I have been putting so much focus into growing my personal training business lately, I have been completely absent from the blog front! I wanted to talk a little more about being a personal trainer and what sets me apart from other trainers.  I obtained my Personal Training Certification through CanFit Pro in August of 2016 and have been spending the last year growing my clientele.  My style of training is nothing crazy or fancy, it relies on consistency and determination from my clients So if my style of training is nothing fancy, what makes me different from other trainers or coaches? 1.  I use what works, in other words, no B.S unnecessary workouts, equipment, etc.  I believe in keeping fitness simplistic.  When you are just a beginner, you don't need anything more than a few sets of dumbbells and maybe a bench or a mat.  There is no need for expensive machines that take up space.  When you are looking to get started, the less investment of money to equipment, the easier i

I'd like to take this time to write about why I am here and what kind of a "fitness person" I am.  Meaning the things I do, don't do and what I am not willing to compromise on.  Also, what kind of a trainer I am and what things I do for my clients.  I think I'll do it in my favourite form which is point form! I would not describe myself as a "typical" person when it comes to fitness.  I don't follow fads, I do what works and makes sense while I can still live my life.   So here it goes!   1.  I lift weights as my main form of fitness, not little baby weights either.   I am sure its pretty obvious by now, I love to lift heavy.   I love to be able to continually push myself to do more weight or reps or sets, provided it is done with proper form.  It is proven that increased muscle mass leads to a better fat loss, increased calorie burn and better ageing for your joints . So I lift! 2.  I am a certified personal trainer trough CanFit Pro.

  Confession: When I first started working out, I had no clue about how to even get started or what exercises to do.  I was confused about working out, weight lifting, cardio, eating healthy, etc so I started to do a lot of digging.  I followed weightlifting and muscle building pages on Facebook.  I looked up exercise plans and ideas, healthy eating articles, recipes, etc.  I read article after article about building muscle and benefits of weightlifting. I hate to admit now, but I was one of those girls who was worried that lifting weights would turn me into a she-hulk.  That was until I started following some seriously inspirational women on social media like Nicole Wilkins, Pauline Nordin and Dana Linn Bailey.  I realized that these women were strong, smart, powerful and badass- the type of person I aim to be. As boring as picking heavy stuff up and putting it down seems; it's really a sense of accomplishment.  As time goes on, I can look back at where I started and see h

I read an article recently that reviewed some of the big fad diets there are out there today. The article discussed some of the pros and cons of each diet and explained the premise of each. All I could do at the end of the article was cringe !!  I can't believe some of the ludicrous, restrictive diets there are put there, and better yet, the amount of people that become a slave to these fads! I tried to look into the diets and see if any of them didn't follow some crazy restrictive plan.  Sadly, they all involve restricting at least one or more food groups. Paleo for example eliminates grains, legumes, and dairy; Keto followers can't have grains, fruits or potatoes; Dukans diet eliminates practically all carbs; Gluten free eliminates, well gluten; and the alkaline diet rids of dairy. There are also all the really crazy ones like the cabbage soup and the grapefruit diet, and they just sound horrendous.  There is also ultra-low fat diets that sound sad and raw diets are co

I've previously wrote a list of tips for women starting their own fitness journey (read about it here if you haven't yet!)  I thought I would keep the list trend going and do one for the girls who are interested in Ju Jitsu or are newbies to the sport. When I first started Ju Jitsu almost 15 years ago, I had a good idea about what I was getting into.  My brother had been in the sport already for a few years, and I spent a lot of time watching his classes and tournaments.  That being said, as a girl there were a few learning curves for me that were much different than what my brother had to learn for himself.  I thought I'd pass the lessons on that I previously learned! Here's my list of tips for girls who are interested in or starting out in Ju Jitsu. 1.  Don't be intimidated by a "man's sport"      Ju Jitsu and other martial arts are becoming increasingly more popular as people recognize and hear about the sport much more often thanks to MMA an

I've been on my own fitness journey for a few years now, and it has not always been easy or pretty!  I  like to talk about the great things fitness has done for my life, and I very rarely talk about the annoying things about fitness. Here is my list of inconvenient and annoying things I found out along the way. 1.  You need to be consistent      Sadly, lifelong results only come when you actually stick to your plan.  You will never see long-term results without a long-term commitment.  Changing your body and health requires a full lifestyle do-over.  So consistency is key. 2.  Your diet really does matter      Yes, I know, this is just plain unfair but its true.  Especially unfair considering all the cheese, pies, cakes, chocolate, pasta and bread there are in the world!  But sadly, those don't exactly all add up to the greatest results.  I am not saying don't enjoy those things, but keep them as  treats now and then and you will appreciate them a lot more. 3.  Ca

Now that we are settled into the New Year, everyone is working on their resolutions.  It seems like the number one resolution is doing something to lose weight or get healthy.  I am not knocking people who have this as their goals for the year; I always admire anyone who chooses to take the first step to being healthy! That being said, I cringe every time I see someone on a new "detox".  You know what I am talking about; they come many forms of detox diets, pills, shakes, juices, herbal cleanses, and more!  They come with claims to clean your kidneys, liver, colon, skin, stomach, etc.  I can understand why these things fly off the shelves and people flock to them; celebrity and trainers endorsements, quick 10 day programs or even 1 day cleanses!  These cleanses and detoxes claim to offer a quick fix for years of unhealthy eating habits,  smoking, drinking and to aid in healthy weight loss. They use tag lines like "natural, cleansing, fast, lose 10 lbs guaranteed!&q

If you are anything like me, the task of packing your lunch every day is daunting and annoying!  I used to be so lazy and just pack a couple of granola bars and buy my lunch on most days.  What seemed even more daunting was meal planning and prepping. I started doing some prep here and there about a year ago, with little things like veggie bags.  I decided about 4 months ago, I started prepping more and more, and I will never look back!  I don't have to worry about what to make to put in my lunch.  I started just like most people, just browsing sites on the internet looking for meal ideas and I started throwing things together. I always get told by people, that they don't even know where to begin when it comes to meal prep.  So I thought I would put together some tips to help! 1.  Find a time, day and number of meals to make the task manageable!      Finding time to make meal prep work is correlated to long term success.  Personally, I do my prep on Sundays.  It's my

If you look the majority of fitness or body building Facebook pages, Instagram feeds or websites, you'll see a bunch of confusing jargin! Take this supplement, take this fat burner, drink this fit tea, do this detox.  Don't forget Vitamin, A, E, D, B1, B12, Glutamine, Creatine, etc.  Its insane the amount of pills and things that the fitness industry brings about. I am not one takes a bunch of supplements, fat burners or a bunch of vitamins and minerals.  There are several health and scientific evidence as to why I don't do that; but in short I just don't have the need to.  I am not a serious body building competitor, and it seems like a lot of effort to boot! I take really only two "supplements" with my workouts; BCAA's during my workouts and protein powder after.  I will talk about protein powder for today and touch base on BCAA's later. I started reading into protein powders a little more lately because I knew I wanted valid information to wri