Client Success Story: How my client lost 30 lbs in 4 months without doing anything extreme…

It all started with a random email I received on April 14 2015. A girl named Kelsey contacted me as she had heard “I was very motivating and a pleasure to work with” from a mutual friend (thanks Denise!)  Also in her email she explained to me that she was “feeling really out of shape and interested in one on one training”.  We set up our first appointment right away and from the moment I met her she was smiling, super positive and enthusiastic.  She was the most excited 24 year old female I have ever had a consultation with. I was instantly as excited as she was to get started.  She make the decision to commit to training 3 times a week (as that is the most effective way to get results, especially when a client is new to an exercise program) and was going to do cardio workouts on her own 2-3 times a week (pretty awesome right!?) She also wanted to learn how to eat properly and cook healthy but delicious and easy meals.

Her goals when we first met were to lose weight (20-30lbs and be a size 8-10), to feel better, (strong, fit, energetic) and do something crazy (Spartan Race, pull ups, etc).

Here are her measurements for her first assessment

April 21 2015

Body weight-177.8lbs Body fat 35.9% Chest 42”, Belly 40”, Hips 42”, Left Arm 11.5”, Left Thigh 24”

Performance wise she was starting off pretty strong with good pushup, squat, lunge, deadlift, twist, pull and plank form. BUT she wasn’t doing much exercise on her own and had no clue how to eat properly! Well this is where having a trainer makes all the difference.

We set up a schedule of training 3 days a week and GUESS WHAT?! She only missed one session in the 4 months we trained. She was determined to make it to all her workouts and worked her hardest while she was here. And she did that…and more! Consistency is so important when working out and changing eating habits, and her motivation never wavered!

We discussed nutrition early on, I had her track her food for a few days so I could get an idea of what her daily food intake looks like. At first, she was eating out almost every meal, ate mostly carbs and not a lot of veggies and protein. She was constantly drinking water so that was good J Now, you might find it hard to believe but I never wrote her up a meal plan! I simply taught her the 5 Habits from the Precision Nutrition program and one week at a time she worked on mastering those. They are as follows

1-Eat slowly and without distraction

2-Eat protein (25-30 g) with every meal

3-Eat 1-2 servings of veggies with every meal

4-Eat carbs based on your body type and activity level (if trying to lose weight, eat carbs around your workout etc) and watch your serving size (1 cupped handful is 1 serving)

5- Make sure you are getting enough fat in your diet (eggs. Meats, fish, olives, nuts, seeds)

I also got her to fill out a biweekly adherence sheet to track her meals (tracking good meals, missed meals and unhealthy meals) and the goals was to improve her adherence each week. This worked super well without being too complicated.

She literally took every bit of advice I gave her and followed it from Day 1. Yes there were some late nights out and drinking  with her friends once in awhile, and she would go for sushi, have pizza or eat dessert sometimes (who doesn’t?)  but my point here is she did not do anything extreme to achieve results! She followed guidelines I provided her for fitness and nutrition and STUCK TO THEM FOR AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF TIME!  After training with me for 4 months these were her measurements…

Aug 28 2015

Body weight 144.4 lbs BF 22.6% Chest 37” Belly 34” Hips 38” Left Arm 10” Left Thigh 20.75”

She was down 32.6 lbs, 13.3 % bodyfat and 25.5 inches all over! Incredible, right?

Her strength  and form in all her exercises improved 100%, she is at the point where she LOVES a tough leg workout and requests challenging exercises when we train together.

All of these changes happened over 4 months, no extreme dieting or crazy workout routine, she JUST DID WHAT HER TRAINER TOLD HER TO DO, for more than 2 weeks (unlike most people who start up a new fitness routine)…and was determined to improve her health and fitness.

Kelsey is an inspiration to anyone who is unsure about personal training or making the decision to take their fitness more seriously.  Her positive attitude was the number one reason was she had great success, she was open to my suggestions, and ready and willing to make changes, AND she was prepared to work very hard to reach her goals week after week..

Now even though we aren’t training 3 times a week anymore she still comes to see me once a week for a really good butt kicking.  She tells me that coming to see me even once a week really helps her to stay motivated and do her own workouts during the week, so basically, she uses me as someone to be accountable to and I am the one who helps to keep her on track.  This makes me happy and I truly feel like I have helped take Kelsey’s fitness, nutrition and health to a whole new level, a level that she is committed to maintaining for the rest of her life!

This is just one of many success stories of clients I have trained in the last 8 years, perhaps you’ll be my next one?

10 Reasons Why YOU Should Hire a PRIME Personal Trainer…

Still debating whether or not you should invest your money and hire a personal trainer? Think it’s too expensive? Don’t have time? Maybe you think you’ll just do it on your own? Maybe…

BUT, if you are tired of starting and stopping a fitness routine, don’t feel comfortable in a gym, feel lost in a grocery store, struggle to find the motivation to cook/eat properly, or maybe you don’t even know what you need to do to get yourself in better shape, maybe this blog post will inspire you to reach out to one of our personal trainers at PRIME 🙂

10 reasons why you should hire a PRIME personal trainer:

1-Goal Achievement

Our personal trainers help you define your fitness goals and show you how you can ‘redefine your prime’. We will take into account your current fitness level and discuss what you want to achieve through your workouts based on your commitment/how many days a week you are willing to train per week. While you may have some idea of the goals you want to set, our trainers will be able to help you break them down into smaller goals (daily, weekly, monthly) that are specific and realistic. Our personal trainers will also help assess your progress toward those goals.

2-Personalized Workout

We will create a specific workout plan just for you based on what you want to achieve. This personalized plan gives you better results than a general workout plan. Because we will be made aware of your physical condition and medical background, we are able to make accommodations to the program to fit your needs. We will also help you with providing workouts you can do at home as we all know that in order to get results you must exercise AT LEAST 3 times a week, 5 times a week is best.

3- Instruction

At PRIME, we will teach you the proper way to perform each exercise in your routine.  We often demonstrate the movement and watch you perform it so we can correct any issues with your posture or technique. Learning how to perform exercises properly reduces your risk of injury and increases your ability to increase strength and build muscle. You also will be able to do the exercises on your own at home or at the gym PROPERLY when  learning them from your personal trainer.

4-Motivation

Motivation is often difficult to maintain when you exercise on your own. Regular sessions with a personal trainer enhance your motivation to continue with a workout regimen. Even if you don’t use a personal trainer for every session, knowing that you’ll meet with your trainer weekly will motivate you during your own workouts. You also get the satisfaction of showing your trainer the improvements you’ve made as your exercise program proceeds (lower body fat, strength gains, more muscle, better posture, improved endurance, etc).

5-Accountability

Another common problem is lack of commitment to a regular exercise program. When you exercise on your own, it is easier to skip a session here and there or fall off the wagon completely since there’s no one to hold you accountable. When you work with a trainer, they will keep you accountable, making it more likely that you’ll stick to your training program and achieve your goals.

6-Variety

Our experienced trainers teach you a variety of exercise methods, which will keep you from getting bored. Also, if a specific exercise does not work for you or you can’t physically perform it, the trainer will modify or change it to one that suits you better and provides the same physical benefits. Our trainers also help you to make adjustments as your fitness level improves to ensure continued progress.

7-Efficiency

A PRIME personal trainer is able to make the most of your workout time, which increases the efficiency of your exercise program. This is especially beneficial when you have a limited amount of time to exercise. For example, if you only have 20-30  minutes available to workout at home, your trainer can design a routine for you that will provide the same benefits as a 60 minute workout and will burn the same number of calories.

8- Encouragement and Ongoing Support

We take pride in our passion for helping our clients feel better regardless of how busy or horrible their day may have been and our clients will always leave their session smiling! We recognize that everyone is human and will have weak moments, eat something unhealthy, miss a workout, etc but we will encourage you to keep going! It is so important to have someone to support you through the tough times (there will be many on your journey to improved health and fitness) and cheer you on during the good times.  We are proud of every single one of our clients for hard work in the gym, their time in the grocery store and cooking in the kitchen, and most importantly the decision they have made to dedicate their time and money to making better choices in their life and doing it the right way (by hiring a trainer to achieve their goals).

9-Fun

Very rarely will you be working out with one of our trainers and NOT having fun!  We realize that not everyone LOVES working out so we do our best to make it fun while kicking your butt.  Why would you want to meet with a trainer who wasn’t any fun?  Want to workout and have fun at the same time? Come train with us! You’ll learn to love working out again!

10-Nutrition Guidance/Support

We encourage our clients to follow proper nutrition guidelines.  Do we suggest meal plans and diets? NO! Do we promote healthy habits and teach our clients proper serving sizes and the difference between a protein, fat and carb and how much of each macronutrient they should be eating with each meal? YES! Do we help our clients create their own daily food intake by offering suggestions for meals and recipes? YES! We want our clients to enjoy food, look forward to preparing meals (instead of feeling deprived and eating the same thing everyday which can lead to bingeing), and not feel overwhelmed by all the confusing and conflicting information there is about nutrition out there.

If you are reading this and are a current client at PRIME (or former client of one of our trainers) feel free to add any other benefits you’ve experienced since you starting training with a personal trainer.

Don’t wait for January to start, make the choice today to make your health and fitness a priority! We are here to help you redefine your PRIME!

Jeremy’s 6 week challenge was a success!

How many of you have committed to something 100% for 6 weeks? My client Jeremy took on a 6 week weight loss/transformation challenge and MAN was it a success.

Check out his blog to see his before photos…

Starting weight was 312lbs

Total inches: 373

Link to Jeremy’s blog for the after photos…

Ending weight 279lbs

Total inches: 347.2

CRAZY right?! His total weight loss was 33 lbs and he lost 25.8 inches! AMAZING and blew our goal (185lbs) out of the water!! Want to know how he did it?

He came up with the goal of a 6 week challenge to lose as much weight as possible.  He had been plateauing for the last few months and decided he needed to step it up to blast through this plateau.  I was obviously on board so I created a meal plan for him (6 meals a day with lots of protein, green veggies, healthy fats and complex carbs and of course 4-6L of water) and a workout routine (lifting weights 6 days a week plus cardio) and provided on-going support along the way.  he busted his butt at the gym everyday (twice a week with me and the rest on his own) and made sure he had all his meals prepped for the day EVERY SINGLE DAY!  This man never missed a workout or a meal!

We did weekly weigh ins and bi weekly measurements.  It was so motivating (for me as his trainer) to see someone so determined to lose weight and stick to the plan! He never cheated, not even once which is HUGE because he has struggled to eat healthy his entire life.  It just goes to show that with a goal, the right coach and a positive mind set you can do anything you put your mind to!

And what was the best part of the challenge!? Seeing the excitement and pure satisfaction on Jeremy’s face when we did the final weigh in and he saw 279lbs on the scale! WOOHOO! I was jumping up and down too!  He has far surpassed my expectations and I can’t WAIT to continue training him and pushing him to reach his full potential and his ultimate goal which is to be in the best shape of his life! He is the happiest and the most focused I have ever seen him, there is no stopping this man now! We are definitely on our way Jeremy!

I have many other client success stories like this so stay tuned as I plan to post about my clients (with their permission of course) more often.

I hope everyone has a fun yet relaxing long weekend!

Les 🙂

 

Don’t let sore muscles be an excuse for skipping your next workout! Here’s how…

How many of you have ever woken up the day after a tough workout (or maybe 2 days after) and felt sooo sore that you could barely get out of bed?? Yep I LOVE that feeling!!  That burn you feel 24 to 48 hours after an intense workout is called delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), and it’s enough to make you want to put down the weights and pick up a bag of chips. But please keep going! Ever heard of the saying “no pain no gain”?  A little bit of pain is ok 😉 But good pain of course (in the muscles not your joints), hopefully you know the difference!?

When you’re lifting weights what’s happening is you are creating a micro trauma in the muscle or breaking down/tearing the muscle.  When the muscle recovers, it’s going to recover stronger and denser than it was before.   So that soreness you feel the day after an upper-body or lower body workout—when you’re hauling groceries into your car and you can hardly lift your arms, or the agony you feel trying to sit down or stand up –is good!

Just make sure what you’re suffering from is DOMS and not an injury.  A good way to tell the difference is if the pain is bilateral (one side and not the other).  Having one very sore shoulder after you’ve worked both shoulders could spell injury.

If you feel normal soreness in a muscle, ligament, or tendon, it’s DOMS and you can continue working out around it.  In the case of arms and shoulders, you can lower body and abs and then move back to your upper body in a few days.  Or you can plan to alternater upper and lower body days or break your muscles up into 5 days, one or two muscle groups per day.  I am currently following a 5 day split, Monday-shoulders/abs, Tuesday-back/chest, Wednesday-REST, Thursday-shoulders (cable)/abs, Friday-arms, Saturday-LEGS and Sunday-REST! I also do 20 minutes of cardio after every workout, sprints (ugh!), biking or Stairmaster.

To avoid feeling the pain of DOMS the next time around, start slow. If you haven’t worked out in awhile increase your resistance gradually so that your muscles can adapt to your new workout plan.  Here are some tips to relieve (or avoid) sore muscles, so pain will never be an excuse to skip your workout again—and that’s a good thing!

What to do if you’re sore after a workout?

1) Epsom salts in a warm bath —add three cups of Epsom salts to bath water.

2) Ice to reduce swelling and rest–to assist with repair.

3) Use Glutamine post workout and in the morning or before bed.

4) Use foam roller to help relax muscles.

 

How to avoid becoming sore after a workout?

1) Warm up — a short cardio warm-up 5-7 min.

2) Stay hydrated–lack of electrolytes can make muscles sore.  Steer clear of high sugar drinks, water is best!!

3) Use a foam roller pre & post workout — Pre-workout can assist with warm up and mobility. Post-workout can reduce lactic acid effect and help with myofascial release by relaxing and lengthening of the muscles.

4) Do cardio–a cardio workout increases blood flow and acts as a filter system. It brings nutrients like oxygen, protein, and iron to the muscles that you’ve been training and helps them recover faster. As the blood leaves the muscles, it takes some of the metabolic bi-products with it (like carbon dioxide and lactic acid) that may be causing DOMS. Try doing 10-20 minutes after your workout and this may help reduce muscle soreness.

5) Stretch post-workout — increase flexibility and joint mobility while the body is warm.

What supplements will help post workout soreness?

1) L-glutamine-You can take up to 20 g/day–5 g with 5 g BCAA’s before or during workout, 10 g post workout with your shake, 5 g before bed is the amount I currently taking.

2) Fish Oil-liquid is best, Carlson’s is great and comes in flavours as well (orange or lemon I think?)

What is L-glutamine??

Here is a short video from Fitness Model/Holistic Nutritionist Lyzabeth Lopez explaining the benefits of Glutamine…

Don’t let your sore muscles prevent you from missing a workout, follow these tips to keep yourself from avoiding the gym!

Les 🙂

What inspires you??

As many of you may notice, I write this blog in hopes of inspiring people to live a healthier (and happier) lifestyle.  I have been asked by many people what “inspires’ me and to be honest, it’s hard to define what inspires me.  I find it even more difficult helping other people find their inspiration, but I try my hardest let me tell you! Ask my clients!

Why am I writing about inspiration??  Because it is an amazing feeling when you are inspired!! It is what pushes us to do great things!  It comes in many forms-people, art, music, blogs, nature-no matter what form it takes, inspiration is what moves us to dream, to make plans and sparks the desire to move out of our ‘comfort zone’ and learn or achieve something bigger.  Inspiration can be that little push we need to turn a thought into an action.

When I was younger and playing competitive sports I was always inspired by a CHALLENGE!! If it was fighting for a starting spot on the team, overcoming an injury, being told that I needed to improve in a certain skill, a concept in school I didn’t quite get, someone telling me that I couldn’t do something…whatever it was, as soon as I put my mind to something I was dead set on achieving it! Has anyone else experienced this??

As I’ve matured and entered the working world I am inspired by the people around me.  I always strive to be the best at what I do (I can blame my parents for this who set very high standards and had high expectations of us growing up (thanks mom and dad!), and the fact that I am a bit of a perfectionist) I can remember when I first started working at Goodlife, I was fascinated and ‘inspired’ by the trainers who loved their job and had a waiting list of clients wanting to train with them.  So what did I do?? I worked my butt off to become the best trainer I could be and ended up having a consistently full schedule of clients.

A few years later, some trainers left Goodlife and started their own personal training businesses and became very successful.  So what did I do?? I got inspired and took the plunge and started my own business even though many people told me it was ‘risky’ and I should ‘take my time’ but I knew that if the other trainers could do it I could do it!  And so far (in only 9 months) things are going very well and I believe that I have established a solid reputation in the fitness industry.

When it comes to working out and what inspires me to stay fit I would have to say my clients are the reason I stay in great shape.  Not only do I LOVE to exercise (and often) but I am constantly inspired seeing how hard my clients work to improve their own health and fitness that I have no choice to be one step ahead of them 😉  So thank you to my clients for pushing me to achieve such a high level of fitness, where would I be without you all?! Bet you didn’t even know you were inspiring your trainer??

I also find inspiration from reading other people’s blogs.   It doesn’t matter what the topic of their blog is but just reading  about what someone else is truly passionate about inspires me 🙂

So here is my advice to you- once you’ve discovered what inspires you, it’s time to use it!  What is the general urge you get when you see/feel/experience these inspiring things?  Does it make you want to backpack around Europe?  Does it make you want to take a yoga class?  Perhaps it makes you want to run a marathon?  Whatever your sources of inspiration are telling you, WRITE IT DOWN!   Make a little list of the dreams that your sources of inspiration are pointing to.  These are things that are important to you, things that drive your happiness.  It’s necessary to discover these before you can live life to the fullest!

So what inspires you?? I’m curious, so please share!!!

Now if you’re one of those people who struggles to find inspiration hopefully now you will start to think of things that you’ve always wanted to do but never seem to go for as you keep telling yourself ‘it’s impossible’ or ‘that’s never going to happen’.  Well guess what?  It’s never too late to start!  You are the only one holding yourself back from accomplishing your goals…and always remember this…

 

Stop dreaming and start writing down your goals, come up with a plan/date you would like to achieve them by and then put your  plan into action!  That’s right-JUST DO IT!

Les 🙂

Are you ready to change your lifestyle??

So you’ve decided that this is the year, month, week, day, moment that you are going to commit to living a healthier lifestyle! AWESOME! CONGRATS! BRAVO!! But are you ready???  So many times I’ve  heard people say “yes I’m seriously going to get in shape starting today” or “I am sooo over eating out” or “I am going to start going to yoga on a regular basis starting today” or “I’m going to the gym everyday, no matter what!” and then 2 weeks later they are back to their old ways of no exercise and unhealthy eating.  Why is that??  Well there are many reasons but I believe the real reasons are you AREN’T READY TO CHANGE or you LACK MOTIVATION and DISCIPLINE or you expect IMMEDIATE RESULTS.  You need to be honest with yourself, what’s worked or hasn’t worked before?  As my dad always tells me “past behaviour is the best predictor of present/future behaviour”.  Before you begin your journey to improving your fitness and health from where it is now take a few minutes to complete these quizzes/questionnaires…

Click on this link to complete a quick quiz….

Or answer this questionnaire to calculate your “readiness to change” score….no cheating!

So what did you notice?? Are you surprised with the results?? Probably not right?

If you are one of those people who is on the fence or maybe you’re totally apprehensive about the process THAT IS COMPLETELY NORMAL! The hard part is overcoming the doubts and making the decision to TAKE ACTION to improve your lifestyle.

I’ve been following Tim’s blog called “Minimalist Workout” where he writes about ways to minimize workouts for maximum effect (awesome concept right?) and I asked his permission to repost his blog from a couple days ago.  It’s called the 7 Point Plan to Fitness Success. I couldn’t have said it better myself 🙂 so thanks Tim!   Here it is…

I’ve been reading a lot about motivation lately. It seems every fitness website and blog has a simple plan to become more motivated. The problem is, most don’t address the real reasons you are lacking in motivation. Most people aren’t simply lazy but they lack motivation for many reasons. Most of the reasons, I am finding, come down to reward and discipline.

In your life you learn by trial and error. If you try to walk through a wall and bump your head then you wont walk into the wall again. When you see someone walk through a door you’ll realize you can get to the other side of the wall by going through the door.

The same is true with exercise. If you attempt to run a marathon when you’re out of shape you will fail after about a minute. This would make a couch potato out of anyone. If you run 1 minute intervals with periods of walking for 20 minutes as instructed in couch to 5k then you’ll be rewarded with the satisfaction of a job well done and confidence in yourself. Below is my seven point by step plan to reaching your goals.

Data Collecting Phase – Spend a week logging your bad habits. Don’t attempt to change any of them at this time.
Recognition Phase – During this phase you will recognize where your problem areas are. Consider this your project to work on. If you watch TV all day and never get up then say “when I get up to use the restroom (or go to the kitchen) I will do a couple reps”. Pretend you’re a lawyer and find some loopholes in your routine and bad habits.
Social Phase – State your intentions verbally to your friends and family. You will then commit yourself and inspire others. Inspiring others is like a stock that pays dividends.
Trial Phase – See how many push ups, sit ups and squats you can do. If you can do 1 that is fine. If you can’t do floor push ups then do wall push ups. Take the next couple of days off.
Journal Phase – Start a journal. A blog is a great way to journal or just buy a notebook. You’re going to log your exercises so you can track your success.
Action Phase – Do 50% of your max reps per set every time you go to the rest room or kitchen. If you were able to do 10 push ups then do 5 per set but shoot for 3 or more sets. Do one of the workouts (push ups, sit ups, squats) per day. Drink plenty of water and eat something with protein.
Success Phase – Pat yourself on the back. You’re working out. Do this every day, tell your friends how well you’re doing and they will celebrate with you.

I love the steps he has come up with and find that they work best for fitness and nutrition goals.  So if you’re struggling to get started on your path to a healthier lifestyle start with Step 1: Start logging all your bad habits for a week…then once you can identify what they are you can begin to break them down and work on 1 at a time.  Don’t overwhelm yourself and try to ‘fix’ or ‘correct’ everything at once, or you’ll become overwhelmed and most likely give up or quit before you even begin.

And some thoughts to leave you with today…

 And…

Les 🙂