry. Could you repeat your last question?
Absolutely. Actually, it was Mark Lebert trying to call me! He must've known that I was about to ask you that question. That’s hilarious! Can you tell us how you came to work with Lebert fitness? I know you said earlier in the podcast that you met Mark and you started to have a working relationship with him. Can you talk me through the evolution that came to be of working with Lebert Fitness?
Absolutely. I started working with Lebert Fitness when Jenn Hall first came onto Liebert fitness in order to start an education program. That's something that Mark had really been searching for since he created the equalizers and I was lucky enough to be a master trainer and teach other people these amazing class constructs and new formats, and again, ways to use the equalizers that they may not have been aware of.
I was lucky enough to then move up and become the Education Director and create shorter workshops that were more built for conferences, built for a 90-minute learning lesson that were really specific to populations. So, we did a lot about joint health and recovery using the tool as mobility, not just for strength and cardio purposes. Now it's come full circle. I helped Mark take a lot of his training and turn it to online training, so people could take the equalizer training at any time in their home, wherever they were. I went from live in person to helping him convert to a digital product and now I'm lucky enough to be back at Lebert Fitness, helping them do a virtual training course. So, now we have all three options available, if you're ready to meet in public and in person, we can do a training, if you want to train at 2:00 AM by yourself, we have that option as well.
Now we're going to be doing live virtual training, which is with Mark and myself and, and Pat Savoury. We're all going to be together on Zoom and training other fitness professionals in a live setting, but still in their own home. So, now we have three different places where we are able to really connect with fitness professionals and help them build a stronger and bigger business.
Can you talk to the importance of why having all three different options is so valuable to not just the Lebert Fitness brand, but to any business?
Absolutely. People need to ingest and digest fitness based on their own terms. I like to use the analogy of jeans a lot. When we go into a department store, they're all different kinds of brands of jeans and then those brands themselves make different colours and different styles. That's because well, pants fit people differently and people have different preferences. It's the same for education as well as for fitness, there are going to be people who are the best at learning when they're in person right in front of the teacher and they love that group fitness atmosphere, they want to have people next to them, they want to be able to talk during the lunch break and they really thrive there. Then you're going to have the fitness professionals who maybe this is their secondary job or, or even third job, or maybe this is just a side hustle, and they really need to be able to take education in small little chunks. So, maybe it's only 10 to 20 minutes every night for a week and so they have a digital option. Then you have the trainer too, who's like, no, I really want to be with someone with a training person, but I'm not quite comfortable yet to be in person, or I don't have the means necessary to travel, because a lot of times education for the most part tends to happen in metropolitan areas. We want to make sure that we're really able to reach out to people who may not be able to travel on a Saturday, to come into a metropolitan area, may not have the funds to be able to do that, but still want to be trained by the expert in real time. That way they can ask questions, they can see other people, they can still have a community aspect, but it's just without the travel to and from. So, we want to make sure that we offer enough “Jean styles and colours and sizes” so that we fit all different types of fitness professionals.
That’s a great way of putting it. Now all of a sudden, I have this inkling to go buy some new jeans. Thank you. When consulting with a business and you're getting to know them, a big question that you want to know through speaking with you before is the, where. Can you tell our listeners what you mean by that?
I always want to make sure that when I'm working with a company, that I understand where they've been, where they are currently and then where they want to go. It's really important to represent that legacy of what the company has done prior. You learn a lot about, what's worked, what's not worked, who's been involved, what they need and ways that you can move forward without making the same hiccups or mistakes that you've had in the past. Where they are now takes some time for the company to assess and figure out what are we actually focusing on right now? What are our values and our mission and our statements of moving forward? What are we really doing in this moment to help us get to that next step of where we want to be, what we see our vision as? It's really important when I'm working with a company, whether it's educational or it's brand awareness or it's, up-skilling, their instructors, is making sure I understand that timeline of where have you been, what are you currently doing? And then most importantly, where do you want to go? So I can make an assessment and a plan to help them move in that direction.
You talked about also building a person's brand. Is that also where you ask the questions of where they were, where they are and where they want to go, or how do you build a brand?
That's a great question. For the most part, when I'm coming in to do brand awareness or brand building, it's from scratch. For the most part, the fitness entrepreneurs that I work with who are like maybe leaving a gym and starting off on their own or starting their own studio. We get to start at the ground level that breaks it down to what do you stand for? Why do you do what you do? Who's your target demographic. And then we can start to play with how we dress that skeleton up. For other bigger companies that are looking to rebrand, it's always great to know, what did you do in that past that you really liked? What did you do in the past that you didn't like? Where are you currently? What are you doing right now? And then what would you like to do in the future?
For those same purposes of realizing what mistakes have you already made? What successes have you already made? What can we build off of in your past? What are you currently focusing on so that you don't come in there and, you know, totally throw the baby out with the bath water, and then in the future, where do you want to be? What does it look like next year? What does it look like in five years? I think that a lot of times fitness professionals only see to the next class, and they don't necessarily see to next year. We saw this a lot during COVID of the great pause of 2020, is people went to this fear, this scarcity tactic, they started saying yes to everything and they quickly realize now, none of that is sustainable and actually, this isn't the lifestyle that's going to bring me any closer to my goals. So, it's great to work with fitness professionals and actually have them brainstorm on what do you want to do in the future so that we can take the steps from now to get you to that place.
You mentioned about how, in the fitness industry, they just kind of look at their next class and not necessarily into the future. What are some of your other experiences that businesses have done well and what they could also improve on?
I think that businesses that are doing really well now and, in the past, and will continue to do well in the future, is because they know their target demographic, they know them to a T. So, they know gender, age within 10 years, they know socio-economically. They know where they live, how they shop all the intricacies of that amazing dream client and those businesses who can pinpoint that person and niche down, they thrive. The reason why is because they create programs that answer that target demographics, pain points. So, it makes it really easy if you can pinpoint your target demographic to say, okay, what are they Googling at 2:00 AM at night? And how can I be the answer to that Google search? So those are the companies that we see do really fantastically well.
The companies that we see that that could really improve on is the person who says, well, I'm for everyone. You're not for everyone. That's not true. There are people that you like to work with, and there are people you don't like to work with. It's okay to admit that, it's okay to say this is not for me, this is really where I thrive and I'm going to say no to this offer, because I know that this opportunity, this class, this training program, isn't for me. But the only way that you really get to know that is if you experience, if you go out and try new things and you educate yourself, you go to different online trainings or digital trainings, experience things, and then you can really make the assessment of, oh, I actually really thrive working with a certain clientele because I love doing regressions or I love doing progressions, or I have an affinity towards this specific person. So, I think it really comes down to, if you want to thrive, you need to pinpoint your target demographics so you can pinpoint their pain points.
Is that challenging to do for a person; to be able to pinpoint your demographic? Or is that something where, there’s some that are easy to do and then other ones it's not as easy to do.
Absolutely. A company like Lebert fitness can be challenging for us to find our target demographic, because we know we want to work with fitness professionals; we want to educate fitness professionals, but that's a wide variety. Is that a group fitness instructor, is that a personal trainer, is that a bootcamp instructor? So, instead of being specific on their profession, we instead found we really want to help fitness professionals take their next step. We want fitness professionals who feel like they need a little bit of their next step forward, whether it's an education, whether it's in training, whether it's launching a new program or finding their next step in their career, those are the fitness professionals we're really interested in working with. I think for some target demographics, while we really want you to pinpoint it down, like to your point, there are some businesses that the target demographic does need to be bigger in order for you to really get your message and your point across. It depends on what your product is, what your why is and who and what, you really want to serve in the fitness industry.
I also wanted to touch back on the education part of things. In your experience, what is the best way to educate somebody or is that too hard of a question to answer because everyone kind of learns differently?
Well, everyone does learn differently, but that in turn makes good education. I think of appropriate education as small bite-sized but delivered in multiple ways. Delivered in written text, as well as delivered visually as well as delivered in a group setting or in a private setting; the more ways that you can use different mediums in your education series, the more people you're going to positively affect. The people who have to read and take notes are really going to appreciate the written version versus the people who are very visual are going to want to be there going through with it, hands on the equipment and ready to go. I also like to think of education, specifically fitness education, almost like a woman's skirt and the fact that it should be long enough to cover all of the assets, but it should be short enough to be interesting. That's how I really look at education in terms of what can we put out there that trainers are going to find necessary for their next step in their career, but short enough that it fits into their life so that they're not having to take extended periods of time away from their family, away from their clients, away from their business, in order to take that next step forward in their career.
I know we were talking before the podcast as well and I had asked a question in regard to like as an example, I have the Lebert Equalizer bars, the EQ bars, and I've had them for a little while now. What can you teach a person or educate a person on about a piece of fitness equipment they have had for say three, four or five years?
I like to look at it in terms of cupcakes. A squat, is a cupcake, right? And so it is always going to be a cupcake. However, the way you perform a squat can change the flavour of your cupcake. The little bit of queuing that you might do, that's different, is giving you a different icing. Then on top of that, there's a way that you can add a variable that either increases or decreases the intensity and those are like sprinkles or cherries on top of this cupcake. Every time you teach a squat, you are inevitably giving someone a different style of cupcake. A squat is a squat is a squat, but you can change the recipe in order to make it look different, taste different, feel different, so that your clients are always either being challenged or they're always thinking that they're learning a new pattern. Their brain sees it as the same mechanical function, but they internalize it as something new and something different.
So, education can really teach you that, okay, you've got the foundation part, you know you need these ingredients, but let's mix it up and change your recipe slightly so it appears that you are giving somebody a different cupcake, when really and truly you're teaching them how to squat. Education is a great way to expand your toolbox, expand your own personal library, reinvigorate something that you may have thought boring in the past and present new information to your clients.
That’s a really interesting way of presenting it because, first you're talking about jeans and now you're talking about cupcakes and that's a fascinating and creative way about how you explain it. I think that's a sign of a good educator or trainer as well.
Well, thank you. I do really love my cupcakes.
No, they’re phenomenal! Can you tell us what's going on with Lebert Fitness in the future? What are you working on or is there trade secrets you're not allowed to say?
I can definitely tell you because I'm so excited! We are going to be teaching a How to EQ, which I love the name as well. How to EQ four-hour workshop on June 12th and we invite everyone to come join us. It's going to be four hours with myself and Mark Lebert and Patrick Savoury who is our Canadian trainer. We're so excited because we're going to be teaching 10 different foundational EQ iq’s. So, 10 different tips and ways of using the equalizer. However, we're going to show it to you in a way that ends up creating a hundred different exercises based on just these 10 little pieces of information on how to use equalizer.
The ones we're going to be presenting in June are going to be really strength-based and functional strength training. We're going to be doing another one later in the summer that's going to be cardio driven and one after that, that's also going to be mobility, flexibility, and stability driven. We're excited about expanding out the offerings we have to offer in a way that again is either live and in-person, or you'll be able to put it as a digital product or you can be live and in person with us via Zoom and actually take the training, ask your questions, get feedback, and walk away with a ton of new exercises ready to put into your bootcamps, your personal training, at home trainings, even your group fitness classes.
That’s amazing. I've seen the advertising for that, How to EQ and I think that's a really neat name as well as to be able to put that out.
It really puts everything together, like in a nice little package, that's really what we're teaching. We're not just teaching sets and reps. We're actually teaching you the science behind the equalizer and why, external rotation is so important at one point, why pushing in on the bars is so important at some point, how to properly set up the equalizer in order to get the most beneficial, efficient exercise as possible. If you don't understand the why behind the exercise, you're never going to fully get the full benefit of the exercise. You're just going to get up close to it, but never really fully experience the magic of what the equalizer can do.
Absolutely. For our listeners Jessica, if they ever want to reach out to you or for any of your services how can they do this and how can they get ahold of you?
Absolutely. You can find me www.jhmfitness.com. You can also find me on Instagram and Facebook at @jhmfitness. And you can always email me at jessica@jhmfitness.com. There's a trend there.
Most importantly, though, please join us on June 12th. Come meet me in person meaning in person, as we are right now in 2021 in person via screen. We're going to have some, some laughs, some really good times and have a sweaty four-hour session where we're really diving into “How to EQ” exactly like it says.
Perfect. Thank you so much for being on the podcast, Jessica. I do really appreciate it. To our listeners, make sure that you do reach out to her if you have any consulting needs. This has been the Lebert Fitness podcast and my guest this week was Jessica Maurer from JHM Fitness. Thanks very much for being on the show!
Contact Jessica Maurer at:
In this episode, Cam talks with Janessa Lareno. Janessa is a personal trainer and the co-owner of O2 Fuel Fitness in Vaughan, ON. She grew up competing in sports like wrestling and track, leading her to have her own trainer by 8th grade. This taught her a lot about fitness from a young age, not to mention, it runs in her blood as her cousin is Marc Lebert!
When Janessa didn’t land her dream job right out of school, she bought a one-way flight to the Dominican Republic and began running fitness vacations in the Caribbean. After 2 years down south, she was offered an opportunity that she couldn’t resist-to open her very own gym and fulfill a dream of a lifetime
]]>Welcome to another edition of Fitness for All with Cam Jenkins, sponsored by Lebert Fitness.
In this episode, Cam talks with Janessa Laureano. Janessa is a personal trainer and the co-owner of O2 Fuel Fitness in Vaughan, ON. She grew up competing in sports like wrestling and track, leading her to have her own trainer by 8th grade. This taught her a lot about fitness from a young age, not to mention, it runs in her blood as her cousin is Marc Lebert!
When Janessa didn’t land her dream job right out of school, she bought a one-way flight to the Dominican Republic and began running fitness vacations in the Caribbean. After 2 years down south, she was offered an opportunity that she couldn’t resist-to open her very own gym and fulfill a dream of a lifetime
This article is sourced from the Fitness For All Podcast, a top health and wellness podcast. Listen or subscribe below
Where to subscribe: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Spotify | iHeartRadio | RSS
Scroll to the end of the article for links to important resources mentioned in this episode.
*The following podcast has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
Welcome to another edition of the Lebert Fitness for All podcast. It is sponsored by Lebert Fitness and today on the show, I have Janessa Laureano, Janessa, thanks very much for being on the show.
No problem. Thanks for having me
I wanted to start, because I do you know you a little bit through your cousin Mark; you started at a very young age as far as being a trainer. Can you talk about your journey in being a trainer?
Yeah, I would love to. It’s pretty interesting because I've always known what I wanted to do since a young age, which I've come to learn as I've gotten older is a really rare scenario. A lot of us don't really know where we want to go until we get a lot older. Now, I had some mentors in my life, Mark being one of them, Mark Lebert. So, when I was, I want to say seven or eight years old, we used to be at these family reunions, and this is when Mark was just creating the concept of the Lebert equalizer. This was just, I believe something that he started out of his garage and I used to watch him go through the journey of creating the prototype and perfecting it and having this big dream and this big vision.
Mark had his gym in Mississauga (Ontario), and I used to go with him and shadow him when I was in grade school and high school. I would follow him around to train his clients sometimes in their homes; I remember going to this one home, I think it was a professional hockey player and it was a beautiful mansion. It was insane. They had a home gym and Mark would train them and I would just shadow him, and he would teach me why we were doing this exercise, why it was beneficial to the athlete, what muscles it worked, how to do it properly. So, he was one of my mentors that I really looked up to and I was like, wow, he gets paid to do this for a living. That was when I was pretty young and then I was really heavy into sports competitively when I was younger, track and field, basketball and wrestling.
When I started to learn that I had these athletic abilities, my dad would ask me what I wanted to do when I was older and I would say that I wanted to train people and I also, at one point said, I wanted to be a professional athlete. He was like, okay, I'm going to hire a trainer for you and we're going to get you there. So, he hired me a trainer when I was in, I believe eighth grade and I was going into ninth grade; he hired me a trainer to perfect my track and field skills. This trainer ended up being like a second father figure to me and I really looked up to him; I would go to him for everything in life, whether it was related to sports or not. Just the effect that he had on my life really had made an impact on me and I decided that I wanted to do what he did.
I remember one day he told me that if it wasn't for having to put food on his plate and a roof over his head, this is what he would do for free for everyone and the only reason he charges for it is because he has to feed himself and that stuck with me to this day. After that, I was like, you know what, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. So, I started in high school, training people - and I had coached sports pretty much my whole life, I think the first time I coached a team, I was in fourth grade coaching basketball – and I have coached sports my whole life. Then, when I got into high school, I started training people. It wasn't for much, I would do it for $20 a session, but when you're in high school, that's more than minimum wage and you don't have any bills to pay. So, in high school, if you're making $20 a client, that's pretty solid.
I would just find random spots; sometimes I would train people at my house or their house. I would go to the track because that was a familiar place for me being a track athlete; I would bring the Lebert equalizers, because Mark would always, being as we are family, I would always get free equipment growing up. So, I would take it to the track and put clients through workouts there and sometimes I would go to, we have a hockey arena with a bunch of stairwells, I would take them there. We would run the stairs and we would do workouts there. So, it started at a really young age and I've just started perfecting my craft since then.
In terms of perfecting your craft, what have you done to perfect your craft?
Mentoring would be a huge thing. I mean, having mentors is a huge factor in my growth. Like I said, I had Mark, I had my own trainer. I had even my chiropractor, who's a really close family friend of ours, he even used to give me like anatomy and physiology lessons. He would whip out like a full skeleton model and he would teach me about the anatomy before I was even taking anatomy in school. By the time I went to school and took anatomy and physiology, I thought, I already know all this stuff because I learned this from someone who uses it every single day in their field. So, those were things that really helped me perfect my craft also, just experience, you know, like you have to just put yourself out there and be willing to learn.
I did some co-ops and learned from other trainers and also taking feedback from clients. I find that's a big one. I'm still working on this, I'm not always the best at taking constructive criticism because I'm the hardest person on myself, but I really do try to listen to the feedback that I get from clients, especially when I first started out, because you don't know everything when you first start out. The only way you can get better is to listen to the clients and not only listen to them but see what's working and what's not. That's been basically a lot of trial and error.
Now with the clients, do they know their bodies better sometimes and what they can and can't do? Or is that a matter of you saying yes, they can do this, and it may be modified, but I'm going to get them to do that particular work out, for example.
That's a tough question because I would say it depends on the client, because I do have some clients who really love to push themselves and they just kind of need that person there to show them what to do. There are a lot of times when I do say to my clients, you know your body better than anyone else, in terms of if they're feeling like they need a rest day or they're feeling really sore that day, I'm like, okay, if your body's telling you, you need a rest day, then take a rest.
There are also these clients on the other end of things where the reason they hire a trainer is because they need someone to push them, and they really don't like doing it on their own. I've also had clients where I'm like, this is the exercise we're doing next and they will say, I can't do that. I’ll ask, have you tried doing it before? And they're like, no, but I can't do that. That looks really hard.
So, sometimes they know and sometimes they don't know. I think that's why they need the coach there, because if I wasn't there and if I was to send you a video and be like, okay, this is the exercise you're doing, that client would just look at it and be like, no, I'm not doing that. I can't do that. But, if I was there to tell her, yes, you can, let's at least try it, then you're there to push them out of their comfort zone but also as a professional, you should know what's safe and what's not and what people are capable of. So, you can kind of read people's fitness levels pretty quickly once you've been doing this for a while.
Absolutely. On your Instagram page, it says that you're a tough love trainer, which I absolutely loved when I saw that. What is a tough love trainer in your opinion?
With a tough love trainer, there’s the component of the love side of things where you're nurturing them, you're caring for them, you're making sure that they're doing what they need to do. You're laying out the plan for them; you're being that support system and that guidance for them. That’s really what a trainer's there to do but, what I've found is a lot of the time with clients, my experience is you can't only have the love side of things.
You also have to have that tough side of things where you're holding them accountable, because if you don't have accountability; I can know the best meal plans, the best workout routines, but if I'm not holding you accountable and calling you out for your BS at the same time, then it's not going to work. I will say that in the past in my earlier days of being a trainer, I was a little bit too lenient with people and then I'd be wondering, why am I not seeing results? I know that I'm giving them the good workouts, I'm giving them the proper nutrition advice but the part that was missing was the tough love side and that accountability. Now that I've started incorporating that more, I notice a huge difference in my clients, both their mindset, the physical transformation as well, and the mental transformation.
That's awesome because I'm certainly one of those people that need the tough love when I'm working out and your cousin has certainly tried to help me out as well. Absolutely. You need that tough love to make sure that they are progressing and doing what they need to lead a healthier lifestyle. I want to touch on O2 Fuel Vaughan because as I understand, you're an owner there and I just wanted to know how that became a business venture for you and what you've learned so far being a small business?
Oh wow. It's so crazy how much I have learned in the last couple of years since taking that leap especially with being a small business owner in the middle of a pandemic. I mean, learning the business ins and outs is already hard enough and then you throw that (pandemic) in there. I've grown so much in the last couple of years, but especially this past year alone.
I guess to start, I was in school I was taking sports and recreation management and I had always known, like I said earlier, I'd always known what I wanted to do and what industry I wanted to be in. I used to think that I wanted to own my own gym and start it from scratch, build the brand from scratch, make the logo, create the name, create the branding, the philosophy from the very beginning. That was always my dream since I was younger. Then I finished school and in my last semester, the two founders of O2 Fuel Fitness, who are my partners Adam vanHoogenhuize and Krista Fowlie, came to my school and they were doing this presentation because Adam had taken the same course that I was in and then he created this whole amazing company that was really well known in my hometown of Sarnia. Everyone knew it as being the transformation specialist; if you want to transform your body and your mind, this is where you go. So, they really made a name for themselves and he came to the school to basically show the students and my class like, Hey, this is the course I took, and this is where I am now. You can do the same thing with your life. I was sitting in the class just astonished by what they had done and then next day we were supposed to go to their gym and take one of their classes to see what it was all about.
The background of O2 Fuel is basically we train people like athletes, but we modify it for the everyday adult, so you have that lean athletic look. It’s very sports conditioning style of training, so, when I went there to take the class, they came up to me and they asked if I was a track athlete? And they knew right away just by the way I moved my body because all those movements were very familiar to me and it was easy for me. So, then we started building a relationship from there and they had asked me to come in for an interview to be a trainer. I was like so excited. I went in there and I did the interview, but I had gone in there with the mindset of like, oh, this is my dream job, I really hope they take me, I really want this job, I really need this. My confidence wasn't at the same level it is now, and my value and my self worth, and I went in there like so eager. They ended up telling me I was too green; I was just out of school and they said that I needed to go get more life experience. They said, we don't want to train you and then you go off to get life experience and move somewhere else. I said, I wouldn't do that, this is my dream job, I wanted this, my whole life. Next thing you know, probably a month or two later, I had booked a one-way flight to the Dominican Republic.
Only a month before I was like, I'm not going to move away and get life experience, I just want to work here for the rest of my life. But they were right, I will admit it now, they were right. It’s funny now because we joke about it and I'm like you guys rejected me and then my middle finger to you was I got a one-way flight to the Caribbean. I was there (Dominican Republic) for two years, which is a whole other story, but I was there for two years and I started my own little training business there and was making a living in a third world country, which is not an easy task. They had seen me posting on Facebook and posting on social media about these clients and that I’m training in the tropics and Chris messages me and was like, what are you doing down there? I don't understand, you need to tell me what's going on. He goes, first thing we’re interviewing you and then next thing I know you're on a flight and you're training people down south.
He came down because he was impressed by what I was doing and how much I had grown and just taking this risk on myself. He came down and he wanted to see, and he said, I have a possible opportunity for you, but I want to know what it is you're doing. And so, he came down to see for himself and he didn't really say anything about business yet, I think he wanted to see what I had going on there. About the third or fourth day in, I had shown him around the island., showed him the gyms I was training at, I introduced him to some of my clients and explain how I was making money down there and getting my name out there. The third or fourth day in, he sat me down and was like, listen, we want to start branching O2 Fuel out and opening more locations and we want to possibly talk with you about bringing you on as a partner for our next location. That conversation started rolling, I ended up moving back to Canada to work for O2 Fuel first because I wanted to make sure that I believed in the company and fit in with all their values and everything. So, I'm like, okay, I'm going to work for the company first and then if I like it, which obviously I ended up loving it, then I want to be a part of it, and then here we are now I have my very own location in Vaughn.
That's absolutely amazing for your story and being in the Dominican and working in a third world country and still having clients. Can you let the listeners know how you grew your fitness business when being in the Dominican through social media?
Well, okay, so I'll first say this, it’s not the same as here; it's really important that I say this part first. It’s not the same as when you're in Canada or the US and you advertise yourself as a personal trainer, and then you bring people on as clients and they sign like a three-month, six-month, one year agreement. You don't get those long-term clients as easily, because in the Dominican Republic, it's a lot of tourists and like snowbirds and they're there for a very limited amount of time. So, you're lucky if you can get even like a one-month agreement out of someone, because they might be in a different country the next month. You don't have that reoccurring income all the time and you're constantly having to get new clients. Whereas here in Canada, I signed people for a year or six months, no problem. You can make a lot of money one month and then none the next month. What I did was I just really honed in on using social media to get my name out there and I wanted to just position myself as this female trainer who was training clients on the beach and I just made it sound like as luxurious as possible.
That’s heaven right there; being able to train on a beach and the blue waters of the Dominican Republic, that's paradise.
Exactly, and that's what I just portrayed, they always say sell the vacation, not the trip there. Meaning, show them what they're going to have when they're there and how exciting it's going to be, don't tell them about like all the other things, because to be honest with you, you're going to sweat your butt off when you're there. It's not easy to work out in the Caribbean, it's very hot, but I didn't tell anybody that, I just let them figure that out when they got there. All I'm telling them is the beautiful ocean you're going to work out at and all the yummy organic foods you're going to eat.
The way that I kind of sold it and intrigued people, because this was something so different, is I said, okay, everyone knows what it feels like to go on an all-inclusive vacation to the Caribbean or wherever else. You go there, you have all you can drink at the bar; you can have as much beer as you want as many Pina coladas as you want. You can just lay on the beach and do absolutely nothing and be lazy for a week and eat all the food you want because all those places have the buffets and it's unlimited food. Everybody has done that and what happens when you come home? You feel like garbage, you come home from those trips. A lot of people have come back, and they've gained weight and they're also super dehydrated and bloated because you can't drink that much alcohol in a week somewhere that’s very, very hot. You're just going to be so dehydrated afterwards and then they're eating like garbage the whole time.
My whole thing was now let's go on vacation and come back feeling the exact opposite. My clients were coming on fitness vacations with me and going home already like five or ten pounds down. I've taught them how to cook healthy, balanced meals. I've taught them how to work out on their own. They were active the whole time they were here (Dominican Republic). They weren't drinking alcohol the whole time they were drinking like coconut water; we had fresh coconut water delivered to them every day at the gym when they would come in. Then I would cook breakfast with them after and everything that we cooked was from an organic farm. So, this was my whole thing is, come down with me, come train in the Caribbean and I'm going to teach you how to live a healthy life and when you go home, you're going to feel like a million bucks.
That's my problem. See, every time I go to the Dominican, I go to an all-inclusive resort. And like you said, I gain 10 pounds and then I don't feel as good as when I first went to the Dominican. So, my problem is, I should have been training with you all those times I used to go down to the Caribbean.
Exactly! And you know what, some people are like well, why would I want to go on vacation and just like work out the whole time? But what I would do is kind of customize it and get a feel for them before they came down and be like, okay, what are the things that you really want to do when you're here and get a feel for the things that they like, or they don't like. Some people don't like to do crazy intense workouts. Maybe they want to surf or maybe they want to do yoga. So, some of my clients, we would barely even work out, we'd work out like maybe twice a week and then in the mornings I would take them surfing and then we would do yoga right after, and then maybe go for like a run on the beach, if that's what they're into. It was about customizing it, so they enjoyed what they were doing there.
No, and that's just it. I think you have to have a conversation with the person that you're training and find out what they do like, because otherwise they're not going to enjoy it and then they're not going to be able to sustain that.
Exactly. It's all about sustainability.
Yeah. At the end of the day, I think it certainly is. Now as far as mental health goes, that is a huge topic these days. How are you pivoting with COVID and your clients and is there a huge mental part to how you train people?
I truly believe that fitness starts in your mind and I know that sounds so cheesy and so cliche, but I've been through many things in my life where I didn't want to continue exercising and I was just like, screw this, I'm just going to like gain weight and be lazy for the rest of my life and then my mindset would kick in. The only thing that gets me back up and going again is having a strong mindset and really working on that. So, you can eat, there's that meme that keeps floating around on Instagram, it's like, you can eat all the kale, do all the yoga, do all the working out and drink all the water, but if you don't deal with the crap that's going on in your head, then you're still not healthy, and it all starts there.
That’s what we're really trying to focus on with our clients right now, especially since we just got closed down again. So now tomorrow, officially the gym is closed again, but I'm like, you have to switch your mindset instead of being all sad and depressed about the gym, closing and thinking, oh, I'm just going to give up and wait until the gym opens again. We could open and close another 10 times but what are you going to do every single time that the gym closes? Are you just going to stop your progress? Everyone was getting depressed and getting anxious every time that we close. I said the only real thing that deep down is going to help you with that is continuing to stay active and continuing to take care of yourself, eating healthy, going to sleep at a proper time. Those are the things that are going to keep you mentally stable.
Even for me, myself, as a trainer, someone who's been in fitness and sports my whole life, there was a two-week period during the really big closure when we were closed for almost five months. I had a small injury, and my body was telling me to rest. I was like, okay, I'm going to take like two weeks off and one of our coaches stepped in and did the live training sessions instead. During that two weeks that I was off, as much as my body really, really needed that rest my head, I could tell after a couple of days, I was starting to feel depressed, and I was starting to feel lazy and lethargic, and I started to feel the negative thoughts creeping into my head. The only thing that got rid of that was after the two weeks when my body was rested up and I was able to start working out again, then all of a sudden, I felt mentally stable again. So, I was thinking to myself that was only two weeks and I felt that crappy. What about all the people who spent the entire five months doing nothing? I can't imagine where their head would be at.
Yeah, no, it's very hard to stay mentally strong and you do have to take care of your mental health at the end of the day. I just think that that's kind of the starting point. If you have good mental health, then you feel like exercising or you feel like making good meals at the end of the day. So, for me, mental health, it's the number one thing and that's something that I struggle with and yeah, I just think it's the number one thing to start dealing with and then everything else falls into place.
You know what I think it's easier said than done, obviously, but that's why I think it just requires baby steps rather than like an all or nothing mentality, which I've been guilty of before and I really try to work on not having this all or nothing mentality. I noticed that a lot, with the general public, they're like, okay, I either have to be working out every single day for an hour every single day and eating healthy all three meals of the day or it's like nothing; but it doesn't have to be that way. I used to be like that and now I really have started to realize that's not realistic, that's not sustainable, and you're not going to be mentally healthy at that point because you're putting so much pressure on yourself to be perfect all the time. It's not about that. It's about creating a sustainable lifestyle that's consistent.
Consistency can mean that you just do three workouts a week and you eat healthy 80% of the time, the other 20% of the time you treat yourself. But you do those things consistently rather than being perfect, a hundred percent of the time; you're going to see better results mentally and physical physically that way.
Absolutely. Since you've been a trainer for a very long time or at least working towards that, what are the top one or two things that you've learned through this process of just becoming the person that you are today?
Oh, the top one or two things I've learned? I would say number one that, ooh, this is a hard one! Top one or two things I've learned about myself or about the industry?
No, about yourself, because, at the end of the day, I think we need to make ourselves better and we are constantly learning to make ourselves better.
Okay. Honestly, number one, the first thing that comes to mind right now, I don't know if this is overall or just because of the times we're in. I would say the first thing is that I'm hands down the hardest person on myself. I've learned that I need to have a better balance of releasing that pressure on myself and not thinking that everything has to be perfect a hundred percent of the time, which is funny, because I was just saying that it's all about balance and not being perfect a hundred percent of time. But that's how I know that is because I am the worst at that, both in business and in fitness, I'm really learning to go a little bit easier on myself and have more boundaries, I guess you could say; boundary is my new favorite word.
Yeah, boundaries are good to have at the end of the day. It’s good that you recognize it and you’ve talked about it because you know, like I said, I have my own mental health challenges at the end of the day and I find that with me, I'm also very hard on myself. It's just good to verbalize that because once you verbalize it and say what you need to work on, then at least it's out there. Also, if you write it down too, then that's something you can look at every day to say, okay, this is what I need to improve on, and you've recognized that about yourself. So, that's awesome!
Yeah, I think I've always kind of known that, but this year has really shown me that I've got to have more boundaries, both with myself and with other people and with clients, just to salvage my own mental health, because at the end of the day, you can't give everything to everyone. You have to take care of yourself first and then you'll be able to take better care of everyone else after that. It's like, what's that saying? You can't pour from an empty cup.
Absolutely. For your listeners, just before we go. Do you want to talk a O2 Fuel Fitness and if they want to become a member or be able to talk to you; give those details out.
Yeah, for sure. We are located in Vaughan, Ontario. So, if anyone lives in the area, obviously right now we are closed as of today, but we will be opening again soon. I'm sure. They can find us at o2fuelfitness.com. My personal Instagram as well, you can reach me, it’s @JanessaLaureanoo. I did a double-o because for some reason there's another Janessa Laureano out there, and she won't give me my name, so I have the two O's! We are doing an online program now as well and we have a supplement brand that we just launched. So, that's going to be up on our website shortly, if anyone wants to join our online program and train with me online.
Perfect. Well, Janessa, it's been l lovely having you on the podcast. Thank you very much for agreeing to do it. You have been listening to Janessa Laureano on the Fitness for All podcast and once again, it's sponsored by Lebert Fitness. Thanks, Janessa.
Thanks Cam. Have a good day.
Contact Janessa Laureano at:
Welcome to another edition of Fitness for All with Cam Jenkins, sponsored by Lebert Fitness.
In this episode, Cam talks with Taylor (Little T), Taylor’s love for fitness and promoting healthy lifestyles was created during her youth when she trained to become a nationally ranked competitive gymnast and competitive dancer. Now as an adult Taylor is an IFBB Fitness Pro as well as a calisthenics athlete. The importance of passion, hard work, discipline, and dedication was ingrained at a very early age, and these same principles guide her today both as an athlete and a personal training specialist.
This article is sourced from the Fitness For All Podcast, a top health and wellness podcast. Listen or subscribe below
Where to subscribe: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Spotify | iHeartRadio | RSS
Scroll to the end of the article for links to important resources mentioned in this episode.
*The following podcast has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
Welcome to another edition of the Lebert Fitness podcast. I'm your host Cam Jenkins and it is sponsored by the Lebert Fitness. On today’s show, we have Taylor. Taylor, welcome to the show.
Thank you. I'm so excited to be on it
As are we. I figured where I would start with the podcast is how did you find your love for fitness as a youngster?
Well, I've been in the industry of, not necessarily fitness, but always being active from a very young age. I was a gymnast when I was younger and honestly, my favourite part of that was the conditioning aspect. So, I think from a young age, because I liked moving my body and feeling strong, that definitely helped for my love of fitness. Then as an adult now, it's honestly the thing that makes me the happiest, it's my period of the day where I get to work on myself and improve, and always tracking my progress, and it’s probably one of the best feelings. So, it started from a young age and it just transferred all the way through adulthood.
I know that you were a nationally ranked competitive gymnast, as well as a competitive dancer. How did you get involved in those sports and what did those sports mean to you?
I got into competitive gymnastics when I was younger, because I would just kind of flip myself around the house, not really knowing what I was doing, and my mom was like, okay, let's put her in something that has mats and coaches and things like that. So, that’s how I got into gymnastics. I honestly loved it. I think gymnastics is going to always be one of my very first passions because even as an adult, it's something that I incorporate in all my fitness and everyday lifestyle.
In terms of dance. I got into dance because when I was a gymnast, I actually hurt my back. So, I had to take a little bit of a break with the impact and the landings just because it was getting a little bit too much for a young 13-year-old to be always in pain. The dance world I was in for about four years and honestly, I loved it. It wasn't necessarily a passion for me, but I really did enjoy the movement and the social aspect and the competitive world of dance.
Perfect. Now being a competitive dancer and a competitive gymnast, what's one thing that you took from each sport that you kind of look at today?
Gymnastics definitely taught me the most. Maybe it's because I did it at such a young age, that's probably why I learned so much. In that time period (I learned about) dedication, hard work, consistency and just always pushing yourself to be better. One of the quotes on the walls when I was a gymnast was “in the pursuit of excellence” and that's something that I've carried out through my entire life, just from that.
Then going into the dance world, I think something that dance taught me that nothing else has so far is just the freedom to move. For example, when we would always do interpretive dance or just on the whim, we would just do whatever. I forget what it's called off the top of my head, but we would just do these routines to music, and it was just something where you could just feel how your body wanted to move in that moment and not to be always so structured. That free movement is just as positive and as good for you as it is to follow a routine. So, I think that's something that dance taught me.
That's great. Now that you have a lot of your own clients that you are training, how has your philosophy changed in regard to how you train somebody over the years, or has it changed at all?
It definitely has changed. When I first got into training, I always thought I wanted to train athletes and I had this very competitive mentality towards it that we always had to be trying to achieve a certain goal that was athletic driven. Now that I've been in it for a while, I've decided that I don't necessarily need to be in that athletic world anymore. I like training everyday people. In terms of the way I approach fitness, it's less about a competitive edge, but more about well-rounded fitness and enjoying the journey and enjoying the process. It is not necessarily always looking for that end goal but looking at the small steps in order to get you there. So, I think that's something that definitely has changed over the years for me.
How do you train the people that you have be it athletes or somebody that's not as athletic? Do you train them differently?
Depending on the person, yes. Some people who are a little bit more competitive and again, in that athletic world need more of that go-go type attitude. Whereas the people who are just wanting to live a healthy lifestyle and just be well-rounded, they can be a little bit more relaxed. I always try to make it more fun for them because realistically, I always want my clients to be able to incorporate whatever we're doing, throughout their entire life as a routine, rather than it be just a one-time thing and then they’re done with it. I want them to be able to have fun and really enjoy the process of it. Whereas sometimes athletes, I find, if you just focus on the one thing they need, it's a little bit better for them. Sometimes not all athletes say, “Oh, I want it to be fun,” they want it to be like purposeful and more serious. So, I think that's how the two of them differ.
I was really intrigued by your blog post. I believe it was called “Stop Girl Pushups.” Can you talk a bit about that and what it means and your view on it?
The Stop Girl Pushups is something that I started about two years ago. It's a hashtag that I use on my Instagram a lot and basically, I just got really tired of hearing people say, “Oh, I don't want to do a girl push up, or girls can only do knee push-ups” and having such a negative outlook on females and strength. All the assuming that we can only do pushups from our knees or that if you're someone who does push-ups from your knees, that you're automatically weaker, that you're a girl and that you're not going to be capable of doing the cool pushups that I do, like the plyometric ones. So, it's something that I started, and I tag a lot, especially in my posts and have other people post as well, just to show that girls are capable of literally anything and the things that we can do goes far beyond just knee pushups. It’s important to never assimilate a gender with a strength movement. So, for example, an assisted push-up or a modified push-up is the exact same as an assisted chin-up or a modified chin up, but we never call them girl chin ups, you know what I mean? So, that was something that I just really wanted to get across in a lot of my YouTube videos, as well as the blog and then my Instagram. It’s a message that I like to spread to females that we’re capable of anything.
Oh, and that's just, it, I never understood why they would have to call it a girl pushup. I used to be a para-athlete so there was a lot of isms there as well, being a para-athlete. I never really understood that; why people had to decipher or kind of split it and call it two different things.
Yeah. I don't get it either. It's a weird thing.
I also was looking at your bio and it says that you're an IFBB Fitness Pro, can you explain to the listeners what that is?
IFBB Pro is a professional league in the bodybuilding world. In 2019, I competed for the first time in May, for a regional show to qualify for a national show. Then at the national show, which was Toronto Pro show is where I won my IFBB pro card. So, now technically I'm a professional bodybuilder in the fitness division, which is one of the divisions for the female athletes. This is where you do a minute and a half to two-minute routine of a lot of the things that I do on my Instagram, of the flips, the pushups, the combinations, all that really fun stuff. Then when you turn pro you have a posing round just like you would see in the physique round or the bikini round. So, my category is a hybrid between the stuff that I love doing on my Instagram plus the traditional bodybuilding.
Perfect. I understand as well, you're huge into the calisthenics.
Yes. I love calisthenics. Calisthenics is my main focus right now.
Can you tell the listeners why you're so much into calisthenics and a bit about what that is?
Calisthenics is literally just your own body weight when you're doing exercises. It can be something as simple as squats, lunges, pushups, and then it goes into way advanced movements of freestyle calisthenics. That’s where you're going to see a lot of the people doing more of the acrobatic tricks on the floor. Or if you go to the bars, you'll see them doing these crazy flips over the bars and twists and turns, and it looks super amazing. The reason why I like calisthenics way more in terms of training and everything else about it is just the community. The people that I've met through calisthenics have been the coolest people ever to be honest, and so just being surrounded by people who are so positive and so helpful, and like wanting to help people learn and get more into the community is something that I really like about it.
When I first started into it, it was actually at a calisthenics meetup last November. When I got there, everyone was saying, “Oh, have you seen this person do this? Have you ever tried doing this?” and people were so open to just helping you, rather than some other sports that I've been in where it has been way more competitive, and people don't necessarily want to help you. So, I think that's the great thing about calisthenics is that it's not competitive, even though it is a competitive sport, people are just wanting to watch other people get better, which I think is really cool.
Oh, absolutely. Why do you think that there's that difference as far as being in calisthenics and that kind of the world wanting to help people, compared to other parts of the fitness world where they don't necessarily want to help as much?
I think it's just the nature of the sport because a lot of people in calisthenics are self-taught, they realize that if they've learned it and they can help someone else learn it, they're more open to it maybe. But I think it's also because calisthenics isn't as large in terms of being as well-known around the world, because the community is so small knit, they like to help everyone as much as they can and try to grow it as much as they can. So, the more people that get into it, and the more people who are posting about it or doing it, then the more their community can grow and get attention and maybe more sponsorships. So, I think if we all help each other in the community, that's what the end goal is; to just make it bigger and more well-known.
Especially now because of dealing with COVID-19, a lot of people are doing things online and I was really impressed with all of your social media presence as well. Can you maybe talk about your social media presence and how that began and how you built it up?
Sure. So, I started my Instagram account LittleT Fitness, back in 2017. So, I've had it for about three years now. When I first started it, I said I was just going to post workout videos that I do myself and see how that goes. Then as I started to post more acrobatic calisthenic skills, that's when my accounts started to get a little more attention, started to grow a little bit more. And then I realized that that's truly what I like doing most. As fun as it is to do the strength training, what I really liked filming and showing off was my handstands, my tumbling, my push-ups all that really fun stuff. And that's also an area that when I would see other people post similar content to me, it motivated me to keep pushing myself to be better.
So, from the beginning of my account to now, I think in terms of content, it's definitely changed, and my focus is more about doing little small challenges, whether it's a pistol squat challenge or mobility challenge. I love doing all that as well as my skill drill Saturday, which is actually one of the posts that I try to feature the most or kind of showcase the most, just because it's me being able to teach other people who are on my account, the things that I do. If it’s how to do a one-arm handstand or how to do a pistol squat, I try to give out as much information as possible, as well as the entertainment value with my social media.
It certainly is entertaining. Recently I've seen a lot of posts where people are trying to do what you do. Is there a certain challenge that you have out there right now?
The most current challenge that people are doing at least this week is my most recent mobility Monday challenge, which is just basically a sequence of it varies each week, but I always try to incorporate like a lot of ankle mobility or lower body mobility, just because those ones tend to be more challenging and fun for people to try. Then another challenge that's going around is the sweatpants challenge. That's the one where you're in a handstand trying to take off your sweat pants. That was a really fun one almost going around during COVID and then I just brought it back recently just cause it's a, it's a fun one to do since we're all stuck at home a little bit.
Yeah, absolutely. That was another one I saw. I thought it was hilarious. How much training does it take to be able to do handstands or tumbling, things that you do on there that you make it look so easy, but it must be so hard to do. You must have so many core muscles to be able to do that.
Absolutely, and I think that's one of the biggest misconceptions with calisthenics or inversions. People always see it and they're like, “Oh, it's body weight, that must be so easy to do.” But the amount of body awareness that you need to have, the core control, like you said, as well as just this little stabilizer muscles that we have, like in our shoulders and our backs and stuff like that; to be able to do a lot of the skills with our body weight is much, much harder than most people think. In terms of training, I would say the average time for someone to get their freestanding handstand is anywhere between three months to, depending on your starting level, to five months. I know a lot of people think, “Oh, you kick up and you can hold it,” but you can kick up to a handstand all the live long day, but to be able to hold it there for say 10 seconds, it takes a lot of practice. It's way longer and way more tedious than people believe.
Oh absolutely. That’s something that I don't think I'd be able to do, but I was so impressed with everybody that's been on your Instagram posts and being able to do that, so, it’s wonderful that you're doing that. Where do you see your business going in the future? People always ask what's your five-year plan, so what is that five-year plan for you?
Honestly, right now, my five-year plan has definitely shifted since COVID. Originally, I was looking to open up my own gym space and run my business out of my own gym and have trainers out of it and stuff like that. However, within the most recent times, I think because I'm so happy with my online world, I think that's something that I really want to try to grow over the next five years and then be able to travel more and do workshops abroad and travel and see my online clients and do meet ups that way. I think that'd be really fun cause I get to see the world and do fitness and kind of meet all my clients; I think it's the best of both worlds.
Do you have any bucket list places that you'd love to go to?
I have so many! Definitely at the top of the list is anywhere in Asia like Japan or Bali or the Philippines are places that I really want to go to. Then I really want to go to Australia because I actually have quite a few people in terms of my following and then in terms of my clients who are from Australia. So, those are the top places right now.
What are you most grateful for that fitness or training has given you over the years?
I think it's the community. All of everything that I've ever been in, in terms of fitness, whether it's more athletic or as a trainer or on Instagram, the people that I get to meet through the things that I do, have been amazing. I got to meet some of my best friends through fitness as well as my clientele. A lot of them yes, they're my clients, but a lot of them, I consider my family because I'm 24, a lot of my clients are older than me. They're able to provide so much wisdom and advice and just be there for me as a person and not just as like a client to trainer relationship. So, I'm super grateful that every single opportunity that I've had in the fitness world has led to these amazing relationships.
That's amazing. Now you mentioned that a lot of your clients are a little bit older than you, sometimes in the work world when it's a younger person they don't get the respect that they deserve based on the knowledge that they have. Do you ever find that with yourself and your business?
So far I haven’t, and I don't know if that's because a lot of the people that I'm getting now too are through my social media so they see my LittleT Fitness page and they see me as that person. I get a lot of respect in that regard, but even my one-on-one clients that I got through referrals or just even like people just emailing me, I've never had anyone doubt my capabilities or ever questioned my knowledge. So, I think that's something that I'm very fortunate with because, to be honest, like I am a young female and I'm very small to begin with, so I definitely could see it being an issue, but I've luckily not had to face that.
That’s great because no one should ever have to face that, but it was just a question that I just thought of, because you had mentioned that most of your clientele was a little bit older. If people want to reach out to you to work out with you, can you give all of your social media info or a website that they can contact you at?
Yeah sure. So, the best way is probably through email, which is LittleTfitness@gmail.com, but you can also feel free to DM me on Instagram. That's @littletfitness and you can find me on Instagram very easily. Usually I reply to all DMS relatively quick and then emails for sure are probably the easiest way to reach me as well.
That's phenomenal. Well, Little T since we've been talking for quite a few minutes, I'm going to call you a Little G because I feel like we know one another a little bit now. I want to thank you so much for being on the Lebert Fitness podcast and we'd love to have you back on at some point in time in the future.
Thank you so much. I had so much fun today.
Great. Well, once again, that's been a Little T that we've been talking to on the podcast today and we'll catch you on the flip side when we have another Lebert Fitness podcast.
Contact Taylor (Little T) at:
If you enjoyed this episode of the Fitness For All podcast, please head over to iTunes, leave a rating, write a review, and subscribe. If you listen on Stitcher, please click here to rate and review this show.]]>In this episode, Cam talks with Renée Foessel, At the 2019 IPC World Athletics Championships Renée Foessel captured bronze in the women's discus F38 as she set a new Canadian record four times, with her longest throw of 33.37 holding up for a spot on the podium.
She was born and raised in Mississauga, Ont. She was first introduced to track and field at age nine. She was born with cerebral palsy that affects one side of her body. In 2015, she earned a complete medal set at the Parapan American Games in Toronto. She won gold in the discus, silver in the shot put and bronze in the javelin. Those performances provided a dose of confidence that carried through to the IPC World Championships, where she collected a bronze in the discus. She was fourth in discus at both the 2016 and 2017 Paralympic Games.
]]>Welcome to another edition of Fitness for All with Cam Jenkins, sponsored by Lebert Fitness.
In this episode, Cam talks with Renée Foessel. At the 2019 IPC World Athletics Championships Renée Foessel captured bronze in the women's discus F38 as she set a new Canadian record four times, with her longest throw of 33.37 holding up for a spot on the podium.
She was born and raised in Mississauga, Ont. She was first introduced to track and field at age nine. She was born with cerebral palsy that affects one side of her body.
In 2015, she earned a complete medal set at the Parapan American Games in Toronto. She won gold in the discus, silver in the shot put and bronze in the javelin. Those performances provided a dose of confidence that carried through to the IPC World Championships, where she collected a bronze in the discus. She was fourth in discus at both the 2016 and 2017 Paralympic Games.
This article is sourced from the Fitness For All Podcast, a top health and wellness podcast. Listen or subscribe below
Where to subscribe: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Spotify | iHeartRadio | RSS
Scroll to the end of the article for links to important resources mentioned in this episode.
*The following podcast has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
Welcome to another edition of the Fitness For All podcast brought to you by Lebert Fitness. On today's show, we have Paralympic athlete, Renee Foessel. Welcome to the show, Renee.
Thank you for having me.
You're more than welcome. Renee, can you tell us a little bit about yourself; your Paralympic world achievements to start off with.
I have been a Paralympic athlete for most, if not all of my life. I'm very privileged to have that as part of my experience in growing up. My primary discipline is track and field. So, I'm a Paralympic athlete in the event of discus throw. I would recommend it to anybody that's looking at getting into a summer sport. I kind of got into Paralympics at the age of, or sorry into track and field at the age of six or ten years old and it's been a very important role in my life. I have always wanted to excel in it and in 2016, I was able to make the Paralympic games and had my first debut at trying to compete to go on the podium. I came out fourth. I was extremely happy with the results and I had an overall good experience with it and now I'm leading into what was supposed to be the 2020 Paralympic games now, 2021 Paralympic games.
That's great. When you started off did you dream of being a Paralympic athlete? What was the motivation behind starting with the sport?
Yeah, when I was young my disability was difficult to keep up with my sisters; I have two sisters I'm in the middle. We have a very close age gap, so my younger sister and I would always do the same sports. My mom and father would get me involved in soccer, basketball, some of the more major events and as I was growing up, I did find that there was a bit of difficulty in keeping up with her. So, that's when I got involved in Cruisers Sports for the Physically Disabled and I got involved in Paralympic sports. When I jumped into track and field and I did sledge hockey and wheelchair basketball as well, it was an opportunity for me to adapt my abilities to something that I became very passionate for. So, track and field started off as an opportunity for me to be fit and be involved in sports and slowly became something that I did want to compete at the Paralympics and something that I continue to want to compete and represent my country for.
Can you tell me a little bit more about the fitness components and what fitness means to you? Also, when did you start to get really serious about your training in your fitness to reach the level of being a Paralympic athlete?
The fitness goals for me have always been revolving around sport. It started out just as an opportunity to have fun, be inclusive and the teamwork. I would say that I became more serious about my fitness goals when it was probably leading into the 2016 Paralympic games where I had a realization that, if I want to sustain and to move towards this goal, then I have to sustain my fitness levels. That includes just keeping a healthy lifestyle overall for trying to be a better person for myself and my future. So, in 2016, I would say, is when I got more serious about my goals. I started to focus more on the nutritional aspect as well as the movement in my lifestyle more than I had previously and that was kind of an eye-opening moment and realizing that this is not only for myself and my fitness goals, but this is for myself moving forward and all around important, healthier lifestyle.
No, absolutely, it is very important to have a healthier lifestyle. What was the motivation behind your healthier lifestyle? Was it just the Paralympics or was there also another reason behind that motivation?
I think that my fitness goals for the Paralympics was a large aspect of it, but there was also the realization at that point that I wasn't in a very good lifestyle altogether, as far as my health leading into 2016. So, it was reflecting back and I looked at where I was and also looked around me and you see people you love go through so many different health scares and I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t putting myself at risk of that happening as well as put my family at ease.
No, absolutely, that’s a huge motivator when somebody that is close to you has some health challenges, you want to try to be the best version of yourself that you can be. I want to talk a little bit more about the Paralympics and the World Championships, because I think it was the most recent World Championships, you did a phenomenal job. Can you explain to the listeners about the experience you had at the worlds, where it seemed like every throw that you made was either a personal best or a world record!
Thank you for that. Yeah, the world championships in November of last year (2019) was definitely an eye-opening experience. My support system and I did a broad look at what I had been doing previously for sport, for my lifting and for my nutrition and we kind of did a 180 and just changed everything up. So, leading up to the world championships, I had changed a strength coach and we'd focus more on the lifting aspect of my sport as well as obviously, the throws itself. We also shifted that focus on what is best for sport and as a female in sport, I think there's also that sort of pressure to fit into the idea of what a female should look like versus what is good for your goals. So, we shifted my mindset and looked at what are the best goals for my nutrition as far as what I would like to do at the world championships. Leading to the world championships, I had this positive atmosphere, I had, and I still have, a very confident outlook on where I am and how I should feel about myself. With the games and having all of that leading into it, it just really made me capable and I think really played a large aspect of being able to go out and getting a personal best after not being able to do it for three years prior to that.
What was it about the training that was different from previous years up until that year? I know you touched on a little bit about it but tell us a little bit more about that.
Yeah, the specifics of the training that had changed was that prior to that my team and I had been heavily throws focusing, so discus throws, higher volume; we had a completely different technique. For discus for me, in my Paralympic classification, I was focusing prior to that, on trying to do a spin throw, so spin movement. What is best for me and for my disability and throwing was being at a stand throw position so that I could get all the power I had in my legs and really just chuck that disc out there. So, we made that specific technical change in my throw and understanding that that was just what was best for my body and throwing the best I could, but then the lifting also increased.
I went from doing a general kind of programming beforehand to a sport specific very much power-based programming that was very intellectually made so that it was recovery based as well. So, it was high volume for a couple of weeks and then there was a week of recovery where you did lower volume and just had that healing and then you would go back up. Depending on the time of year, we would do different movements. So, in the winter months you could definitely test your body for a summer sport, whereas in the summer months, you'd like to ease off and allow for your body to be the best opportunity to throw well for me.
No, absolutely. I had talked about you being a Paralympic athlete or in para sports. I totally forgot because I've known you for a lot of years and I just don't really care about it myself, however, the listeners just might want to know what is the challenge that you have in life? Can you also explain a bit about the category system that goes with the track and field athletes and what classification that you're in?
Yes, of course. So, for me, my physical disability is called Cerebral Palsy. Cerebral palsy is a neurological impairment; at birth, I was two months premature, I had three strokes on the left side of my brain and from when I was born, the right side of my body has been mildly weaker than the left side. There are different variations of Cerebral Palsy. I'm a hemiplegia, which means one side of the body is affected and the other side is not where there's different levels of impairment for that. For Paralympic sports it could be neurological impairments, it could be an amputation, it could be a spinal cord injury, but there's lots of opportunity and adaptations for you to excel in.
In track and field, they have a classification system. The classification system divides everybody on their disability to allow for you to compete with someone across the world that has the exact same if not similar impairment as you. So, in my classification there's T for track and F for field. So, I'm a field athlete in discus; I am an F38 athlete. There's 31 to 38, 31 being lower neurological impairment, 38 being the highest neurological impairment. I have people in my classification that are here in North America, South America and Europe. It’s hard to describe how unbelievable it is to have the opportunity to compete with people that have the same adaptations as me and to fall into something that's above and beyond what your expectations would be.
Now, as far as training goes there are some para-athletes that do need accommodations in order to be able to do an exercise. Do you need any such accommodations? And if so, can you talk a little bit about them and how they accommodate that?
Of course, I think no matter who you are, you always need adaptations. For me, I most definitely need to adapt when it comes to my working out and lifting and my running. It's just about being aware of your body and what it needs. When I had first got involved into fitness and now into lifting, it was important to understand that everybody does it differently. For me, when I'm doing movements, we can look at, for example, a bench press with a bar. My right side is weaker than my left side. So, if I am doing it with the bar, I got to watch to not compensate with the left side and ignore the right side. If I were to do an isolated movement, like a dumbbell bench press, I am lifting probably 10, if not 15 pounds heavier on my left side than my right side, and that is okay because that is what my body allows for me and I'm working towards something on making equality for that. So, for me, it was just important to kind of tear down the mentality that everybody's the same. It's important to know that you are working for this for yourself and I have adapted my workouts and recovery based on what I need; and recovery is very different as well with my disability.
During your Paralympic career, or just your field career what are one or two things that you have learned that kind of stick out the most to you?
Could you be a bit more specific? In general or?
Yeah. Do you have certain philosophies, or you had talked about how your mindset is changing in regard to “you're not like everybody else and that's okay.” And how you're different and you're going to adapt exercises. So, to me that would be one thing, where you've changed your mindset and that's probably been a big thing for you to overcome. So, is there anything like that?
Yeah, so I think that there has been an enormous amount of change. My philosophy now versus my philosophy even a couple of years ago, you're right, has significantly changed. Now, I kind of have this outlook and I remind myself that it's important to know that what you're doing, you're always bending, you're always being tangible to what you're doing, and you're never breaking. You’re always prepared to make a change. It’s a big aspect of your mindset, that positive outlook. So, if something maybe didn't work out the way it’s supposed to go, that's okay, because it's setting you up to be resilient for something else in the future. So, I think that my look on resiliency and making sure that if you stray off path, it's okay, you're going to make your way back in. It’s important to know that you can rely on yourself but rely on support systems around you. I think growing up, I've learned in general, but of course to my fitness goals, that you have to be willing to lean on others and support others and have other support.
Oh, for sure. What is support to you? Is it listening to somebody or talking with somebody? What’s your idea of support?
I think the idea of support is being open to listening to somebody else, whatever the conversation might be, support is hearing somebody out. Even if you don't agree, just knowing that that's okay because I'm going to be willing to listen to you and if you need help, I'll be there for you. Support could even be as far as just reminding somebody else of the other side of things, a different perspective on what they're looking at. Support comes in so many different ways, and it depends on what you need. So for me, I think my best regard of support is just knowing that if I do need to lean on somebody, a family, a friend, they will be there in whatever regard that they're capable of.
That’s an absolutely great answer. Can you tell the listeners, because I know that the Paralympics have been postponed and they're going to be in 2021, about your exercise routine from now up until the Paralympics and how you're going to prepare?
Of course. The postponement of the 2020 games was very difficult because it's a big change for an athlete, but it's a big change that happened in general with the world. The past couple months it's been a bit difficult because everybody's training environment has changed, and my training environment of course has done that as well. I'm very lucky to have some of the equipment that I do have available, but I've most definitely learned my limits when it comes to physical health and body workouts or other at home workouts. The internet has been a wonderful thing let me tell you! I'm very happy to be going back into a partial training environment where I'm capable of being with my coach as of Monday. So Monday is a very exciting day for me. So, my coach and I leading into 2021 is we're trying to keep the pace that we have going right now.
I do have a bit of recovery in August where I'll be doing lower power volume lifting, and we're going to focus from now until about January on my nutrition, trying to increase protein intake and muscle mass. We're trying to focus on the lifting to create that muscle mass and power so that I can really just whip the disc out there. Then from February until pretty much the trials, which should be in July, that's when it starts with competition season, we're hoping to do some training. Usually we go out to Florida, but depending on the travel restrictions, and of course what's best for the world at that point, we would even look at traveling within our beautiful country Canada and finding the best training environment to really push forward and get as many throws in as a can at the games so that I can hopefully race to the podium.
I have every confidence in the world that you are going to be able to go on the podium this time once 2021 happens and selfishly, I hope that you don't train in Florida because as of today there's 10,000 Coronavirus cases out there. So selfishly, I don't want you to go out there because I don't even want to even if there is the slightest chance that you may get it, I don’t want you to get it Renee.
Yep, and we're planning for staying within Canada and making it the best that we can. That's for sure, because if there is any risk at all, it's not worth it.
Absolutely. Now, and I might've asked this before, but do you have any other philosophies or sayings that you go by in life? As an example, one of mine is that everyone has challenges, some are just more noticeable than others. Do you have any that you have?
I love that actually, I really enjoyed that, thank you for sharing. I think something that I repeat personally to myself is “head up, chin down.” So, your heads held high, you are proud, you are pushing forward and positive, but keep your chin down focused on the important aspects of what you're doing and focusing in on what those goals are in hand.
That's amazing. Can you let the listeners know where they can follow your journey maybe on social media, in case they want to be able to cheer you on over the next few months until you get to the Paralympics?
Of course, I would love that. Thank you. My main source of social media is through Instagram. That's where I share a lot of my journey leading up to the Paralympic games. My Instagram is @raayfoe, Raay’s a nickname I have and Foe is short for Foessel. I do participate in Twitter; leading up to the games, I will be doing a lot of Twitter updates. So, for Twitter @RFoessel, I could spell that phonetically if you need me to!
Oh, that's okay. We'll make sure that we get your details up on the website when we get this on the Fitness For All websites. We’ll get the spelling there and they can also grab it from there. I know you personally, Renee, ever since you came, I think to that very first field practice. I also, one of the first things I remember is Ken Hall, who I believe is still your throw coach?
Yes. The best coach in the world.
There you go. I remember him getting you to roll the discus and he kept making you roll the discus. That was, we won't say how many years ago, but that was quite a few years ago. It was an amazing feeling, and I can only imagine what it was for you when you were at the Paralympics, because we were all at an establishment that we'll say, serves chocolate milk and cheering you on. To see how many people came out and supported you and watched you, it's just a testament to the person that you are, that has such great character; you’re just so good with everybody at the end of the day and you treat them as an equal and that's, what's so great about you.
Well, Cam I can let you know that I remember even before the field, when I was doing sledge hockey. I’m absolutely so warm and fulfilled hearing about having all the supports I have and none of this journey would be possible without everybody, without the club, without my family, friends, my coach and yourself. Knowing that you guys were cheering me on was is what really pushed me and part of me wishes that I could have been in that establishment watching with you guys.
Well, maybe what we'll do year when you get the gold is that we'll make sure that we videotape the whole thing and then you can watch it when you come home. So, there you go.
Well, thank you and thank you for allowing me to have this opportunity with you.
Oh, absolutely! So, everyone that was Renee Foessel. She is a Paralympian who was going to be going to the 2021 Paralympic games and make sure that you do follow her on Twitter and Instagram. Renee, it has been a pleasure having you on the show and thanks so much for being on it.
Thank you so much.
We'll talk to you again. Thanks so much.
Contact Renee Foessel at:
In this episode, Cam talks with Pam Sherman, founder of The Perfect Balance, certified trainer and instructor since 1997, author, media contributor, and motivational speaker.
There are lots of fitness "experts" and fads out there, but what makes Pam Sherman different is the years of experience with real results, providing a practical, creative, and fun (but no-nonsense) approach to health. She has reached thousands of people of all ages, weights and life stages, providing creative, small ways to get started on a path towards better health and motivate them to keep going.
]]>Welcome to another edition of Fitness for All with Cam Jenkins, sponsored by Lebert Fitness.
In this episode, Cam talks with Pam Sherman, founder of The Perfect Balance, certified trainer and instructor since 1997, author, media contributor, and motivational speaker.
There are lots of fitness "experts" and fads out there, but what makes Pam Sherman different is the years of experience with real results, providing a practical, creative, and fun (but no-nonsense) approach to health. She has reached thousands of people of all ages, weights and life stages, providing creative, small ways to get started on a path towards better health and motivate them to keep going.
This article is sourced from the Fitness For All Podcast, a top health and wellness podcast. Listen or subscribe below
Where to subscribe: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Spotify | iHeartRadio | RSS
Scroll to the end of the article for links to important resources mentioned in this episode.
*The following podcast has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
On today's show, we have Pam Sherman who I'm going to introduce as fabulous and over 50. Pam, welcome to the show.
Cam, thank you so much for having me on.
My pleasure. I know about four years ago you were in a car accident. Do you want to start off with that and your journey from that accident into what you're doing today?
You bet. I have been a lifelong runner and I was out on a December day, I live in California, so December is beautiful here, it was 50 degrees, no wind, just perfect weather.
I was training, actually my girlfriends and I used to go do a race in San Francisco, and in January there was going to be a nine-mile race. That day (December) I went out for a six-mile run and I was checking my pace. It was literally as a runner, one of those days, you're like, it's perfect right now! And then a car sped out of a parking lot and I couldn't stop; I put my hand out, I screamed and I literally “ate the windshield” for lack of a better term, and I rolled off his car into the other lane of traffic. Luckily, I was able to crawl back to the sidewalk and I was safe, and I did not have any big injuries. I lost teeth, which is so gross; nobody wants to talk about teeth, let alone going to the dentist! Since my injuries were, at least for me, really minor, I did have to spend the night in the hospital because I had a small brain bleed, which cleared up the next day.
I went in to see my sports guy who works on sports injuries. He's known me for 15 years and he looked at me and he put his hand out like a mom talking to a little kid and he said, “look, had you not been in such excellent shape, your injuries would have been far worse,” and I took that as my Oprah aha moment.
I've been a teacher, a group exercise teacher and personal trainer for 23 years, but that was my moment of, I have to reach more people to take better care of themselves and their health.
I was lucky I didn't die, I didn't have a really serious brain injury, I didn't break any bones, but I have seen too many people for too many years, not take care of themselves. They think they're too old, it's too hard and even though I was a hobo, I had no front teeth, I was like, I have to educate people on taking better care of their health.
How have you done that moving forward? Is that something that you learned right away or was that a process for you to learn?
Well no, because I had been a group exercise teacher and personal trainer. That was my career. So, I have been helping women, mostly women, for over 20 years, but that was in one classroom; there's only so many classes you can teach a day. I found a woman to help make a website. She made my whole website and I started having a weekly newsletter where I would try to inspire people with different things that happen in life.
I started writing books because I had 20 years of knowledge. I was training my daughter's soccer team. At the time they were in high school, and the girls would tell me the awful things they ate. So, one of the first books I wrote was “Nutrition for Athletes”; I'm not talking about college or professional athletes, but just basic nutrition because I know how to tell people to eat well, to fuel their bodies.
Then I had another friend's daughter say Pam, I'm going to college and I don't want to gain the Freshman 15. Can you help? And I said, not only can I help, but I’ll also write a book for you because I gained 30 pounds in college; I know exactly what not to do.
So, because I couldn't go to work because I had oral surgery; I had five big surgeries, I would never have written any books. They just naturally evolved on when my website designer said, “okay, if you have a newsletter, when people get your newsletter, you have to give them something free.” So, I would write, and I would actually write until I would get a headache because my brain was recovering and then I would stop writing. I gave it to her, and she said, “Pam, this is a book. I just want like your 10 best tips on how to be healthy.” And I was like, what do you mean? It's a book. She goes, “you gave me 10 more pages. This is a soft cover book. We can publish this on Amazon.” So, the books kind of organically happened.
Then I thought, you know what? I, I could start speaking because I have so much passion for health and wellness. I went down the motivational speaking route and was able to reach a couple thousand people doing that. Then more recently I thought, I'm a teacher by trade, I love being in the classroom with the microphone on and helping people move so I created The Perfect Balance tribe.
My company name is The Perfect Balance, and the tribe is a place where I put - it’s a private Facebook group - daily motivation, we have contests, I have Facebook lives where they can ask me whatever they want, and we can talk about whatever comes up. I also have videos in there. I think I was put on this earth to motivate people to do more than they're doing right now because, I think people think if they don't do everything, they're not going to be successful and I say to them hang on, you don't have to do everything, let's start with a little bit and add on from there.
I think that's so important because in today's times of COVID, people are getting overwhelmed, and they need to realize that they need to start off with small steps and then go from there.
Absolutely, yes. I have seen so many clients, people over the years, everybody's an all or nothing. If they can't do an hour of cardio and go to yoga and stop drinking wine and stop eating carbs and then do whatever else, they’re like, forget it, I'm a failure. I'm like, hey, can we just start with a 10 minute walk every day and add some water to your day? Like literally baby steps, let's be successful at that. Then maybe add in some pushups in your kitchen while you're waiting for your coffee to brew.
That's a great idea.
Oh Cam, I have so many good ideas I can’t even tell you!
I'm not a coffee drinker, so that's probably why I never thought to do that. So, that will be my "reason / excuse", as far as that goes.
If you're heating something up in the microwave or if you're boiling water for tea, I mean, everybody's in the kitchen a couple of times a day, at least if you busted out 10 counter pushups, say five times a day, you have 50 pushups right there.
That's a good idea; and to think that I went to the gym and I saw Mark yesterday, who we both know, and I did an entire fit workout rather than doing what you're suggesting.
I find when people are all or nothing, like you said, the first day or two, they get so sort of like, “forget it, this doesn't work, I can't even move.” Let’s add that and then let’s add in, I know coffee or tea is a food group for most people, but let's add some water in as well because we need water every single day. Then let's talk about sleep. I'm the biggest proponent of adding little things in, and as you're successful, adding another little thing and not totally overhauling your whole life.
No, and I think that’s it, like I said before, people think that they have to do everything right away and they have to do it on that day, but it's so much easier to not overwhelm yourself. I'm just learning this part way through my life and that is to try to focus on what you're doing in the moment or taking small steps, so you don't get overwhelmed.
Yes, and it's hard because in our society, everything is instant. When it comes to your health, there is nothing instant about your health, ever. It is a long, slow journey and most women over my career have wanted to lose weight and I have to look them in the eye and say, okay, the body you're in today is a reflection of the choices you've made over the last three, six or nine months. You have to give yourself that much grace on the other side, losing weight. Then they look at me, and say, “well, that's no fun.” I'm like, that's the reality of weight loss!
So, in today's world, Pam, with everyone wanting results right away, since everyone is different, how do you motivate your tribe to be able to understand that and move forward to get the results?
Well, I try to dispel any myths they have. So, we had a challenge for September, and everybody got to set their own goals because the youngest person I think, is in their twenties and I have a woman who is 78 in there. So, everybody had different goals. One of the gals, she works from home, well, who doesn't work from home these days, but she said her goal was not to reach in the pantry for crackers for the whole month, because it was just something that she did. That’s a realistic goal, right, and when you're hungry, sit down and have an apple. Somebody else said I am going to drink less. That's realistic and achievable.
So, when I have people who ask, “well, what should I do?” I tell them, let's talk about goals that are achievable for you. If you're sitting down at a desk, can you get up every hour and walk for five minutes? Just five minutes. Well, that's not much, but if you add that up over a day, so you walked for 35 minutes, times seven days in a week, that's a lot of great movement.
I try to be realistic. I try to dispel myths. I try to tell them, you know what, let's just say, I call our body a Ferrari, you have to treat the Ferrari well. There's no cutting corners with your health, but what you do now, your future self already thanks you for how you're taking care of yourself. So, let's make sure we take these small steps daily that will lead us to feeling amazing in our own skin.
For the people that you're training and helping out is there a number one thing that you say to them that this is how you should start. For example, drinking water every day; is there a number one thing that you suggest to them to get them started on that path to feeling well and healthier?
I do and it's going to surprise you Cam, are you ready?
Sleep is my number one thing. I know that if we don't sleep well, we're certainly not going to want to eat well the next day and we're certainly not going to want to exercise because our body's tired and our brain is going to crave sugar. I mean we've all stayed up too late, not gotten good sleep; you feel like crap the next day. So, I've actually told clients and even tribe members: with the abundance of things we can watch, on our phones or on our TVs, I want you to set your alarm to go to bed, because guess what? That show's going to be there tomorrow, and we all know when you get a good night's sleep, you feel like a million bucks. You're going to want to add some fruits or veggies into your day. You're going to want to move your body. You are going to want to drink water because you feel great. So, a good night's sleep is always my number one thing for starting your health journey.
There’s another thing that you said that I think we talked about before doing this podcast, and I also saw it on your website, and that is, “it's never too late to work on yourself or your health.” I think that's a really big thing that you're a proponent of.
A hundred percent. I was 49 when I got hit and I'm 53 now, and I am in the best shape of my life at age 53. I will just talk for the women who are listening to this, as we are experts at taking care of everybody else in our lives and I know a lot of women think it's selfish to take time, to take care of themselves, and my view is, it's not selfish, it's self-care. It's also self-love, because when you take care of yourself as a woman, you can take care of everybody else far better, when you take that little bit of time for you.
When my kids were little, I would see lots of moms at the school and they would say, “oh, I don't have time. I can't do it. I just, I feel bad.” No, no, no. Put yourself at the top of your priority list every day and the whole day is going to go better. We talked about this Cam, it’s not an hour, it's not two hours, I highly encourage people to do movement they love; exercise should not be a chore. The second part of that is, aside from what you love, I want everybody to strength train, because we lose muscle every decade after we turn 30 and we need to protect our bones by having our muscle mass stay. I’m not talking about bodybuilding, huge, but just protecting our muscles. So, do movement you love and strength training.
There was something else that I was looking at on the websites. You were talking about how you should add a, BAS daily, as it is a really good thing to do. I already know the answer to this, but can you tell our listeners what BAS is?
A Big Ass Salad
There you go. You set it beautifully. Why is it so important to add a big ass salad daily to your routine?
The thing that I find most people lack is their fiber intake and their veggie intake. I don't know if people know that fiber acts as little scrub brushes in our arteries so that our blood can flow freely in our arteries, and when it gets clogged up, that's a bad thing and can lead to all sorts of heart attacks, stroke, etc. Fiber keeps you full.
Our bodies love food, grown from the ground and in our insta-society where there's fast food, there's Uber Eats where they deliver it to your house. It's easy not to eat healthy; when I encourage people, please, please, please think about making your meals based around veggies first. I know when I go out there, there's crazy salads out there. I'm very basic I put in one fruit; so, depending on the season in the summer, berries are yummy and the winter and fall apples or pears, one nut of your choice, and then whatever kind of crumbled, goat cheese, and whatever protein you like it. I want to make it super easy for people because they go, “oh, I don't like it.” Oh my gosh, you got to try it. I have a client I've been working with her for three months. She had no vegetables when we first started working together and she tells me every week, “I can't believe it. I love my salads. They're amazing.” If I could sing, I would burst out in song and I can't, so, I will not hurt anybody's ears, but I mean, she was saying I'm so full and my skin looks better and I’m like, yeah, vegetables are amazing. They're so good for us.
Is there a certain type of vegetable that we should be eating more so than other ones?
I am a big proponent of think of the rainbow and I'm not talking about Skittles or M and M's.
You were making me hungry there by talking about Skittles, I'm not going to lie.
I'm a visual person, so when I look down and there's different colours in my salad, I'm so happy. So, of course lettuce is going to be green, if you could get something red in there, yellow; if you’re happy, when you're looking down at your plate, you're like, Oh, this is amazing, then that sends signals to your brain, like, oh my God, it's going to be awesome. As opposed to, just think of the standard Thanksgiving meal, it's brown, brown, brown versus a salad that's green and red and yellow. That's super vibrant. Just picture that in your head and you're like, oh yeah, that looks so good.
So, I don't think there's one particular vegetable, but trying to get a wide variety. Like I said, I’m 53, in the seventies, when I was a little kid, we didn't know how to make vegetables. Our moms boiled everything and it was gross. I mean, it was mushy, and the house smelled bad and brussels sprouts were so gross. Now I'm like, oh my God, roasted brussels sprouts is amazing.
They are after roasted. But if you boil them, I will not eat them.
No! Roasted with a little balsamic glaze on top with some caramelized onions.
I know my mom and dad, they had to end up putting on a timer for me growing up. They said you had to finish it by this time, or the food would be taken away from me and they made me eat that within that time, half hour or hour or whatever it was. You're right, it was so gross. That’s why up until in my later years now, I didn't necessarily like vegetables, but I ended up seeing the beauty in brussel sprouts and baking them, and cauliflower and baking them. So, I'm eating a little bit more vegetables, but I still have a little way to go. That's for sure.
Roasting is hard in the summertime because it's so hot and it makes your kitchen hot, and I have an air fryer, so I will put brussel sprouts or like yellow zucchini, yellow squash in my air fryer and we’ll use that. I'm putting my little quotation fingers up for the yellow zucchini as like a “crouton” in my salad because it's yellow and it's really pretty.
Absolutely. Now let's go and talk about your books on Amazon, because you are a published author of seven books. Do you want to talk about those books and if you have a favourite one or all of them your favourite?
My favourite one is my workbook because I've spent 20 years trying to help women, mostly women, a couple of guys, but mostly women lose weight. Most of them fail because they don't write down their goals, they don't write down how they're going to reach their goals. When you want to lose weight forever, not just a fad diet, there has to be a lot of mindset work and you have to think about, okay, what kind of action plans am I going to take to lose weight? So, when people buy the book, I'm like, you know, you need to sit down for a good hour or two and really think about your answers. You have to think about your huge, why, why do you want to lose weight? You can't just say to look better or feel better. Like, can you not play with your kids right now because you are out of breath? Do you want to live to see your grandchild graduate from high school? It has to be a huge WHY.
It's a deep dive into, yeah, you want to feel good and look better, who doesn't, but it's your big why that's going to get you to the finish line. Knowing okay, Friday night’s your dangerous time, let's talk about ways to game plan that. So, instead of going out with your friends for drinks or whatever, could you meet for coffee and go for a walk? So, it's literally thinking about what is harder for you, let's plan around that, let's make action steps that are going to make you successful along the way. A lot of people don't want to take that deep dive; you have to take the time to really think, because I want people to feel great in their own skin. I want them to know that it is possible. It's not going to happen tomorrow or the next day, but you put time into it. Let's say you start now, beginning of October, you could feel amazing by the end of the year. I mean, you could start next year off saying "look, I've dropped a couple pounds. I put some great new habits into place, I'm going to keep going." So, the workbook is my favourite.
Perfect. I think that's very important as well, when you were talking about writing it down, because once you write it down and you see it every day, then it's more real rather than you just thinking it in your head. From my experience when I'm just thinking about things, if I don't write it down it just doesn't seem to be as believable or reachable as a goal.
100%. I tell people once you have your why, put it on a sticky note, put it in your car, put it on your desk, put it in the kitchen, put it in your bathroom mirror, as a reminder every day as to why you're working towards this goal.
You're a fit radio coach. That's really interesting because I've never heard about that before. So, for our listeners, once again, can you let them know what a fit radio coaches and how that works?
Yes. This is a super fun story. When I was recovering from my accident. Actually, my Garmin, my super fancy running watch got smashed and I'm a running geek at heart Cam, I need to know what my pace is, even if I'm recovering from surgery and I don't feel well, I still want to know what my pace is. I found fit radio that had a Garmin like feature, which I was like, oh my gosh, this is great, and they have music on there so, I was like, oh, this is pretty fun. Then they added coaching. At first it was literally just music and the Garmin feature, and then they added coaching, and I remember being out for a run one day and I was about two miles away from my house and I thought, hang on, I'm a runner, I'm a coach. I could coach for fit radio.
I ran home, looked at how to apply online. I applied and at the time I did not have my permanent teeth and I just had a bridge and I was a little bit "lispy". So, the gal who I talked to, she said, “we're not saying no, we're just saying not yet.” We kept in touch and then once I got my permanent teeth, I'm like, hey, I got my teeth in. Can we talk about it? They said, “let’s do this. Let's have you put together 12 strength, workouts, and four interval running workouts, and we'll go from there.” They didn't know if I really knew my stuff or not, and for me, I was like, I'll get it to you tomorrow. It’s what I love to do!
She emailed me on Saturday night, I spent all day Sunday making these workouts and the running routines, then she called me on Monday and said, okay, you're hired. They were in Atlanta, Georgia. She said let's set up a time and fly you out. It helped me so much during a time when I needed and I don't even know how I found them Cam, I tried to remember, I don't know how I found that app. So, it is an app and now they have not only running coaching, but they have also biking coaching. You can be on the rower. You can be walking. They have yoga, they have so many DJs on there. So, there's tons of music to choose from.
I do have four interval running workouts and 12 strength training workouts on there and I hope to be able to go back to Atlanta to add on, because I want to add some stretching on, and I would love to do some more running workouts. It was the end of a super cool idea that I was like, I could do this and then it actually happened, which was an amazing part of my journey.
That's amazing. I use a meditation app to try to relax myself or try to focus myself. Then, when I saw this, I just thought this is amazing to be able to have somebody talking to you while you're actually doing it and how motivating that must be.
Well, it is. I know in the beginning, you know, they've evolved so there’s a lot more cues that a coach gives. I was in a sound booth making my workouts, and I've actually done my own workouts where I'm talking to myself, and I'm thinking, this is why people get trainers and coaches, because it's so much more motivating to have somebody tell you what to do.
When you're in the sound booth, are you actually doing the workout too or do you find yourself a couple of times starting to jog a little bit faster?
It's a tiny, think of an old school phone booth. I don't even know if the younger people know what that is, but there's no room at all.
You and I know what a phone booth is and that's all that matters.
It's a very small space and each workout, there was five to ten pages of cues that I have to go through. It’s more about the voice intonation and reflection. I don’t even think I was moving my arms. I was just trying not to lisp and not talk too fast because I tend to be a fast talker.
Ah, okay. So, do you want to let our listeners know how they can reach out to you if any women want to reach out to you to get help or anything like that?
Absolutely. I have a great offer for anybody listening. If you want to be inspired daily, if you want to see what The Perfect Balance tribe is like, you could try it for a month free. It's only $9.99 a month. I have so much free info for everybody that joins. You go to my website, theperfectbalance.guru and there's a button that says, Join the Tribe. You just click that and in the coupon code you put in FREEMONTH in all caps. If you date me for a month and think, oh, that's not for me, you can break up with me, but I think you will be like oh my gosh, I love the inspiration, and then we stay together until you're done.
That's awesome. For your seven books on Amazon, how can they get ahold of those, if they want to be able to buy any of those books?
You just put in Pam Sherman on Amazon and my Instagram handle is @perfectbalanceguru, and one thing we didn't talk about Cam, my YouTube channel is called, The Perfect Balance. I have so much on there. I have a five minute playlist, a 10 minute playlist, a 15 minute playlist of all home workouts, mostly body weight, a lot of stretching videos. I have a playlist of one minute of peace just to debrief and stretch for literally one minute at a time and I have a whole video library of “how to” exercises because it's when you're working out, you got to have good form. As a teacher, I was a stickler on form, so that is on there.
If you want to subscribe, that would be amazing and like we talked about Cam, I want people, if they're doing nothing, start with one of my five-minute workouts or 10-minute workouts, it's better than nothing. You might be mad at me and call me some names by the end, but it's a good start to getting back to feeling good in your body.
So, what I will be doing after this podcast, I'll do the five minutes and then I'll certainly let you know whether or not I'll be swearing at you or will be thanking you.
Well, you know, I have been called “Damn Pam” quite a bit in my career.
Well, I'll be calling you either Damn Pam or fine Pam because you got me to work out for five minutes and sometimes that's all you need to get started. Pam, it's been an absolute pleasure having you on the podcast. Thank you for being on Fitness for All, and I hope to have you on the podcast again.
Amazing. Thank you. Thank you for having me as a guest and my tagline Cam is “your health is your greatest wealth.”
We'll talk to you again. Thanks so much.
Contact Pam Sherman at:
In this episode, Cam talks with Nichelle Laus. Her drive, dedication, and commitment to health, fitness, and wellness comes from a long time ago. She was an amateur competitive boxer and kickboxer for over 20 years and retired from the fighting circuit about 12 years ago. She then started competing in physique/fitness competitions. She competed in both Figure and Bikini categories, and currently active in the amateur circuit as a Figure competitor.
She has been an online transformation specialist for the past 16 years, and have trained and transformed thousands of girls. She is also a certified personal trainer, kickboxing and kettlebell instructor, a motivational speaker, and a proud mom of 4 boys.
]]>Welcome to another edition of Fitness for All with Cam Jenkins, sponsored by Lebert Fitness.
In this episode, Cam talks with Nichelle Laus. Her drive, dedication, and commitment to health, fitness, and wellness comes from a long time ago. She was an amateur competitive boxer and kickboxer for over 20 years and retired from the fighting circuit about 12 years ago. She then started competing in physique/fitness competitions. She competed in both Figure and Bikini categories, and currently active in the amateur circuit as a Figure competitor.
She has been an online transformation specialist for the past 16 years, and have trained and transformed thousands of girls. She is also a certified personal trainer, kickboxing and kettlebell instructor, a motivational speaker, and a proud mom of 4 boys.
This article is sourced from the Fitness For All Podcast, a top health and wellness podcast. Listen or subscribe below
Where to subscribe: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Spotify | iHeartRadio | RSS
Scroll to the end of the article for links to important resources mentioned in this episode.
*The following podcast has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
Welcome to another edition of Fitness for All. It is a podcast put on by Lebert Fitness. Today on the Lebert Fitness podcast, we have Nichelle Laus. Nichelle, welcome to the show.
Thank you for having me.
So, I want to start off so the listeners can get to know you a little bit more and maybe talk a little bit about your past and what you're all about now.
Sure, well, do you have about ten minutes?
We have as long as you want!
I'm just kidding. I'm just a very busy girl!
I guess a little bit about my background; health and fitness has really been a huge part of my life ever since I was a teenager. I was always involved in some sort of sport and I was actually an amateur boxer and kickboxer for several years. I think I was about 30 when I retired and that's because I started having kids and I just found the schedule for training for fights is really difficult. Flexibility is really key for me, especially, you know, with that lifestyle.
I now have four boys. Their ages range: they’re growing so big, but they range now from seven to fourteen and so, I really love to be flexible. So, when I stopped kickboxing, I then got into fitness competitions. I really like the element of competition, but by training for competitions like those, it gave me some flexibility because I can do the training on my own schedule; so that really helped in that way.
Once I started delving into the fitness industry, I found this passion for it because I wanted to know more. I wanted to know more about these changes happening in my body because I was athletic all my life, but I never got to transform, I guess you can say, my body to that point. When we were boxing, it was always like you just had to make weight; so, however you made the weight, that was fine as long as you showed up and you had your boxing skills to kind of rely on. With competitions, there's so much more involved. It was proper nutrition or really clean nutrition, and you got your body down to a real state of leanness. Of course, you can't sustain that for a long time, but the whole process just really intrigued me, and I started really developing my skills. At the time I was a police officer. I was a police officer for 15 years and so being on the force, I always loved to ensure I was fit because you never know at any given time, what call you were going to get on, so I just always wanted to be ready, ready for action, I guess. Why I say that is because when I started doing the competitions and feeling really, really good, a lot of my colleagues would come up to me and say, you know, how are you doing this? You know the old expression, “at first they ask you why you're doing it, but then they'll ask you how,” and that's pretty much exactly what happened to me. Everyone started asking me how I was doing it, and can I train them? And at the time I said, well I can't train you; I don't know what I'm doing, I just follow my coach's orders!
As things went along and I started to really enjoy the process, I started taking it a little bit more seriously and I took in one of my first clients almost as a guinea pig. I said, OK, let me try this out and my guinea pig literally lost eighty pounds.
Oh my, that’s amazing!
Yes, it was really good. So, of course it was kind of like a snowball effect; I organically grew as a coach, I started coaching others and then I really found the coaching job really gratifying. One of the reasons why I was a police officer, is because I wanted to change the world, as cheesy as that sounds, but I really did. I mean, that's what most of us caregivers or people in policing or nursing or anything, any of the front-line work, they really care about others. I felt, although I loved my job, I really loved it with a passion; I still do miss it to this day that I'm no longer a police officer, but I felt by doing what I was doing (coaching), I was changing people's lives in another way. It was a lot more gratifying because sometimes when I was a cop, I would do the right thing let's say, you know, send someone to jail, but then they come out in a week or so and the whole cycle continued.
The thing with fitness or transformation, you're transforming people's lives physically, but it's also a whole lot more emotional and psychological and there is so much more involved and to me, I just love it. I did organically grow over the past ten years, so much so, that I decided to take this career to another level, and I left policing. I took my passion for health and fitness to another level, by going basically full time with my online transformation's and my coaching, and I also opened up a gym in Toronto, so it's kind of like a one stop shop type of thing. So, that's my story!
That’s your story and you’re sticking to it! I really resonate with wanting to help other people as well and that's fantastic that you were able to find something organically or kind of move into something. I can't even imagine what it would have been like from your previous career, putting like you said, a person in jail and then they’re out one week later.
What I want to talk about now is what you offer as far as your classes and as I understand, at least one or two are online now. What are those online training programs and also, how does a person know or how do you figure out what program is best for them?
Well, kind of like everything else, it all goes through a process, I guess.
Let's say we want to go on the online journey. So, like I said, I do offer the in-person training, which is at my gym facility, which is called OTC Toronto; it actually stands for Optimum Training Centre and that's in Etobicoke. We've won several awards which we're super proud of, but that's the in person.
If I take you on the online course, you can reach me at Nichellelaus.com and what you would do is you would see the different services that I offer and they're all available online. I do have a team of coaches as well so, I'm not by myself, I have my right-hand girls with me as well, and we offer different programs. My most popular ones, obviously, I think would be the customized ones. Now, I do offer a generic program that's relatively on the lower end in terms of price and that's because there's no accountability check ins, and you have to kind of be self-motivated for that one. So, for that program you would get a whole 12-week supplementation guide, nutrition guide and a training guide and then you also get access to kind of a member’s area on my website that gives you all the information. So, it's a great program, it’s just that you have to be self-motivated.
If you're not and you do prefer the accountability check ins, what we do is set you up on one of our customized plans. For the customized plan, we go through a meeting; I haven't met any of my clients, meaning personally, sometimes it's just all through email or now we use Zoom as well, or we can Skype, we do anything like that, and we get to know each other. I find out their goals and for the most part, people want to lose weight and gain lean muscle; that’s about 80 percent of my clients.
Then, we go over their goals, get their measurements and I always tell them communication is key. If you're not liking something, you're not going to obviously enjoy it and when you don't enjoy it, you're not going to succeed at it. So, I always let them know if there's something bothering you or something you don't like, let me know right away so I can make the changes to it, whether that be to the training program or to the meal plans. Also, with the customized training they check in.
How I design their plans is through their goals, through their questionnaire that they fill out and make sure I get to know all their injuries or dislikes or allergies, that type of thing. Then I design the meal plans and training routines and I fit it all in their schedule. So, if they tell me they can only work out, let's say, three times a week, well I’ll design that program for three times a week. It really, really depends on the person. So that would be the online customized plan and then every once in a while, I offer like a special edition of a program. That's amazing because my husband's a photographer. So, I do the Eight Weeks to Fabuloss, get it? Fabulous, fabuloss; you got to play with words, right? It's all about marketing.
I was looking at it and I thought it was fabulous and you’re right, it’s fabuloss, that went right over my head.
I got you there!
So, with the Eight Weeks to Fabuloss, it's amazing because I take them on an eight-week transformation and at the end their goal is to actually do a photo shoot with Dave. Dave is actually the top published fitness photographer in Canada, so we really work well together, and his studio is actually connected to the gym which makes everything really run smoothly like a real greatly oiled kind of engine. The gym is beside the studio, I work online, I work in person there, and it just works really well. So, that is the Eight Weeks to Fabuloss plan and that's pretty much the programs that I offer without getting too complicated. Once the girls are done, they get access to my Facebook page, which is a private network where I share recipes, ideas and all kinds of fun stuff and then the girls can go on a maintenance plan after where they can stay with me as long as they want.
That’s fantastic, or fabuloss. So, with your husband being a photographer, how did that idea come about of combining the program and then speaking to your husband about doing I don’t want to say glamour shot, but the fitness shots?
Well, it was one of those things, you always have to kind of be a step ahead of everybody, right? Maybe not everybody, but you're always going to think of new ideas as entrepreneurs. How we ended up with the gym space to begin with is actually kind of funny because Dave was also a police officer and as I was organically growing my online business, Dave was growing his photography business; he always had a passion for it.
Normally the fitness girls, when we get close to competitions, we look all lean and good and we all want to do photo shoots, it’s just one of those things. So, Dave started taking up photography and he ended up having a great eye for it. I mean, he is so good at it and it just kind of second nature to him. He did wonderful at it. So, as he grew his business and I was growing mine, our side businesses were actually getting busier and more lucrative in that sense that he went out on his own. He started looking for a studio; he worked at a small studio and then once a couple of years in he said, “you know, it's time to spread my wings and I'm going to look for a bigger space.” So, once he found this space, attached to it was this big empty space, which is now OTC, but what he had in mind was a lot of the girls or guys who would shoot with him always wanted a fitness look because they’re fitness competitors. He would shoot them with barbells in their hand or dumbbells or sometimes doing an exercise that had a fitness bench in it. So, his idea was to open the studio and have a small space attached to it, to put some equipment in it, except that small space ended up turning into this big, massive space because we got a couple of friends on board who had fancy ideas and said, “well, why don't you use this whole space? You may as well.” Then one thing led to another and we were signing a lease for a gym and I'm like, oh, boy.
That's really why we left our careers, because I couldn't nurture something that new and something that I didn't really know about; I was never a business owner before, I was a police officer, I had no idea and I decided in my head that, you know, if we're going to pursue this and continue this on as a career, we can’t have both and bring up four babies; this was not going to happen. So, that's what helped us to decide in the end to actually leave our profession and that’s how we ended up with the space. Now with his photo shoot, I just try to incorporate him into my services as much as I can and vice versa. If he is selling one of his packages, let's say, because a lot of his packages are for the fitness industry, he will say, because we work with several magazines internationally, he will also promote me and say, hey, if you need to get in shape for this photo shoot my wife does online programs, or you can come into our gym facility and actually do our classes or our personal training or semiprivate training. So, we kind of feed off each other and almost refer each other so it’s a really good partnership that way.
That's amazing. Let’s now talk about you being the Editor-In-Chief of NL Women’s Magazine. Can you talk a little about that experience and how you became Editor-In-Chief?
Well, that was interesting, because having been in the industry for so long, two of our friends came up to us; they had been in the magazine industry for a while and they basically kind of came up to me and said, “Nichelle, what is next for you? Like, you've done covers of magazines, you've been in articles, you've written articles, that kind of thing. So, what is next in what you want to do in your goals?” I said, I don't know, and they had a great idea and said how about now you run your own health and wellness magazine. It’s funny because it’s called NL and a lot of people think it stands for Nichelle Laus, but it actually doesn't. It’s like the Oprah book, right? The O stands for Oprah; NL isn't actually about my name, even though it does sound really good, it stands for new life, no limits and next level. So, it's a fantastic digital magazine and it's about real women and their stories, their struggles, their passions. There is some fitness in it but it's also about just leadership and results, just every part of a woman's life.
We cover stories, we cover women entrepreneurs, we have article contributors, which we call the voices. So, it's a nice platform to connect as women and really show a strong presence for everyone and so that everyone can relate to us.
How can people reach out to you, whether it's to the magazine or digitally so they can have that support?
Definitely. So, NL Women’s Mag is a free subscription. All you need to do is you can go on, we have an Instagram account, @nlwomensmag, and we also have a Facebook page. You can also email us at info@nlwomensmag.com. So, that's if you want to contribute as an article writer, if you want to be featured as a model, and what I mean by model is we're looking for real women. We're looking for success stories and struggles, transformations, anything like that. We even have a travel section as well. We have a best list. So, let’s say, for Christmas we’ll give you great tips on gifts you can buy for Christmas, that kind of thing.
With COVID happening, unfortunately we didn't publish our most recent post just because everything had slowed down, obviously because the world shut down, but we will be looking at launching another issue. Again, because it's digital and we're running it, just our small team, we had to have it on the back burner for a little while, but it is still active for sure; we do plan on moving forward with it.
You mentioned about COVID, I kind of want to touch on that as well. Have you had to modify anything or do anything different with your business as it pertains to COVID?
I really did. We took a huge hit in the gym, unfortunately, and now we're teeter tottering now literally on whether or not Ontario is going to shut down again, and we can't go down without a fight this time. I mean, we were closed since March 17th, 2020 for I don't know, five months it was. At one point I was counting the days it was closed and it really hurt us as business owners. I think like everybody else; everyone has their own struggles and stories of what happened in COVID.
We got hit really hard being closed, like I said there was nothing coming in and now that we are reopened and we have been reopened since stage three, we still have people not wanting to come back. It's just because they're scared and I get it, they're not going to come back, or some of our trainers don't have any clients so, we dropped trainers substantially. So, yeah, like I read once, we’re in a war, it's not the same war, honestly, like our grandfathers fought, but it's a different war and we really took a beating. Now it’s like the war isn't even over, we’re in it still because we still have to recover from our shutdown and now, we have to rebuild and that is going to take a while as well. As always, I'm optimistic, I'm positive, and I believe everything happens for a reason and I am going to fight to keep it open and be successful again.
You know what, you already are a successful person, and that's one thing I think everyone needs to kind of think about during this, is that everyone is worthy, and everyone is successful. Speaking of successful, from the time, where you said earlier in the podcast, had a guinea pig where they had lost 80 pounds. How has your philosophy changed in coaching or training the person from that first guinea pig up until today?
I think as I change as a coach and just evolution in general, you learn that not everything is I don't even know how to say this, but like a blueprint, nothing is black, well, it should be black and white. But when you're talking about physical changes or emotional changes, everything changes, especially me, like having been in the industry now for almost 20 years. I have four kids now so your body changes, your hormones change, your feelings change just because of stress levels; everything changes. So, you need to overcome and adapt and it’s actually really fun because it's not like a set cookie cutter, it’s not a set blueprint that you can give someone and say, here, take this and go change. You have to learn to adapt to that person or to yourself in order for you to be successful, no matter what you're doing.
That’s a great way to say it, especially because everyone is different, and everybody does need a kind of a plan of their own at the end of the day so they can succeed. Well, Nichelle, I just want to thank you very much for being on the Lebert Fitness podcast and it is sponsored by, of course Lebert Fitness. Is there any other message that you want to get out to anybody or maybe talk about how people can contact you for any of your business?
Sure. I just want to thank, first of all, you, for having me on the podcast. I also want to thank everyone who's listening and to remember that you can overcome any obstacle that's put in front of you as long as you want your goal bad enough. Everything and everybody can be successful in their own way.
You can reach me. I'm sometimes on social media. I laugh because I’m on Instagram @nichellelaus, you can find me, and you can find my coaching @teamlaus as well where I feature all my clients and then of course I have a Facebook Page: Nichelle Laus Fitness and my website is NichelleLaus.com. If you want to come out to our gym to our facility in Etobicoke, we are OTCToronto.com, and we provide personal training, semiprivate training or functional group classes.
Contact Nichelle at:
In this episode, Cam talks with Tevin Cherry. Tevin Dion Cherry was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy at the age of 9 months. He gained a passion for fitness from watching his family members lift weights and play sports predominantly basketball and track football. He loved weight training so much that when he was in high school, he decided to become a personal trainer so that he could help other people. He got his certification through NASM (National Academy of Sports Medicine )
]]>Welcome to another edition of Fitness for All with Cam Jenkins, sponsored by Lebert Fitness.
In this episode, Cam talks with Tevin Cherry. Tevin Dion Cherry was born and raised in Thomaston Georgia on November 2nd, 1991. He was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy at the age of 9 months, due to the premature birth of himself along with his twin brother Teddy (Terron). He gained a passion for fitness from watching his family members lift weights and play sports predominantly basketball and track football. He loved weight training so much that when he was in high school, he decided to become a personal trainer so that he could help other people. He got his certification through NASM (National Academy of Sports Medicine)
Sports Medicine ) on June 30th 2020. Tevin Cherry’s goal is to help others with disabilities have access to facilities to be able to train and move better.
This article is sourced from the Fitness For All Podcast, a top health and wellness podcast. Listen or subscribe below
Where to subscribe: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Spotify | iHeartRadio | RSS
Scroll to the end of the article for links to important resources mentioned in this episode.
*The following podcast has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
Welcome to another edition of Fitness for All. It is a podcast put on by Lebert Fitness and I’m your host Cam Jenkins. On this week's show, we have Tevin Cherry. Welcome to the show, Tevin.
Welcome, thank you, Cam, and I'm glad to be a part of the Lebert Fitness, Fitness For All podcast.
Absolutely. We were really looking forward to having you, so it's about time that you got on here and let's get started. I first wanted to point out that, I think it was yesterday or today, I saw you using some of the Lebert Fitness equalizers? I saw you doing a move that I'm sure I've seen before, but you were kind of holding yourself up and it was like you were walking up a wall, but you were just kind of being straight, like a flag.
Yeah, they call that the plant or the Superman pose, and it took me about, I want to say, five years to master that. So I basically did 100 push ups per day and I practiced just holding myself in various positions using the equalizers until I was able to build up my core strength to be able to hold myself in a straight line.
Absolutely. It was phenomenal what you were doing and I don't think I've seen it before and when I saw you doing that, I'm like, oh man, I got some work to do! So Tevin how did you get started in the fitness industry or why did you start working out?
Well, I can truly say that my beginnings of working out really started as a child around the 4th or 5th grade when my mom bought me and my twin brother Terron a weight set. As we progressed and Terron started playing sports, I started to use the weight set too, because I was noticing the positive effects that it was having on him; building his body and helping him build his self-esteem. So, I decided to work out and strengthen my body for myself as somebody who lives with C.P, cerebral palsy, and someone that spent the majority of my early years, especially, going to physical therapy.
Now I'm at a point where I can train myself and I make sure I get up and train each and every single day. I decided to become a personal trainer or wanted to become a strength and conditioning coach, my junior year of high school, because I had two coaches, Steve Patterson and Tommy Watson, they really took their time with me and really helped me build my body. Plus, I came to the realization that, the fitness industry was a place for me because I could go somewhere where I could be productive and where I could set goals and nobody ever discriminated against me and told me that I couldn't work out.
Did you find that you were discriminated against; because I know that you're also a person of colour, so were you discriminated against growing up? And then on top of that, I also have what I call a challenge or a physical disability, Spina Bifida, so, did you have a bit of trouble with that growing up as well?
Well, I wasn't discriminated against necessarily because of my colour, so to speak, because I do come from a small town of Thompson, Georgia; it’s very country and it's less than ten thousand people, and the town itself was conservative. I never really noticed for me personally to be discriminated against because of my colour, but I was discriminated against in certain areas when it came to dealing with situations in the classroom.
I even was going back and forth between riding the regular bus and the special education bus because I had one bus driver tell me that I couldn't ride on his bus and that I was going to have to ride the other bus. My mom had to come down to the bus stop each and every single day to make sure I got on the bus, but eventually she ended up taking me to school and somehow the kids that rode that bus found out what the driver was saying to me and they ended up just basically trashing his bus.
For the people that kind of stood up for you, how did that make you feel?
I felt honored and really glad that I grew up with kids that always looked out for me. It was a real funny thing, I grew up with my classmates and they talked to me and everything, but the kids that did it were either older or younger than me.
The kids older than me and younger than me at a certain period of time, they were afraid to talk to me directly so, they would talk to my brother or my sister and then when I found out what they did (trashing the bus), I told my brother to tell them not to do that again, because that sets a bad precedent. I understand their anger and their frustration, but I still want to be able to have a good rapport regardless of the situation and everything that happened.
Did the fitness or the working out, the strength conditioning, did that kind of help you out to be the person you are today, to kind of help you overcome some of that?
Absolutely. The one thing my coaches did with me early was establish goals. For example, I only did a majority upper body workouts, but I was so weak, so it was like they were having to take somebody that's never worked out before and work from the bottom up, basically.
I had small goals like learning how to hold the bar and bench press 45 lbs and I can remember my first ever max out date when I was bench pressing, and my first bench press max was 75 lbs. I knew I could bench 100 lbs but when I came up with the weight, the weight touched the bar because I couldn't keep my balance and I was so mad. My brother hit me on the head and told me, “we know you can do better than that, you just have to learn how to balance and control the bar.” He was very instrumental, and a lot of the guys I grew up around, they were very instrumental and really built on that foundation in me early.
I know that you are a certified personal trainer. Do you want to talk a little bit about that experience and how you got that?
That was a crazy experience. It all started in March, when the pandemic first really hit and when things were really shutting down. I was still at work at the time and I was talking to somebody that was close to me at the time and I was explaining, hey, I don't have that many expenses, let me go ahead and try to knock this out of the way.
So I'm like, let me give them a call and set up my package and just make payments.
I was just trying to get the smallest or cheapest package that they had, and it was for about five hundred dollars and I was going to pay $25 every two weeks, basically $50 dollars a month for the course.
I called them and I talked to someone over at NASM and I was just explaining to them my story and everything that I've been through with C.P and then I had to go to work at the time, so I had to let them know I had to go, and they told me to give them a call back. That same day, I clocked in at 9:30 and I didn't go to break until like 2:00 p.m. that afternoon, which is a late break for me, so I called them back and they didn't answer, so I'm like, oh, man, it's the end of the day, they’re probably going to call me back tomorrow.
Then, when I was out on the floor, working with guests and things like that, I had to use the restroom and I also checked my phone, and in the midst of me going to the bathroom, they called me back! I had to stay in the bathroom a little bit longer so I could check my messages and really talk to them and when when they called me back they were like, Tevin, we could not help but overhear your story. We had to look you up and they were like, your YouTube videos and YouTube channel are awesome, man. They said we know you wanted the cheapest package you could get so you could get your certification, but we're not going to let you do that because we've decided to give you the full access to any of our courses on us, just let us know what you need. All you have to do is basically pass the course and pass the test.
It took about three months of really hard studying since everybody was quarantined, and that's all I had to do. On June 30th, 2020, I got back to Atlanta and I took the test and let me tell you, Cameron, it was one of the hardest tests that I ever took in my life. I wasn't necessarily confident that I passed because going into the test, I looked up the statistics of the pass rate and there was only a 50% pass rate of people that passed on the first try.
Sorry, did you look at that pass rate before or after the exam?
Before, and everybody was telling me, you know, Tevin there's only a 50% pass rate, don't feel bad if you fail the first time. I’m like, OK, but I don't plan on failing. I was the person who diligently studied at everything I did and I’m basically a person that's all about hard work, putting in the work everyday.
It certainly shows on your Instagram page and your Instagram page, just so everyone knows that’s listening is, Buster_the_Strongman. Where did you come up with Buster?
Well, Buster was a nickname that my grandmother gave me, and “the” came from one of my Instagram followers. Her name is Cassandra James and at the time her name was The Cassie Show, and I said, “Buster the”. Strongman came from when I used to watch those strong man competitions on TV, you know, when they're pulling the trucks and the tires. So, I was like strongman, everybody is called strong man, but I was like, they’re aren’t any strong mans named Buster. So, I had changed my Instagram name from Tevfitchamp22 because I was twenty two at the time, and then I was twenty four when I came up with the name. So I said Buster the Strongman and I didn't want it to be used as one big word so I just added the underscore so it will be unique and everybody inboxed me asking why did you change your name? Who’s Buster the strong man? I said, that’s my alter ego.
That's like your superpower.
Right!
I see you got some merchandise for that, too.
Yes, that's that's under my LLC that I got back in March. You can hit me up through the DM, I accept PayPal, Cashapp, Zelle and I have a website coming soon and I'm going to put that up as well.
That's awesome. With the merch, what kind of merch do you have? I see a shirt; you got anything else, or can you describe the shirt to our listeners?
It's a black shirt with my signature logo and my strongman logo and the actual logo, it's a T, but if you draw on the white outline, you will see that you draw an “S”; it stands for Strong Man Tev, and Tev is one of my nicknames that my sister and my physical therapist gave me. So, that’s what my logo stands for.
Yeah, it's a great shirt, I like it. I can see now the S and the T kind of within the S, so that's pretty cool. Shout out to your sister for designing that. Now I also was very intrigued Tevin, that you're going for a Guinness World Record. Do you want to talk to the listeners about that and what you're going to do?
Yeah. This is this has been on my mind for a long time. Well, back in high school during my 10th grade year, I was at wrestling practice and we were on a water break and my coach was screaming, “hey, buster, go get some water” and I was like, “I'm good coach, I'm good.” We had been going hard at practice and I was just playing around because at that time I was trying to learn how to walk on my hands. I always knew how to do a handstand since I was a very little boy, because I would be in a little pool that we had in our house, and my mom said that I would always do handstands in the pool so, it's like I always had that in me; that was one of my God given talents.
When I was doing a handstand, I was trying to make the motion to kind of walk forward and walk on my hands, but I fell flat on my face. So I'm like, man. But then when I came back up, I realized what in the world? And then I did it five more times, and I’m like, whoa, I could do a push up from a handstand. I've never told this story to anybody, this is the first time.
When we used to go to wrestling events and everybody was warming up, one thing we used to do to intimidate teams and make them think that we were better than we actually were, and we were really good now, was that I used to go to the center of the mat or whatever tournament we were at, and I would just drop down and hit like 10 handstand push ups. I could just see everybody's eyes widening and then when we would go wrestle against certain teams, that struck the fear factor in them and it was crazy because I never believed that something like that would have an impact on people.
That's unbelievable.
I saw the world record breaker break the record on YouTube back in 2015, and I was talking to my best friend Brandon Foster about it and he said, “hey man, you got to break the record, you got to break the record.” I was training and stuff and then I got a full time job and I kind of stopped and then I got back, started with my workouts and things like that, but it always stayed in my mind.
So, I saw his name again and I Googled “what’s the handstand pushup record?” and it still had twenty seven but he did a little bit more digger deeping last week and the record is now thirty seven handstand pushups in a minute. I am currently at eighteen in a minute so I feel like the record is feasible because I've been working on my movement and my balance over the past year. I'm starting to become more stable, I just have to keep building my body and gaining that balance and that strength so that I can place my name in the Guinness Book of World Records.
So Tevin, can you talk a little bit about the EQ bars that you use because I see you’re using them a lot in your videos on Instagram.
First and foremost the EQ’s are my favourite pair of bars to use. I've kind of been so loyal to the brand for about seven years that I'm kind of hesitant when I use other bars. You know I don't even want to record myself if I'm not using Lebert Fitness equalizers because I feel like I'm so much a part of the family and I do consider myself an ambassador or an advocate or an affiliate so to speak.
When did you start using the EQ’s; do you remember the first time you used them?
Actually yes, I had just graduated from Gordon State College in Barnesville, Georgia and I transferred an hour up the road up to Clayton State University in Clayton County, Georgia. I worked out at Gordon's gym and I worked out at various places but when I got up to Clayton State’s gym and compared it to Gordon’s gym I was like man, this is it. When I'm inside of a gym I'm like a kid in a candy store I'm not gonna lie. I like to really see all the equipment that they have and I'm just scouring and just looking at everything, thumbing through all the medicine balls, marvelling at the weights and things of that nature.
Then I look into the corner and the bars were tucked away over into a corner where nobody was using them, so I’m like “hey, what are these?”. So, I grab them and I just start holding onto them and doing some squats, doing some push ups and these various movements, and it was at the beginning of our school year, I want to say 2013-2014, so I was like hmm, eventually when I go home for the summer I'm gonna have to get some of my own.
At that time I was shopping the net to see if I could find something similar somewhere and see if I could purchase a set of equalizers. So, I DM’d competitors, various other people in the fitness industry, emailing them telling them to share my story and whatnot and what I was trying to accomplish, but nobody responded. So I finally decided to look up Mark's information and I really reached out on a whim and I told him, “Hey, I really like the look of your EQ’s or your bars. I am trying to walk on my own. I'm trying to exercise more effectively, please reach out to me about purchasing your product, let me know.” He sent me this heartfelt email telling me how touched he was by my story and that he would do whatever he needed necessary to make sure that I purchase the product.
About maybe a week later he emailed me a promo code that I kept and at that time I was only getting paid once a month because I received SSI from the government at that point in time. I saved my money for that whole entire month and a month later I was able to use that promo code and purchase my very first set of EQ bars. From that point on I started to use them in almost all my videos. If you go back and look at my YouTube channel which is Tevin Cherry by the way, you'll see in my early videos I was even using the bars in the majority of my early YouTube videos. They really helped me establish a foundation and over the years I was just looking at various ways and opportunities to use them and come up with ways for the adaptive community to be effective, which leads me into my other point.
My overall goal is to be able to help other people with disabilities - specifically cerebral palsy and any other similar physical disability to mine - workout because the underlying issue in the disability community is being able to get up, move around and actually stay active and live a healthy life. I know for a fact people with C.P. tend to struggle as they get older because there's no one around to teach them or show them how they can remain active and keep their muscles loose as they get into their 30s and 40s as the body tends to start to wear down. If you don't have the proper maintenance and things of that nature to kind of stave off some of the ills and challenges that cerebral palsy presents.
Absolutely, and like I said I'm a person with a disability as well, I have spina bifida, and you know I find it hard to find the motivation to kind of move up and move around and all that stuff as well. It's been a pleasure speaking with you Tevin and I'm certainly going to be following you and hopefully you can help to motivate myself to get up and get some movement into me too.
So, this was Tevin Cherry and if they want to reach out to you, let’s do a refresh and let everybody know where they can reach out to you on social media.
Ok guys if you want to reach out to me on LinkedIn and Facebook you can find me by my first and last name, Tevin Cherry. You can also find me on Twitter @BusterTheStrong and on Instagram where I post most of my updates you can follow me @buster_the_strongman and you'll be able to follow me there. I'll be posting daily workout videos and weekly workout videos. I also collaborate with the GLS training systems GOATA movement systems and I'm always putting up my weekly Go to Groundwork workouts. If you guys want to follow my progress you can hit me up on there.
Thank you Cameron and I want to thank everyone at the Lebert Fitness family for following me and I'm so thankful for all the support that I have on my journey and I will not forget you guys. You guys will always have a special place in my heart.
You have a special place in our heart as well and I can't speak for everyone else but I really enjoy surrounding myself with people that are positive and that are always working towards goals. You certainly do that in spades, so well done Tevin.
Thank you so much.
Not a problem. We’re certainly going to have you on the podcast again. Once again this was Tevin Cherry and you’ve been listening to the Fitness For All podcast and it's brought to you by Lebert Fitness.
Contact Tevin Cherry at:
Welcome to another edition of Fitness for All with Cam Jenkins, sponsored by Lebert Fitness.
In this episode, Cam talks with Peter Morel. Peter Morel has been an advocate for health and fitness for persons with disabilities for over 25 years. Born with Spina Bifida Peter has devoted his life to helping persons with disabilities reap the benefits of health and fitness.
An award-winning fitness expert he is the President of TopShape Inc; and co-manages the TopShape Fitness Studio in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He has been an adaptive fitness consultant to many businesses, fitness facilities, and government programs. His expert services are sought all over the world.
This article is sourced from the Fitness For All Podcast, a top health and wellness podcast. Listen or subscribe below
Where to subscribe: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Spotify | iHeartRadio | RSS
Scroll to the end of the article for links to important resources mentioned in this episode.
*The following podcast has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
On today's show for the Lebert Fitness for All podcast, we have Peter Morel, founder and co-owner of Top Shape Fitness Consulting Incorporated. Peter, how are you doing today?
So, can you tell the listeners a little bit about yourself and how you started your fitness journey?
Alright. It's a pretty long story, but I'll try to condense as much as possible. We've been in the health and fitness industry for 27 years now. We own and operate a fully accessible fitness facility in Ottawa called the Top Shape Fitness Studio, which is working with everyone from able bodied athletes all the way to people with many, many types of mobility impairments.
How we first got started, I was in the nightclub industry 30 some years ago and quite disillusioned about where I was and where I was going within that industry. Obviously, it's a go nowhere industry, you can only go so far, and my next door neighbour, who is my business partner now, Mike Hayden, was working in a bar himself and actually he was going to university. He was in Carlton University taking a law degree. I sat down with him one day and said, listen, I’m just completely disillusioned with what it is I'm doing, I need to find another line of work. He said, well, let's sit down, let's go through things that you like to do. One of the things that kept coming up was I love to go to the gym. I was working in a nightclub, not necessarily the healthiest place to be, but I still managed to get to the gym three or four days a week. Back in those days, health and fitness was really starting to boom, the industry was really starting to get quite large and people were coming up with new ideas and new classes and all kinds of stuff.
Mike said, why don't you take a fitness course or personal training course or something somewhere? He said, I'll even go with you just for fun to take it, kind of as a continuing education course. So, I enrolled in my first of four certification courses, which was at the YMCA here in Ottawa, and he jumped in and I opened about three months after graduating from that course and getting a degree in personal training from the YMCA of Canada. I opened my own business called Top Shape Personal Training, where I was doing in home, traveling from house to house, doing in-home training. One of the directors at the Y came up to Mike and I and said, we are developing a pilot project for the Y of Canada throughout the whole country to bring in personal training in the YMCA. If you guys help me, I'll hire you guys on as my first two personal trainers.
So, we were definitely on board with that and we helped build the program in Canada for the Y in personal training. We were hired on here in Ottawa at the Metro Central YMCA downtown and worked there for three and a half years while at the same time we built our business up and then in 1995 we bought our first property, built a gym, opened our private personal training studio and the rest is history.
That is a really detailed and exciting story, considering where you started from to get into a new career altogether.
It was a definite need to change careers, and that was the biggest thing that fuelled the whole idea. We took more certification courses and we audited kinesiology courses at the University of Ottawa through a friend of ours, Dr. Reid, who, as far as I know, still teaches there. We've been doing adaptive training and I've been working as a specialist in adaptive training working with para-athletes, mobility impairments; we have absolutely everything you could possibly think of. I work with cancer patients to PTSD, to amputees, spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injury. I've worked with the Invictus Games with the injured in the military for about 16 years now, so it's growing quite a bit in the last twenty-five years.
Absolutely. How do you train each individual person that comes in; because everyone has something different and you talk about how you're one of the leading experts in training for adaptive athletes. So how did that come about?
Well, again, we were working at the Y and I was thinking that I needed a little bit of a niche, obviously being a person with spina bifida myself and being an adaptive person, I said, that would be a great niche to get into because there's not a lot of people working in that field in the health and fitness industry, in Ontario, for that matter, especially here in Ottawa. So, I started to develop a program and I developed a program over the years and now I've got a 32-page training manual called Adaptive Fitness for Professionals, where I travel all over Canada and train personal trainers in adaptive fitness protocols to teach them how to work with a huge variety of mobility impairments.
Basically, the physiology is exactly the same; the way that I or you or anyone with a mobility impairment bounces back from fitness training is exactly the same as any other human being on the planet. The only thing that needs to be changed is the adaptation to the program itself to allow for the differences in mobility impairments.
There's no universal program. There's no cookie cutter program that works. You have to be, like you said, very, very, very individualistic because one person with CP and another person with CP are two completely different things. One person, depending on the spinal cord injury; I could have two guys with Level C4 spinal cord injuries, and one has tricep ability and one doesn't. So, it's very individualistic and what we try to stress as much as we possibly can when teaching other fitness professionals about working with people with mobility impairments, is the evaluation process; the open ended questions and what to ask and how to really develop an individual program for each person that works for them and how to adapt the program for that person.
With you talking about this, I was also wondering about motivation, because that's a big part of it and how you can motivate your clients. Is it the same motivating, whether it's an able bodied or a person that's adaptive, or do you find that you have to motivate the adaptive or is it just kind of all individualized?
It’s fairly basic, motivational techniques are fairly basic across the board and I find that people with mobility impairments are just as motivated as anyone else. A para-athlete is just as motivated as any other athlete to get done and to win and to be a champion than anyone else. Same with anyone who comes to me with a prescription from a doctor for health and fitness. Somebody with a with a traumatic brain injury, for example, comes in and says, my doctor says I need to get in shape, well, then obviously there's their motivation. The doctors push them to tell them that they need to get fit and most people that have any knowledge of health and fitness know that it's obviously a good thing to do no matter what anyways.
As far as motivating them, we have a very extensive cancellation procedure. If you're just calling me up on the day of and saying, I don't feel like working out, you lose your session with your trainer on that day and you're still ending up paying $85 dollars an hour. There's your motivation to get into the gym, so, most people will pretty much show up. That's a good start. Once they're here, then they're mine and or one of our trainers and then we are going to lead you through possibly the best workout that we can for that individual, depending on, again, the design of the program.
You really scared me when you said once they're here, they're mine.
Oh, yeah. They belong to us and that's it, we're getting work done. You get to the door we’re going to get a workout in no matter what and it's going to be the best workout possible for you. That's what we what we do at Top Shape; we make sure that we know absolutely everything we possibly can about each client.
Our evaluation procedure is extremely extensive. It's one of the most extensive evaluations in the industry. We do flexibility tests, strength tests, endurance tests, cardio tests, hormone analysis, dietary analysis. We look at absolutely everything because we want to know everything we possibly can about where you are as far as your level of fitness is right now and then we design a program step by step by step to get you to where you want to be.
Yeah, that seems very intensive to go over that. So, when somebody walks through the door, what's your tag line or how do you introduce yourself and your company? For a first session, do you talk to them in regards to all of those tests?
Well, most of the time it begins either with a phone call or a website search and, or both someone will look at our website and then give us a call and say, I'm looking to get in shape, I really don't know what I'm doing in the gym, I know I need a personal trainer. How can you guys help?
Well, first of all, come on down, we'll give you a complimentary consultation, we'll show you the facility, we'll sit and chat with the customer about what their goals are and what it is they want to do and what we think we can do to help them. Then from there, we design a fitness evaluation for that person.
So, the first step is come in, do the consult. Second step, do the fitness evaluation, which takes on average about an hour and a half to complete the full evaluation. Then what they do is they go home, we design the program, we consult with whoever it is we need to consult with. If we need to consult with a doctor or a dietician or whatever the case may be, we do that consultation process with them. We design that person's program. They come back in again, we do a full orientation session with the client, one on one in the gym with the trainer teaching them their breathing protocols, cardiovascular protocols and we go over the exercises on their program, the technique, the form and all of that, one on one with them. Then as they begin the personal training, we reiterate all of the things that are taught on the orientation.
I know that being a trainer such as yourself, some trainers think of a certain tool, or a piece of equipment that are their favourites. As an example for Lebert fitness, they love to use their Lebert equalizers to help get people in shape. Is there any such tool that’s your go to?
We have a lot of stuff in our facility, and depending again, if it's an able-bodied person, obviously they can use absolutely everything that's in the facility. If it's someone with a mobility impairment that's impaired and can't transfer from a wheelchair to a seat, for example, we have a lot of things that we can just pull the seats right out and they can roll right in with their chair and use the equipment.
So, the equipment is very much adaptable and it's fairly simple to adapt almost any piece of equipment in any facility. I pride myself on being able to teach any personal trainer to adapt any program for any person anywhere in any facility anywhere in the world. Even with just a set of dumbbells, you can get a pretty good workout for almost your complete body, if you know what you're doing.
It’s pretty safe to say we can adapt to almost anything in our facility to anyone that comes in. We really haven't been stumped yet, knock on wood, which is a good thing.
We have a huge variety of people you can possibly think of. We've had everybody, amputees, wheelchairs, spinal cord, PTSD, brain injuries. We've got cancer survivors.
That's good that you have a lot of different equipment and that you're so adaptable because that's what the world is like. It's kind of a time where you're going to have the baby boomers come in and they're getting to that age now where they're going to be having a lot of different disabilities. I think the world is going to have to be adaptable because a lot of the population is going that way.
We're looking at 4.7 million people in Canada right now that say they have some form of mobility impairment and that's growing, like you say, with the baby boomers, that's growing every day. It's definitely going in the wrong direction for the country, but the right direction for us at Top Shape. It's going to create a fairly large health care strain if a lot of these people aren't taught that they can keep in shape and be in shape and learn how to get there relatively quickly.
As for the Ottawa area, because that's where your club is, is there a lot of word of mouth to get people to join your club?
We get a lot of word of mouth. We get a lot of hits from our website. We also get a ton of referral work from doctors and physicians and different clinics in the area and we have a lot of specialty programs that are really, really popular.
My business partner, Mike Hayden, is the person who runs our PARE prep course. We do military, police, fire and first responder’s courses for people to pass the physical fitness evaluations that each of those different jobs need to be able to pass and get into the courses. So that's a pretty popular program that fills up really, really quick every month here at Top Shape.
We have six trainers on staff that are all experts in different fields, so, depending on what a person is looking to achieve and what they want to do when they come to us, we try to set them up with the proper trainer to be able to make sure that they're achieving the goals.
You mentioned some of the programs you have. Can you talk a little bit more about some of them and maybe one of the programs that sets you apart from some of the others?
Yeah, some of the more popular ones we have right now, the PARE prep, is running really, really crazy. We have the Adaptive Fitness Program where we're working with a ton of different people with everything you can possibly imagine. We have a weight management program run by one of our trainers, Andrea, who works with people that have a weight management issue and body composition problems.
We have a sports specific training conditioning specialist on hand, Yanik, who is a college level basketball player, played in NCAA in the US, played college here in Canada and became a strength and conditioning specialist. So, if we get somebody who comes in and says my son is an up-and-coming hockey player, needs a good trainer, needs a good program, Yanik is the guy that will either work one on one with that person or he will design the program, the periodization for the cycles of the different programs for that hockey player and one of the trainers will establish that program and work with the person one on one.
So that’s a lot about the specialty programs and then we have a couple of trainers that are just generalists. If you're just coming in looking to get fit, you want work on your diet, if you want to change your body composition, then we have trainers that can take those clients on at any time as well.
Perfect. I definitely have to ask about your para sports as well, because we have been combatants as far as para ice hockey. Can you talk about the achievements that you've had in the para sports world, because I know you did para ice hockey and I believe you did rowing?
I was a Paralympic rower for eight years on the Canadian program and went to two world championships. I worked with some para rowing and developed a para rowing program here in Ottawa with the Ottawa Rowing Club and I was working with some of the athletes there. I've worked with Canadian National sledge hockey athletes in our gyms; we've got some medal winners there. I’ve worked with a Paralympic power lifter, skiers, a para sailor and now I'm working with a potential world champion canoe-kayaker in para kayak.
There’s been a lot of good athletes who have come through our doors and they motivate us, and they motivate a lot of our clientele. Our clients see somebody coming in and working as hard as they do and they can't believe it and they look at them and say, wow, that guy really trains hard. I'm like that guy is a Paralympic athlete and he has the motivation and the drive with his disability to come in every day and work out as hard as he can so, your excuse is invalid. It really wakes a lot of people up when they see people come in and train with the mobility impairments that they have; the able-bodied clientele that we have really come around and say, I have no excuse not to get in the gym, which is great for us.
Absolutely it is, and it just goes to show your character and how good it is, because I was asking about your sports career and you brought it back to other people and other people helping themselves. That’s you and that’s a good thing.
I rowed on the team. I played sledge hockey, as you know, for just 20 years now and not on the competitive level, but local competitive level, it's a great sport. Love it. It's one of the best para sports there is out there. Then I got into rowing just for fun, for recreation one day, and the para coach who was looking to start a program here in Ottawa came up to me and said, do you want to compete, are you interested in competing? I said I guess, if you think I have the potential to compete at the highest level, then sure I’m in. I would love to try to push myself and see if I can use my skills as a strength coach and personal trainer to get myself to that level, and if I can, then I'm pretty sure I can help anyone else do it as well.
Absolutely. To finish off our little chat today, what is it that you've learned over the years from either your fitness, training people, being in para sports? Has there been one common theme that you go by now because of what you've learned over the years?
I think the biggest one is that there's no mass approach to health and fitness, it needs to be an individualistic approach. It needs to be fine-tuned for every person that comes through the door; there's no such thing as a cookie cutter program for everybody. Not everyone can train the same level, the same intensity, the same amount of time every day. Everybody needs to be looked at as exactly that, as an individual and they need to be taken care of as an individual and they need to be trained for every little thing that may change within their life that could affect their chances of success in the gym.
Absolutely, well said. Well, thank you so much, Peter, for being on the podcast today. We do really appreciate it. You've been listening to the founder and co-owner of Top Shape Fitness, and that's in Ottawa. Did you want to give some of your details in case anyone wants to get in touch with you?
Sure. They can look at our website. It's www.topshape.ca and our phone number is (613) 236-3670, and they can message me at Peter@topshapeinc.com and I'd be happy to answer any questions anyone has. It was a pleasure to talk to you, my friend, it's been a long time and I hope to see you this winter.
Absolutely, you'll probably see me around the rink and don't take it personally when I don’t go for your team because I’m Cruisers all the way. Thanks for being on the podcast, and I'm sure we'll chat soon.
Contact Peter Morel at:
Welcome to another edition of Fitness for All with Cam Jenkins, sponsored by Lebert Fitness.
In this episode, Cam talks with Paul Dewland, a Performance Coach. He has over 20 years experience in performance coaching. His client list includes players from the PGA Tour, European Tour, LPGA Tour, Ryder Cup team members, Korn Ferry Tour, Champions Tour, Symetra Tour, European Senior Tour, PGA Tour Canada, PGA Latin America, and several other professional tours. He also works with top level amateurs including several National Amateur Champions, Division I and II college players, and two National Golf Teams. Paul lives in Orlando, Florida and is a Certified Trainer of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (INLPTA).
This article is sourced from the Fitness For All Podcast, a top health and wellness podcast. Listen or subscribe below
Where to subscribe: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Spotify | iHeartRadio | RSS
Scroll to the end of the article for links to important resources mentioned in this episode.
*The following podcast has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
Welcome to another edition of the Fitness for All podcasts. We have Paul Dewland on the line.
Thanks very much for being on the podcast, Paul.
Yeah, thanks for having me.
I really want to get into your journey of being a mental performance coach and exactly what that is. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Yeah. Mental performance is kind of a funny way to describe it. It's not my favourite word for it, but it's the one people use. So, I kind of go with it. When it comes to an athletic performance, which is I think what we're really going after here; I work with golfers. I work with professional golfers, as well as highly ranked amateurs and college players, and really good juniors. Most of the time when someone has a really elite performance for themselves, they'll describe the way they felt. They were pretty calm. There wasn't much mental activity. They weren't thinking a lot. They weren't thinking positively. They weren't thinking negative. They were just doing their thing. They were playing, in the case of a golfer, they were playing golf. So, as I describe it to most people, to give the story about what I do is if I put a two by four in the ground and said, walk along with it, most people could do that pretty easily. But if you take the same piece of wood and put it 50 feet in the air and ask a person to walk on that, it's a very different experience that they would have.
So on the ground, their system is in a certain condition or what I call state; there's a state their system is in. Mentally, physically and emotionally. In the air, it's a different state, the way we feel is going to be different, some of the thoughts that might occur would be different, and some of our physical movements might be different. There might be shakiness and physically, you'd be more careful in taking steps than you would on the ground.
So, a mental performance coach in my case, is to help people get into the state that they get in on the ground when they're 50 feet in the air. So for professional golfers, if you've got a short putt for a win, those are easy putts, quote-unquote, when you practice. But it's a completely different experience when you're playing. And to put yourself in a place where you can execute the way you would in a casual environment, in a tournament. This would apply to people giving speeches or going into a job interview or going into an experience or an environment that's new and uncomfortable for them.
Especially if you're going to an environment that is a bit uncomfortable. What can you control and what can't we control either as an athlete or just as a person doing a nine to five job? What is it that we can and can't control?
So as it relates to any skill, let's take handwriting as an example. If anybody is listening to this, grab a piece of paper and a pen and write your name. So, if you want to pause this and grab the piece of paper, then continue, that's probably a good idea. So grab a piece of paper and write your name it just the way you always would and then duplicate it, like write it again, but duplicated this time so it's exactly a carbon copy of what you just did. You'll be there for years. The human nervous system is not designed to duplicate movement. We do, however, have the ability to tighten up the consistency in our writing. So, when we're children and we learn how to write, the letters are all very different from each other. One A doesn't look anything like the other A or B or C, but as we practice, there's more consistency; we reduce the variability between those letters, but we never eliminate variability in a sport like golf.
People are thinking they want to perfect their swing and that's just impossible. So you actually don't control the actual execution of skills, whether it's hockey, basketball, tennis, golf, whatever it is, you don't control the execution, but you do control the preparation. What has become very apparent to me is that when people prepare in a precise and consistent manner for a game, for a shot during a round of golf, for whatever sport or pursuit, for a speech, for an interview, when you prepare properly, you do everything you can, you rehearse, you practice. What you'll find is that you will invite the highest level of consistency or the lowest level of variance that you can with whatever it is that you're doing.
As it pertains to the golfers that you help perform better, what difference, do you see in a person that has, say, a string of bad games or tournaments compared to a person that's had a string of good or great games or tournaments?
First and foremost, golf is a physical game, as is any sport. So, going back to the walking metaphor on a piece of wood, if you don't have the skill to walk down very well, then you're not going to be able to walk whether it's on the ground or in the sky. First and foremost, we have to make sure that the physical skills have been properly practiced and repped out in a way that there's some consistency when they're practicing. If they can do it consistently when they practice, but they can't do it consistently in a performance environment, then it's a “mental thing”, that's on my side of things. So, in the case of the two by four, if you can't walk very well because you just haven't exercised or walked very much as a young child, you can have them as calm as you want, 50 feet in the air. If they can't walk properly, then they're not going to be able to go across that piece of wood; the skill has to be there first, that's always the first thing. You can have all of the right mindset and attitude you want and be as calm as anything but if you don't have the skill, you're not going to perform.
As far as skills go, are there certain skills for most of your athletes that you concentrate on more than others, or are they all on the same level playing field?
In my area of work, there are certain fundamentals, just like there is in every sport. In golf, there are fundamentals such as how you grip the club, how you stand, where your ball position is, whether or not you align to the target. Those are the fundamentals of golf, instruction. In my area, there are certain fundamentals that have to be in place. One of the biggest ones that I find that I'm almost consistently working on with people who aren't performing to their capability, is the ability to control where their attention is. So, the ability, you could call it focus, you could call concentration; the ability to put your awareness or your attention on what you want, for the period of time while you're executing what you're doing. I find quite often that if someone in a golf tournament is thinking too much about the outcome of their shot, which we don't control, we don't control where the ball goes in golf, we don't control our swing even just like we don't control writing our name, but we do control whether or not we prepare properly. Holding yourself accountable to being properly prepared for a shot, collecting information, rehearsing your swing, whatever it may be that people do, when the preparation is the best it can be, then you're going to get the best out of the skill you have in that case.
I call that access to the skill. So, for most people walking on the ground on a two by four, they have full access to their walking skills, 50 feet up, they lose a considerable amount of access to their skills if they're scared. So, same in golf. If you focus on what you control, such as "I control, preparing, I control checking the wind, I control visualizing my shot". All of those types of things that a golfer would do. I don't know how many golfers are going to be on this podcast, but if you don't play golf, then you can probably imagine what this is for whatever sport or activity you're engaged in as a listener. You can only control the preparatory steps, getting yourself ready to do it, whether or not the shot goes where you want, that's going to be more up to how consistently you've worked on the skill, and how consistent you've been in your practice. That's a huge piece. The practice is such an enormous part of the performance because, even the best people mentally are going to have some type of emotional reaction to a situation if it's a big deal. When your skill is well developed because of consistent repetition, when you practice; the way you practice and the mindset you practice in, your skill doesn't break down nearly as easy when you've put in the right number and the right quality of repetitions. So, with golfers, the problem comes when they start tinkering or they don't practice enough and then they think it's a mental problem. Quite often you just haven't done the work.
Going along with the emotional part of being able to concentrate more, and from the research I've done, you are a big proponent of meditation. Can you let the listeners know why you are a big proponent of meditation?
There are several different types of benefits. There are different types of meditation. Meditation is sort of a generic term. The type of meditation that I'm a big proponent of is a very simple one, where you hold your attention on a certain aspect. Let's say you're feeling your breathing in your body. So, if you close your eyes and put your experience on feeling yourself breathe, most people will be able to do that for a certain amount of time, but then their attention will drift off into something in their environment or a certain thought that their attention will drift to.
Number one is developing the ability to hold your attention where you want it for an extended period of time, this is just like building a muscle and fitness. You have to challenge that muscle. So, holding your attention in one place for extended periods of time is kind of like holding, let's say, a ten-pound dumbbell in your hand and putting your arm, parallel to the floor, holding it for a certain amount of time. It'll start to shake and it'll fail. But then if you continue to do that, I think that's called isometric exercise. I don't know the term for that. If you do that, then, you know, eventually your ability to hold that weight will extend. These days, with people's attention, the ability to control their attention is diminishing rapidly with all the advancements in technology, especially younger kids that are sort of addicted to their social media and having a hard time keeping their attention on any one thing for a long period of time. So that to me, is the skill of all skills and it is a skill anybody can get better at it.
You have to practice it. It's not an enjoyable practice for a lot of people. They're not used to that sort of thing. It's just like someone starting a fitness program. It's like, man, this is hard. I don't like this. It's not what I'm used to. So, for anyone starting out on something like this, it would require a great deal of patience. But literally, that little simple exercise I just mentioned is the one I recommend to all the players I work with; just hold your attention on the feeling of yourself breathing, whether it's in your nose, your chest, your throat, and hold your attention in that location, in your body for extended periods of time. When it drifts, just bring it back and do that for ten minutes a day. I can promise that anyone who consistently practices that will find that their ability to stay engaged in what they're doing with their attention will extend and it will deepen. Your ability to engage in what you want to do, to perform at the level you want is going to improve.
You've been a performance coach for 20 years plus. How have you found technology to be different from 20 years ago to today, or do you use any technology with what you're doing to help golfers?
Yeah, I use a couple of things. There's so much out there now. A couple of the main things that I use. One is something that measures heart rate variability. To measure heart rate variability directly, which indicates certain activities in the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system, I know that's all technical, but it's basically the fight or flight reaction where people are scared, nerves, whatever you want to call it. There's something called Heart Math. They have these products called 'EM Wave' that measure your heart rate variability and give you feedback on what's happening with that part of your system. There are also certain activities that they subscribe to get your heart rate variability under control, which is therefore getting your nervous system under control. There's another product I like a lot that is a very simplistic but very accurate EEG, which measures brainwave activity. In other words, measuring the amount of thought activity that's going on that really supports meditation quite nicely. It's called Muse. It's actually a Canadian company based in Toronto. It's just a simple headband that you put on. There's an app you put on your phone and it connects to Bluetooth and it gives you some really meaningful exercises that give you feedback about how much mental activity is going on. Part of the problem with people who meditate is that they don't even know that there's mental activity going on. So, this helps reveal the subconscious stuff, that helps reveal that there are thought patterns occurring that you're not aware of and that can help raise your awareness of oh, yeah, I'm thinking again versus just experiencing the feeling of my breath.
What's the most important piece of advice you can give to the listeners as it pertains to mental performance?
Well, attention control is a big one; if you can't control your attention, then you're going to basically drift your awareness into things that you don't control. As I define it, anxiety, frustration, and pressure come from setting goals we don't control. So, if I were with the golfer and I had a big stick in my hand and I said that if you hit a bad shot here, then I'm going to hit you really hard with a stick. Obviously, they're not going to feel great, they're going to be scared because they don't control where the golf ball goes, or if I was with someone speaking to a group of people and I said, make sure everybody loves your speech. Well, you don't have any control over that. But if I held a stick and said, prepare to the best of your ability with the shot, or I will hit you with it. Well, the golfer can have a lot of confidence that he's not going to get hit because he has complete control over the preparation steps. And the same with the speaker, just like, look, have you prepared properly? Did you rehearse as much as you can? Did you understand your audience? All those things that a good speaker would need to do. It's like, OK, you've done the best you can get up there and do your job. Whatever happens, isn't really any of your business. It's great feedback, but that's not something you completely control, so let that go and just do your job and speak well and see what happens.
That's great advice that you've given us today. I just want to say thank you very much for being on the podcast. We do appreciate it. If people wanted to reach out to you on social media or email, how could they get in contact with you?
I have a website called www.pauldewland.com and just go into the contact section and you can send a form through and that's where they can find me.
Perfect. Paul, thank you very much for being on the Fitness for All podcast, by Lebert Fitness and we hope to have you on the podcast again. Yes, thanks again.
Contact Paul Dewland at:
Welcome to another edition of Fitness for All with Cam Jenkins, sponsored by Lebert Fitness. In this episode, Cam talks with Dr.Tim Searle. He is a graduate from Queen’s University with an honours degree in Life Sciences. He took a job with a pharmaceutical company and became quickly jaded with their “sell more, people are sick” mentality.
Following his time with pharmaceuticals and a lengthy and varied career in the boating industry, some soul-searching led him back into healthcare and to ultimately discover naturopathic medicine.
After 4 years studying at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine (CCNM), he graduated with the honour of representing his class as valedictorian. He is licensed to work in Ontario and has a family practice in Waterdown. He has written a naturopathic textbook with 3 remarkable colleagues, and continues to work at CCNM as an instructor and teaching assistant.
This article is sourced from the Fitness For All Podcast, a top health and wellness podcast. Listen or subscribe below
Where to subscribe: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Spotify | iHeartRadio | RSS
Scroll to the end of the article for links to important resources mentioned in this episode.
*The following podcast has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
Welcome to another edition of Fitness for All and on today's podcast, we have Dr. Tim Searle, who is a Naturopathic Doctor.
I want to start off with your practice, and I was doing a little bit of research about you, I really liked how you described yourself in your bio, where it says few people have the "aha" or light bulb moment in life and you've been very lucky to experience it. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Sure! I, like a lot of people in their careers these days, went through a change in my late 20s, early 30s, where I was doing something that was enjoyable for a period of time and then it stopped being so. I asked, "Is this really what I'm destined for in my career?" It was at that time that I did some searching around. I didn't quit my job yet, but I'd done some searching around and started to look more back in my roots. I was working in the sailing industry. I've got a passion for the water as well but I realized, this isn't really going to work for me. So I went back to my medical roots because I did pre-med at university. I had done work in the field for the first couple of years in my career. I went back to that and I found some friends that had done some naturopathic medicine and the more traditional Western medicine. I started learning more about the two paradigms. I really had not known much about naturopathic medicine so I started chatting with both sides of the fence there, and really, that's when I started to realize, wow, all of the things and naturopathic medicine line up philosophically with what I believe in.
I then learned more about the program and the more I started going down that rabbit hole, the more it felt right. It was not until I started the program when I was like, OK, this is for sure what I need to be doing.
It was really a great moment because it took the pressure off having to focus on money or what other people thought and it just became about. This is what I want to do - this is what I'm supposed to do.
Several years after having graduated, I still feel the same way about what I do. I wish that more people had the opportunity to find that passion and their calling and what they do. That's really what it's been for me is a calling. That's what it was several years ago and I'm still doing it today.
For our listeners that might be new to the idea of naturopathic medicine, can you explain what naturopathic medicine is?
Sure. I'll give you the little chat that I tell new people when they walk in my door here.
They say either a friend, told them to come see me or they have heard about naturopathic medicine and they found me on Google, but they don't know what's going on. What I traditionally tell them is coming to see me as a naturopath is much like going to your family doctor, except there are two major differences. The first major difference is the time that I spend with my patients. When you go see your family doctor, you go in, you sit down and you have what's well known as the recorded national average of five to seven minutes of saying, OK, here's what's going on with me, a brief little history of it. Then the doctor writes something on a piece of paper and says, thanks for coming in and off you go. In that time, they don't have enough opportunity to delve deeply into what's going on and often times you're left with, OK, this either works for me or it didn't and I need more.
With me, my first visit is traditionally an hour, and follow-ups are thirty minutes or sixty minutes, depending on what the two of us agree is most worthwhile for you and in that first hour, I really get to delve into what's going on with your symptoms right now or whatever it is you're looking for. Then I can start asking questions about what may seem unrelated things, but bring it full circle and show you how it's all related.
The goal here is to learn about one symptom to ten symptoms, lab tests, family history gathering, all of these little pieces of the puzzle and then once I have enough of those pieces, I'm better able to see what the picture looks like underneath. Once you can better understand what's going on, it makes treating a lot easier. The first difference is the amount of time that I spend with my patients. It is being able to get down to the nitty-gritty of what's going on with absolutely everything and putting all the puzzle pieces together.
That leads me to the second major difference, of course, is how I treat them as I mentioned earlier. The family doctor is likely to write down a prescription or referral to another specialist or a requisition for some testing. The first thing that I do with my patients is to discuss and educate them on diet and lifestyle because absolutely every single condition and symptom out there is affected by what you put in your body and how you live in the world around you. I really spend a lot of time focusing on that with patients. After that, if the diet and lifestyle changes are not enough, then we can talk about supplementation. Supplements, as I'm sure you and a lot of your listeners are aware, can be a large range of things that you can find at just about any health food store now. Even pharmacies and grocery stores are selling them but the idea of supplementation of how to do it properly, I like to approach it in two different ways.
Number one is kind of the long term approach, and this is what you'll see and most places are selling. You know, people are buying fish oils and probiotics and vitamin D and and I believe all three of those things should be consumed on a long term basis with a little asterisk for individual cases. But that's more of a long term approach to supplementation, because I believe that those products are actually better from supplements than from your food.
Then you get into the more acute supplementation. I like to refer to them more as a crutch. So a good example would be if you're walking down the street and you break your leg. As horrific as an accident, that that might have been nine times out of ten, it's really not life threatening and it's just a major nuisance that we have to get over it. My apologies to any listeners that have gone through that. But my analogy is that once you break your leg, you can no longer continue to walk on it like you once were. Your body will never get back to the way it was if you continue using your leg the way you did. So a lot of times I end up dealing with gut and digestive issues but, you know, I can extrapolate this to respiratory, cardiovascular, hormonal, you name it. Once the system becomes "broken", you can't use it, and are expected it to work the way it once did.
So you need a crutch or in this case, I'm using supplements to help take the weight off and allow the body to heal and then we can slowly remove that crutch again once the body's in a position where it can handle the load it once did. So after supplementation, I do a lot with botanical medicine. I do a lot of traditional Chinese medicine so that's not only diagnosing from through the eyes of the Eastern medicine, but it's also treatment, which includes a lot of acupuncture, medicinal herbs, etc.. Some Ayurvedic medicine. More traditionally, I use the herbs with diabetic medicine. There's a lot of interesting research with Ayurvedic herbs and the treatment of every single condition out there. I've done some work with homeopathy and hydrotherapy. I used to do a lot more with basic physical medicine, from chiropractic to massage, lymphatic drainage, etc. I happen to work in the clinic with some amazing physical practitioners, so I don't tend to do that as much anymore. That, in a nutshell, is what naturopathic medicine is about. It is spending more time with patients to allow us the time to better understand the patient's concerns. Then, of course, how we treat can be a long list of things in our tool belt that we can use to to bring the body back into better health.
You mentioned using that crutch in order to be able to help them to get back to some sort of normalcy. Once you have something broken in your body, can it go back to the way it was fully?
It can, but it depends on the extent of the "break" and then the system that you're talking about. Much like a broken leg, there's a chance that it won't set properly and won't heal properly. There's a chance that there was some tendon damage and muscle damage and will never get back to the way it was, but when you're dealing with the gut, that's what a lot of people come to a naturopath for. We can go into all kinds of other areas if we need to later on, but if we're talking about the gut, assuming that there's nothing physically damaged with the gut, you know, let's say you had a spear thrown in the through the middle of your body. If through the resulting surgeries there were some strictures or things that didn't heal properly, there's only so much we can do. If without the anatomy or physiology significantly being affected, I do expect a lot of cases to return to one hundred percent normal.
In today's world, it seems like people are eating a lot of processed foods rather than natural foods. Is that one of the reasons why people have so many gut problems?
It's hard to extrapolate causation from there. I'm not in the business of finding out why certain things might be causing other things, I think there's a lot of researchers out there that are better equipped to do that than I am. But I can absolutely see a correlation between a lot of the foods people are consuming these days and a lot of the conditions they suffer with. So, again, without drawing a direct line of cause, I tend to help people towards a more whole food and natural diet. We do see a lot of things change and that's not necessarily just the elimination of processed foods. There are foods that are considered natural and organic that cause people issues as well. It's really understanding what these foods are doing to us from an inflammatory standpoint. Once we remove those inflammatory agents, health can be restored.
I know I've said a few things already in this talk and my goal here is not to put anybody down with doctors. I talked about how they only have five to seven minutes. A lot of doctors can do wonders in that amount of time and that's really just the way the system has been set up to limit medicine in that regard.
I want to talk about the food industry. I don't believe the food industry is out there to hurt people. They're trying to do well by people. At the same time, they are a business. They're trying to make money. In that desire to make money, perhaps there are things that people don't foresee happening down the road and definitely, with the addition of chemicals and dyes and things we can't pronounce on the back of labels. Although these individual ingredients are tested and presumed safe for human consumption, we are starting to see some longer-term correlations with processed foods and disease or more health concerns. I definitely see a change in people when they are able to clean up their diets.
I can certainly see a correlation. You did talk about, how you have a long consultation and how you're able to spend a bit more time with patients. The majority of people are going to their family doctor and they will be able to help them out. Is that attitude changing and are more people going to see a naturopathic doctor? If not, how do you talk to a person to let them know that, they can come to you as well?
That's a great, couple of questions. Number one, is the system changing and people needing more naturopaths? I believe that the two should exist together. I don't think that one should necessarily choose to come to me versus the medical doctor. I think that there's a place for both of us in someone's health. If someone cuts themselves and they need some stitches, I don't want them coming to me. If someone breaks their leg, I don't want them coming to me. If someone has IBS, they've gone through their family doctor and they've gone through the various testing and they realize that there's nothing more sinister here, then they should now be coming to see me. That said, I can send them for the testing as well but I want people to understand that naturopaths are very well suited for more chronic long term complications than the acute issues that might show up. So, again, it's not necessarily an "us versus them". It's what do you need and make sure that whether it's a medical doctor or naturopath or anyone else, make sure you're finding the right practitioner for the condition that you've got because there are people better suited to treat you depending on what you've got.
This might be a slight aside here, based on your original question there, the paradigm of medicine is changing. I'm assuming you're talking about COVID in post COVID.
I'm finding I'm doing a lot more video consults with patients, which is making everyone comfortable. I know that a lot of people are doing video consults with their family doctors as well, but I believe there is still a strong need to be reaching out to medical professionals, even if it seems inane because we've all used Dr. Google before where we've hopped online and said, oh, you know, I've got a cough what does this mean? and Dr. Google tends to spit out a ton of different potential ideas to you. I want people to get out of the habit of self-diagnosing because it's a real rabbit hole out there now and especially with COVID. Oh, I got a rash on my arm. Do I have the coronavirus? Well maybe you do, but Google is not going to answer that for you. You really should be talking to a professional which can sort through all of the information you give them and give you the proper diagnosis. Regardless of where we are post-apocalypse, I still see there's a strong need for the medical profession and both the medical doctors and naturopaths together.
I believe your second question was how am I getting myself out there to make sure that people know that it's still safe to come on in? My apologies if I got it wrong. Is that essentially what the question was?
Yeah, whether it's COVID or just getting people to realize that a naturopathic doctor can be the way to go and I could be wrong in my assumption, but I think a majority of people would go to their family doctor and not necessarily a naturopathic doctor. Am I wrong in my assumption?
No, you are not wrong in your assumption and there's a couple of reasons, at least in my opinion, as to why your assumption is correct. Number one is your family doctor is free here in Canada, which is great.
Going to a naturopath is not, although most people have the benefits that would cover coming in to see us, going into your family doctor is quick.
You know, it's kind of the reverse of what I was suggesting earlier. Go into your family doctor, get that quick fix. Off you go. Whereas coming to see a naturopath, it's a little bit more involved than that. The right type of naturopathic patient is the type of patient that realizes, OK, I don't need a quick fix, I need a real sustainable long-term fix. That's the type of patient that needs to come to see a naturopath because the society we live in these days is about quick fixes. I don't begrudge people trying to find quick fixes. So go into your family doctor for a quick fix for whatever it is you need. Go and sit in their office for a couple of minutes. You get what you need. Off you go. I understand how there is a great appeal in that and the fact that you don't have to pay for that is a bonus. But for those people that have been suffering long enough and realizes the quick fixes aren't working, those are the types of people that need to be coming in and consulting with the naturopath.
Do you have any lifestyle ideas or lifestyle changes that you would suggest?
Great question. And this is going to be a nice tie in to what you guys do at Fitness for All here. Number one is sleep. I think that a lot of people aren't getting the good quality sleep that they should. There's a whole lot of things that line up with it and the level of comfort they have while they're sleeping, the amount of disruptions they have while they're sleeping. I've got three young kids and a dog at home. I know all about being disrupted in the middle of the night but sleep is number one. If people were to spend more time concentrating on getting a good night's sleep, I think that would be number one.
Number two is managing stress. Stress is one of those interesting things out there that no one can tell you exactly the health consequences that it causes, except that we know that it causes everything or at least is a contributing factor to everything. So managing stress becomes a big one. I like to talk about meditation with patients, but meditation has that weird connotation to it for some people. It's really the idea of understanding when to let go of things.
That's really what I'm trying to emphasize with people. Then exercise becomes a big part of this, too. I know that you guys have a wonderful network and a list of things that you're able to help people with.
Exercise becomes a huge part of it. I think that you can do exercise the wrong way. I think that's why companies like you guys exist, is to help people do it the right way. We all know the health benefits of staying active, everything from better functionality and staying on task at work to strength, all the health implications, the longevity of life, the staying active is really a huge part of it. Although different people like different things, some like going to the gym, some like working out at home, some like playing sports, some do different things than that. My whole task with my patients is to find the things that they like that they are willing to continue to do. That's really what I suggest, number one, sleep - number two is managing stress and using tools like meditation and exercise and yoga and stretching and all of that stuff to help maintain an active lifestyle.
Where do you see the naturopathic industry going, in the next few years or into the future?
Wow, that's a great question! I'm still dealing with the after-effects of opening practice, post-COVID here, and I haven't had a chance to wrap my head around how it’s going to look like five years from now in this post world.
So naturopathic medicine is interesting in that it's been around for a very long time. What's now called naturopathic medicine 100 years ago was just called family medicine. We've been around for a long time. This type of medicine has been around for a long time. This type of medicine is not going away.
There's an interesting parallel between sustainability and what naturopathic medicine offers. I think that there is, as the world population increases and who knows what the world's going to look like five years from now. I think there's going to be an increasing drive towards sustainability and how one can tie one's health into the whole sustainability movement. I think that naturopathic medicine is perfectly poised to be part of that.
On a more microscopic level, what individual practices would look like, I'm already seeing there's far more video consults happening than ever there were before. People like coming in and having that person-to-person contact but obviously these days things are a little bit different. More video consults, which create a more global market for us within reason. You know, still being a doctor, we still have to be able to perform physical exams when necessary. Sometimes it's not possible and sometimes it's not always necessary. So I do see that one's clientele can become more global from that regard.
To answer your question in a short summary, I don't see naturopathic medicine going anywhere. I do see it lining up well with the whole sustainability movement. I see that video conferencing is going to become a more commonplace practice in a lot of cases. I think video conferencing, whether it be your industry or other industries, it's going to be definitely an advantage and a bonus to be able to do that moving forward. I think that's one of the things that coronavirus has taught us.
Absolutely, and I was one of the first people, probably even a year ago to say that I believe social media is driving us apart and technology is driving us apart. One could go to a restaurant and see, a couple sitting there and each of them is on their phones doing something different or perhaps even texting each other. Who knows? I was firmly of the belief that technology was driving people apart because we were losing that human to human contact but through this whole coronavirus thing, it's been absolutely necessary.
People have been downloading video conferencing apps and sites in droves. I know there's been a lot of issues in terms of these sites being able to host that number of people. You're seeing new apps come out of all of this, and technology has really kept people together through all of this. It's been absolutely astounding.
I think that people are still hurting for that person to person contact. I think that we're starting to see that a little bit more in society, especially more in smaller towns. You're starting to see that a little bit more, especially outside in the Summer here. But technology is keeping people in touch where perhaps we wouldn't have been able to even five years ago.
So, a slight aside here, a little anecdote. My parents are from World War 2 vintage and we're from England. Back then they were on rations and they were told to hide off the streets for fear of bombings and being exposed to the enemy, and a lot of people were saying, "Oh, you know, this is just like those times where people were really having to bunker down". But my parents pointed out that the major difference between now and then is back then you were encouraged to be with other people, so although there were all these food restrictions, you couldn't buy things at the grocery stores, of course, which was we're seeing these days, maybe not so much anymore. But the major difference back then is the human contact they were allowed to have, whereas now they're still being discouraged from doing so, or at least encouraging a smaller number. So they say that it's actually harder now than it was back in World War 2 and I wasn't there. I don't know what it's like. There's something to be said for human contact. No amount of technology is going to be able to ever duplicate or replace but it can help in the interim.
Oh, absolutely. I think that's what it is doing. It's helping, and compared to if we didn't have the technology, we would be doing phone calls with the rotary dial-up. So, I think with the technology today that we have, it's like a band-aid until we're able to hug one another again and being able to talk to people face to face, which I think is absolutely necessary for a healthy lifestyle as well.
Yeah, I agree, and that's the other side of this that they're not a lot of people have talked about, but I've definitely seen a lot of my practice is the mental health aspect, although, you know, a lot of people have gone either way in terms of their health. Some people have benefited greatly from being at home, making their own food, being around loved ones. A lot of people have benefited greatly from that. Some people have suffered because they've not been able to get the follow-up healthcare that they've needed.
What is not often talked about is that the mental toll that it has on a lot of people, it's been very stressful. A lot of people have had worse anxiety just stepping outside of their own houses than they ever did. I think that continuing to talk about that and continuing to reach out, whether it's through social media or these video apps that we were chatting about, continuing to reach out to each other is still vitally important at this time if we can't get within six feet of each other.
If someone wants to talk to you a little bit more about your practice, can you let people know how to reach out to you, through social media or any means necessary?
Yeah, sure, the best way to reach me is through my website, it's www.drtimsearlend.com.
Everything that you could possibly need to find out about me is there. I'm on Facebook. I'm on Instagram, I'm on Pinterest, I'm on Twitter. Although I don't have an active profile all the time and all of those places, everything you need to find is on my website. There are links from there to all the places that you can potentially try to find me. So that's the easiest way. My email address is on there as well and my office information.
It has been an absolute pleasure speaking with you, and I certainly hope to have you on the podcast again, where we can get in with a discussion about mental health and mental illness.
That would be great, Cam, any time I'd love to be on and if there are specific questions that any of your listeners have as a result of this, you know, fire my way.
I'm happy to respond to those as well.
Maybe that serves as another good starting point for another discussion down the road.
Absolutely. I'll make sure that we put that on the website and maybe we'll get some questions for you. Maybe we'll do like a hashtag #askdrsearlend.
Perfect. That'd be great, thanks. OK, well, thanks for being on the podcast and stay healthy.
Contact Dr. Tim Searle ND at:
Welcome to another edition of Fitness for All with Cam Jenkins, and sponsored by Lebert Fitness. In this episode, Cam talks with Assata McKenzie, who is an artist, an educator, a fitness editor, and a canfitpro Pro Trainer. She is also an R.H.N with over 10 years of experience as a certified fitness professional in the corporate and commercial fitness industry. Graduating with a B.A. from the University of Toronto and a postgraduate diploma in Workplace Wellness and Health Promotion, Assata has made a career of helping many people meet their fitness and wellness goals.
This article is sourced from the Fitness For All Podcast, a top health and wellness podcast. Listen or subscribe below
Where to subscribe: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Spotify | iHeartRadio | RSS
Scroll to the end of the article for links to important resources mentioned in this episode.
*The following podcast has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
Welcome to another edition of Fitness for All, I'm your host, Cam Jenkins and on this episode, we have Assata McKenzie.
Can you start by telling the listeners a little bit about yourself and what you do?
I'm a fitness professional and I've been in the fitness industry, both commercial, corporate, city, and municipal, probably for just over 15 years without aging myself. I've been in different areas of fitness, from group fitness classes, corporate classes, online classes to print media including Chatelaine Magazine, fitness editorials and modelling to some television . . It's a few fitness editorials and modelling to television including the Steven and Chris Show, Breakfest Television and CityLine as well.
Can we talk a little bit about how your fitness journey started and how you got into fitness?
It's a quick story. I met a guy. I fell in love. Every time we looked into each other's eyes, we said, I love you, let's go for dinner. So, we started to eat a lot of fast food. This was really good, I thought, until my clothes started to shrink. He started getting a pot belly and I thought that was cute. Then I started getting a pot belly and I thought that wasn't cute. So he said, let's go to the gym. I said that's fine. We went to the weight room and I couldn't remember my reps and sets. Every time he'd say, "how many reps are you at", I'd say, "I don't know", then he would say "You have start from the beginning". This was not fun. So I made an excuse to leave, followed the music in the gym, and saw people moving weirdly to fitness music. I thought, oh, that's cool, I can do that. That looks so easy. Took the training. It wasn't easy, but I really, really loved it. I got rid of my boyfriend at the time and got a new career. That's how it started.
What also happened was in that story that I just kind of missed was that at one point I was walking home and I thought, someone's following me and I started to move faster and they start to move faster. So I finally got the courage to turn around and say, get away from me. It was just my butt. So my butt grew so big that I thought someone's following me. That's when I actually decided to get a new career.
Seriously, I've always been involved in a level of fitness since grade school. I ran track, cheerleading, gymnastics, all that stuff. So honestly, I really did discover fitness, the group fitness later. I really did get drawn to it. So it's the truth and all those bad stories.
But the truth is, I really wanted to improve my own fitness and I thought by improving my own fitness, I could be an example for other women and other people of colour out there and just everyone who I get to meet in my classes and so on.
I just really want to be an example. And that's the true story.
What does it mean to you to be a person of colour and how has that affected you in any way, shape or form, be it your personal life or your professional life helping people get fit?
Oh, that's a great question. Specifically, I'm a black woman, so being a person of colour and a black woman in Canada and Toronto specifically, it's a unique experience, I would think, because in my experience it's not a lot of people that look like me, especially in the fitness classes I go to, the training that I attend, the meetings I sit at, I'm not sitting at any high-level tables, and mostly front line and that's fine because I really do have a passion for fitness and movement. But I guess what it means is that sometimes I find myself in spaces, like I said, where no one looks like me and no one thinks like me. Sometimes that's a good thing because I bring a unique experience and a unique perspective to things.
I'll never, ever forget what it's like to be a newbie. I'll never forget what it's like to feel like I'm on the outside. I'm not saying that I've never felt welcomed in these spaces in my career, but I'm saying that it's always apparent that there's not a lot of people that look like me. So that sometimes means that I feel second-guessed. Sometimes I feel the opposite. I feel like if one of the organizations has a question about how to involve black people, I am almost having to speak on behalf of the whole race. That's not cool because I can't, obviously, our experiences are different.
So I think I find myself explaining myself. Sometimes I find myself second-guessing myself. I find myself just being unique in both good and bad ways. If that's a good summary.
How do you see the world changing 5, 10 years from now? How are you going to change it?
A good question.
You're saying after what happened, I hope that you're referring to the recent police shootings and the riots and more importantly, the protests that have started as a result. If that's what you're referring to, then what I see as changing is more of a magnifying glass. Racism, brutality, police brutality specifically has always been happening. I feel like it. The difference is that now there are more video cameras happening out there to capture it a little differently. I hope I don't see what's happening. I think you can only hope for the better. I hope for change and I hope for more people like yourself using whatever power you have, whatever privilege you might have to shine a light on the injustices that are happening. Then we continue to see the light. If you don't want to, see it as political and that's fine, just in whatever capacity, whatever lane that you find yourself in, my lane is fitness, your lane is podcasting, whatever lane you find yourself in. Say something, care and use your voice wherever you can. That's what I hope to see. Hope to see more people voicing it and not pretending. I remember being in one of my training, someone saying to me, "I didn't even notice that you're black and even see colour". I used to think that was a good thing. But it's not because I'm black and I don't want to not be seen. I don't want to be the invisible, visible minority in the room.
I want to be seen. I want to be acknowledged. Then from there, we can move on. I think that's a better thing to see and care about. More seeing, more caring, and more speaking out is what I really hope for the future.
I have a disability. So being in my life for disabled people, that's all you can do. As you said eloquently, have a voice and speak your truth.
Going back to the fitness part.
What is it that you enjoy the most, like the type of fitness that you do?
I think what I enjoy the most is that it's so multifaceted. What I enjoy the most is that 15, 20 years ago, I couldn't confidently say to someone, I'm a fitness professional because what does that mean?
I have an ex-partner say to me, "How do you teach fitness? Doesn't make any sense. You can't teach someone exercise". He literally said it didn't make any sense. I said "You just don't understand what we're doing here. What we're doing is so important. We're influencing, we're changing lives".
We're educating our movement educator. I think what I like most about my fitness career is that I'm doing so many things I didn't think I could do. So I'm also an educator. I didn't mention that. I'm also a faculty member at a Guelph Humber College teaching students group fitness, teaching the benefits of health and wellness as well. I'm doing this without a master's degree. I've got a Bachelor's Degree. I did it without a Ph.D. My experience in the industry is so vast that I was invited to be a faculty member and I'm so proud of that.
In summary, what I like about my career is that there are so many different things. Even working with Lebert Fitness is never something that I thought I'd never be able to do. I got to model for him, for the company, and I got to actually meet the inventor of many of the Lebert products. I got to work on video shoots with him and other big names in the fitness industry. So pretty lucky.
Absolutely. I believe the inventor that you're speaking of is Marc Lebert, he is a pretty special guy to a lot of people.
He's so special to me and I'm so blessed to know him and to be able to call him a friend is pretty cool.
Absolutely. There's a lot of different ways to train people and I know you specifically like to do Zumba.
Yes, I do like to do Zumba.
Why did you choose that over some of the other ways that you could train people or get people healthy?
Ok, I am choosing that in addition to other things, I also teach Pilates, Group fitness, Yoga, Meditation, Yoga Nidra. I teach hip training. I teach everything under the sun except for Aqua Fitness. I've got a really, really vast background. I teach a variety of things - Bosu, TRX, all the Lebert systems, but why I chose Zumba for my online classes during the lockdown is because it was one of the fun ways that I could build community. It was quick and the Zumba company allowed us to teach without any extra licensing or any extra money. It was also at the beginning of the lockdown of COVID and the quarantine, I personally didn't feel comfortable monetizing what I do right away. I taught for free, and Zumba was one of the fastest things I could do online and for free. That's why I chose it.
When you first started out, how did you train people? Did you have a certain technique?
So when I first started out it was totally group fitness, lots of marching on the spot, lots of squats, lots of lunges, and then more marching on the spot. I chose that because of the group element. I'm also trained as a personal trainer, I'm very drawn to group fitness as well and small group and personal training. It's that community element. It's the variety of people that I get to work within one space. I chose it because the music was always a factor. I really like the music aspect to it as well.
It's like a parent putting broccoli in a smoothie to trick kids into eating their vegetables. I feel like I'm using music and the group mentality to take away from the intimidation factor when it comes to fitness. I personally was very intimidated by the weight room. I was very intimidated by a lot of things in the group fitness industry, again, being one of the few black people in the industry where I was, so I had to make it fun. I had to take that element of frustration or intimidation away and music really, really helps with that.
What are some other ways that you motivate people to get them to work out, or do you find that they just always have it within themselves to be able to go there and to work out or to show up online for one of your Zumba classes?
Great question. Motivation changes with the day. So online has given me a chance to remember. I always do this, but I'm doing this a little more now, just checking in the beginning with how people are feeling. Then from the check-in, I decide right there on the spot what the warm is going to be and what the vibe of the class is going to be. Sometimes in my mind, I want to have a really high intensity, no breaks, just go for it. Sweaty, lots of jumping and then if I feel that people are feeling fatigued or people are a little frustrated, I sort of ease into it and change the vibe of the class or do a little less jumping. Have a little more HIIT style in a simple class where you have a high intensity, high energy song followed by a lower energy, lower intensity song and back and forth. A lot of checking in changes the way motivation happens depending on the group.
What have you learned over these years that you can take and teach other people?
Great question. Over the years, I've learned that the best-made plans are just plans, but they can always change. Being a group fitness instructor has definitely helped with my improv skills and my ability to use a variety of motivational techniques and coaching techniques, the ability to communicate with people not just verbally but also non-verbally, to talk to my kinaesthetic learners, to talk to people in different ways on different days is definitely what I've learned.
Every day is different is what I've learned. Even if you're working with the same group, every workout can be different. To be really open with that, this concept of staying in the moment is one that I've really come to appreciate as a group fitness instructor. Again, every class, every moment is different. No matter what plans you have, someone may show up and may not be able to do it and you want to have that group feeling without people feeling isolated or intimidated.
Can you give an example of how you've been adaptable in the past for someone that can't necessarily do something?
A couple of examples are pregnancies and minor injuries. So ankle issues, knee issues, back issues can often happen in the class. So having in mind what the progression or regression of an exercise is, and also watching my language as well. So instead of calling an exercise harder, easier, I'll say hard, harder, and hardest. Knowing what my group might need in a moment, scanning the room, I can start with always the hard guys. This is going to be a hard exercise. We are doing push-ups on the knees and this is hard because, you know, you're using your upper body. More muscles are working than you think. You're not just using your arms. We we make this hard exercise even harder, we're taking it to the toes. We can take the feet wide apart. We want to make it the hardest option. OK, here comes one-handed push-ups. That is a silly example with an extreme example. But I hope it illustrates the fact that you need to have a good understanding of exercise, physiology, and anatomy to be able to make the changes that need to be made on the spot.
So what is next for you in the next year or five years?
I am really afraid to say what's next because I don't know what I can hope that in the next year I just continue to discover where I go next. A lot of my work has been by word of mouth.
So I just hope to continue to have an open mind and be open to whatever cool opportunities come my way. I'm also a wellness professional, with a diploma in fitness and health promotion so I'll be doing a lot more health promotion and more corporate work than commercial. I hope to be doing a lot more online and virtual fitness and remote fitness classes. I'm still an educator for Guelph Humber College so I hope to be teaching remotely for them as well.
If anyone wants to be able to reach out to you and to be able to take your classes, be it personal training or Zumba, how can they reach out to you?
Please follow me on Instagram. I'm also a canfitpro Pro Trainer so if anybody in the world wants to know how to teach group fitness in general and just enjoy the options of group fitness and take it wherever you want to, you can definitely contact me for that.
How do you become a canfitpro pro trainer?
Right, great. So as a canfitpro pro trainer, you have to audition, so to speak, with a video of yourself teaching, not just teaching theory, but also teaching physically. If you are accepted, then they give you a course curriculum, and then you're able to shape the curriculum to meet your personality and your experience as well. Then again, because of the quarantine, I am teaching classes online. So you have the option to teach face to face or online. I'm using Zoom as my platform for teaching online classes.
Thank you so much for being on the show today. We talked a lot about fitness, but also about the Black Lives Matter and I think that's very important in today's world as well. So before I let you go, is there any other message that you want to get out there to the world?
Black lives matter. They've always mattered. And all black lives matter is the message that I want to give them.
Contact Assata McKenzie at:
Welcome to another edition of Fitness for All with Cam Jenkins, and sponsored by Lebert Fitness. In this episode, Cam talks with Ann DeLuca, who is a certified coach and Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) Master Practitioner, shares her own experiences of shifting her mindset over the course of two years. Writing and reflecting - One Sticky Note at a Time - to inspire you to make the changes you know you want and need to make but have not been able to. With consistent and persistent practice you can change your life - one small sustainable step at a time.
This article is sourced from the Fitness For All Podcast, a top health and wellness podcast. Listen or subscribe below
Where to subscribe: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Spotify | iHeartRadio | RSS
Scroll to the end of the article for links to important resources mentioned in this episode.
Welcome to another edition of Fitness For All. It's sponsored by Lebert Fitness. And on today's show, we have Ann DeLuca from Stepping Stone Coaching.
How did you did meet Marc Lebert?
So it's going to go way back because I was thinking about that just before I got on the phone - I'm going say about 23 years come September, and the reason I know that is because my son will be twenty-four in September. I worked at GlaxoSmithKline and Marc came on as a trainer. Not sure exactly what year, but before I went into my maternity leave with my son, I had started working in the gym as a personal trainer, so I'd watch him from afar. I was interested, but obviously not in a position to start a new type of training at that point. When I got back from my maternity leave and went back to the gym, six months later saw him again and started noticing his clients and the work they were doing. They always seemed to be having a lot of fun and I could see that they were getting results, getting stronger, looking good. I approached him one day and I still remember sitting down with him because I was so nervous. I didn't know about weight training. He really put me at ease, explained a lot about it, and started there. So was in late 1997 and, it was amazing. I learned so much about how strength training is just so useful, not because of the fact that it actually makes you look good, that's a nice side benefit but the strength to do day-to-day activities that I got and how powerful it made me feel.
I worked with him through the gym at GlaxoSmithKline and fast forward, about three and a half years later I decided to leave that company as I got an offer from another company. I have to tell you right now, having a fitness centre at my next company were was one of my top criteria because of the experiences I had at both Glaxo, Wellcome, and Merck. I left there at the end of 2000. Marc and I kept in touch. There were a few times that I tried to maintain training with him but at that point, my kids were 4 and 7 and with a full-time big job and 2 young children, it just wasn't feasible. What did happen was I was able to take all of those tips and tricks and tools and learnings I had and I was able to apply them myself. So for several years, I trained myself, I did weight training, and then I started joining classes at the gym at the new place I was working at and then about 7 years ago, almost probably to this very time, ironically, I was in a place where I was bored.
My husband and my son and I had been doing some boxing and we had gone to a place that after a time it got very evident to me they weren't really interested in challenging or really interacting with you, quite frankly.
That's when I looked Marc up again. I literally showed up at the gym. When there were long weekends, I would get a four day weekend. So it was a Friday off on the long weekend. The night before had found a gym called Fitness Nation. I called up and spoke with a woman at the desk.
There was a class at 9:00 the next morning and I showed up and there was Marc. I did that class. Loved it. I went home and said 'That was a really great class'. I knew very quickly that this is the place for me to go. Interesting all the time. Fun all the time. Marc's energy all the time, which is a little bit cuckoo but that's kind of what makes it pretty special. I still remember I talked Mike and Austin to come to a class with me. I said, "just come to one class". You get a free pass, you have nothing to lose.
We were warming up and maybe 10 minutes into the class, my son turned to me and said, I'm coming back to the class' and that he did as well. He came back for, I think, four years. He trained with Marc and Mike joined as well. So we still are a part of the club there. That's my story with Marc.
It's a great story and what is your favourite class at Fitness Nation?
Depends on my mood. I love strength training. I love hitting the weights. I know cardio is important and of course, I do that, but I love hitting the weights. So I come in fits and starts when it comes to boxing because I've been boxing on and off now. Mark got me into a bit of boxing back in the late 90s and then I got reintroduced to it again about nine years ago, I've been doing a long time, so with boxing, I come and go, but I definitely love weight training and the reason I love it there so much is that it's always different. Each trainer there has a different perspective, a different style. They never repeat. It's not like you go in say 'oh, we're doing this today. It's that element of surprise that I guess surprises me both mentally and physically, which is huge for me. Not being bored, you ask anybody that knows me well and does not do well bored. I wouldn't be there today if I was bored with workouts. They're so interesting and fun and challenging all the time. So it keeps me coming back.
When Marc was your personal trainer compared to the group training, which one do you prefer?
Working with Marc was such a confidence builder for me in the fact that I can do this. I still remember vividly - I can picture it now. The first chin-ups I did with Marc and going, holy smokes. I never in a million years thought I'd be doing chin-ups. There I was. I think I was able to do 3 unassisted at first. So training with Marc gave me a whole foundation that I still rely on even today. So that's very different than working with a group. Working with the group you get energy from other people. It is almost like having personal training, but not the same. What I love about the group idea is the energy I get from other people and the energy I bring there. So very different ones. But working with Marc was a huge confidence booster and I highly recommend personal training for people to get familiar with all the exercises so you're actually doing them right.
Let's get into a bit about your company, which is Stepping Stone Coaching - Fitness for your mind.
You know, I never thought of it that way and yet, at the same time, it's totally, totally linked because the big foundation of the work I do is a mindset.
So if your mind isn't in the right place, and you're not thinking in a more optimistic way then your glass is always gonna be half full. That's kind of the truth. Right? We have the ability to change how we think about things. That's a lot of the work I do with clients is letting them discover that they have all the skills, strengths, and capabilities they need right inside them. It's just sometimes they go dormant and I help them tap back into that. It's really powerful to witness people that get that moment of, 'I can do this', or I never saw it that way before and reintroducing it basically to themselves. So it's really powerful work that I'm able to do and I'm so honoured to do it all the time.
How are you able to know what is best for your clients?
You know, it's interesting. My clients feel something before they meet with me. So it's all about where they are now, where they're stuck where things are going well, what they see for their future - all those things to frame the first session with me. That gives me a bit of an idea of what they're like. Getting them to get clear of where they are right now, putting the pin in the map that really dates me, doesn't it, putting a stand in your navigational app, so to speak. That's what that does. It helps them go, oh, this is where I am.
Ok, cool. And there are some gaps here. I don't really know anymore where this is or that is, but this is basically where I am right now.
So when they come in, it's about talking to them, listening, that's a big part. I always pause when I say that because listening is not given the credit that it should be because my job is to listen. It's not to tell people what to do. So when I listen, I'm able to hear the things that they're saying, that they don't hear themselves say.
So there are two things that usually happen. Someone's talking, talking, talking. And then I go, Oh. I never said that before. Or they're talking, talking, talking and I notice I'll say, you know, every time you see me, you say this. It's those moments where they get that instinct or information that's always been theirs, a pattern that they've been, like patterns are we repeat things. Getting insight to what their patterns are, allows me to do some of the work I can do around moving forward.
So shifting that pattern, if that's what they want, once they recognize it and notice it, that's half the battle and then if they want to shift it, so if it's a mindset or whatever the case may be, they can go "That's where I am. That's the thing I want to work on right now." That can happen in one session on what they want to work on, sometimes it takes like three sessions when someone finds us. Boom. That's it. You can actually see them physically land if they're sitting down to consume, just settle on their chair and it's really cool. My biggest job is to be fully present and listen to whoever is in front of me. They're going to let me know what they need. If I listen, I'm going to help them tap into what they need to, tap into their skills and strengths and capabilities. They're going to lead the session, even though it doesn't feel that way for them. But they really do. They tell me what to do.
What are some of the cues that you look for to realize that, to give them that aha moment?
Sometimes we're in a conversation and maybe it's not even the first time we've had a conversation around a specific subject and a theme is coming up because the brain doesn't do random. So whether they tell it to me in a story about someone else or they tell it to me about themselves, in fact, usually I encourage people to. I'll get them out of whatever they're talking about. You can't solve a problem or an issue from within it. I think that was Einstein that said that. But I could be wrong. So I get them to tell me about whatever is an interest to them. And then off they go to the races. I've heard this said that stories can't tell lies. So what that means is when someone's telling you a story about something it is directly related to what they're working on, even if they don't realize that. So what I can do, because it's a pattern, again, what they're shifting into a story. That's just how our brains work. So they'll start telling the story. I can work with them in that story, make suggestions, ask questions. Often at the end of a session, we'll take a break or we'll do whatever. Then I'll say, "you know, that story you told me about X, think about your current situation for a moment", then I'll go get a coffee or I'll go to the bathroom, go do something. Let it settle for them and then they'll go, "Oh Oh, that". So that is how it works almost with everybody. It is just how much length of time it takes to go from where they are to getting to that point.
That can vary for sure. We all work that way, right? It's universal. That's how all humans are. We're pattern-making machines and we do things in autopilot. That's good stuff. So when you can stop autopilot, like, slow it down to slow motion, let people see the different moving pieces, that's when they're able to go, oh, that piece. If I just change that one piece and it'll affect everything. So one tiny change in one aspect of someone's life can and will have a snowball effect for the rest of your life. Because your brain isn't like little chunks, I always use the analogy of an orange. People don't come in and say, oh, here's this chunk of orange. That's my executive V.P. job. Let's talk about that. It just doesn't work that way because everybody else comes along. Your family, your finances, your home, your health, your fitness. They're part of you.
So it's really interesting that one little change in one aspect of your life can have that effect, a ripple effect in your whole life, which is really powerful.
Once people have that aha moment or they're starting to change for the better and they notice it and you noticed it. How does that make you feel?
I try to be careful about that. I'm blown away sometimes. It's very humbling to be part of that and be able to witness people who come to me with things that are very deep and profoundly personal. The fact that they come to me and sat across me the first place is always something I can't tell you how much that matters to me, their trust. So the fact that I've come into the door, they put their trust in me to guide them and then they have that moment and it's often an emotional moment, depending on what they're working on. It's humbling and my whole heart, I'm touching my heart right now because my whole chest is full of joy for them. When they can make that connection and make a change, and it's hard work, and to see them do all that work and get a change that they've been looking for is really rewarding.
Your published book is called The Wisdom of the Sticky Notes. Can you talk a little bit about that and how that came to be?
That was my accidental author saying that happened. Sticky notes are my way of unloading my brain or I realized that's what happened. So a couple of years ago, I was encouraged to increase my visibility on social media because, at that point, I had been hiding in terms of, Facebook. I think I had 17 private friends that were just my relatives and Linkedin, I was sort of being active, but not very much. Someone challenged me, said, "look you need to know in your role in your own business, you need to get on social media". So I made a commitment in 2018 in January to post just for January every day I was gonna put something on my platforms. So I did. And whatever popped into my head I put it out there. Usually, I was using the banner for my business and then whatever came to mind and maybe a question for whoever's reading it. One day in that first 31 days, I was in a workshop downtown Toronto for some reason I was really inspired in this workshop. I wrote something down on a piece of paper, took a picture of it, posted it. One of my friends in the workshop turned me, said, 'I think you're really onto something here'.
So there it was. That's when it began. It wasn't just sticky notes that at the end it was all the time, but it was on napkins or whatever was available at the time. If I got an idea, I would write it on something and take a picture. I realized, looking back, as you know, 20/20 hindsight, I really was processing my own journey through those sticky notes because they were my own thoughts. Towards the end of last year, I was talking with somebody about another project they're working on with me and saying, I've always wanted to write something. The more I spoke, the more I realized, "holy smokes already I have my book written" and I really did. There were 16,000 words. Yes. 16,000 words already and the sticky notes, I just had to kind of decide what I wanted to do with it. What I had noticed through a bunch of conversations I'd had in 2019 was that there were three key themes that seemed to come out. When I spoke with people and the one is fear that was always getting in the way of doing something.
So the first section of the book is courage over fear. The second one was mindset. So we talked about that earlier and how important that is, but how mindset is a choice and often people like, "what do you mean it's a choice?" So we talked about that one. The third one is about trusting ourselves. So the third chapter is trusting yourself, because the fact of the matter is, when it comes down to it, we get it. We get the nudges in our heart and our gut. Those are the ones I look for more so now than in my head, my head's always there. It'll give me the logical check. I don't need to worry about that, but it's paying attention to that nudge that you get in your own heart and gut that gives you information that no one else can give you. Learning to notice it again and then pay attention to it and heat it rather than what everyone else all the noise around you that you get, which is normal people we love, people that want to mentor as people who care about us are always gonna give us their opinions. But at the end of today, it's us to make that call.
So I ended up working with a designer. I basically had my first draft done from start to finish. From the first discussions of doing this book to having my first draft ready took me five weeks. That's how quickly it happened. Now here it is. So it's been really crazy, actually, to hear people tell you that they're using it as a resource right now.
I had an unsolicited message in LinkedIn from someone I met once. So I met this gentleman two years ago at a coaching conference and we had not communicated since. I think I sent him a note last year and I didn't hear back. I get a random message last week in my LinkedIn saying they had worked their way through the book.
How relevant it was in these times. What a great resource it was and how they're going to be referring to it again and again. It just blows my mind. I know it's out there. I know I've sold. I mean, I haven't checked recently, but I know I've sold more than 70 copies now.
It's not about the sales because Jeff Bezos makes some money, not me, but it's about the fact that someone is picking up my book and it's making a difference for them. Again, mind boggling, humbling to think that it's useful for someone. I think if we can create something that at the end of day, someone else finds useful and helpful, that to me is what it's about.
I'm trying to make a difference whether it's with clients one on one or what all the work I do. When I know that this book now, people have told me, people have messaged me that it's made a difference. Again, another moment of holy smokes. I did that. I'm an author.
What sticky notes resonate with you? I'm sure all of them do but are there are one or two that resonate with you?
I don't have the book in front of me, but it's a favourite of mine because it clears up stuff before it can even happen. If you're going to laugh about it later, you may as well laugh about it now. I don't know the exact words, but the gist of it is that we or I can take myself too seriously. We all can take ourselves too seriously or a situation too seriously or conversations too seriously, whatever the case may be. Sometimes it's important or all the time is. My litmus test now is if I'm getting upset about something or anxious about something or whatever the case may be, whatever that emotion is, I will stop myself and I will say, are you going to, you know, a week from now, a month from now, whatever year from now, you can be laughing with this. Is it gonna be a source of amusement for you? And if it is, laugh about it now. Why wait? Why stay and be angry or frustrated or whatever you are? If you know later on it's going to be a source of amusement. Laugh now, we don't get enough chance. We don't laugh as much as we should as adults in particular. That is the one that I try to remember when I'm in those moments for sure.
How can our listeners reach out to you and maybe if they want to talk, how they can do that as well.
My book is on Amazon and is called The Wisdom of the Sticky Note. So you can search on Amazon and it'll pop up or my name Ann DeLuca. So you can get the book that way, or you can go to my website which is https://www.steppingstonecoaching.ca and a banner comes up so you can click on it to get the book and you can also connect to me that way.
There is a contact link that they can click on and that will bring them directly into my e-mail and then they can take it from their.
Thank you so much for being on the podcast of Fitness for All, which is sponsored by Lebert Fitness, and I wish you good health and I'm sure that we'll be chatting again soon.
Contact Ann DeLuca at:
Welcome to another edition of Fitness for All with Cam Jenkins, and sponsored by Lebert Fitness. In this episode, Cam talks with Valerie Favier (Val Powaful), speaker, coach, Master Trainer at Lebert Fitness and Metabolic Trainer at MD Studio France. Val talks about how to use Lebert EQualizers, kettlebell, and bodyweight in her journey to fitness.
]]>Welcome to another edition of Fitness for All with Cam Jenkins, and sponsored by Lebert Fitness. In this episode, Cam talks with Valerie Favier (Val Powaful), speaker, coach, Master Trainer at Lebert Fitness and Metabolic Trainer at MD Studio France. Val talks about how to use Lebert EQualizers, kettlebell, and bodyweight in her journey to fitness.
This article is sourced from the Fitness For All Podcast, a top health and wellness podcast. Listen or subscribe below
Where to subscribe: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Spotify | iHeartRadio | RSS
Scroll to the end of the article for links to important resources mentioned in this episode.
How do you know Marc Lebert? How did you become friends?
I met Marc Lebert at a seminar in Munich. I think it was 6 years ago. It was a great seminar - the name was "Perform Better". I met him during a conference and he asked me to become a master trainer and join his team so I went to Barcelona in Spain, and I stayed there for four days to become a master trainer.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your journey into fitness?
I am the owner of a gym in the north of France. My first job was a teacher in kickboxing. I did a certification around functional training. Now my gym is dedicated to functional training, and loaded movement training. It's been four years now!
Can you explain what "functional training" is?
"Functional training" means training the body for the activities performed in daily life. Trying to prepare our body to be able to use it in everyday movement. It helps us to be comfortable and prevent injuries. It's good for athletes, but also for everyone.
What kind of people do you train? Are they athletes, or is it just somebody that wants to get a better fitness level, or is it all different types of levels?
I have a lot of athletes, and former athletes who want to stay in shape and always win as they did in the past. I have some fitness people, but I have a lot of athletes from fight training, basketball players. In Europe, we have a sport called "Handball"- it's from Germany and similar to basketball but the ball is smaller and the rules are different. I have some tennis players too. Some swimmers and fighters because I come from fighting sports.
As I understand, you are a martial arts competitor instructor?
Yes, exactly. I come from martial arts called Kyokushin. It's a Japanese martial art. After that, I did some boxing.
And can you explain the type of martial arts that you do?
It's like karate and it's similar to Thai boxing. We can't hit at the head, but we can hit the body with low kick, middle kick. It's exactly the same.
As I understand, you were a world kettlebell champion as well?
Yes, I was in the French team for 4 years. I was in Greece, Denmark, Holland, Spain. I traveled a lot with the kettlebell team!
And what was your training regimen like? Was is it different between training for martial arts and training for kettlebell?
Using a kettlebell is a great way to prepare a martial artist. We have a program in kettlebell sport, especially for martial artists. It is very good for balance during the fight. The kettlebell is a great tool to create some balance and to have more precision on the punch. I used to play with the kettlebell for juggling to create hand-eye coordination.
Can you talk about your studio, the FD studio, and how that came to be?
I have had my studio for 8 years. In my studio, I have about ten or twelve people, not more as it's only for small group training. I have some different classes: classes dedicated to kettlebell sports, for conditioning specialists, hand-eye coordination and my new class is loaded movement training (I use the EQualizers in this class). And, I have some classes using only the Lebert EQualizers. My members are absolutely addicted to the EQualizer bars. About 80% have their own EQualizer bars at home to train! During the quarantine, I did some live sessions where I prepared some classes for them since they all have EQualizers at home.
You are a master trainer at Lebert Fitness. Can you tell me what you had to do to become a master trainer?
I had trained for four or five days. There were three parts. The name of the first part was "LeBoot", like a boot camp. Now I know that Marc has changed it all, but there was a boot camp part and it was Marc who managed this part. The second part was "LeBarre". The girl who managed that was Jen. It was for dancers and mobility. Then the last part, interval training, was managed by Sharon Mann. We had 3 parts and each day was dedicated to each part. After, we had an exam. We had to present some exercises to create some programs for youth training, for an athlete, and different kinds of people. It was a very interesting journey to become a master trainer.
It was great doing this master trainer course because I met a lot of people. I met some guys from Singapore, Spain, Israel, and Italy. It made me grow.
At your training studio, there must be all different types of abilities that come in. How do you manage that with people having different abilities and what is your philosophy on training people?
I mix everyone, every level, and I try to follow everyone. I know the best of everyone. I know if they have some injuries. I know that they have different goals.
I think in my studio, people should be able to perform and try to stay in shape. They are very interested in the movements of functional activities. So the goals are the same for everyone. There are some differences, but in general, they have the same goal. It's my aim to help everyone reach their goals.
How do you motivate people?
Every day I have a different class. I change my exercises every day. I like to add some playing. I like it when people take pleasure doing sports. It's very important to me and it's very important for them. I think we have a lot of fun, and we smile during my class. I think they are motivated by the energy of the group. Small group training is a lot of play with a lot of different exercises. It would change every single day because the variety of exercises is important. They say they have the ambition to grow every day with the class. And I think it's a real motivation for them to have the impression to grow every day. Each class they learn something which is important.
What's next for Val?
I want to do more seminars in Europe which I started with Marc. We have some seminars on kettlebell sports. I would love to continue my studio for sure. I don't want to give up my members. But I would like to travel more to propose some certification for kettlebell or EQualizer in France. Because in France we are very late and lazy in sports. I have worked with Marc since 2014 and it's only now that the EQualizers are exploding. Today, they understand that it's very important to have an EQualizer in the gym. But before, it was very difficult to include it.
But you're getting there and that's the main thing. Now people are getting a lot more EQualizers and understanding how important it is to be able to use the tool such as that in your fitness journey.
Yes! People in France think it's only dip bars. And I'll explain to them, "No, we can do a lot of exercises and there are hundreds and hundreds of exercises you can do with the EQualizers." When I did my last certification with the group in France in January, after they learned how to use an EQualizer, they said, "Wow! We can do all that with EQualizer?" With an EQualizer, we can replace a gym. It's crazy what we can do with it.
Absolutely, and in today's day and age, with so many people having to self-isolate or quarantine, using the EQualizer bars is fantastic to be able to use that in your home or your apartment. And it's so easy to store as well.
Yes, quarantine has helped Marc. For me, there are two pieces of equipment that are very important to have at home. It's the EQualizers and kettlebell. With that we can workout every day. We can do a lot of exercises. Your bodyweight, EQualizers and kettlebells are enough to train.
During this quarantine, people say that it's very important to have EQualizers at home. They say that they realize that having the EQualizers made quarantine easier.
Absolutely. If people want to follow you or if they want to reach out to you, to join your gym or your studio, how can they do that?
I canceled my website because the guys who managed it didn't do good work. I use only Instagram or Facebook for now. I will do my website in the future. Not now, but after the quarantine is over, I know I have to manage that.
It will be easier to find me too. I know that a lot of people find me by Facebook or Instagram. My video posts get a lot of requests about my studio.
Good. And what is your Instagram name or handle?
My Instagram name is Val Powaful.
I want to thank you so much for being on the podcast, Fitness for All. We do really appreciate you taking the time for us and we hope to have you on the podcast again.
Thank you very much and take care in Canada. Thank you.
And you take care in France. Thank you so much.
Contact Valerie Favier at:
Other Links:
Welcome to another edition of Fitness for All with Greg Carver, and sponsored by Lebert Fitness. In this episode, Cam talks with Greg Carver, speaker, coach, active travel host, founder and head trainer of the StrengthBox gym in Toronto. Greg talks about how to combine practical, effective workouts with sound nutrition and lifestyle habits. He has used his system to overcome his own chronic health problems in the past and now helps others transform their own lives, regardless of age or physical condition.
This article is sourced from the Fitness For All Podcast, a top health and wellness podcast. Listen or subscribe below
Where to subscribe: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Spotify | iHeartRadio | RSS
Scroll to the end of the article for links to important resources mentioned in this episode.
Could you talk about how Marc and you met?
If my memory serves me well, we first connected on social media because we had a few mutual friends in the fitness industry, and at that time probably 11 years ago, I was aware of the EQualizer bars and I had been using them. I reached out to him through social media saying that I was opening up a facility in East York, and that would be the Strength Box facility. I was interested in getting some EQualizer bars from his company and Marc, much to my surprise, messaged me back and said he would love to help me out and he would like to deliver the EQualizers in person.
I didn't expect the president of the company to come in to deliver them in person. But he drove out to my facility in East York and at that time was just newly opened and set me up with a EQualizer bars and offered to teach a class. I thought what an amazing guy. We stayed friends over the past 10 years or so, so it's been awesome.
Can you talk about your journey into fitness and why you got into fitness because your story is quite remarkable.
I was not a typical trainer in terms of my background i because I was always the underdog. In my younger years when I was growing up, no one would ever describe me as being athletic or strong.
I was usually the last one to be picked on a sports team. I always struggled with that kind of stuff because I was into other things. Then I dismissed it as something that was just for other people. It wasn't until my early adult years that I got hit with a whole lot of health problems and some of them were pretty serious and some of them were just out of the blue. I had three spontaneous lung collapses, not all at the same time, obviously, but it was like one year and then the next year and then two years later and after that, that's all been surgically corrected. I was hospitalized a number of times for different ailments. As I grew older, I started to have more problems that I couldn't even figure out what the root cause was like. I remember even as late as my 40s, I struggled with a lot of joint pain, feeling of extreme fatigue, to the point that it was really rough just managing day to day life. I had a corporate job at that time and I felt like an old man, I really did. I would wake up in the morning and I would feel like I was 90 years old, creaking around, how old people move really slowly and nothing just seems fluid. The joint pain became almost unbearable and just aches and pains all over my body. I felt like I had the flu-like symptoms where you ache everywhere except it never, ever, ever went away. I was taking a lot of Advil at the time, because it was the only thing that could manage the pain and get me through the day. Of course, I was seeking medical help for it.
It was a real tough one for doctors to solve, and the only real answers I got were to keep taking the Advil and come back in another month or so and we'll do some more tests. They were looking at everything from Lupus to Fibromyalgia. I finally just got frustrated and I was thinking, well, this is the way life is going to be, I guess. I became aware of Bryce Wilde, and he's an alternative holistic guy in terms of holistic health.
I reached out to him and I said, "look, here's my problem". He met with me and said, "Greg, you know, I'm not going to diagnose what your issue is, but let's just try and solve it". He said "the problem is in your gut". I said, "no, it's not". That's not what's aching. That's not what's giving me pain. That's not what causing fatigue a little bit". I fought it a bit, but what he was getting at is he needed to sort out inflammation. The inflammation that started in my gut and was going through all my body, I was chronically inflamed everywhere. We figured it's because of all the health challenges I had, which I only really touched on, and my body just went into this state of saying, okay, enough is enough. We're just going to break down because we can't take anymore. So we changed my diet. We went to a pretty anti-inflammatory diet at that time. It was, very low in terms of things like grains, certainly no sugar, a lot of organic stuff and a lot of supplementation, to be frank, including a lot of omega-three fatty acids, like good supplements and things and probiotics. I was skeptical at first, I'm going to tell you, but within 30 to 60 days, I was a believer because I just felt like a new person. I felt like a new man. All the pain went away. I couldn't believe it. And I thought to myself, you know, maybe part of this is psychosomatic. Maybe it's just not the diet. Maybe it's not the supplements. Maybe it's just my brain thinking that this is working, therefore, is.
I didn't care as long as it worked, so when you have an experience like that, you want to share it with others. Then, he said, "OK, Greg. Now you have got to get back into some kind of exercise program such as strength training." I said, "OK, I think I can" because well, all the time when I was sick, I literally had no energy. I couldn't do anything right. I started again and I discovered late in life I was actually pretty good at this stuff. Once I was able to do stuff, there was no stopping me. There was just no stopping me. And it's been like that ever since. Every year I just try and keep improving myself. So that's what ultimately led me to build my community here and to teach other people how to be resilient and how to be strong and how to be mobile and how to retain their youth.
For StrenghtBox, you teach and talk about the benefits of primal movement. Do you want to talk a little bit about that and what primal movement is?
Primal movements - you can call it a bunch of different things, natural movement.
I'm a big believer in keeping your body moving the way that nature intended it to move. This gets branded as different things, but ultimately, humans are designed to walk, we are designed to run, we are designed to jump, we are designed to throw things, we are designed to roll around in the ground. If you look at things that little kids do, they're jumping and they're tumbling.
That's what we need to do as adults. But adults don't do that. Adults sit down and adults stand, but a lot of adults even have a hard time connecting with the floor because for a lot of older people getting down on the floor and getting back up off the floor is a challenge. That's why we need to practice getting down and getting back up off of the floor if you want to retain some semblance of youth. Those are the kind of movements you need to practice and to train. I see so many adults and if I ask them to do it, jump like even a jump 10 inches onto this box, they're scared they can't do it because they haven't done it for years. We should be able to do that stuff. That was very much a key factor in building this facility. It is giving people a place to safely train those movements under coaching in a non-intimidating, kind of non-judgmental atmosphere where nobody really cares what level you're at, but they care that you come in and you practise this stuff. I'm still very much a believer in that stuff, especially the rolling in the ground engagement. I mean, I practice that stuff all the time, even hanging off a bar. It's just so good for you. But that doesn't mean I throw out the traditional strength and conditioning, I still do that. I still love my barbells. I still love my Kettle bells. I still love my EQualizer bars. I love my pull up bar.
What about the equipment that you use in your gym that other people don't necessarily use at theirs?
When you say gym, there are a lot of different styles of gyms, obviously. So some may have some of the stuff that we have. Some may not. In terms of something that might be very unique, I have a climbing structure that's built out of the red, western cedar, and maple.
I don't think there are other climbing gyms that have such a structure. It's pretty unique. It was all designed by myself and two artists and we reinforced it all with Kevlar insides. You can't see the Kevlar. It's actually a work of art. It's pretty neat. There's also a log that hangs from the ceiling from two chains. So that's kind of fun to play around on. Not just for pull-ups, but see if you can actually get yourself over the long crate. It's like trying to get over a tree branch. And this one moves, too, because it's hanging. Things like that, I guess, would be unique but then there's a lot of stuff that's similar too. We use a lot of kettle bells here.
I'm a big fan of Russian kettle bells. I still like my barbells and dumbbells, all that kind of stuff. Lately, I've been into a lot more bodyweight stuff and calisthenics because I enjoy that and I find it's very scalable for different people. So, yeah, I try not to be too dogmatic. I try and mix things up.
On your website, you have some great posts. I really enjoyed reading about consistency in everything.
Consistency! Yes, 100 percent, that's what people forget, like some people say, "oh, I just don't feel like training today". Sometimes you just gotta show up. The intensity matters. Obviously, diet matters like everything matters. But if there was one thing that's going to get your results showing up is half the battle. It's just making it consistent. That's why you think about a lot of people struggling with that, right? I don't struggle with that anymore because I look forward to training. I changed my thinking about how I approach training. That's what I call it - training. I don't even like the words fitness and workouts almost because sometimes they have a negative connotation. I think of it as practice time. I think of it as training time. I've said these words before, "It's my time to be creative. It's my time to figure out what is my body capable of today. How is it moving today? I just so look forward to that time because we're so distracted now. This world is crazy. If I can take a piece of my day and just dedicate it, it's a beautiful thing. So for me, consistency isn't a problem because I look forward to stuff, but for other people, they have to figure out how they can make that work for them. It shouldn't be like something you dread. It has to be something that you really enjoy, that you look forward to.
How do you make it fun for people that are trying to be consistent and what suggestions do you have for people to try?
In some cases, it's very individualized. It's hard to generalize because it depends on the reasons why somebody is inconsistent or why someone struggles. I think a lot depends on what level they are. Are they a raw beginner or have they been doing it for this long time and they just lost interest. For some people, it's just a matter of making it a priority. I know it's easy to say schedule it. Yes. We've all heard these words before, but sometimes you need it. You need a trigger. So you don't get to eat lunch until you've done your workout. So your lunch is your trigger? Cause that's your reward. I mean, that's just one example. There has to be a way of connecting it with something else that's going to actually make you show up and do the work. I think it's very highly individualized.
It depends on your goals, too. It depends on what it is you're doing. Not everyone's doing the same thing. A lot of people are working out at home right now.
So people might have EQualizer bars or they may have this new HIIT system or some people are doing bodyweight. Some people do have, a set of weights. Our circumstances now are different than what they were a couple of months ago for sure. People are facing different challenges now that they weren't facing before because we have other stresses in our lives. I think part of it is realizing that this can be a stress-reduction tool.
I think of it as almost another form of meditation, but it's not a calming, peaceful meditation. It gets your heart going and gets the blood pumping. In a way, it contributes to your overall health so it's kind of like moving meditation.
We are all dealing with Covid-19. How do you see your approach moving forward once this is over and getting back to some sort of normalcy?
It's a really difficult one because we don't have guidelines yet. I think we're fortunate as a facility in one regard because we are small and we are community-based so our classes here have never been busy. I mean, we've been here for 10 years, but it's always a fairly small number of people in here that tend to know one another. That's going to help, I think, make people feel more comfortable because we can certainly limit the number of people in here. We can certainly maintain social distancing. We can certainly do things like people aren't sharing equipment and stuff? But there are a lot of questions that remain unanswered.
I wish I had the answers, to be honest but I think it will take a while before things get normal and my stress is what is the new normal and what does it look like?
I'm not the only one facing this. A lot of us in the industry are going through this. Obviously a lot is moving online. I've been coaching online for quite a number of years now because I've had clients in Mexico, the United States, a few in Canada, most of them have been international. That works for some people. It doesn't work for all people. The problem is that space right now is very crowded because literally every trainer in the world right now is looking to do online training so it becomes a very crowded space. Then again, the way I look at it is while we all have our communities, we all have our connections. So that's where I will start if I decide to open my online business up further. Because I've been guiding people and that type of stuff works, I think better if you have specific goals. If somebody wants to learn a particular skill or they want to learn something that I'm particularly good at and they want to be able to do it, too, then I can help them on their journey.
How can people reach out to you if they do want to get involved with StrenghtBox?
Well, there are a number of ways. Obviously, our facility is still closed right now, but people can connect with me. First of all, I'm on Instagram, so you can follow me there at Instagram/greg.carver.
You can connect with me through my website at GregCarver.com. There's a place where you can send me a message and people can e-mail me to greg@gregcarver.com
I do read my emails and I'm trying to put a little more content out. I also have a YouTube channel, which I is www.youtube.com/GregCarver. So you'll find me out there.
I'm putting a lot more content right now on YouTube so I put a number of follow along workouts, particularly I'm concentrating on things that can be done with bodyweight. I've done some beginner bodyweight exercises. I put up some intermediate calisthenics exercises, not just exercises, actually routines that people can follow along and some that also use the Lebert equipment, like the Lebert EQualizer bars, which I think are great, by the way, especially for people that don't have access to pull up bars. These are just perfect. I use them all the time in my training. They're just awesome.
Your videos on YouTube - I've watched them, especially the beginning, body workout. It's phenomenal how you have developed that just by having the words saying one, two, three begin, and the entire video. I love how you have done that.
I appreciate that. I'm going to do more of those. Especially for beginners. I think it's important. I'm not specifying reps, saying you have to do 10 reps of this. You have to do 30 reps. I don't know what someone's level is. So giving them a time period saying, you've got 60 seconds to do this. Do what you can do. Just follow along with me. I'm trying to get tips. I plan to put out more content like that but thank you. I appreciate the comment.
You're more than welcome and I'll definitely be doing the beginner workouts sometime today.
So you sent me an email and let me know how it goes.
Thank you for being on the podcast today, Fitness for All by Lebert Fitness and we certainly look forward to having you back on the podcast.
Great. Hopefully, we can delve into, a couple of specific topics and do a little bit of a deeper dive!
Contact Greg Carver at:
Other Links:
Welcome to another edition of Fitness for All with Cam Jenkins, and sponsored by Lebert Fitness. In this episode, Cam talks with Todd Cambio (Coach Cambio), Master Instructor for Spartan Race, StrongFirst Kettlebell Instructor, Spartan Running Specialist, Spartan Obstacle Specialist, dad, football coach, foodie, beekeeper, presenter, author and beer aficionado. Coach Cambio discusses everything from BMX racing and Kettlebell Training to Spartan Racing.
]]>Welcome to another edition of Fitness for All with Cam Jenkins, and sponsored by Lebert Fitness. In this episode, Cam talks with Coach Cambio, Master Instructor for Spartan Race, StrongFirst Kettlebell Instructor, Spartan Running Specialist, Spartan Obstacle Specialist, dad, football coach, foodie, beekeeper, presenter, author and beer aficionado. Coach Cambio discusses everything from BMX racing and Kettlebell Training to Spartan Racing.
This article is sourced from the Fitness For All Podcast, a top health and wellness podcast. Listen or subscribe below
>
Where to subscribe: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Spotify | iHeartRadio | RSS
Scroll to the end of the article for links to important resources mentioned in this episode.
How do you know Marc Lebert and how did that relationship grow to where you are today?
Marc and I met at a business convention, not a fitness conference. It was about creating a brand and I remember Marc on stage dancing around with these yellow things. I'm thinking, “What the heck are those?” He started doing body rows and push ups and dips and I thought they were the coolest things. I ended up contacting him. We hit it off right away and we formed a relationship from there, mostly online. Then I started using his products, met him at a Perform Better Convention in person and he asked if I wanted to teach courses for him and then we built the relationship from there.
What do you like about his products or why do you use them?
They are the basis of any foundation, which for me is body weight, but the thing about body weight is you can do a lot of pushups and burpees and all this core stuff, but it's all mostly the interior chain, so, you're using the backside of the body - the pull part. I just loved the fact that you can take the EQualizers, specifically, and go anywhere. I'll take them on vacation with me. I'll take them into the middle of a football field. I'll take them to my basement, to my home gym, out in the garage. It's a very portable piece of equipment that does everything full body. That's why I love them.
Can you talk about your journey into fitness and what got you into it and your journey up until now?
I was the classic athlete, played sports my whole life. I competed at a national level in the sport of BMX, played college football - just a big-time athlete who loved what he was doing and was training at a sport performance facility. The bottom line is my mentor watched me working with the younger athletes, because the older athletes always let the younger ones do the warm-ups and I was like the big brother teaching them as we go. He thought I was very good at it. He mentioned to me one day that I should really look into becoming a strength and conditioning specialist, and that I have a natural knack for it. I didn’t think too much of it because I was interested in mountain bikes and BMX and training to be competitive at the national level hoping to go pro one day - and then things didn't happen, and I ended up back in college completing my second degree to become an educator.
Originally, I started as a dietician and went back to become a science teacher. When I was teaching high school and coaching football, I absolutely hated the strength conditioning programs the football kids were on. They're basically doing Arnold Schwarzenegger bodybuilding and the injury rate was high. Yes, they were looking big, but they were getting slower and injury riddled. I reached out to my mentor and said I wasn’t happy with the strength conditioning program. What should I do? She looks at me and says “Get certified. Here's the book. Go.” And that was it.
That was 20 years ago and I got certified through the NSCA to become a strength conditioning coach or specialist and then I started working with a football program that led to working with the other teams, like baseball, lacrosse, basketball and it started that way at school with all athletes. I loved that I was teaching and coaching and then we moved around a lot, unfortunately. My wife's medical school saw us in Chicago and Connecticut after that in the Hartford area and then we had to move again. So, I don't know if you know anything about teaching, every time you move, you get knocked down a few steps on a pay scale. I’d make tenure and have to move, make tenure, have to move. It got to be annoying. I was on my third move and eight years in at that point and I was coaching football, a respectable income but they wanted to bump me down to what someone out of college was making.
So, I just said, forget it. I left teaching and said “I’m going to start my own business” because I was successful in the Summers, so I figured I'd turn what I did in the summer and after school and to full-time. It took about 10 years at a private facility and then I moved again once more up to New Hampshire, where I live now, and I sold my gym and started teaching for Spartan teaching there STX program, and obstacle specialist programs and started teaching for StrongFirst, their one-day kettlebell course. I've been doing that ever since, working locally, working with the athletes still after school, subleasing space and just having a good time. Being a dad with my kids and enjoying training athletes - that's kind of where I am today.
Can you tell us what Spartan is for the listeners that don't know and how you became a Master Spartan instructor?
Absolutely, and the funny thing is that that term is changing. Now, I have to go back into the Spartan ranks and re-earn it. But that's OK.
That's what Spartan is all about, you know, building better humans. Spartan Race is the obstacle course company. They are very large, obviously, one of the bigger, if not the biggest now. What they decided to do is roll out a program to train or to give training for personal trainers and strength coaches to get people ready to do the races, because, what's unique about their races is you've got to run but there's also a ton of strength stuff. You need a lot of upper body strength and a lot of lower body endurance, including the running. You need a ton of strength training and you need to be able to run or hike or go up the side of a mountain. You get to carry a 60 pound sandbag with you so you need to have strong legs that can endure and keep going, so they came up with a certification program called Spartan SGX Certification, a two-day program. It's a holistic approach that builds off the foundation of body weight.
This is where Marc and I really connected because not only was I doing body weight normally, but now I'm incorporating into all my Spartan training for my athletes. It just really fit well, Lebert EQualizers with what I was doing with the Spartan coaching.
To finish the question, Spartan certification is a two-day program where you learn all the history of Spartan and everything from sports nutrition, to getting race day ready, to periodization or programming, to of course baseline exercises. It's a nice, well-rounded program that gets into body weight, improvisation and recovery strategies. It's just a great overall approach to fitness. The cool thing about Spartan is it’s not meant to be that all you do a Spartan training. It's supposed to fit into what you already do so you can take a big piece, a little piece, whatever you like, even if it's just the mindset piece of Spartan. We do a lot of building up your mind, stronger mind, things like that. It really does fit into whatever you're doing whether your cross fit, whether your boot camp, whether your strength conditioning specialist like myself who deals primarily with sport athletes, it just kind of fits in to what people really want to do and, of course, if you like obstacle course racing obviously, that's where it's at too.
For a person who wants to start into the Spartan experience, what would you suggest to them and what would you suggest that they work on from both a physical and mental standpoint?
Yes, great question. Now, obviously, I'm going to give you general recommendations.
For mind, the bottom line is for me, which is why I love Spartan races, because it gives you a goal. The goal is to build better humans, rip people off the couch. It gives you a goal to train for. If you say, “I’m going to do a race at the end of June”. Well, it's mid-May so you have about six weeks to go. So you start your plan and you build up to peak at the race. It gives you something to train for. When you cross that finish line, you definitely know that feeling that comes over you. You just accomplished something. It really does build confidence and it really does give you training goals. There are so many people that are willing to do it with you, whether it's on the course - you don't know anybody but people are there to pick you up and carry you along mentally as well as well as physically. It's just a great experience.
What I really, truly, absolutely love about Spartan is there's something for everybody. I'm not the smallest guy. I'm like 230 lbs right now. I've transitioned over back into the strength training stuff - more of the power lifting kind of strong man with all the kettlebell stuff I do.
We have stadium races which are 5k distance. You're done in about 30 minutes or so. So that's right up my alley, whereas you have someone who is an ultra-endurance person who might want to do the beast or the ultra beast switches, 30 miles for the beast and up to 26-mile marathon distance for the ultra endurance competitor. We have everything in between. There's something for absolutely everybody as far as what they like to do. That's why I love Spartan. They build the goals for you.
I don't know a lot about Spartan, however, I do follow a person on Facebook and as she goes by the name of Misty Diaz and she had a a physical disability called spina bifida, and she does Spartan races so like you said, there's something for everybody, even somebody with disabilities.
You mentioned also that you do kettlebells and you are a Kettlebell Instructor. Can you talk a bit about the kettlebells and why you chose kettlebells?
Absolutely. They are, by far, my favourite loaded implement these days. I got into kettlebells because I was annoyed that I didn't like how they were originally being used when I learned how to do them, like what are these things and why are they putting them over their head? It didn't make sense and I didn’t like them. It didn't feel good. I couldn't understand why we're going overhead. I felt like my shoulders are hurting all the time. My lower back was hurting, and I just didn't see the point so I started researching them and I found Pavel. Pavel originally came over and started the Russian kettlebell certification, and then he branched off from that company and started his own, which is called Strong First. When I originally learned, I bought the classic book about kettlebells that most people start with who were into the Russian hard style kettlebell. I just read it, practiced it and it was totally different to what I was learning through the person who originally showed me kettlebells. When I actually started doing it that way, I was like, holy crap, I feel powerful, I feel athletic.
I wasn't going overhead. I had had shoulder surgery and had a pin there from football days. I was still trying to do Olympic lifting, snatching in particular and my body's not meant for that anymore. I'm too asymmetrical with the injuries but what I found out is I could go overhead with single arm, with kettlebells, with their snatch variation of ballistic movement and once I learned that, I was hooked.
So that was a decade ago and what I started to do was just seeking knowledge. I did the original through HKC, which is what they call the HKC certification. You learn the basic swings and get-ups and squats and pressing. I did that. I loved it.
I waited another year to actually do the certification, which is a three-day certification, all hands-on which, by the way, is probably the hardest hands-on certification I've ever done. I waited two years because I knew there was kind of a rift in the industry. RKC Pavel was leaving the company and starting his own so I waited to see what would happen. Once they split, they had a certification in Boston so I took it. I went there. That was 2013. After three days with everybody out there, the knowledge, the strength on display, just everything about it, the movement prep, the reverse engineering, every possible movement down to its basics, its foundations, was just amazing. Now the progressions regressions were just amazing. I was absolutely hooked at that point. From there its climb the chain and get a lot of practice in. Now I have a 1lb. kettlebell all the way up to 202lbs.
What would you use a 1lb. kettlebell for?
I use it as a prop. I make something called KBee Balm. It's KBee because I'm a beekeeper and it's a hand balm that repairs your hands, keeps them supple so that they don't tear is easy. I found the 1lb. kettlebells online. I bought a bunch from because I use them for a props!
Here's the other thing I didn't mention earlier about how I get in this industry. Prior to training at sports specific facility, I used to be on a traveling bike team, race team, and we used to do clinics on how to do all the BMX stuff from gate starts to what's called pumping to jumping to all that stuff. I've been working with kids since I was 16, 17 years old, and I've just always been working with them. I just never realized it. You forget because you're just a kid having fun and having worked with kids for a long time and I never knew it and I just went back to that, I guess. I don't know how else to explain it.
Have you found a change over the years in your recovery time?
Actually that has been the biggest area I have gone into lately, because I didn't really notice I was getting older or feeling any older until probably 25. Then I noticed little things like I wasn't quite recovering is quick or wasn't quite as nimble or as mobile as I used to be. I didn't think too much of it so I worked a little harder and kind of get through it. Then I hit the 30s and now I'm trying to compete with the young guys, 20 somethings on the basketball court. I still play basketball. It's like, damn, I need 4 days to recover because I was sore the next day. I was never sore the next day. Now I'm closing in on 50 so I definitely spend, for every hour I work out hard, I definitely a complimentary hour on recovery, whether it's simply just rolling out in a foam roller or using a lacrosse ball to dig in there to certain things and spending extra time to stretching or even yoga.
Of course, I'm looking into all the longevity practices of ice baths and infrared near far heat, get massage monthly, well, I was until COVID. I do a lot of float therapy probably twice a month which is great. I want to relax. It does wonders for the parasympathetic nervous system. Those are some of my strategies I like to use and as well as nutrition recovery strategies. I definitely spend more time in recovery than working out now or “active recovery”.
If anyone wants to reach out to you and be able to see what you're doing and learn about you or hire you as a coach?
Sure – Coachcambio.com - I put all my stuff on there. I’ve got a newsletter and always have a workout in every newsletter. Some link back to my YouTube channel or Instagram, which I am the_red_gorilla. That's my Instagram, where I do most my stuff and then throw some stuff on YouTube. Coachcambio.com - that’s the easiest way to see what I'm up to.
One last question before I let you go how did you get the nickname, The Red Gorilla?
In college, I joined a fraternity and it was a beautiful three-story fraternity house. Like any fraternity guys, you are at parties and having fun and all that kind of stuff. Someone dared me to climb the house on the outside, so I did. I literally climbed up window to window, jumping shutter to shutter. I made it to the roof and then that was it, that was my nickname.
Gorillas don't even climb things, so I don't know why they did that, but I am red. I'm very red.
Well, thank you very much, Todd Cambio, for being on the podcast today for Fitness for All brought to you by Lebert Fitness.
Contact Todd Cambio at:
Website: https://www.coachcambio.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ToddCambio
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_red_gorilla/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/tcambio17
Other Links:
Welcome to another edition of Fitness for All with Cam Jenkins, and sponsored by Lebert Fitness. In this episode, mother of four, Veterinarian, Fitness Trainer and Instagram Influencer, Jesse Benjamin talks about how her fitness journey started after seven years of inactivity when she realized that she was taking care of everyone else but herself. Jesse explains why setting realistic goals is important. Jesse also talks about her Indigenous heritage and the current conversation of racism around the world and in Canada.
This article is sourced from the Fitness For All Podcast, a top health and wellness podcast. Listen or subscribe below
Where to subscribe: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Spotify | iHeartRadio | RSS
Scroll to the end of the article for links to important resources mentioned in this episode.
How did you meet Marc Lebert?
Marc and I originally met on Instagram. One of his friends was trying to get people to post something online to celebrate his 50th birthday and she had invited me to do 50 reps for Marc. It just so happened that his birthday is the same day as my birthday, so I thought, yes, I'll do that! From that point forward, we followed each other on Instagram and interacted with each other. He eventually asked me to help him manage the Lebert Fitness Health and Wellness Facebook group.
How did your fitness journey begin?
If I go way back to the beginning, I was always really active as a kid. I was in all kinds of sports which was a big part of my life. When I started my career as a veterinarian and started having more children, I just found it too hard to balance everything and to make time for myself. So, I stopped. I didn't do anything for probably about seven years.
I was really not happy with a few things in my life. I ended up leaving my marriage. It was around that time that I started working out again and decided to take care of myself because I definitely wasn’t. I promised myself I'd start working out again because I really missed how it made me feel and I missed that part of my life. So that's what I did. I started working out first at home three to four days a week. Eventually when my children started going to their father's when we started sharing custody, I joined a gym. Ever since, I've been pretty committed to it. I've been working out five to six times a week since then, which was about five years ago now.
Why is fitness such a good thing not only for you, but for everybody?
It has definitely changed my life for the better. Like I said before, I was really unhappy with myself, which is not good for anyone. It’s also not good when you're a mother and you're taking care of other people and you just feel drained and tired and and just sort of not very confident in yourself. So, for me, it's changed my energy levels. I was literally tired all the time before. It's definitely changed my self-confidence. And it's made me a lot better of a Mom. I am much more involved and active with my children now. We play basketball, we go to the track and we play soccer. We run or do things like tug of war which in the past, I definitely didn't do so much.
How did your fitness training business come about?
Going back a couple of years, I decided to take a personal trainer course just because I was sharing my story and what I was doing and how I was getting back into shape. I found I was getting a lot of questions from people and from friends. I didn't really feel comfortable answering them properly as I didn't feel like I was educated enough in fitness. I was doing it but I didn't know necessarily why I was doing it. I decided to take a course so that I could be more knowledgeable about it and also for myself to learn more. I became a personal trainer and then I did start initially taking on some clients. I found it a little too challenging where I already had a career. It was just too hard to fit it in, so I moved to just online. It is a little bit of a side gig, I guess you would say. I do love it and I love helping people. I love seeing people get stronger and be able to do things that they couldn't do before. It is really rewarding.
What's your philosophy on training?
My own overall philosophy is I don't believe in diets. I don't diet. I've never dieted, and I've never done a meal plan for any of my clients. I do believe in sustainability, both in nutrition and in fitness. I don't believe in anything too extreme. I want you to be able to take whatever I'm teaching you and be able to keep it up forever. I don't want you to just be able to do it for a short period of time or anything like that, because I think sustainability is the key to making it a lifestyle versus a short term diet. That’s probably my biggest thing. I don't really believe in weight loss, not that I don't want anyone out there to lose weight, but I believe in focusing on getting stronger and more functional and focusing on capabilities versus aesthetic goals.
Explain what you mean by capabilities compared to aesthetic goals.
That's personally how I've had success and my training is really focusing on what I can do. I'll set a goal for myself. For instance, pull ups. When I first started doing pull ups, I could barely do them, and then I set a goal for myself to be able to do 10 pull ups. When I reached that goal, I felt like a million bucks.
It really didn't matter what I weighed or what I looked like or anything like that. I was proud of myself. I felt confident and I felt amazing. I think why I really like functional goals is because it doesn't matter what you look like. At the end of the day, if you're hitting those goals, you're going to feel amazing, and your body is going to change.
As you get stronger, as you get fitter, your body will change, and you will like that. Many people set a target weight and get back to that weight and then they don't feel any different.
Absolutely. I think you have to work on the inside and you as a person to be able to reach those goals or to feel better about yourself as well, because as you had mentioned, you can diet and you can look a certain way but mentally you might think a different way so you have to work on the inside as well.
Strength is a big one for me. “Melgignat" means strong in Mi'kmaq (my Indigenous heritage). I chose that name for my Instagram and then ended up taking it as my business name because that was my goal when I started working out. I just wanted to get fit. I just wanted to get strong. That was it.
What are some of the exercises that you do that you like the most and is there a piece of fitness equipment that you like to use?
I like to switch it up, so I use a little bit of everything. For resistance training. I mix weights with body weight strength exercises. For example, for upper body, I'll usually do push ups or dips or pull ups or exercises that are more focused on your body weight. I also lift weights as well. I am loving the new Lebert HIIT System. I have obviously the EQualizer bars which are great for body weight movements such as push ups, pull ups, rows, etc. I love the HIIT system for the higher intensity type cardio. That's what I have the most fun with. It reminds me of my athletic type training that I did when I was younger.
What is the Lebert Fitness Health and Wellness Group?
It is a private Facebook group and everybody that has purchased any of the Lebert Fitness products is invited to join us. We have quite a few members. It’s a great community. Members are really supportive of each other and are positive. We post a variety of content. We share articles for those who are interested in that sort of thing, but also just little tidbits or little fun prizes and contacts. I usually post at least once a week a new move or a new workout on some piece of our equipment so whether it’s the HIIT system. EQualizers, Parallettes or Stretch Straps. The members are also contributing their own content, sharing workouts that they're doing. We have a lot of our ambassadors contributing as well and other trainers who are members in the group.
I'm starting my fitness journey again. What would you suggest for someone starting back into?
It was only five years ago that I was in the exact same position, so I would say:
Creating a realistic goal is another key to success. Don't say you're going to work out seven days a week. That's just not sustainable. Pick something that you can actually stick to and that's going to be different for everyone based on their schedule. If three or four days a week is realistic, then stick to that and then schedule it in and make a plan.
Some days when I worked and had to get the kids from school (back when they were in school) and then had to come home cook supper, I would plan for a short workout like 30 minutes - just a quick HIIT workout because I knew it was unrealistic to spend two hours working out.
Make a plan that's going to fit your life and then stick to it. You're going to feel better about it. Set yourself up for success is the big one.
I think that can be a bit challenging for some people, because at the end of the day, they find excuses as to why they can't get that workout in. A workout can only be 20 minutes or 30 minutes, and that can be good enough.
That’s right. Be flexible. Some days, I just don't feel good, I’m lethargic or I'm stressed out or maybe I'm sore. Instead of just saying I'm not doing anything this day, I'll adjust, and I won't feel bad about it. Maybe I'll just do a little bit of a yoga flow or a mobility routine or something that's low intensity or something that's short. Maybe I'll take my lifting workout and change it to, like you said, 20- or 30-minute workout and then I've done something. You’re staying in the habit, but you’re also giving yourself permission to not feel guilty that you didn't do whatever you had planned. It's flexible,
What's next for Jesse over the next few years?
There are a few functional things that I want to do. I've been really working hard, improving my pull ups. Like I said, that was a goal that I had quite a while. I had that goal of 10. I reached 10 and then I got stuck at 10 for a really long time. So, I've been changing my own training to try to improve that. Now I want 20. So that would be for me a huge goal, and I'm getting close. I'm at 16 or 17, so that would be amazing. I also really want to complete a muscle up exercise (full range-of-motion pull-up). I was practicing that at the gym before they shut down. I need a higher ceiling. I train right now in my basement and there's a really low ceiling. I've put that on hold but that's another one. I would really, really love to learn that technique.
What accomplishments are you most proud of up to now?
Once I decided to start working out again, I made that promise to myself and I have kept it. Ever since that day I haven't let myself down. That's probably the thing that I've been most proud of because it is easy to give up.
I've grown to appreciate how much better of a person it makes me and how much stronger not only physically, but mentally as well and how it's helped me meet people. I see all the benefits and I don't ever want to stop now.
That's awesome and good for you for keeping that goal. For the people that want to be able to train with you online, do you want to give a little shout out to your business and how they can get in touch with you?
Sure. You can find me on Instagram, which is @jesse_benjamin.
Can you talk a little about your Indigenous heritage?
My father is Mi'kmaq and my mother is Caucasian, so I grew up off reserve in Nova Scotia. Mi'kmaq are the Indigenous people to this area, so we were the first people to live here. That's my origin. I often get asked where I'm from or where my ancestors are from. I always say, “here”. I am the original Canadian. Growing up off reserve and being of mixed race has had its challenges. I have a blog on my website and have written a few articles about that. I just wrote one recently about racism and my experiences. Everything that's been happening in the world lately motivated me to write it. I will say that despite the many challenges of late, I've been really trying to make a concerted effort to get back in touch and educate myself more about my culture. I'm learning how to fancy shawl dance, which is quite athletic, lots of jumping and spinning. I'm absolutely loving it. I'm branching out fitness-wise. It's a new style of killer cardio. It's really, really intense and I love it. It's also proving to be spiritual and fulfilling. I'm learning a lot which is amazing as well.
It's always good to learn something new and to learn something about your heritage, because like you said, in today's world with everything going on, it's sad in 2020 that racism exists and we don't see that people are people at the end of the day They look at the color of their skin when I'm no better than you and you're no better than me at the end of today, or at least that's my philosophy.
Yes, there’s a lot of, I think there are a lot of subconscious things that are in our society that are ingrained that we don’t realize. It's going to take a lot of work to dissect it all out and change. I'm glad it's being talked about now. It's not just in the States. It's here in Canada as well for blacks and particularly Indigenous people. I find in Canada it's sometimes worse for the Indigenous here, but I am really happy that it's all being talked about and I think some people are finally listening.
Yes, it is happening all over the world and certainly here in Canada with the Indigenous people and I hope that the conversation keeps happening and people educate themselves and that hopefully one day we can have an inclusive society.
Absolutely.
Jesse, thank you for being on the program. Fitness For All is sponsored by Lebert Fitness. We certainly hope to have you on the show again.
Contact Jesse Benjamin at:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/melgignatfit
Instagram: www.instagram.com/jesse_benjamin
YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UChPrcE0wTReqF1Bakg5_jMQ
Other Links:
Wondering what it takes to grow a good idea into a successful company? Cam interviews entrepreneur, inventor, athlete and international speaker Marc Lebert who talks about his invention, the Lebert EQualizer, his journey to success and finding his "Why".
Marc turns the tables and interviews host Cam Jenkins who talks about his journey as a para athlete and his career as co-host of the para and pro sports show #TheNeutralZone.
Discover how two entrepreneurs are staying top-of-mind with their audiences right now and what you can do to keep motivated and moving!
This article is sourced from the Fitness For All Podcast, a top health and wellness podcast. Listen or subscribe below
Where to subscribe: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Google Podcasts | Spotify | iHeartRadio | RSS
Scroll to the end of the article for links to important resources mentioned in this episode.
Welcome to the first podcast episode of Fitness For All, sponsored by Lebert Fitness and hosted by Cam Jenkins. For the first episode, Cam interviews Marc Lebert, owner of Lebert Fitness. We've been talking about launching a podcast for a while now and of all days to do it, we are launching our latest product today, the Lebert HIIT System!
Since you mentioned it, do you want to let the listeners know about your new product?
It’s a combination of unilateral motions, so a dynamic resistance trainer that's great for HIIT training, but also good for any fitness level. It comes complete with anchors so you can hook it up like a suspension trainer, either up high, straight across from you or down low. You can hook it up just about anywhere. It also comes with a partner handle so it's also great for partner training.
Do you want to let the listeners know a little bit about Lebert Fitness and how that came to be?
I was doing a lot of in-home personal training and a client wanted to be able to do chin-ups and didn't want to buy an expensive lat pull machine or anything similar. I had an idea to weld up some steel bars, which are now the EQualizers. I called a friend in Hamilton who worked at a steel factory, and asked if he could weld something for him. He said absolutely. I brought him a case of beer, because that's what a good Canadian boy does and we created the first set of EQualizers. That was over 15 years ago and we took that concept to market, testing it first here first in Canada. Now the Lebert EQualizer is being used around the world so it's been a wild 15 years.
Can you talk about some of the other products that Lebert Fitness also has?
We now have the Lebert EQualizer XLs in a 3” taller version. We have Parallettes which are shorter EQualizers, like a gymnastics tool, the new HIIT System and a nice stretching product called the Stretch Strap. This was developed because being an ice hockey player and training a lot of hockey kids over the years, their flexibility was very poor. It’s great for getting into those poses and holding them more effectively.
We have one more product that we have not launched yet which a tool for boot camps. Currently, our focus is helping get people fit at home. We’ve got a lot of people with EQualizers in their homes now staying fit, safe and hopefully sane during this time.
Marc and I met about 10 years ago, and I was at a point in my life where I wanted to get more fit because I was competing in para sports for para track and field. I chose to get into the para field where I was throwing shot-put, javelin and discus and I just wanted to become a little bit more serious with it. I ended up finding Marc at a gym and that is where I started my fitness journey. I work for a good organization that helps kids with physical disabilities. I also do a para sports in pro sports podcast called The Neutral Zone. I enjoy doing that as well.
I also used to play para ice hockey, also known as sledge hockey which I played for 20 years. I started for a recreational league, but became more serious as the years went on. I ended up going as far as the Ontario provincial championships in Huntsville and won a silver medal at the Ontario Paralympic Games. That's my shining moment as well as the para sports world goes.
Growing up, I played baseball but I would say my sports are para ice hockey and the para track and field is where I focussed for a lot of years.
When the Pan Am games came here to Toronto, did you get involved? Did you go see any of those games and what was your experience with that?
I definitely wanted to be there because there were a few teammates that I had through the para field that were competing. They had been to the Paralympics at London 2012 and Beijing as well. There's nothing quite like going to the games where you're cheering for your country. This is where a whole country comes together and there's nothing like cheering for the Canadian flag at the end of the day. So that's probably one of the highlights as a fan - me watching an event cheering for Canadian athletes and it was phenomenal.
Tell me a little bit about when you went all the way to the finals in sledge hockey. What what experiences, what lessons, what things do remember the most about about that?
One of the things that I remember is being in the town of Huntsville, the entire town came out to watch. The arena held about 700 people and it was packed. That was my first experience of having so many people watching the game of para ice hockey. So, there was the thrill of so many people watching you. I'm very humble and that was one of the best tournaments I ever played in my whole entire career. When the fans are cheering for you, when you make a phenomenal save or you know that it's a close game and the pressure is on you, it was just all of those feelings and the experience. I'll remember it for as long as I live.
The game that I'll remember the most was against Kingston and they were one of the top teams, if not the top team. I think it either went to overtime or a shootout. We ended up just losing that game, 1-0 but it was phenomenal that we got that far. The saves that I made and the team blocked a lot of the shots before it even got to me for me to save – it was just phenomenal and we thought we were going to get blown out. That was a huge confidence booster to me and the rest of the team.
What keeps you going? What keeps you positive? What keeps you motivated?
How I keep positive is really about the people that I surround myself with and the people that are genuine and that care about me. When you surround yourself with good people, you too will become, if not already, a good person and feed off other people and that's how you're able to stay positive. I have a couple of mantras in life. One is that I'm no better than you and you're no better than me. The other one I have is that everyone has challenges at the end of the day. Some are just more noticeable than others. So, if you treat people as equals, I think you're able to stay in that positive mindset as well.
Right now with everything going on in the world, you have to adapt and find ways to hang out with people and there are great ways to do it. Whether it's doing this podcast, like we're doing today or other different video messaging apps to stay connected. At this time when we’re self-isolating, you just have to do what you have to in order to be able to be socially together, no matter which way that is.
Marc says a really important component is to make sure that you don't feel isolated. I think another important component, and this being a fitness podcast, is that you have to stay moving. Moving is the essence of life. If you stop moving, you're going to start to crumble. That's why it's so important to find things that you like to do, people that you like to do it with. Find out your “Why” because sometimes when you're at home, it's not easy. When you are used to going to the gym, it might be a lot more difficult. For me, if I don't feel like working out, I look at my big vision. What's my vision? I want to be a certain person and that motivates me so I need to do my workout, and five minutes in, I start to feel great. During this time, it's really important for people to understand that.
Marc, how do you suggest a person start a workout at home to get moving with what they have at home?
That’s a great question. First, get moving regardless of equipment, because you'll always find a way you can use your body weight. You can jog on the spot. You can do jumping jacks. There are lots of free resources out there, even on our website, with or without equipment. But to find your “why”, such as “I'm going to be there for my kids when I get older”, that's something that you have to work on. We all know what it might be, but it's important to spend some time thinking about it because the more you focus on something, the more that desire grows. I think people have so much paralysis by analysis. There are a million programs, a million ways to do things. What I generally recommend is pick 3 exercises. I do this with my son. He writes his own exercise programs now. What three exercise can you do? OK. Jumping jacks, squats, push ups. How many times can you do it? I'm going to five rounds. How long is a round? One minute! Boom! There's a program - done.
Marc, can you remember back to when you were young as to what the “Why” reason was for you and maybe tell about your journey into fitness?
Yes, it's interesting because “Why’s” change over time. I had three distinct “Whys” in my life. The first “Why” when I went to college. I was 6’1”, 155 pounds. My “Why” was to put on some size and strength. Then that morphed over time. I started to get into tae kwon do and I wanted to compete, which I did. So my “Why” became ‘becoming more athletic and better at my sport’.
This podcast is called “Fitness for All”. I know that that's one of the taglines for Lebert Fitness. Can you talk to us about how that came about?
We have a new president of Lebert Fitness, David Faasson. He came on board about a year and a half ago. One of the things he did with me is really dig down deep as to why I started the company in the first place, because, as a company, we also have our “Why”. Once we discovered that, then everything we do is aligned towards that mission and those values. What we distilled it down to is Fitness For All. I developed the EQualizer at first to help my clients and the members of my classes to get a more efficient and effective workout. I wanted it to be used by anyone and everyone from beginners to pro athletes. So, our “Why” is Fitness For All, and it was a big help with David and the rest of our team that we're able to really align towards that value.