The Power Of SharIng Your Story

By Erin Rhoades

There was a time that I was ashamed to share my struggles.

I was afraid to admit that I battled with disordered eating.

I would under eat and over exercise to an extreme, and when no one was looking on a weekend night, I would binge on sweets to the point I thought I would literally be sick. I had somehow allowed food and exercise to control me. It was all I thought about, and it wasn’t until my body became physically sick that I took a step back and decided that something had to change.

As I dealt with my demons, and my body and mind were healing, I couldn’t help but feel ashamed. I wasn’t that strong, in control person everyone thought I was…at least not yet.

What I didn’t know is that my secret struggles were eventually going to mold me into that person I wanted to be. The transformation that needed to take place didn’t begin until I decided to share my story. I started with one person that I thought might understand and I knew for certain wouldn’t judge me, but would love me through it. By telling that one person, my secret already had less power over me and I immediately felt a little stronger. I decided to share with a few more people and with each time I told about my struggles, a little of that shame melted away.

I eventually decided to speak a little louder and share my story on my blog. I remember staring at my words, wondering if putting my story out there for the world to see was the right thing to do. I finally took a deep breath, counted to three and clicked “post”. I closed my computer and waited a while before I looked for any reactions on my social media, but when I did, I knew I had done the right thing. There were many comments but the one’s that really tugged at my heart were the women thanking me for being vulnerable, because now they didn’t feel so alone.

From that day forward, the shame that burdened me was no longer there. I now find it to be a privilege when I get to share my personal struggles. I personally believe we go through things for two specific reasons. One, they make us stronger and form us into the people we are meant to be. Two, we are to take what we’ve learned from difficult situations and help others. Whether that is helping someone going through a similar situation or to warn others against making our same mistakes. There is a lot more to my story than what I’ve briefly shared (which you can read about here), but I can honestly say with all my heart, that I would gladly go through it all again, if I can stop one person from going down my same path.

I urge you, if you have an experience that has changed your life and made you stronger, to tell that story. You don’t have to write a blog and put your life out there for just anyone to see. Maybe you choose to tell just one person to lighten that burden you’ve been carrying around. Find that someone you trust and share your struggle. Being vulnerable isn’t always fun, but it can be rewarding in many different ways. Maybe your story will be the one that might just change someone else’s life.

How to Lose a Gunt in 10 Days

By K.L.

Countless magazines, both health and fashion, tell us we can do anything. "Be bikini ready in 2 weeks!" "Get THESE abs by the weekend!" "Look 10 pounds thinner by noon!" 

I know the articles that seem too good to be true, ARE too good to be true. These so-called miracle cures and drastic claims are just fluff pieces to sell magazines (... Uh, similar to this one). I know it isn't realistic, or attainable to look like Gwyneth Paltrow with one swift ab exercise. I know putting coconut oil on my cellulite and stretch marks won't make it supple and smooth like Beyoncé's. I know J-Lo's butt is not something I can get by buying an exercise band. And I most certainly know that my legs will never look like Heidi Klum's, and especially not because I take on a 2-week squat challenge. 

So why do I keep going for the quick fix? The overnight results? Why do I even read these articles? 

I am the type who will go so hard in the gym. I love to sweat, and work hard, so much so that I'll compete with myself and others. The hardest part for me is nutrition. The gym is an hour a day, (alright, maybe half an hour. Well, a few days a week. Okay, at least once) but food is ALL day EVERY day. And it's the most important part! These "quick fix" articles show a 3-minute arm circle workout and claim that they will give me the "bikini body I've always wanted." IT'S NOT ENOUGH, my friends. I know, because I've tried. Somehow my abs look the same even if I follow the Kale Smoothie diet for three days (I think the box of Oreos may have something to do with it). 

So why the title, you ask? Well, it was a ploy to get you to read this article.

... Did it work? 

What is a gunt, anyway? Well, urban dictionary will tell you (see also: fupa), but here is my highly educated response: it's the space between your belly button and your lady parts. It's the place that all dresses (tight or loose) love to grab on to. The spot that seems impossible to get rid of. It's the spot our kids like to touch and ask us if there's a baby in there. The sole reason shape wear was invented. The spot that tells us we've had too much Halloween candy. The spot that loves to come out and play if ever we dare bend over. 

So, how does one lose a gunt in 10 days? Sorry, friends. We don't.

That sucker isn't going away in just over a week. But with proper nutrition, strength and interval training, and a hefty source of willpower, we can get closer to a flat stomach. It might take weeks. It might take months. It might take a year. But we are too smart to keep believing the gimmicky "dietainment" stories that wreak havoc on our self-esteem. We've learned, through all of the fad diets and fad exercise plans, that there is no quick fix. It always comes down to what you put in your body, and how you push your body to be strong. 

And hey, if all else fails, there's always Spanx. 

(Endnote: when I pitched the idea for this article to editor Val, she asked me, "What is a gunt?" This made me laugh, then become infuriated. A woman who doesn't know what a gunt is? A mother of 4 who's never had a little pooch down by her va-jay-jay? It's just not fair. I love you, Val, but I may have to unfriend you on Facebook.) 

Habits: Reprogramming Yourself for a Habitually Healthy You

By Angela Hauck

Model: Natalie Davis

We can be habitually happy; habitually driven; and habitually supportive.

Just as easily we can be habitually judgmental; habitually late; and habitually lazy.

The body enjoys familiarity and routine. Take for example the route that you always take to get to work. Unless there is construction, we often stick to the same path every day.

The brain is no different. It likes to take the same route and altering the route or re-paving the road is not an easy task.

Moreover, although we are all well aware that our current health and body composition is a direct reflection of our everyday habits, changing those habits is not easy.

In hindsight, I can identify all of the habits that contributed to the person I used to be.

In college, I would get a massive slice of cheese pizza every day for lunch and lather it in a disgustingly thick layer of parmesan cheese.  

A bottle of pop would wash it down and I would often add a chocolate bar for dessert.

Every evening was filled with a few hours of television and online battles of tetris.

A few nights a week, I would engage in excessive binge drinking. Not long after was brutal hangovers and puking in the hallway garbage cans at school.

While living in British Columbia, I would consume Chicken Nuggets, french fries and a Coke from McDonalds and then go to Dairy Queen for a blizzard treat.

Every evening was filled with a long nap and a few unproductive hours on my computer.

Every weekend, booze took priority and Sundays were always a complete write-off.

I only bought fast-food or food that was on sale. I scarfed down meals manically and mindlessly.  

Water and vegetables were pretty much non-existent and it’s no surprise that as a result, I became unhealthy, overweight, unmotivated and lazy.

That very well could have been what I became forever. I could have stayed habitually overweight. Habitually lazy. Habitually fat.

In turn, I could have taught my kids unhealthy choices, habits and behaviours. And, they too could have come habitually overweight. Habitually lazy. Habitually fat.

Or not. . .

Although automatic in nature, habits are a choice, they can be temporary and they have the ability to change.

Take for example what is the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning?

What’s typically on the table for breakfast?

How do you decide what’s for dinner?

How do you deal with stressors in your life?

What habits are holding you back physically and mentally?

And then consider the effect your habits are having on those that are around you.

One of the coolest capabilities we have as human beings is the ability to influence other people, especially the people that we love.  

By demonstrating healthy habits, we can enrich and inspire our family members to better health. We have the power to shape a solid foundation and a solid future for our children.  

By getting them involved in healthy living at a young age, we can help prepare them for a future of maintaining a healthy weight and a future of avoiding health problems related to excess body fat.

I’ve put together my top 8 healthy nutrition habits that you can apply in your household.

1) Be a good role model, especially when you’re tired, stressed or busy.

It’s very easy to grab “junk” food when life gets challenging.  

It’s important to remember who is watching. Is this a habit that you would want your children to emulate?

2) Read labels – not to learn how many calories are in the item, but to find out the ingredients.

Teach your children (when they are old enough) how to identify hidden sugars. Teach them to make selections that are high in protein and high in fiber.

3) Sit down with your kids to plan out the meals for the week.

Listen to their ideas and work as a team. Perhaps your son wants to have spaghetti and garlic bread for dinner with a chocolate brownie for dessert.  

Come up with ways to include a vegetable and a good protein source into the meal then find a healthy brownie recipe that you can make together.

4) Make up a homemade trail mix full of raw nuts and seeds such as walnuts, pumpkin seeds, almonds and chia seeds and keep it on hand for a quick snack.  

Packed with omega-3 fats, having these on hand can help with cognitive development and the prevention of many chronic diseases.

5) Mix flavoured yogurt with plain yogurt to cut back on the sugar.

This also works with chocolate milk and juices. You can dilute with milk or water.

6) Let your children choose their favourite fruits and vegetables.  

When you are in the produce aisle, show them the many colourful options and explain why fruits and vegetables are important.  

When you get home, chop, prepare and organize them so that they are easily accessible.  

Involve them in the process – even young children can do things like tear up lettuce for salad and put lids on Tupperware containers.

7) Serve appropriate portions.

Teach your children what it feels like to eat until they are 80% full. Let kids stop when they are no longer hungry instead of when the plate is clean.

8) Take your family’s favourite meals and find a way to do them over!

Wonder Woman Fitness: Kiowana Phillips

By Jill Farr

Soldier, author, certified personal trainer, PhD student, wife, mom…Kiowana Phillips isn’t kidding when she refers to herself as a “Jane of All Trades”, but the usual follow up of “Master of None” doesn’t apply here—she attains goals, in addition to setting them.

“I love challenging myself,” Kiowana says. “There are many women that I look up to but none that do everything that I do. We are all unique. I love helping others and what makes me unique is that I have the motivation, support and drive to push people to reach their goals. Whether they want to maintain, lose weight, or just challenge themselves, I'm there every step of the way.”

As the wonder woman behind Wonder Woman Fitness, Kiowana brings her special brand of enthusiasm to her clients. A Beachbody Coach and certified personal trainer, she also has personal experience with what it’s like to be at the beginning of a long fitness journey.

“I've faced many challenges on my journey from gaining weight and not being able to lose it after giving birth to my now 2 year old, to not liking what I see in the mirror,” Kiowana says.

Although she believes in nutrition and a good program for fitness, Kiowana also credits drive with getting her where she is today, fitness-wise.

“I've always been a competitive person in spirit being in the Army but fitness is my passion,” Kiowana says. “I get a rush from pushing myself.”

Turning challenges into opportunities has meant more than making a business out of fitness, after getting fit, herself; Kiowana’s book, The Boy Who Smiles with His Heart, is a chronicle of the first nine years of her son Khaleb’s life with Moebius Syndrome, a condition that includes facial paralysis. (You can follow the book’s Facebook page to find out more about raising awareness of Moebius Syndrome.

In addition to strength training, Kiowana is an avid runner (20-40 miles a week, and about five races a month, ranging from 5ks to half marathons), and a competitive student of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, which she says comes in a close second to running as her favorite fitness pastime.

“There’s something about stepping on the mat with someone and knowing that both of you want to win,” Kiowana says. “It's all about who wants it more.”

Kiowana may have been blessed with an extra helping of drive, but she insists that the pursuit of fitness is a natural confidence enhancer, and that getting moving, physically, can have enormous effect on your mental wellbeing.

“Fitness plays a huge role in confidence,” Kiowana says. “When you feel better, you look better, you move better, you love better, you're better altogether. When you work out you're doing something for YOURSELF. That's YOUR time. Your time to yourself to work on you.”

For the women who wonder if they too can become Wonder Women, Kiowana’s response is a resounding yes.

“My advice to women who need encouragement would be to always think RESILIENCY,” Kiowana says. “Have the courage to keep pushing forward. Don't quit. It will hurt, you will be sore but change doesn't happen overnight. Situations are inevitable.”

“Life happens but keep going. Hold your head up and run the day, don't let it run you.”

Jessie Benson Takes Balance to the Next Level with SUP Fitness

By Jill Farr

Shortly after 29 year old FloYo© creator Jessie Benson was introduced to stand up paddle boarding (SUP) she found herself dreaming what many thought was an impossible dream; introducing East Coast inhabitants to SUP yoga.

“Stand up paddle boarding was still brand new, almost non-existent on the East Coast,” says Benson. “I had a vision for FloYo© but when I told people about the workout and the experience on the water people in my community thought I was crazy.”

“There were a lot of challenges to overcome--a very short SUP season, a perception of polluted waters that were unsafe to be on, to name a few—but I knew that once I got people on the boards they would fall in love with the SUP fitness experience. I just had to figure out a way to get them to take that first step and get on board.”

Benson’s love for fitness started early, and was encouraged in her home.

“I fell in love with fitness when I was in high school,” she says. “I was a bit overweight in middle school, but always played sports and was active. My parents went to the gym religiously and always instilled the importance of fitness.”

Before discovering SUP, Benson had another activity ignite her fitness fire; spinning.

“When I discovered spinning as a sophomore in high school, I fell in love,” she says. “I started to lose a bit of weight and gained so much confidence. I loved the rush I felt after a spin class. I felt as though I could take on the world, I could do anything I set my mind to.”

Benson wasn’t simply content to spin as a student; her excitement led her to want to share her passion with others as a teacher.

“As a freshman in college, I got certified as a spin instructor. I taught spin and other group fitness classes all through college and continued after I got a corporate job right after graduation.”

The business world may have beckoned right out of college, but Benson’s heart was solidly in the fitness world, and her characteristic drive and belief in pursuing what fulfills you led her to look for a path to change.

“I knew that fitness was my passion,” Benson says. “I felt so fulfilled when in the gym inspiring others to live up to their fullest potential. I dreamt of how I could make fitness my career and then when I discovered SUP, I knew I had found the answer.”

“It was a bit of a journey creating FloYo© and figuring out how the brand would develop but now I am able to travel the world doing what I love- introducing people to SUP yoga. It truly is my dream job and I couldn't imagine doing anything else!”

Now an ASI (Academy of Surfing Instructors) SUP Yoga trainer, Benson leads ASI trainings in addition to FloYo© trainings all around the world.

Benson not only has a penchant for taking the initiative and learning how to teach others when she finds something that speaks to her, she realizes the importance of gratitude as well, towards the mentors that have helped her shape her fitness future.

“I still keep in touch with my very first spin instructor,” Benson says. “I give her a lot of credit for where I am today. She ignited my passion and inspired me to follow fitness as a career!”

Inspiring a similar type of excitement in others and sharing the great lessons she learns from SUP is the icing on the cake for Benson; the true accomplishment is teaching women to overcome the biggest obstacle in pursuing that passion…fear.

Holding challenging yoga poses is a daunting enough task for many when standing on solid ground, but taking it to the water—while balancing on a board—is not only a significant physical hurdle, but a great metaphor for other areas of life.

As one of the pioneers of SUP fitness on the East Coast, Benson credits the fueling of her passion and drive to bring the pastime to others with the feeling that being on the water gave her.

“I loved the feeling of freedom I discovered while on a paddleboard in the middle of the water with nothing holding me back,” Benson says. “That passion is what made others want to come out and experience FloYo© for themselves.”

“I encourage strength in women in each and every FloYo© class- showing women what is possible. Women often come to class very skeptical, fearful of falling in the water, nervous that they will not be able to stand up and do yoga poses on the board. I have created an experience on a paddle board that encourages women to drop their fears, to get free and to have fun.”

“FloYo© helps women find freedom, and finding freedom is finding possibility. Once my students take that leap and sign up for a class they commit to surrendering their fear and finding their strength.”

Even if you don’t have the chance to get on a paddle board and try out your Warrior pose, Benson believes the essence of her program comes down to something any of us can do…test our limits.

“My biggest piece of advice for women is to step out of their comfort zone,” says Benson. “If they are always doing the same fitness routine- running on the treadmill or always taking the same yoga class- I encourage them to try something new.”

“Trying something that makes them feel slightly uncomfortable, something out of their realm of normal gives them the confidence they need to face any challenge in life head on. My favorite part of my job is seeing the joy and sense of accomplishment on women’s faces after a class--they come in thinking they will never be able to stand on a board and leave feeling like they could take over the world.”

“Fitness helps women find that sense of empowerment, and that’s what FloYo is what it is all about!”

(Visit www.FloYoFit.com and follow FloYoFit on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to learn more.)

Mind of an Athlete

By Priscilla Tallman

I’m in the middle of a battle between my mind and my body.

I’ve struggled in this department before maybe in a more traditional sense where the mind is the one I’m trying to overcome. In the past it may have been finding every excuse to stay under the warm covers instead of waking up to hit the gym, or perhaps letting the rowing machine spin out the last several seconds instead of getting in a couple of last pulls.

Situations like these are things I might consider part of my “mental game,” areas where my mind wants to quit and, therefore, so does my body.

That battle is all too common, but this current conflict is different. This time, it’s my mind that won’t let me off the hook. My body is saying “not today” but my mind is saying “get up, let’s do this.” Now, I’m not necessarily complaining, the mind is a powerful thing and, so, this works mostly to my benefit. But when I signed up for the CrossFit Open three months after tearing my meniscus and only two weeks after being cleared to full-range squat, even my own body was like “you have got to be kidding me.”

My brain? It’s all “aw, come on. You can scale it.”

It’s less mind over matter and just a full dose of only the mind matters. And it’s an interesting time for me because as my body feels less and less capable, my mind is calling in the big guns to keep me moving regardless of the excuses my body is trying to feed me, and believe me, I’ve got a few.

Honestly, I blame it on years and years of playing sports and I call it “the mind of an athlete.”

Starting in elementary school, I played competitive sports through high school, college and beyond. I learned some valuable lessons and developed character traits that are often only found in athletes, like mental fortitude, the ability to push physically when everyone else has given up, the persistence it takes to master a skill or movement and many other valuable life skills that have carried me through more than one season (literally and figuratively).

But as I grew up and lived through the ups and downs of my journey, my athlete brain was also doing some undercover work. It was developing neural pathways and creating mental memories I could cash in on down the road and all through my life. It’s these habits and memories, I believe, that won’t let me off the hook in my current season.

See, while my body may not be fully capable of doing the things I want it to do, my brain has been forming habits all my life. Teaching me that not every workout or training session is backed by my 100% undying motivation, not every practice or lifting session is enjoyable, nor do they always produce the desired results I am hoping for and despite these things my brain still tells me to show up and do the work.

What I love best is that when my brain is in charge, my body doesn’t really have a choice. So, I can continue through life (and the aging process) walking around with a list of things that are broken or failing and I can keep that list in my pocket as a reminder of what I can’t do or what I’ve lost…

…Or…

Or I can glance over at the list and say, “Wow. I enjoyed those things to their fullest and now look at all the new things I can try, play, lift and do. Look how much I have left!”

Look how much I have left.

That’s a much better approach to life, to fitness, to relationships or any other thing I hope to accomplish with my time here on earth than the alternative of giving into my excuses.

For now, I’ll thank my many years as an athlete. I’ll thank my brain for developing AND remembering the neural pathways that tell me to move my body because it’s better for me in the long run than focusing on what I can’t do. I’ll thank my brain for the ability to recognize and differentiate between soreness (keep moving), exhaustion (restore and recover) and pain (rehab).

And though I have the body and athletic prowess of a giraffe, I’ll be thankful I have the mind of an athlete.

Crispy Kale Chips Recipe

Makes 2-3 servings

Ingredients

1 bunch of kale, washed and dried
1 tablespoon olive oil
pink salt

Directions

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Wash kale and thoroughly dry (you can pat dry with paper towels if you don’t have a salad spinner).

Remove the ribs and tear the kale into 2-inch pieces.

Lay the pieces on a baking sheet and drizzle olive oil over them.

Use your fingers to rub the oil in and evenly distribute.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, turning them halfway through.

110 calories; 5g fat; 16 g carbohydrates; 5 g protein; 6 g fiber

Puttin on the Glitz...A fitness Competition Experience

By Michelle Carlson

If you have ever competed on the fitness stage, then you know that awesome feeling when your Cinderella shoes, flashy jewelry and teeny tiny bikini full of sparkles lands in your lap ...That feeling of "Holy crap, this just got real!". For me, it was a little bit different.

As a younger me, I loved painting my nails and fixing my hair. Being a child of the 80's, I spent my fair share of time bathroom bound trying to match my eye shadow and lip gloss while also trying to achieve maximum height on my bangs. Into my 30's I noticed my focus was more inner me and less lip gloss me (and thank goodness the bangs were gone). Let me introduce the me I deal with on a daily basis: I am 37 and a mother of 2 teens. I run 2 businesses, see clients, develop nutrition and training programs and offer counseling. I workout as a necessity and I am NOT the girl in the gym who always matches and looks cute. Honestly, I find when I don't look too cute people tend to avoid me altogether, which rocks in my book. 

This is the same me that decided to pursue my dream of Figure competitions. It's also the same me who loved the workouts, but truly hated every second of posing practice. Over a few months I had to take off the boy shorts and slip into some extremely sparkly big girl panties...and it was a struggle. My first meeting with my suit maker left her feeling a bit, shall we say, unenthusiastic. She came through and made me a minimal suit as I asked, BUT she also added a little extra sparkle at no extra charge! I think she felt a bit sorry for how I had low-maintentanced myself to hardly any maintenance at all. 

With some prodding from Coach Val, support from my posing coach closer to home and the constant chats with my suit maker, I became a bit more open to the whole butterfly from caterpillar conundrum I had chosen to place myself. I made myself a playlist and practiced posing every day. I watched some of the bikini girls walk to get a feel for how to carry myself on and off stage. You see, I chose Figure thinking it wouldn't be that big of a deal. I was regrettably wrong, but what I learned from the process is invaluable. 

Here are a few tips to bring sexy to the stage...all in the best of taste, and while not losing yourself:

1. Draw inspiration from others BUT do not compare yourself to others. You are your very own unique brand of beauty. Nobody can dictate your own profound beauty, so embrace it.

2. Be grateful for what your body is accomplishing each day. Contest prep is HARD people! At times we can feel robotic and run down, but you are doing things only a small percentage of people can do. So celebrate a little.

3. Practice. Practice. Practice. Yes, you'll feel vain striking poses in the dressing room at the mall, but you are on a mission. The walks, poses, smiles and even the suit will look more naturally you when you spent ample amounts of time practicing. 

4. Get a support system. You need people you can call on when you're just not feeling it. That can come from a great coach (thanks Val!) or a best friend. Don't be shy about asking for a little help.

5. If you can, book your makeup professionally for the show and consult with the artist beforehand. My makeup artist knew 2 things: I wanted my family to recognize me AND I was really nervous. She did a fabulous job including me in the process and even came backstage for touch ups. 

The final thing is this....You have worked harder than most people dare. You have given up a lot to be here. So, glue that suit to your tush, spray down with some cooking spray, give it your biggest smile and remember that YOU are inspiring people as you saunter across that stage. So walk for more than yourself. ME? I walked for my daughter, so she could see what happens when you stay the course with your goals. Hold your head high, dig for the inner confidence, and shine like the rock star you know you are honey.

Perseverance and Passion: Khristie Gass

by Jill Hardy

Instagram: KHRISTIEGASS

By the time Khristie Gass was 18 years old, she had lost both of her parents to cancer.

Although devastating and traumatic, their loss didn’t derail Khristie’s life, or embitter her. Instead, it galvanized her in her determination to follow her dreams and throw herself into achieving goals that would empower her to help others. Because, as she says, we have no guarantees.

“You never know,” Khristie says. “My parents were young, in their forties. I want to do all I can, live life, every day.”

Her journey included getting certified as a personal trainer and group instructor (AFAA), and eventually led to the opening of her own gym, Physiques, in her hometown of Lafayette, Louisiana…before the age of 25.

“I could have gone another way,” Khristie says. “Losing my parents so young. My brothers and sisters were dispersed—it wasn’t easy, but I wanted to focus on the positive. My parents died in debt, due to their illness; my mom owned 20 acres that was taken, because of that. I think it made me a better person, though, not having things given to me. It took many tries to get financing, to open the gym, and I had to work elsewhere full time the first year.”

Eventually the dream did become a reality, and Khristie says that while running a fitness center has its challenges, the rewards are immense.

“I want to help women be the best they can be,” Khristie says. “There is some negativity that goes along with owning a gym, but hearing women tell me how much it’s helped them is worth it. Your regulars become like your family.”

Khristie’s live-life-to-the-fullest mindset informs her training style and the atmosphere at her gym, and she believes in encouraging women to seize the moment.

“I ask women, ‘What are you waiting for?’”, Khristie says. “That goes for training, and other areas of life, as well. Follow your dreams. You may fall, but you can get back up again.”

Khristie also believes that our biggest inspiration should come when we look in the mirror—not at other women.

“Don’t look at magazine covers,” Khristie says. “Do what you need to do to be healthy and be yourself.”

This positive reinforcement is something Khristie believes should be more common among women.

“Women can be harsh critics—to themselves, and to other women. You never know how women are going to act—with an all-female gym, it can be a concern, but my members are encouraging. To me, and to each other. They feel encouraged by me, and they return that. We need to give each other positive reinforcement.”

“It’s fine for a man to give you that affirmation, but I believe it’s meaningful from our fellow women. We need that from each other.”

Khristie’s enthusiasm about helping women get fit also led to the development of Funkie Fusion, her signature program that’s a combination of muscle conditioning, floor aerobics and dance, set to upbeat 80s and 90s music.

Funkie Fusion has the advantage of being a lot of fun, in addition to providing a heart rate raising, muscle and agility-building workout, but Khristie maintains that the challenge level can be adjusted easily by the participant.

“Typically it’s easy for clients to catch on, and modify it according to their ability,” Khristie says. “My love of floor aerobics and dance led me to develop it.”

Funkie Fusion’s fun potential and results oriented fitness focus has made it a popular offering at nationwide gyms (led by instructors certified under Khristie’s supervision), and Khristie has achieved recognition for her contribution to women’s fitness by being named the Face of ReebokONE for 2014-2015.

Even with all that she’s already accomplished, Khristie continues to push forward and achieve goals—and create new ones—with one overarching intent; to continue helping others.

“I want to inspire women,” Khristie says. “If I inspire even one person, if I help one person achieve their dream, I’ve done what I’m supposed to do, I believe.”

Ignited by Camp GORGO, Jessica Rich Spreads her Fire

By Jill Farr

Jessica Rich wasn’t a newcomer to exercise before attending her first Camp GORGO, but her experience there did ignite something that was missing in her pursuit before…connection.

“I have always been active growing up,” Jessica says. “In high school I was on the drill team and thoroughly enjoyed it, but I never thought about my metabolism, fueling my body or my overall health.  I didn’t have to!”

The carefree metabolism of youth dimmed a little when Jessica graduated, however, and so did her enthusiasm about physical activity.

“When I went off to college my focus was school, studying and partying,” Jessica says. “Here and there I would put on some tennis shoes and go for a ‘run’, but my workout mojo pretty much came to a halt.”

“What didn’t come to a halt, however, was my my drive-through frequency,” Jessica admits. “I eventually gained the “Freshman 15” and then some. I went from 120 pounds to 160 pounds quickly.”

Like so many other women, Jessica’s motivation surfaced again when a certain milestone—marriage—made fitting into a certain piece of clothing a priority.

“Soon after college I was set to be married and needed to fit into my wedding dress like every other girl around,” Jessica says. “That got me back to the gym, at least!”

But after achieving that goal, Jessica once again lost sight of fitness for fitness’ sake, and slipped back into patterns of dieting and working out that promised quick results but didn’t strike any chords.

“My weight went up and down,” Jessica says.  “I tried everything that was fast and easy to no avail.  Then there were my two children which was the best thing that could have happened to me, but awful on my body.”

Although she knew exercise was the key, Jessica struggled to find methods that would give her the results she was after on her own.

“Even when I worked out at the gym,” she says, “I had no idea what I was doing.  Just like most people, I dabbled with the equipment, but found myself usually jumping on the treadmill because I knew what to do with it at least.”

“Although you couldn’t tell from the outside (I looked okay), my love of all things food and my lack of knowledge with fitness made for an unhealthy me,” Jessica says.  “I was using the treadmill for an hour and a half at times, found personal trainers, but still never found what worked for me.  I used those things as my crutch and hid behind them like I was doing what was right.  All the while I knew I didn’t feel ‘fit’ and something was missing in that part of my life.”

That something came to light when Jessica made the choice to attend a Camp GORGO event—a weekend of group and small session experiences designed to empower and encourage women at all fitness levels, from beginner to advanced, with nutrition and workout guidance, and above all else…the chance to mingle with other like-minded, strength-seeking women.

The connection that had been missing for so long—the conjunction of movement and nutrition, as well as the human connection and “tribe vibe”—was there, and Jessica’s fitness fire was stoked back to life.

“I was ignited inside about fitness at my first Camp GORGO,” Jessica says. “It was that push I needed to get back into the gym and to learn what I needed to do for myself!  I started some group fitness classes with a great group of people and things just started to fall into place.  I found how important fueling my body was for EVERYTHING, found out how to really push myself and then found my own fitness groove.”

Jessica still loves food, but has found a healthy mindset about what constitutes a treat, and prioritization of fueling activity, and nourishing your body.

“I love to look forward to those meals, keeping a good balance of healthy and treats,” Jessica says.

Connection with fellow fitness seekers was also something that revived Jessica’s outlook on physical fitness, and brought about a relationship that became important not just personally, but professionally, as well.

“When I found this love of fuel and fitness, I also found one of the best friends a girl could ask for,” Jessica says. “We have encouraged each other to do what neither of us thought we could physically, mentally and emotionally.  Fast forward a year and we bought our own gym together with the same vibe that GORGO always presents - positivity and encouragement! We like to say our gym (FwdFit) is "One Size Fits All." That's why we started it, to give people a place to fit in and find their own love for fitness.”

“I stress that it's ok to have goals, but learn to create a goal that is good for YOU. Every BODY is different.  The next person’s journey is different from your own.  Don't try to follow their path to a "T" because it won't get your very far.  Be yourself and just do you.”

When asked what she thinks makes her a “GORGO Girl”, Jessica turned to her business partner for help in answering, and the power of her example is made clear by the answer she was given.

“She says I don’t give myself enough credit in this department and this is an important question to me to answer--she says that I always keep positive.  This was one of the best compliments she could give me since it’s something I feel strongly about.  There are enough women being downgraded by friends, family, the public or themselves.  We need to be positive and focus on that!  We are all so unique, there’s something for each of us to give.  I love to find that something and enjoy it from each person that walks into my life.  I think this is a big part of GORGO’s message and one that I love to spread.”

Although being a wife (to husband Blake) and mother of two active young boys (Wylan and Liam), takes up a lot of Jessica’s time, like so many other moms who have made fitness a focus of their lives, Jessica’s advice to other busy mothers is to not put your health—and the enjoyment you can find in fitness—at the bottom of your to-do list.

“My husband and kids are all active,” Jessica says. “That helps a great deal, but it also makes it hard for me to find time for myself.  For me, the gym is my "me time."  Working out makes me feel good and I can bring home that energy to the people that need it most from me, my family.  I wake up early, before they wake up, so I don't have any excuses. I think that taking time for YOU is important for your entire family.  I've also noticed that this has influenced my kids tremendously and that gives me even more willpower to keep going.  Little eyes are always watching, listening, taking it all in and creating their own little habits.  My kids are finding a love for fitness, learning how to eat healthy and being strong in general, and finding BALANCE.  I think that’s worth every second I have spent in the gym.”

Benefits of Yoga for Strength Training

By Christina Drew, Registered Physiotherapist, Yoga & Pilates Instructor

I was introduced to yoga in 2006, by a client who practiced regularly and consistently. She told me how yoga had transformed her body and mind, reduced her stress, and helped detox her body.

I was initially skeptical because I didn’t identify yoga as an activity I would consider a “workout”. My scepticism most likely arose from the fact that yoga differed greatly from the workouts I was familiar with as an athlete. Let me give you a little insight into my athletic background. I was an elite soccer player, basketball player and frequent gym goer, working out 6-7 times a week. My idea of a “workout” was anything that pushed my limits, it had to be extremely challenging, and leave me soaked with sweat! I finally found my way to a yoga class to appease my client, and wow what an incredible experience it was! I quickly discovered that yoga is very much in alignment with my idea of a great workout. What surprised me the most was all of the benefits I gained through yoga practice that left me saying, “I wish I started doing yoga a long time ago!”

Here are some of the many benefits of yoga for athletes and gym goers alike:

1. Breath:

Breath is a major component of yoga. The most common type of breath is Ujjayi breathing, usually translated as “victorious” breath. Ujjayi breath is performed by constricting your throat as you inhale and exhale through your nose, keeping the lengths of inhalations and exhalations equal. This breath helps focus on the task at hand, strengthens your diaphragm, increases the amount of oxygen you intake, thus feeding your muscles with more oxygen. Oxygen is valuable to performance, as it is used in converting glucose into energy needed by your muscles. As we workout the demand for oxygen increases, therefore our breathing must be efficient to deliver oxygen to the muscles to avoid glucose converting into lactic acid. Breath helps you focus on the exercise you are about to do, and helps you push through that last rep.

2. Balance:

There are many poses in yoga that focus on balance. Good balance is a key component in injury prevention. By working on balance, your body’s joints become more reactive to situations that predispose your joints to injury. These balance postures also help strengthen your core by challenging it to stay engaged during activity. A strong core will also keep your spine strong and posture in check in order to optimize your athletic ability. Balance is important for strength training, especially those exercises that are done on Bosu balls or single leg stance such as Romanian Deadlifts.

3. Flexibility:

Yoga uses both long held postures and dynamic stretching. Majority of yoga postures use eccentric contractions, where the muscles stretch as they contract, elongating the muscles. With regular yoga practice, you will notice your muscles are more flexible, however strong as well, so your joints are better protected. Flexibility allows you to go through a larger range when doing a strengthening exercise. For example, you can lower down further during chest press.

4. Core Strength:

Your “core” is a group of different muscles that help support your spine and pelvis, and create a powerhouse from which your extremities can move around with efficiency. Building core strength is major component of most yoga practices. One way is by utilizing Ujjayi breath, the simplest form of core activation, to help tighten your midsection. Another large contributor to strengthening your core is through postures. There are many postures such as plank, crow pose, boat pose, and many others that utilize the majority of the muscle groups that make up your core. Core strength is key for preventing back injuries while lifting, and allows you to lift heavier weights because it stabilizes your spine to provide more power to your arms and legs.

5. Strength:

Yoga, is a functional form of exercise, using body weight to help tone and lengthen your muscles. By using a form of exercise that is flowing through different postures that are usually not performed during sport or at the gym, you are working on strengthening all muscles in a new way. This form of cross-training, helps the body balance out any imbalances that occur from performing one type of exercise or sport. Balancing strength in our body also helps prevent injury!

So if you are asking yourself if you should give yoga a try, I strongly suggest you DO IT! You will be happy you started incorporating it into your workout regimen.

Model: Amy Rivera

Self-Love: The Missing Ingredient in a Dieting Mindset

By Rosalyn Fung

“Wow! Have you lost weight? You look great!”

Does this compliment make anyone else’s day!? How do you feel when someone says that to you? If you’re like most women, that would have been the best compliment you could ever receive. I know, in the past, I certainly would have thought so!

In our society today, being fat is seen as a significant top fear in people. In fact, approximately 91% of North American women are unhappy with their bodies and resort to dieting to achieve their ideal body shape. Only 5% of women naturally possess the body type often portrayed by Americans in the media.  81% of ten year olds are afraid of being fat because they believe that “being fat is the worse thing in the world”.  I too, was caught in this fat-fearing diet mindset, at one point in my life.

Many of us get socially rewarded for dieting, from compliments about weight loss and being seen as more attractive in others’ eyes. Although it may seem harmless to compliment one for their weight loss, we have no idea how these social reinforcements are being taken to the person losing weight, as well as the reasons of why the person is dieting in the first place. For instance, when I was a chronic dieter and constantly trying to perfect my body, I was getting so many social compliments on how great I looked, how envious my friends were of my transforming body, and received a lot of attention from the opposite sex- but internally, I constantly had a running tape of “What can I eat? What shouldn’t I eat? Do I look bloated? How much do I weigh? If I eat this now…I can eat a little less later or tomorrow or I can do extra cardio”…blah, blah, blah – nothing but justifications and calculations in my head that eventually drove me nuts!

Dieting has become “the socially acceptable eating disorder”, or to put it another way, it is considered disordered eating, depending on the degree of severity when it comes the impact on mind, body and spirit and functioning in life.

Clinical Eating Disorders, such as Anorexia, Bulimia, and Binge Eating Disorder, meet the criteria in the Diagnostic Statistics Manual- 5 (DSM-5), a handbook used by healthcare professionals in North America as the authoritative guide to the diagnosis of mental disorders. Orthorexia, which is not currently recognized as a diagnosable eating disorder yet in the (DSM-5) is becoming a more prevalent eating concern as it pertains to being “health-obsessed” and the individual suffering may be creating an identity around healthy food.  At one point, I definitely suffered from Orthorexia, as my (false) self-esteem became wrapped up in the purity of obsessively only eating “healthy” food, which in turn made me feel (falsely) superior to those who would eat anything that I considered unhealthy.

Disordered Eating, in contrast, does not meet the criteria required to be diagnosed, however, the individual may still suffer from a mild form of that diagnosis. So in essence, disordered eating and eating disorders are just two ends of the spectrum.

Regardless the degree of severity, what really matters is our self-talk and reasons when it comes to weight loss, and how much space and time is dieting taking up mentally, emotionally, and physically in you? Are you trying to diet because you are consumed with:

• “Feeling fat” (and yet, you actually are at a normal, healthy weight range for your height)

• You do not like what you see in the mirror, you want to be a smaller clothes size just because you think you’ll feel more happy and confident, you think you and others would like you better if you had the ideal body?

• You believe the smaller the number on the scale, correlates with increased happiness.
  

  OR are you losing weight because:

• You legitimately have weight to lose for health reasons, or

• Weight loss is actually a side effect and your main focus is that you are learning to respect your body’s wisdom, and you still remain in positive self-talk no matter what size your body is?

I’m going to bet that many women are going to say they resonate more with the former set of questions rather than the latter. Most of us diet because we are trying to achieve a certain appearance. Now, professional bodybuilding athletes diet because this is very much part of the sport. However, if they are doing this for purely the sport aspect, their self-talk is realistic in accepting their body off-season as much as they accept their body on-season. Although, even many athletes struggle with their body image off-season because they compare themselves to their on-season physique.

For the rest of us women, why are you trying to achieve the perfect body? Our reasons are often not truly about food and weight. It’s about something much deeper- it’s about trying to “control” some part of us we dislike or are uncomfortable with, and it always boils down to our limiting core beliefs and feelings related to our beliefs. Limiting core beliefs may include “I’m not good enough”, “I am not lovable as I am” and “I’m not worthy”.  In most cases, perfectionist thinking is involved. Perfectionist thinking is black and white thinking such as seeing things as “all or nothing” and “good or bad”.

So in the case of dieting, women tend to follow rigid, prescribed way of eating, and “feel guilty (“I did something bad”) or shame (“I am bad”) if they eat foods outside of the prescribed diet plan. Certain foods are seen as either “good, safe” foods or “bad, unsafe” foods, depending on the diet. Self-punishment is often the consequence of falling off the wagon in the form of purging, restricting, over-exercising – all while engaging in self-bullying thoughts.

So what are some signs that tell you your diet has slid into disordered eating and warrants some (self)love, support and attention?

• You may find yourself spending more than half your time and energy planning out, justifying, feeling stress/anxious/obsessed about what to eat or not eat, and when to eat.

• You weigh yourself frequently to “stay in control” and if the number on that scale is not what you hoped, you feel devastated or deflated, you beat yourself up, your upset mood affects the rest of your day, and/or you get more obsessive about “being good with food” or finding ways to lose weight to “stay motivated”.

• You feel guilt or shame when you eat food outside of your prescribed diet plan, even if it was just a bite. Then you have the rest of the food anyway, and end up binging because you “ruined your diet” anyway.

• You find yourself more restrictive with food and/or exercising excessively to make up for the extra calories you ate the day before.

• You believe that once you reach your goal weight that you will be happier and everything in your life will be better.

• You view your day, week, and life through the lens of food and you judge yourself as having a good day or bad day based on how well you stayed on track with your diet.

• You feel obsessed and addicted to food.

• You constantly check yourself in the mirror for body flaws or you avoid mirrors at all costs.

• You believe that other people are focused on your “fat” or body concerns just like you are.

• You get highly anxious and stressed when you get invited out for social gatherings because you fear you will not stay in control of your diet, and you might even sacrifice spending time with friends so you do not lose control.

These are just a few of the “symptoms” that occur as a result of disordered eating. The diet mentality sets us up to view life from the lens of food, and to be quite preoccupied with food. The real reason why we feel like we have “no willpower” or we are “weak” is because we are restricting ourselves. Our biology is not meant to restrict. What happens when we are told “No, no, no” repeatedly? Most of us want to rebel! It’s just human nature.

So what are some things you could do if a friend, is suffering from disordered eating or an eating disorder?

Always, always, always be non-judgemental! Stay curious about their intentions of dieting – the reasons are always deeper than the food behaviors.

Approach them with love, sensitivity and support and mention that you notice they seem a bit sad/preoccupied these days, and that you are there to listen (and truly listen without interruptions or jumping into fix them!) Remember, it is never truly about the food or their body image!

Gently make suggestions to build their support system with resources such as a therapist, doctor, programs about healthy, normal eating, group therapy for body image and food concerns, and offer to go with them.

The bottom line is that your best approach has to be of genuine concern, curiosity, and love.  When your loved one who’s suffering can genuinely feel your love and concern, the chances of them opening up increase. Love from others is a vehicle to start the healing journey towards developing a healthy relationship with food, body image and Self-Love.

So, you may wonder, how do I answer people now if they ask me if I have lost weight? I simply smile, say I don’t know and I don’t really care, but what I do know and care about is that I feel great from the inside out, and that’s what really matters.

---

References:

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: DSM-5. Washington, D.C: American Psychiatric Association.

Bellos, M. Why I am a Body Image Activist. Retrieved on October 23, 2015. https://youtu.be/EyJwlk8wJHg

Kratina, K. Orthorexia Nervosa. Retrieved November 19, 2015. https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/

(Re)Gaining Ground: Carissa Johnson on How Setbacks Reveal Strength

By Jill Farr

A “fit life” isn’t something that one achieves and then just sits back and enjoys; fitness is an ongoing pursuit, something that has to be maintained and cultivated. Setbacks occur, both large and small, and sometimes ground is lost, and has to be regained…and then surpassed, if we’re committed to progress.

“Setback” seems too small of a word to describe what happened to Carissa Johnson in May, 2011; she was struck head on by an SUV going full speed and pinned against a steel rail fence while working a promotional modeling gig in downtown Denver, CO.

She sustained bilateral tib/fib fractures and a compound left ankle fracture, and underwent surgery immediately; doctors inserted rods in both legs.

Carissa had just competed in her first NPC show the previous fall, and fallen in love with fitness competitions, winning 1st place in the Short Fitness Model class just a month before, at the WBFF Fitness Atlantic Championships. Before the accident, she had started training for the World Championships taking place in Toronto that August.

Although relieved to be alive, Carissa says that immediately, her thoughts went to how her world had changed.

“Not only were my legs destroyed,” Carissa says, “But my heart was broken. I wasn’t sure at the time if I’d ever be able to bounce back from this terrible experience.”

And she didn’t just “bounce back”. Progress was slow, and painful.

“My life post-accident consisted of 3 months on the couch,” Carissa says. “I was in a constant state of excruciating pain, even with medication. Even making it from the couch to the bathroom was an extremely difficult task. With both legs broken, even using a walker was challenging and painful as it felt as if I was crushing each leg with every step. I was essentially helpless, and never felt so low in all my life. I relied on my mom for assistance nearly 24/7.”

Despite the debilitating pain and the effects it produced on her outlook, Carissa was still able to break through the depressing circumstances by resolving to do whatever she could, whenever she could.

“Even though most of the time on the couch I ended up sleeping time away because being awake felt too difficult to handle at times,” Carissa says, “I had to do something. My solution became doing arm exercises with dumbbells off the side of the couch. Every morning I would spend 1 – 1 ½ hours simply lifting weights off the side of the couch and doing ab exercises. Even though my legs were smashed, and I wrestled with the idea of not having any hope of furthering a career in the fitness industry, I couldn’t accept defeat. I knew there was a possibility I’d be disabled, but for some reason I could never let go of my passion.”

The drive to maintain the level of physical fitness that she still had, coupled with the determination to do what was possible to do helped Carissa’s recovery, both mentally and physically, as did having health care professionals who were sympathetic. (Going back to the gym after physical injury should always be cleared with your doctor first, with an eye towards protecting your long term health.)

“Thankfully my PT at the time was a former bodybuilder and competitor,” Carissa says, “So he understood my undying drive to get back to normalcy. Even while my bones were broken, and I was still limping, I begged the PT to allow me to go back to the gym. I couldn’t move much, but I had to get back for my sanity.”

It was a slow process, but Carissa’s determination paid off; she finally made her Pro debut at the WBFF World Championships in 2012, just a little more than one year post accident.

“It's been a journey of epic proportions,” Carissa says.

And it’s a journey that’s still ongoing. Carissa underwent two additional surgeries at the end of 2013 to remove my hardware in each leg, and has struggled with PTSD, a battle that she says has been more difficult and paralyzing than she could have imagined.

As anyone facing a setback will discover, Carissa insists that maintaining her momentum came out of a desire to keep her dream going.

“In spite of the numerous challenges,” Carissa says, “I could never fully let go of my love and passion for fitness.”

Carissa also offers the viewpoint that we can embrace setbacks as challenges to our inner strength—similar to the way our physical muscles are broken down and built back up even stronger—and that we can not only overcome them, but look at them with gratitude, ultimately, as opportunities to see just what we’re made of.

“I’m so thankful for my journey,” Carissa says. “God has blessed me and strengthened me more than I could ever ask or imagine!”

“We all have our individual strengths that make us unique. We have no idea what we're capable of until we actually try - we are stronger than we think.”

“It's rewarding and incredibly empowering when you see how strong you really are.”

carissajfitness.com

Leah Brouwers: The Power of Failure

By Jill Farr

35 year old mom of two Leah Brouwers has a history of starting things young, and sticking with them.

Now a managing partner in her dad’s investment financial services firm, Leah began working at the company during her first year of university, and went full time in her second, working during the day and attending classes at night to finish her degree.

“We help people retire,” Leah explains. “It’s a goal-oriented pursuit. You could say it’s similar to fitness, in a way.”

Leah’s fitness pursuit of choice--rock climbing--was also something that came into her life early, and made a lasting impact.

“The first chapter of my fitness life was just being active as a kid,” Leah says. “At about 16 I fell in love with rock climbing. My brother took me to a rock climbing gym and I absolutely loved it. I think it kept me out of a lot of the trouble that girls can get into as teenagers.”

“I met my husband rock climbing, we’ve traveled the world doing it...it’s something I loved and trained for, but it didn’t help me understand fitness in general.”

Leah’s love for rock climbing was temporarily sidelined by another big life event...motherhood.

“I thought I knew the meaning of perseverance and hard work prior to children,” Leah says. “I thought I understood what sacrifice was, what self-discipline was...I felt like I was always moving forward, life was good, and I had it on lock.”

“My husband and I were travelling the world rock climbing and enjoying time together – I wanted for nothing. We decided early on that we wanted to have children, and agreed to take the plunge.” 

“We were fortunate to get pregnant quickly. I had this ignorant view that since I was really healthy and strong this was going to be a breeze. I miscarried.” 

“I spun it in the most positive way I could, went on a climbing trip and tried to move on quickly.  What a mistake. I played the ‘I’m okay’ card and didn’t sit in my emotions long enough to heal –I stapled up my wound and tried again. Within a couple of months, I was pregnant with my first son Elijah and announced it to my hubby on Christmas morning –an awesome memory.”

“I subscribed to an app that gave me several workouts for pregnant women and it was supposed to take me through my pregnancy. I had no idea; the next 8 months were about to be a marathon that I hadn’t trained for.”

“I have suffered from chronic migraines since I was 13, but they went to another level while pregnant. No intense movement allowed, a walk, anything; it all brought pain. I refused to medicate for fear of repercussions so I would spend 8 hours in a chair in a dark room waiting for it to be over. It was lonely, painful, and exhausting. Time in the office was choppy and my team was nothing short of incredible in supporting me through my pregnancies. I work with my father and he rescued me more times than I can count. (My mom, too.)”

“To me, regardless of actual reality, I felt that I had failed. Cue labour. We all have our experiences, they say the joys of meeting your baby essentially ‘wipe-out’ any traumas of childbirth, but I can bring myself right back to the delivery room and it wasn’t rainbows and unicorns.  Meeting my son Elijah was incredible and amazing, let’s not confuse the two...but why we are expected to pretend and/or forget?”

 “Now the pregnancy was over and I was excited for healing, going back to being active, and getting on with it. Fail #4! Nothing came naturally to me. I had done all the reading, the listening, the choosing of the best approach and nothing seemed to click. I was a complete zombie and unhappy mama. Time allowed me to heal quite a bit, but not without a ton of work. I thought I had brought myself through the fire when I started to feel like myself again. I hooked up with an online trainer 4 months post-partum and began to stitch my mind and body back together. And I did – I didn’t know at the time but it was just the warm up for round two.”  

“At just over 1 year postpartum I became pregnant with my second son, Asher. I knew I was pregnant by the return of the horrible migraines and thought; here we go again.”

“If the first pregnancy felt like a marathon, the second one was the Ultimate Ironman.”

 “3 days on, 4 days off on repeat for 9 months. Many women have their struggles, this was mine. I spent so much time in a dark room. My coping mechanism was to pray for others; to try and take the focus off my struggle and to apply this time to something better. It didn’t always work, I often cried, I sat there sad, but I’m convinced that it saved a whole lot of me that I needed for later. Major changes were occurring in our office – new location, new vision and growth were happening and to this day I do not know how we managed to make it all happen.”

“I am abundantly blessed; with the arrival of Asher we had two healthy boys. Done and done.” 

“Unfortunately, my woes with feeding were repeated, personal and outer pressures of ‘breast-milk only’ were pushed even though my little guy proved to just not be a candidate; I was beginning to fall apart. No sleep. No rest. No healing. I was completely stuck.”

“I usually have an incredibly positive attitude, it’s something that I really like about myself; I do not sit in the negative too long, I just refuse. There is way too much good in the world. But at that point in time, I felt completely defeated. I had never felt like I was in a place of purgatory before; this was new.”

Leah credits an intervention by her perceptive doctor with turning this dark time around.

 “After a regular check-up with little Asher, I got a call from my doctors office to book me in, just me. Just me? Okay. My doctor sat me down and we just chatted.  She said “Leah, I’d like to chat a bit about postpartum depression, I’ve been watching you carefully and the Leah I have known since you were 14 is not the Leah that is sitting next to me. Let’s talk about how you are feeling, and what we are going to do about it.””

 “I thought…”Huh? Me and postpartum depression do not belong in the same sentence, you’ve got the wrong mama, I’ll be fine.” Failure #5.  We chatted about feeding and my incessant need to find the answers to my failing breastmilk and many other things. She then whispered something so wise, that so spoke deeply to me that I refer to it often… “Leah there is nothing natural about an unhappy mama, how can you possibly give Asher and Eli what they truly need from their mother if you do not heal yourself?” She was so right, on every level. It would take me a long time to unpack it all but this was my lowest moment and I needed to choose what to do.”

The savvy doc didn’t stop there, Leah relates.  

“She wrote me a script for 3 nights’ sleep without Asher. I needed to press pause. My doctor’s intervention on behalf of my well-being was the mental game changer; the actual full nights’ rest was secondary.”

“Coming to grips with it was hard but I now know that it has served me well, and I can look back and revel in the personal growth, the new woman I am to my children, to my husband, in my office and most importantly to me. I often think about what made the difference in my journey back to feeling in control again.”

Leah’s gratitude is reflected in her attitude.

“So, this chapter of my fitness life  is about having a much better appreciation of what it means to be fit. I was strong before, but now...I’m really damn strong. Training for climbing in the early 2000s looked a lot different--now people lift and cross train, but back then it wasn’t like that. There used to be negativity about lifting with climbers because of a (mistaken) idea that lifting will bulk you and make it harder to lift yourself. I mean, a bulked up lifter might struggle, but now we understand that strength is strength.”

Leah considers fitness imperative, not simply something that’s optional.

“Fitness for me is a lifestyle. Awareness of how you’re thinking, how you’re eating...not just fixing your muscles but your gut, and other areas. I suffer from migraines and a lot of my journey is just taking care of my body, my temple.”

“The job that I do, it’s focused on data, on numbers, and your mind just functions in a certain way, so I track lots of stuff. So, I know that as soon as I stop moving my body, my migraines flare up. It might be due to stress, which can cause me to stop being as active, but my physical body is saying, “Help”...everything goes off the rails when my activity level is low. When I exercise, everything  works better. I sleep better...it’s like nutrition and sleep and activity are all holding hands.”

Armed with an understanding of the importance of good nutrition and exercise for her physical health, and a knowledge of how positively it also impacts her favorite pursuit, Leah chooses activity that enhances both.

“My workout schedule now includes HIIT style workouts or lifting, and doing climbing specific workouts, using a hangboard.”

If Sisters in Shape helped Leah develop  a consciousness about fitness, Leah credits GORGO with assisting her in realizing the power of other women as her tribe. “Being in a male dominated industry--although we have lots of women in our office--you don’t realize how much you’re missing until you submerge yourself with a group of women from diverse backgrounds,” Leah says.

“It’s amazing to realize that these women are there to support you, in your pursuits. My attitude towards women in general was changed by attending the GORGO camps. I had past hurts that probably shouldn’t have defined my thinking about other women, but they had--the GORGO women changed my outlook. It’s sad to say that I had negative views about women, but I did.”

Leah believes that finding the company of good women is magical, and something she encourages.

“You get to be a better version of yourself because other women are like you, but different. Especially If you get to be with good, solid women who will call you out when you need it, it’s amazing. It’s been a blessing. I have my close girlfriends, but GORGO showed me a wider view.”

Leah has had rousing success in the business world, and was fortunate to find a fitness niche she loved relatively early, but something that caught her by surprise was her difficulty in dealing with another major life area...motherhood.

“My challenge was fitting into motherhood,” Leah admits. “I’ve done so many other things, I have so many accomplishments, but becoming a mom was the biggest struggle. It was tough on me. I thought I would kill it, but pregnancy is tough. Becoming a mom is tough. I have two awesome boys, 4 and 2. Elijah and Asher, and I’m so grateful for them, but it really did challenge me.”

As she’s adjusted to becoming a mom, Leah has realized that her GORGO girl power is a two-edged sword; positivity and endurance.

“What sets me apart is that I’m not a quitter and I love being positive,” Leah says. “That’s my emotional home--I look for the positive spin. So, motherhood has been a struggle, but I believe I’m better now because of it.”

“When you start working in a financial services company at the age of 21, you feel small. There have been a lot of times where clients have suggested I’m too young, too female...and instead of backing down, I thought, “Wow. Okay, I understand why you’re nervous, but I’m going to show you why you don’t need to be.” 

Although Leah doesn’t give up, she doesn’t equate that with never accepting failure, in fact...she espouses the opposite. Using it.

Just as “failure” has a purpose in workout routines, Leah believes it also serves us in other areas of life.

“My piece of advice is that we all fail,” Leah says. “Get used to it, use it to fuel your flame, not extinguish it. Most of the time I’m good with failure and I think it of it as a stepping stone. Now I know what I’m made of--I’m okay with getting slapped around a little, with sweating, with searching out what I need to do to improve. It’s a painful process, but be okay with failure. Just get back up..”

“Everyone fails. The people you see on Instagram with the filtered lives...they’re failing too. All of the GORGO women you see, they’re inspiring, but they’ll tell you that they’ve had failures. But they’re failing and improving, failing and improving.”

“Your pursuits should be filled with so much growth that you’re renewing every year. There’s this negative connotation when someone said, “Wow, you’ve changed.” But when someone says that to me, I just say, “Thank you!”

“Be okay with failure. It can be a good thing.”

Lessons from Leah:

• The right moment to make change in your life is now.  I could have thought – things will get better once my children get older, I’ll figure it out then. Trade beauty for ashes, joy for mourning, and happiness for your heavy heart. It’s a choice, not a life sentence. 

• Forgive. Forgive. Forgive. Forgiveness is not about them, it’s about you. Most importantly – forgive yourself, you are going to mess up, fail, make all the wrong choices.  We all do. Promise to learn and do better, forgive and move forward.

• Stop blaming others for your current state. You are the keeper of your own life. 

• Stop caring about what others think.  This is your life, not theirs. Period.  Be okay with others not understanding your choices. You have not chosen to have a mediocre life. 

• Make goals! Create a vision for your life (personal, professional, health, mamahood, relationships), and hold yourself accountable.  I read an awesome concept once that a lack of self-esteem and self-confidence is directly related to dishonouring yourself; if your word doesn’t matter, you don’t matter. Honour yourself first and see what happens.  There is no ending to the pursuit, the magic happens in the journey, and there are things being prepared for you in the distance, you won’t get there by standing still.

• Be mindful of your inputs. Friends, family, social inputs, health, etc… you are who you surround yourself with.

• Be willing to ask for help and show your struggle.  I had to learn this the hard way. If it wasn’t for my safety net of support, I’d be dead in the water.

• Sweating is good. Going through hard stuff is necessary for progression.  Get comfortable with being uncomfortable (this is a great insight from Rachel Hollis).

• Read! I have opened myself to a lot of personal growth books (a new approach for me), trying to gain perspective, to learn and grow. 

• BE grateful.  BE kind. BE positive. You will have ebbs and flows, mountains and valleys – if you train yourself to see the good on the regular, you will have a better chance for survival when things get tough, you will have more tools to use in times of trouble.  Give others the benefit of the doubt, stop judging, everyone has crosses to bear, we know so little about their story, be kind and pull only the good (leave the stuff you don’t understand). 

“I am so grateful for my life and those in it; I am just getting started and I cannot wait for more.” 

Hack Your Way to Healthy Habits

By Emily Kund

If you’re like me, there always seems to be a new goal out there you haven’t yet achieved. Maybe it’s drinking a gallon of water a day, eating your fruits and vegetables, or doing your mobility exercises.  When faced with this challenge, I turned to the Tiny Habits® method to help hack my way to better health. Dr. BJ Fogg of Stanford University has developed a method whereby focusing on tiny tasks can lead to big behavior changes.

Below are five easy steps to hack your way to healthy habits:

Step 1: Get out of the Grind

A lot of people rely on willpower to establish healthy habits. For some, when the willpower starts to run out, it seems like focusing on habits becomes a grind and the good progress slowly fades away. In his work, Dr. Fogg developed a model, which shows that behaviors are created when three elements - motivation, ability, and trigger - exist at the same time.

When a desired behavior is hard to do, even though we may be highly motivated, we rely on willpower or ‘grinding it out’ to try to affect change.  Rather than rely on willpower, which requires a large amount of motivation and ability, Dr. Fogg found that by adding a specific trigger and making the desired action very easy, people found success.

Step 2: Get Tiny

One of the keys to successful behavior change is to make the action really easy to do. That means we must get tiny. A tiny action is one that takes less than thirty seconds to do, requires little effort, and is done at least once a day. For example, instead of flossing all of our teeth, we floss one tooth.  When we pair the desired action with a specific routine, the new habit is manageable.  Taking small, specific actions is easy and does not take a lot of time.  A lot of clients say this is one reason why they are successful, because they feel like they can take that first small step.  Some clients do more than the Tiny Habit (i.e. they floss more than one tooth), but the goal is to take the tiny action and celebrate it. Additional actions are like extra credit!

Step 3: Find what works for you

Sometimes the recipes we develop to make a change are not successful at first. This is where we practice and revise the habit recipe.  If after practicing for a few days we still aren’t successful, the habit may need to be revised.  Let me share my personal example.  My goal was to drink a gallon of water every day.  My Tiny Habits® recipe was this: After I step off the elevator, I will fill my water bottle. But I was unsuccessful with this recipe! When I asked myself why, I found that when I got to work, I was sometimes delayed because of traffic, and I just wanted to get started working.  I still had this goal, so I looked at other ways I could create a habit around it. What worked for me in the end? Using the following recipe: After I pack my lunch, I will fill my water bottle.  Now I have a full water bottle and I can get started working without disruption.  Revision is part of the process and is totally normal.  The objective is to find what works well for you!

Step 4: Visualize Success and Celebrate

Another tool to help people be successful at establishing and maintaining healthy habits is to mentally rehearse the habits.  Celebrating is another key factor in developing good behaviors. When people mentally rehearse the Tiny Habit, including a celebration, this helps to make the habit more automatic in their daily routines. The positive emotion associated with doing the new habits each day makes us feel good, and this reframes our mindset and sets us up for long-term success.  What’s one way to celebrate? Say, “I’m awesome!” You can also fist pump or do whatever feels natural for you.

Step 5: Grow

Whether it’s flossing one tooth or packing a piece of fruit in your lunch, this Tiny Habit is the first step towards change.  Once the new tiny habit becomes automatic, you can start building on it by increasing the frequency in which you perform them.  Examples of high frequency routines include:

· Washing hands
· Flushing the toilet
· Checking email or social media

Small actions can lead to sustainable behavior change, so take the first step by trying out a Tiny Habit tonight!

Habit Hack

Motivation + Existing Routine + Tiny New Habit = Healthy Habit Hack

Try a few of the Tiny Habits® below to help you start your journey to better health.

❶ After I brush my teeth, I will floss one tooth.

❷ After I change into my PJs, I will do two stretches.

❸ After I wash my hands, I will say, “I’m awesome!”

❹ After I start the coffee, I will take a sip of water.

❺ After I flush the toilet, I will do two air squats.

❻ After I pack my kids’ lunches, I will grab one piece of fruit.

❼ After I start the dishwasher, I will set out my vitamins.

❽ After I hear a phone ring, I will exhale and relax for two breaths.

❾ After I put my head on my pillow, I will think of one thing I’m grateful for.

❿ After I clear dinner dishes, I will set out my lunch container for the next day.

You can find more information about Tiny Habits at www.tinyhabitsacademy.org at www.emilykund.com.

Peanut Butter Energy Bites

By Aleshia Pinto

We all need something a little sweet once in a while, but processed sugary snacks are high in calories and can leave you with a crash. These little bite are the perfect dessert or after work-out treat!

Loaded with healthy fats from a variety of nuts, they give a satisfying crunch and dried apricots and honey provide natural sweetness without any added refined sugar. Creamy, smooth peanut butter and a little added dark chocolate give these bites the taste of a healthy version of a crunchy peanut butter cup - one you don’t have to feel guilty for indulging in!

Need a protein boost? Add in 1 scoop of chocolate protein powder.

Ingredients:

1 cup toasted oats (use gluten free if gluten intolerant)
2/3 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/4 cup pepitas
1/2 cup raw almonds, pulsed 3-4 times in food processor
1/2 cup unsalted, roasted sunflower seeds
1/4 cup honey
3/4 cup natural peanut butter
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup chopped dried apricots
2 tablespoons coconut oil
About 1/4 cup dark chocolate, chopped (or more!)
1/4 cup chia seeds (optional)

Directions:

• Melt peanut butter, honey and coconut oil in small sauce pan, stirring until smooth.

• Toss well with remaining ingredients. Refrigerate until cold or cool enough to handle.

• Roll into bite-sized balls and place on parchment paper.

• Melt chocolate in microwave in 10 second increments, stirring well after each time until chocolate is melted. Drizzle over top of prepared balls.

• Store in the fridge or freezer in tupperware containers separated by parchment paper to prevent from sticking.

Amy Evert: You are Worthy

Amy Evert is the proud owner of a fitness studio that bears her name (Amy Evert Fitness), and provides training and nutrition guidance to a vast and varied clientele.

You’d never guess that her initial foray into fitness just took place less than ten years ago.

“I wasn’t athletic, didn’t play sports,” Amy says. “I was in chorus. I was just one of those kids…kind of a goth,” she laughs. “I probably could have been more active, but just didn’t think I could.”

 “But after I had my first child, I wanted to be healthier,” Amy explains. “I was still in college, I was young...I didn’t know how to do that, or what that meant. I had no idea what fitness entailed!”

Amy laughs again. “But we had a Curves nearby, and I thought, ‘I don’t know exactly what I’m supposed to do, but I think that’s the place I need to go!”

The mom of two utilized the onsite daycare, went on her lunch break, and did whatever she had to do to get to Curves on a regular basis...and then she ramped up.

“A friend invited me to Zumba,” Amy says. “I’d never been to a group exercise class, but I went. And I loved it. That was in 2010.”

Her newfound fitness pursuit preceded a few other life changes; Amy got divorced, and decided to go back to school.

Many of the stories about women that are featured in GORGO have a track that’s similar to Amy’s; a woman decides after giving birth, or encountering a difficult life change like a divorce that she needs to make healthier choices, and then life alters course.

For Amy, however...this was only the beginning of the story.

“I decided to go back to work, as a Montessori preschool teacher,” Amy says. “I loved Zumba so much, I’d started other fitness classes--bootcamps, things like that.”

“Then the seizures started.”

It was discovered that Amy had a tumor in her front temporal lobe.

“Because of the seizures, I had to stop driving,” Amy explains. “I couldn’t work...I became really depressed.”

But after the depression came a turning point.

“For all of my life, I’d felt so powerless over everything that happened to me. I didn’t want to feel like that anymore. When the brain tumor happened--I’d just gotten divorced, lost my house--and everyone was like, “Are you going to move back home?” I said, “No! I’m not! I’m not doing any of that! I’m stronger than that.”

She couldn’t drive, but Amy didn’t stop the fitness trajectory she’d started. “I couldn’t drive to the gym, so I got rides,” she says. “I took everything into my own hands, for the first time in my life. I went back to school, became stronger, more healthy, physically and mentally, on my own. All by getting ill.”

Amy studied exercise science online, and got rides to the gym until the tumor was taken care of and she had her ability to drive back. “I didn’t have a license for a year and a half,” she says.

After receiving certification, she worked as a trainer for other entities before opening her own 4,000 square foot fitness center outside of Lexington, Kentucky, Amy Evert Fitness, and she has a vibrant online presence and coaching business.

Amy also has certification in nutrition, and encourages clients to see the importance of the relationship between food and exercise.

“So many people don’t understand it,” Amy says. “And that was me, too--I’m from a small town in Kentucky! We grew up on pork chops, Hamburger Helper, stuff like that!”

“We just started a program focused on nutrition, in fact,” Amy states. “It’s focused on eating whole foods and learning about fats, proteins and carbs. Once clients get to where they understand those things, and get a healthy grasp on those, then we get into macronutrient tracking.”

Amy credits her experience with bringing something out in her--a drive to continue, which emphasized her own personal power.

“Most of my life, I did not feel very powerful,” Amy admits. “I’d ‘gotten by’. I got pregnant young, and I thought that meant I had to get married, so I did. Many decisions like that. I did what I thought I had to.”

“When this tumor came along, I decided I was done with that.”

In addition to her experience and inner fortitude, Amy is grateful for the GORGO community and the camaraderie and moral support she received there.

“I’m so, so thankful for GORGO, and Val Solomon,” Amy says.

When people contract a fitness coach, they’re often at a low point. Their lack of direction in a fitness sense may be impacting how they feel, or excess weight may be impacting their quality of life. Often they’ve gone through a major life change like pregnancy, birth, or divorce, and are addressing physical issues that have an effect on psychological ones.

Amy has a mission when it comes to women in that position, and it extends beyond simply “getting in shape”.

“I want women to know how important they are.”

“They have all these things going on around them. And I know the first concern for many women is about  looks, but in my fitness challenges, I say, ‘If you just focus on your health, you’ll lose weight and look different. But you have to be healthy. To take care of your children, do all the things you need to do, so you can sleep well, just live a healthy life and feel good. If you get those things in order, you’ll lose weight and look good.”

Her experience has also put her in the unique place of being able to encourage others when it looks almost impossible to keep going.

 “There are always things that are going to happen,” Amy says. “I’ve had lots of things happen to me--and I’m not saying that to be like, “Oh, big pity party”--just to say, something’s always going to be happening. You can’t let that stop you from taking care of yourself.”

“When you’re on a journey, you don’t always start at the top of the mountain. But you have to start, and you have to keep going. When I first started teaching fitness classes, it was at a church, and there were about three people there! I stepped up to subcontracting with a gym, and finally, I have my own studio, with about 300 women taking part. I would have never imagined that this is where I would be, and that this is what I’d be doing, ten years ago.”

Every GORGO feature includes one question that’s the same for every interviewee; “What do you want to say to the women reading this? What is your message?”

When Amy Evert is asked, she doesn’t hesitate for a second.

“I want women to know they’re important, and that it’s important for them to take care of themselves.”

“My message is…’You are worthy.’”

Gym BFFs

by Katy L.

When I was young, I played on lots of sports teams. I was surrounded by girls who loved to sweat, eat, and spend way too much time together, so it came as no surprise that I grew up and became a Phys Ed teacher, trainer, and yoga instructor. As I matured (somewhat) and began replacing sports with fitness, I had a harder time finding those like-minded girls who loved to sweat. Apparently, not everyone's idea of having a good time involves getting the shit kicked out of them. I was confused. Didn't everyone think squatting to failure was fun? Who doesn't love comparing sweat stains and smelling each other's armpits? Wasn't running past the point of nausea everyone's favourite pastime? 

It will come as no surprise that I don't have many gym friends. Some would argue I don't have many friends in general, but I digress. I remember how often I'd tell people that I wanted a workout buddy. I wanted someone to hang out with at the gym instead of the 20-year old receptionist at the front desk who felt obligated to laugh at my horrible jokes. The other personal trainers were crazy jacked and only talked about protein powder, and the other yogis would just laugh at (not with) me when I tried to speak vegan. Really, I'd tell anyone in hopes that someone would take me up on it. The guy on the subway, a server, my taxi driver, my mom...

I got lucky when I finally met my gym BFF at age 30. Number one, she didn't run in the other direction when I called her my gym BFF after knowing her for one day. We started out as running buddies, and after only a few runs in, I discovered I was pregnant. I was terrified of losing my only gym friend, but didn't want to tell anybody I was expecting just yet. Our next run together, I swear I nearly died. I was beet red, drenched with sweat and panting while trying to keep up to our regular pace. My gym BFF was supportive and caring about my disgusting exterior and inability to run more than 100 meters. While on a walk break, she confided in me that she was pregnant! I jumped for joy (and believe I wet myself) and exclaimed that I was, too! We were at the exact same point in our lives, and both enjoyed active pregnancies by continuing to run, strength train (she would come to my fitness classes... Unforced!) and by taking prenatal yoga.

I won't lie, having a workout BFF made me up my game. I'm competitive in nature, so it helped having someone push me harder than I would push myself. She wanted me to do three sets of stairs, I'd do five, then pretend to take a drink while gasping for air. We liked coming up with new workouts for each other, whether we were tandem on the treadmill or supersetting. I'd try to impress her by sprinting a little faster or lifting a little heavier, all while trying to keep my sweat to a glow and not let out a fart.

My workout partner kept me accountable. Knowing she was going to be meeting me at the gym or on the trail forced me to keep driving even when my senses smelled McDonald's fries, and helped me get my ass off the couch even if the Bachelor was on. My workouts became so much more enjoyable!  I had a partner in crime to carry out some of my favorite hobbies: bitch about people, rate the guys at the gym, and people watch.

I don't know about you, but I'd think about my workout BFF when I picked my gym outfit. "Awe, man- Emily is soooo going to notice how small my gunt looks in these compression tights!" "Haha, Emily doesn't need an XS sports bra to hold up her non-existent boobs!" "I wonder what Emily will think of my lashes in this waterproof mascara?" "I'll just use a little bronzer to make it look like I woke up like this."

Emily has since moved away (reading this, it makes perfect sense) and I am left without a gym BFF. We talk a ton, still share workouts and have signed up for a half marathon together. I'm not sure she is replaceable, but I have hopes that I can find another gym BFF.

It just may take me another 30 years.