Since I have a few new people to this page, I thought I would do an introduction & tell you about myself!
My name is Jackie Lindal and I am a certified Personal Trainer & the owner of Fit Like a Girl. My journey to being a personal trainer/entrepreneur/business owner was not what I had intended for myself but I am so glad it led me here!
Some background!
I was raised on a dairy & beef farm outside of Barrhead, a small town north of Edmonton, Alberta with my parents and 4 siblings- that's right 5 freaking kids!
Growing up on a farm, and being a tomboy, I always was drawn to a lifestyle not exactly typical for a young girl. I loved being outside, playing with the farm animals, riding horses, roughhousing with my siblings, not brushing my hair and definitely not a fan of wearing dresses! From the time I was 9 years old, I spent every evening going out with my siblings and helping my dad in the dairy barn feeding calves, and eventually helping milk cows. Not exactly what the "cool kids" were doing at school!
I joined Ju Jitsu at the age of 11 and since then, it has been my love, aside from horses of course! I loved the competition, being able to "fight like a boy" and finally finding a place to be able to fight with my brothers and not get in trouble!
After graduating high school, I found myself unsure of what direction I wanted to go for a career. After a year off, I decided to go to NAIT to pursue a career as a veterinary technologist, which was a great way of combining my love of animals and medicine. I was a Vet Tech for about 6 years; I found myself in a career I was good at, was interesting and I had a passion for. I always found I had a crazy story to tell and loved the rush of a "holy shit it's going down!" emergency.
Eventually, I found myself reaching a plateau in my career as a vet tech and I was no longer 100% happy and felt like I wanted more. I kept thinking to myself, "is this all there is? Is this what I really want for the next 20+ years?" I realized the answer was no, this was not what I wanted for the rest of my life, which led me to personal training.
I started my own personal fitness journey in January 2015 after a particularly difficult year in 2014, I found that I was unhappy with my current state of health. I was out of shape, couldn't make it up a flight of stairs without wheezing, my Ju Jitsu training was suffering, and I was sick and tired of my own yo-yo workout regime of going to the gym for 2-3 weeks then never showing my face there for at least a month. I started researching how to get fit and eat better and found weightlifting.
Initially, I was the classic girl "I don't want to get bulky" but I trusted my gut, and the guidance of a million trainers and articles I followed online; I started lifting and never looked back.
Like many others, my fitness journey did not come without its challenges. In November 2015, I suffered a torn ACL in my left knee while rolling at Ju Jitsu, then in June 2016, the right ACL decided to take a proverbial hike as well! As a result, I had bilateral (both knees) ACL reconstruction surgery in September 2016. Having both knees done at the same time was brutal and painful, but day by day I improved; it also helps that I am stubborn as hell and was determined to recover. Recovery had been going well until May 2017, I was throwing a ball playing catch and my left knee popped. My surgeon examined it and concluded it was a small tear in my meniscus and with time, hopefully, it would heal on its own. Well, it didn't and low and behold January 2018, while running my knee popped again, this time my meniscus really tore and according to the MRI, flipped over in my knee and locked my knee out of 100% extension. This meant another surgery in March 2018 to remove the meniscus, luckily it was a much shorter healing time and I am on my way back to normal (fingers crossed!)
Over time, the idea of personal training came to me when people started asking how I got fit and if I could help them. I started out with this blog as a way to keep myself accountable and a place to write about my workouts, inspirations and recipes I liked. I used it as a tool to blog about my recovery after knee surgery and hopefully show people that just because you have injuries, doesn't mean you have to stop training.
Then, I decided to take it further by getting a personal training certification. I was able to obtain my personal training certification in 2016. At first, it was just a way to learn more about working out and fitness, but then it turned into actually helping people. I loved being able to teach people how to lift and showing women that they too can be strong and badass. From that, I found what I really wanted to do and started Fit Like a Girl and squeezed in personal training part-time along with my full-time career as a Vet Tech. February 2017, I decided to take the leap and take on Fit Like a Girl & Personal Training full time and have never looked back!
Initially, I was the classic girl "I don't want to get bulky" but I trusted my gut, and the guidance of a million trainers and articles I followed online; I started lifting and never looked back.
Like many others, my fitness journey did not come without its challenges. In November 2015, I suffered a torn ACL in my left knee while rolling at Ju Jitsu, then in June 2016, the right ACL decided to take a proverbial hike as well! As a result, I had bilateral (both knees) ACL reconstruction surgery in September 2016. Having both knees done at the same time was brutal and painful, but day by day I improved; it also helps that I am stubborn as hell and was determined to recover. Recovery had been going well until May 2017, I was throwing a ball playing catch and my left knee popped. My surgeon examined it and concluded it was a small tear in my meniscus and with time, hopefully, it would heal on its own. Well, it didn't and low and behold January 2018, while running my knee popped again, this time my meniscus really tore and according to the MRI, flipped over in my knee and locked my knee out of 100% extension. This meant another surgery in March 2018 to remove the meniscus, luckily it was a much shorter healing time and I am on my way back to normal (fingers crossed!)
Over time, the idea of personal training came to me when people started asking how I got fit and if I could help them. I started out with this blog as a way to keep myself accountable and a place to write about my workouts, inspirations and recipes I liked. I used it as a tool to blog about my recovery after knee surgery and hopefully show people that just because you have injuries, doesn't mean you have to stop training.
Then, I decided to take it further by getting a personal training certification. I was able to obtain my personal training certification in 2016. At first, it was just a way to learn more about working out and fitness, but then it turned into actually helping people. I loved being able to teach people how to lift and showing women that they too can be strong and badass. From that, I found what I really wanted to do and started Fit Like a Girl and squeezed in personal training part-time along with my full-time career as a Vet Tech. February 2017, I decided to take the leap and take on Fit Like a Girl & Personal Training full time and have never looked back!
Why did I choose "Fit Like a Girl?" I started Fit Like a Girl for girls like me. Girls who maybe never really "fit in". Those girls who want to get fit, but don't even know where to start or what to do when they walk into a gym. My goal is to reach more and more women and show them that we are all awesome in our own ways, and help them find the confidence to be the badassiest badass they can be!
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| Still & Always will be a farm girl <3 |
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| Why I train and why I do what I do! |
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| Pretending I am superwomen ;) |
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| My crazy siblings & I |
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