The Journey from Fitness Trainer to Wellness Coach
“You are the cheapest therapist I’ve ever had!”
I used to hear this a lot throughout growing my 15 year business as a fitness trainer. I loved it. My ego loved it. I took it as a compliment even though I was their personal trainer, not their therapist. I felt like I was helping my clients way beyond pushing bicep curls and lunges.
But let me be clear: I’m not a therapist now nor was I then. I did not put in the many years of training and education and financial commitment it takes to become one.
However, I have spent over three decades learning, practicing and earning certifications in many modalities that have added to my value as an exercise physiologist—
Kinesiology, EFT, Gestalt, 12 step recovery, trauma healing, intuitive arts, and breathwork.
I used to think the pile of ‘self help’ books and courses on my nightstand meant there was something wrong with me. Now I understand it’s an innate passion to understand human behavior and how we grow and evolve.
This passion is what created the space for my clients to be honest during their workouts. I asked questions and practiced deep listening as I led my clients through workouts. Together we moved their focus from the negative thoughts they might have before and during workouts.
“I hate to sweat”
“I feel like I’m going to pass out”
“I’m going to be so sore tomorrow”
and the most common…
“I hate exercising”.
It also created a space when at times, without consciously knowing it, they were connecting to their emotional and spiritual being, as well as to their physical body.
Even though it was the physical they thought they wanted to improve, this new connection to their emotional, mental and spiritual wellness provided solutions to the challenges they had come to me to help fix through their bodies.
And it was so exciting to watch/witness.
It’s why I eventually shifted the business I built for over 15 years as a fitness trainer and became a women’s wellness coach.
While working out with my clients, I started connecting the dots of whole wellness and incorporating concepts and practices that I hadn’t learned in my Masters in Exercise Physiology program.
I began to understand that how we do one thing in our lives, we do most things. I coached my clients to connect to relationships, situations, and things in their lives that were no longer useful; like holding onto extra body weight. They also started understanding how their thoughts create their emotions and how that affects their eating, drinking, mental health, etc. Releasing weight was now not only about less calories in, and more energy out. It was also about looking at habits, patterns and beliefs too.
As a personal trainer, I was hired to primarily help women get in shape and lose weight; to concentrate on the outside only. And for many years, it worked. I grew up believing in the slogan, No Pain, No Gain and I lived it. But something inside of me started pulling me to go deeper; to work the whole person, not just the body.
My clients were not the only ones connecting the dots around the link between their body, mind, and spirit. I too started having a lot of aha’s moments.
I had been a competitive athlete from 12 years old to when I ‘retired’ at 22.
And… I kept pushing my body well into my early 40’s as if I was still competing, until my body couldn't perform for me any more. My joints hurt, my blood panel came back pre-diabetic, and my Cortisol levels were crazy high. I looked like I was in ‘great shape’. My body was a billboard for my business, yet it was suffering. And so was my mental and emotional health too.
Through my own inner work, and diving deep into many whole health modalities, I began to understand that I was using my body as a way to feel a sense of control where I didn’t in other areas of my life. My limiting belief was: If I can control my body and it looks ok…everything else will be ok too.
I started feeling like a fraud as a professional. For years I promoted health and fitness as I fearfully overworked and under rested. I felt depleted. Successful on the outside. Exhausted on the inside.
I was not walking my talk. And it was becoming less fulfilling to concentrate solely on the physical wellbeing of myself and my clients.
My own inner voice went from a whisper, “slow down’ to a scream, “STOP!”. My body went into protective mode and injuries began to call the shots. So I stopped.
I stopped running (literally and figuratively). I started working on balancing out my whole self and taking the intense attention off of my body and what it could do for me lately.
Unlike all of the messages we get about quick weight loss and fast results from the millions of products out there (especially at this time of the year), the approach I now live and coach is sustainable wellness. Fast doesn’t last. We didn’t get where we are overnight, nor are we going to get where we want to be overnight. I had to stop buying into old messages we are taught, especially as women, and embody and coach on those ideals that support and sustain us:
I am not broken. My intention is to live in balance; mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually.
I can trust myself. All of the answers are inside of me and with some guidance and resources, I can learn to access them at any time.
I am grateful for my body and all it does for me. My body is always working for me, never against me.
Self Care is not selfish. It is a necessary and empowering way of life.
I never believed I could truly love my body and all of the rest of me the way I do now. I thought the fuel that powered me to reach my hopes and dreams was a mixture of critical self talk, pushing hard, saying yes to more, and taking it out on my body if things weren't working out the way I wanted. What I know now is the most ‘fuel efficient’ way to grow and thrive is through self love, balance, and conscious living. That means slowing down, being true to myself, and honoring the unique self care program that is right for me.
I love the work I do helping women love their WHOLE selves. I truly believe the shifts we make inward towards love and deep care of ourselves will shift the energy of the world.
If any of this is speaking to you and you want more info on HOW to do it, please reach out.
Working with women who are finally ready to stop off the hamster wheel of external fitness and start their journey to internal wellness is my truest calling in life. Send me a message, email, smoke signal, or just fill out this short form, and let’s schedule your complimentary 30 minute call.