Fab Fit Squad

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.

(more…)

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

(more…)

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.

(more…)

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

So, I’ve been on the sidelines for a while. I ‘ve been training for a half marathon, studying for my wellness coach certification and just working my butt to build my business. Okay those were just excuses, if I really wanted to stay on track I could have. Okay pity party over. Here are 6 ways I am going to get back on track for my next fitness competition. I will be competing in the NPC Jay Cutler Classic in Boston on May 2nd.  Time to get my game face on.

1. Schedule, schedule and schedule it. Every Sunday I sit down and mark out in my calendar when I will workout. I get specific like (Wed 7am cardio 40 min) I put it in my calendar and it is an appt that I cannot break. I move stuff around, but my workout does get done.
2. Pre-cook my meals. I go to the grocery store on Saturday afternoon and load up on veggies, lean proteins, chicken broth and lean diary products. Then on Sunday at 6pm I start cooking. Yes exactly at 6pm. (If you can’t tell I like schedules) I cook enough protein and veggies to get me through the week.
3. Get good music. My ipod doesn’t ever leave my gym bag! At least once a month I buy new music and mix up my playlist to keep it fresh. If you have any suggestions, please leave me comments and let me know.
4. Maximize my workout time. If I need to do a cardio and a strength workout, I do a metabolic circuit (a combination of strength and cardio) or just do a crazy interval cardio blast (every 2 minutes you change machine and increase the resistance)
5. Seize the moment. There are days when my schedule don’t allow a full workout, so I’ll need to break it up. So, somedays I will do cardio in the morning and then lift later in the day. That way there are no excuses and its in my schedule.
6. Involve your family. Training for a fitness show can be really intense and takes a large amount of your time! I make sure that I include my husband. We go to the gym together and plan (yeah I know, I can’t help it I have to schedule) to have lunch each Saturday at our favorite place The Parish Cafe.

This week, I had an opportunity to see Suzy Welch speak. She opened her speech by saying that she can’t do it all. I repeat she said she can’t do it all and she doesn’t even try. Instead she picks what’s important and moves on. What a freeing way to live.  So, if you can’t get to it, you don’t dwell on what you didn’t do? AMAZING. That statement felt like the glowing box in Pulp Fiction.  Since that day I’ve been really thinking about what she said and then yesterday I read a great post from Lululemon about what are you going to stop doing.  It stopped me in my tracks, because as women we are always trying to figure our how we can do more!! You know we have 24 hours in 1 day and how I am ongoing to do a million and one things to make everyone happy as well as achieving my own goals.

So now I thinking, I don’t have to it all, so what am I going to stop doing!!!

1. Stop being afraid. Yes, I know I me, afraid, but I am! I have been procrastinating on taking this test because I am afraid I will fail. Guess what if I fail I can take it again. So stop talking take ACTION!
2. Stop spending more than 30 minutes on Twitter and Facebook. I love you all, but I need to get focused on taking my test and growing my business
3. Stop purchasing things and not using them. Now this is going to be tough! I have purchased so many things that still have the tags on them or books that I haven’t even cracked the spine.
4. Stop wanting everything to be perfect. If I doing something just okay. That ‘s fine. At least I’m taking steps.
5. Stop feeling like I always have to do something. Say what…It’s a rare day that I can just sit and relax, so take more time to sit and relax. I think about my grandmother, she is 88 years old and I don’t think I’ve seen her sit down for more than 10 minutes at a time. So I don’t want to look back in 48 years and say that I haven’t sat down!
6. Stop multitasking!! That’s right I’m a professional multitasker, if I’m not doing 5 things with my hair on fire I feel like I’m standing still. Moving forward I will set an old fashion kitchen timer and work on 1 thing at for 30 minutes before I move on to the next activity.

So tell me what are you going to stop doing?