Fab Fit Squad

Guess what, I don’t. This past weekend I competed in the NE Classic it was my first show since July 2009. I worked hard to get to this show after a few false starts this season. My goal was to debut my new fitness routine at this show, but it just wasn’t coming together so I decided to just do the bikini round and get my stage legs back. No sooner than 5 minutes after the show I was already critiquing how I did and what changes could I make before the next show in July.

SERIOUSLY!!! Kim you placed in the top 5 and you couldn’t take 5 minutes to give yourself a pat on the back before you were moving onto the next thing.  OK, here is my moment to savor and relish my accomplishments.  I placed top 5 and it feels great. I did work hard to get to this show and it was also nice share my hobby with 2 women we are new to the sport, Stacey S. and Jenn F. they both had great attitudes and hope they enjoy competing as much as I do. I also got to see 2 great people that I haven’t seen in years and they just made me smile so much and it was so nice to be around them for most of the day. Dottie you are awesome and are such a inspiration so glad that we got back in touch.  Melissa loved the crazy hair!!! You rocked the stage.

But the best thing that I should savor is that after 5 years of doing shows and having to put up with all the pre-show, show and post-show madness, my husband turns to me and says that he is proud of me. Now that is something to savor!

Do me a favor whatever your accomplishments are stop and enjoy them because guess what for each goal you achieved someone else has given up. Keep reaching for the stars because the only person who can hold you back is YOU!!!!

Memorial Day weekend is upon us and we all have visions of summer vacations dancing in our head.  Already this weekend, I’ve heard so what are your summer vacation plans. Which is funny because this morning I was watching one of my favorite shows Sunday Morning on CBS and they were discussing the concept of vacation. We all know as Americans vacations is a dirty word, in fact in these tough economic times how many of you have forgone your vacations so that it wouldn’t look like you weren’t a hard worker. I’m SO guilty of that. Instead of taking a 1 full week, I’ll take a long weekend so that I won’t miss THAT much work, but guess what we are only fooling ourselves.  The question they posed on the program is vacation a perk or a necessity.

I think vacation is a necessity. Personally I love to plan a vacation a few months in advance so it gives me something to look forward. I like thinking about  how am I going to spend my downtime.  When I’m not on vacation, I am a very structured person and my calendar rules my life and vacation is one of the few times that I wake and decided what am I going to do today. It could range from just sitting on my butt and being catered to or something active if the moment feels right, but hey I just follow my intuition.

It’s also one of the few times that get to spend a lot of time with my husband. For two people who live together we don’t get spend enough quality time together. Yes, after 8 years of marriage I still enjoy spending time with him. LOL. Back to the topic.

Bottom-line, I think if you work hard you deserve some well earned downtime and should be respected for knowing when you need to unplug.  When I say unplug, I mean UNPLUG — no email, voice-mail, nothing but enjoying yourself.  If you are doing any of those things you run the risk of seeing or hearing something that may cause you to be sucked back into the world of work. Remember you deserve and EARNED the downtime. I know when I get back from vacation, I’m more relaxed and focused and can’t wait for the next one.

This year, I’m taking a quick trip to Florida, then heading to Vegas for a competition and Block Island.  What are you vacation plans this year? You earned!!! Now plan it.

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Staycation

I spent 6 weeks in a class that started with a visualization. After the visualization we were all asked to speak about what the visualization meant to us. Well, I found out that I SUCK at visualization. Each time we did it for 6 weeks, NOTHING! People would come back on the line after the visualization and say that their visualization was better than Cats, they laughed, they cried, etc. But if you give me a good quote, it can hit me like a peppermint patty. After each visualization exercise I would look at a this quote on my wall.
“What will I learn from this to make me better?” — Mary Anne Radmacher
Now when you hear that, you can’t help but to visualize! Below are my top quotes that I have posted in my office. (more…)

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. That was this weeks challenge.  How’s it been going good. I take public transportation and often times we get packed in there like sardines. I carry a rather large gym bag and get looks for it. I usually roll my eyes when someone give me a look when they get hit with my bag, but instead I just smiled and said excuse me. Did that kill me no, did combust on the spot no. My takeaway — if you want to be a miserable shrew that your prerogative, I am not going to sink to your level. I will just kill you with kindness. As my husband always says you’ll catch my flies with honey than with vinegar.

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These 5 letters that crept into my brain this week. I am roughly 7 weeks away from my next fitness competition and DOUBT crept into my mind. Can I do this? Should I do this? What the hell? Is this my life? Imagine this all going through my head within 30 seconds. Here’s a little background. I have been competing since 2005. I started competing after I lost 30 pounds because I needed a goal. I lost the weight, but now what. What was my next fitness endeavor. My trainer at the time was a former bodybuilder and suggested I give fitness competitions a try.

Now I’m not a glamour girl by any stretch of the imagination and walking in a bikini with clear heels didn’t seem like my cup of tea, but in April 2005 I took the stage at the Fitness America, show in New Haven, CT and I’ve been competing ever since. I typically compete in 4-5 shows/year like a machine. I wind up every January and wind down each June and the process begins again. Except this time!  (more…)

This is the excuse monster starts to pop up for most people,
well I’m _____________or my husband/SO/parents_____________ or I don’t have _____.

Here is the secret to weight loss, come closer are you ready.  It’s called HARD WORK!

It it came in a bottle, everybody would have a great body. — Cher

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This week I challenged myself to come up with 3 things that make me happy every day. I was speaking with one of my clients about this and the one thing that kept bubbling up to the top was me time.  I asked her how much ME time to does she have. She said this is it! There 168 hours in 1 week and she only give herself 2 hours with me. I’m flattered, but SERIOUSLY!! That is so SAD! (more…)

Here we are on day 3 of the happiness project. The past few days have me looking for things that make me happy. I guess I always thought it would be big huge things that would make me happy, but since I’ve been looking for things, I find being happy really is in how you look at things. The person on the Dr. Oz show was all about the cup being 1/2 full. Now that I’m looking for happiness I’ve discovered its all in how you look at things. My 3 happy things today.

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For the few weeks, I have working on getting a little focus around what I want in my life. A few years ago I created a vision board and hung it on my wall and it really helped me gain some focus and clarity. So.. I decided to do it again.  On previous vision boards I put images on it of what I would like to achieve, places I’d like to go and quotes that will help keep me moving when feeling a little low. What I found to be really interesting is that it was hard to get started. It was hard for me to sit and a really think about what I wanted.  I thought about when I was a little kid and you asked me what I wanted for Christmas a laundry list of items would come out of my mouth. Now I was stuck. Why as it so hard? Was it because I was afraid to want things? Or was it that I had everything I needed. I’m lucky I have a husband who loves me, a roof over my head and money in the bank. What more could I want?  So then I said, yes I am lucky, but there is more that I want out of life and more that I can contribute.  So here is a my vision board. I showed mine, now show me yours, what do your dreams look like? Are you around to put them down because you are afraid you might achieve them?

I hear this all the time, Kim exactly what do you do? I know you hear that as well when you go to parties or other networking events. Typically when I hear its my friends who know I have been working hard to become a certified wellness coach. I know that So when the ask, I know it comes from a place of caring about.

So.. I am a wellness coach. In November 2008 I started my journey. I have been a ACSM certified personal trainer for a while and began to notice that most of my clients came to me for a workout or to lose weight, but I soon realized that there was more things going on that was keeping them from being successful. As a wellness coach I have learned some techniques that will help me work with clients to help them better define their goals, support them through the change process and give them the confidence they need to make lasting change.

I know you are thinking, isn’t that the same thing you do as a personal trainer? No my role is a fitness coach I TELL people what to do.  As a wellness coach the golden rule is the client has the answers, I work with them to guide them to reaching their goals.

As you can imagine its been 18 long months and I am really excited.  I know you may think that I am crazy to launch a business right now. But I believe there is a BIG wave of opportunity happening so the timing is perfect and here is why.

• Women are ready to challenge the status quo and step into a more fulfilling way of life. People are more willing than ever to invest to change their lives.
• Women are tired of the rat race, working hard to just get by when all they really want is to look great and feel fabulous.
• The time is ripe for renewal and reinvention. Women are looking for a little guidance around how to get started and stayed motivated throughout the process.  (this is where I come in)

Over the past 18 months my coach has inspired me to play BIG and get out of my comfort zone. I have to tell you I LOVE IT! The focus of my coaching practice is this.

I help busy women who want to look great and feel fabulous!

You might be thinking: most women are already overwhelmed in their quest to live a healthier lifestyle and now you want them to play bigger!

I would be grateful if you would connect me to any women you know that wants to look great and feel fabulous.

The reason why I stress connect is because I believe this is the way business is meant to be: people connecting with each other and finding ways to add value and create mutual success. So the person you refer to me might end up hiring me or we may become professional colleagues, either way, we will both benefit from the connection.

One last thought…

When we hear and read a lot of bad news, it is easy to get discouraged, apathetic or cynical. But we all know, that this does not make the situation better.  The only way to feel better is to get back into the game of life and PLAY.  As a coach, this is my primary objective
You can refer people to be in several ways: leave comments below — | email –| website –| phone–(617) 744-9056