Client Spotlight, a series- Meet Tanya - the Wild Woman Adventurer!

 I have another fabulous client who I want to spotlight here on my blog today. I would like everyone to meet Tanya Desjardins

Tanya was referred to me by her Physiotherapist and my friend Sean FitzGerald almost 2 years ago. I couldn't wait to work with her on her goals.

👩🏻‍🏫Thank you Tanya, let's dig in.

Please introduce yourself!

💃🏻Hello, My name is Tanya and I live in Jasper, Alberta. I used to teach, have a love for history, the outdoors, weight training, skiing and so much more. I love living in the mountains, as they have become part of my happy place. I love to hike in my backyard, to try new trails with friends, and just be outside rain or shine. I also love to road biking on days that are beautiful, it is my place to go to when I just want to get out, where I do not usually have to avoid bears or elk, and just turn off my brain and enjoy the scenery around me. Oh and also, go down mountain roads really fast 🙂

👩🏻‍🏫So, tell us why you hired a trainer!

💃🏻I hired a trainer to help me rebuild injured and unused muscles, due to a car accident years ago.. I had been going to a physiotherapist for the 7 years, between my time playing in the mountains, but I was spending more and more time in the physio office and not outdoors enjoying life. After visiting my physio so often, I asked if there was a better solution and he recommended I see Deanna to help me rebuild everything that was not working properly. I am happy to say, that slow is amazing because I was able to rebuild everything and am back at hiking and biking as I had hoped.

Deanna has helped me rebuild my unused and injured muscles, but she has also educated me on weight training, and how it can be a great activity that will bring me a healthier and longer lasting approach to exercise for life. She has coached me in difficult life moments explaining how naming things as good and bad food can affect us, I now enjoy all foods with moderation. She has helped me rebuild my confidence in my strength, activities in the gym, right eating habits, right mindset for a good life. I think one of the biggest points she has shown me, is that surrounding yourself with the right people is so important. Her great coaching has pushed me to become stronger, healthier and smarter with weights, exercise, a good approach to food, and self-image.

👩🏻‍🏫Oh so juicy.... yes, we have worked to discover so many other health markers that you needed to get a hold of. Thank you for sharing that.

Tell us some of your current or future health and fitness goals? 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻

💃🏻I want to work on continuing to build my strength with weights. I want to work my way up to doing strong pushups, and start working towards a pull-up, but honestly I want to just get stronger with my exercises, add more weights over time and be happy with where I am now, be present, mindful when exercising, and remember that I can always continue long term with this activity to stay healthy at any age.

Last fall, after a summer of very short mountain hikes, I was able to do a long 20 km hike and this summer, I am looking forward to doing backcountry hiking-camping trips in the mountains again. I have also gotten back on my bike last May after a year and a half of pain after every ride. I am dreaming of my next ski season, where with good training and the right exercises, I will hit the ski hill happy and ready for all!

👩🏻‍🏫Gah Tanya! So cool! You know I want that for you too. You are on your way to achieving those goals and so much more. Every single one of my clients has given me the opportunity to grow and learn more about the human body and human change psychology. I am so grateful for my career -as I get to work with the best people!

My clients must value their treatment goals to progress toward it. Unless clients value their goals, they may lack the real desire to change. From a motivational standpoint, a good coach should understand what their clients' goals are and what they value in life.

Tanya values her outdoor activities more than anything else. Therefore she was so motivated to begin her strength coaching journey with me. It is always best to start where your clients are at--with what is important from their own perspective. Then build the programming from there.

If you are reading this and feel ready for a coaching relationship- what are you waiting for?
Hire a qualified coach! 🙂 Hit me up!

Love and Squats,

Deanna x

Client Spotlight- Chuck- The Mountain MAN!

Good Morning everyone! It is time for my client spotlight! Every week on my Facebook Page during Quarantine I chose one of my clients to brag about because they work hard for me and they deserve it!

Today’s client spotlight is Chuck Canning
Let’s get right after it!

💁🏻‍♀️Thank you for doing this Chuck! First of all who are you?

💁🏻
I am Chuck Canning, been married 21 years and I have 4 wonderful kids. My family and I are big into wilderness activities, hiking/backpacking and rock climbing, canoeing ect. The last few years as I have crept into my 40’s these activities have been getting noticeably harder and taking longer to recover from afterward.

💁🏻‍♀️ Why did you hire me?

💁🏻A friend of mine that has had excellent results training under Deanna told me about an opportunity to train through her Facebook group so I got on it. I really didn’t know what I was after nor did I have any specific goals when I started training with Deanna in January. I knew I wanted and more so needed to get stronger.

💁🏻‍♀️What have you learned about training since we began working together?

💁🏻I had never been to a gym, lifted weights or had any type of structured workout program before but it seemed like a good place to start. I do 3 kick ass workouts a week and it has completely turned me around. I am stronger now than I have been in a long time, the activities I do are WAY easier and recovery is minimal.

💁🏻‍♀️Moving forward what are some goals you want to see happening with your fitness?

💁🏻I still have a long way to go and I can’t wait to see where Deanna takes me going forward.

💁🏻‍♀️ Same here Chuck! I am so excited for your progress! Thank you for trusting me with your fitness goals!

Getting strong helps in all aspects of life. It is an investment!

I love my career!

Are you ready to break up with DIETING?

By my count, we are now about four generations deep in dieting culture. It is not easy to stop dieting. It is more normal to be "on a program," than it is to not be.

After I stopped dieting for #figure competitions I learned that:
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1) I needed to eat more calories
2) I needed to eat more carbs
3) I needed to wean myself from obsessive tracking.
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I had to RELEARN how to eat !! Read that again! I didn’t know how to fucking eat!!! I didn’t trust myself around food.
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#moderation365 was the answer- it is the only way for me to navigate food now.
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I have a balanced diet and indulge in a glass of wine or chocolate semi daily - because with moderation-treats are mandatory.
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Without deviating from the day-to-day healthy diet often, it wouldn't be sustainable for me, and that's what I wanted: an approach to eating to last my entire life.
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I want that for my clients too.
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I'm seeing the aftermath of decades of people doing extreme diets.
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Dieters are tired and need to fix their obsession with food. They just want to be normal around food and quit thinking about it 24/7.
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I am becoming a #moderation365 Certified Nutrition coach who promotes balance, moderation and mindfulness.
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After years of restricting, the idea of demonizing any food is just not a good idea for me! #moderation365 is the only sustainable way for me to eat now.
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Come on this ride with me!!

It's hard to be DONE with dieting because we're conditioned to ALWAYS BE dieting. If you're going to work with me you will finally be done dieting!!!!
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This is not a weight loss course (though often clients will lose weight as a result of quitting the binging and being less stressed overall).

This is a FOOD RELATIONSHIP CERTIFICATION. The #Moderation365 Coaching Curriculum will facilitate giving my clients back their autonomy and helping them to truly TRUST themselves around any food any time. It is designed by http://jillfit.com/ MS in Clinical Nutrition.

Food FINALLY has zero control.

I will be finished my Nutrition Certification in December and will be launching this new additional service to my already existing Personal Training Business in January 2021. The entire curriculum is laid out here in this link: https://jillfit.mykajabi.com/moderation365-cert

Please hit reply if you are interested in hearing more or are just needing to chat.

Love ya.

Deanna

Client Spotlight- Samantha the SUPER MOM!

I am back with another one of my amazing clients to showcase because I can do what I want and they deserve it.

Today’s client spotlight is Samantha Hogg-Kehler! Let’s go.

Thank you Samantha.

💗Tell us who you are ?

👉🏻Who am I?
Hey! I’m Samantha Kehler and I’ve been training under Deannas guidance since February 2016. I’m a mother to two crazy busy boys and wife to an equally crazy busy husband.
I’ve always been active, and of course the face of that changes once you have kids. When I met Deanna my goal was to put on mass. I had gone up and down in weight but never broke 115lbs and had even dipped down to 86lbs during stressful times! At 5’6 I wasn’t happy. All the while eating I’m getting the judgy little looks and questioning stares. I didn’t get why the heck this was happening, as much as some people figured they did know....
So I set some goals, and we set plans to meet them. It turned out I was more like the 2500-3000 calories a day girl! And yes this was actually hard to get used to and sometimes actually made me nervous! Mass isn’t a super widely used or popular word women are using!

💗
Talk to us about your current Goals :

👉🏻 I’ve got lots of goals. All of which hold hand in general strength whilst enjoying the life around me. I love mini goals like pull ups, push ups, max reps type stuff. I also want to be strong on my dirt bike (even if I’m not amazing at it!) because it brings me joy to go out and ride with my kids and husband. It’s out of the box a little but for an entire family to do MX races and we love it.
But my long game? That’s longevity. I want to be that great great grandma that everyone can’t believe is still kicking it at life. I want to set that standard for my boys ♥️

💗Why did you hire a Coach?

👉🏻I work with Deanna because she doesn’t trap life in a box. She doesn’t have rigid rules and date expectations. We eat food. Like whatever is in my freaking cupboard. Just hit that stupid number and move on. Or don’t, learn from that and move on. Every day is a Monday. A new day. A new choice. And if I’m tired a take time off. There’s no date to come back. It’s when I’m rested. Whether it’s 2 days or 2 weeks. This is about life long goals. Not my summer bod that I forever beat myself up about, and she helps me to navigate through all the garbage slammed in our faces to create an insecurity into buying someone’s magic shake or cure all 8 week program at 1000 calories a day. We have worked together long enough to find what works for me. I find mass training in the winter is 10000 times easier than summer. Summer I want to be outside, and eat less. So we dial training back and continue on.

💗What has been a struggle you have overcome that can help others?

👉🏻 in June 2019 I destroyed my left arm. Broken radial head (popped right out of my skin!), Ulna and wrist. Major concussion (seizure), bruised liver and various cuts and bruises up my back and bicep. Deanna stepped into a friendship role beyond what was necessary. We talked about where I wanted to go from there. I was dealing with nightmares and host of other garbage.
With her encouragement, knowledge, patience, and my own dedication to come back to regular life, I was back on my bike in 59 days! And the gym in even less. I am super grateful to have someone to understand my goals. And to trust me not to flake. And to know I could completely count on her to call me one if needed! I need full disclosure and understanding and she gives it to me.

💗😭😭😭😭😭😭

Sam thank you for saying this. I absolutely love coaching you and watching you thrive and succeed at any goal you set out for yourself!

I am so grateful! 🙋🏻‍♀️

Client Spotlight -Kim #fuckcancer

I am back for another client features. Tonight I want to introduce you all to the amazing Kim Palichuk.

👉🏻Thank you for doing this feature Kim. First of all, can you tell us who you are?
Kim Palichuk

👉🏻😂 ok great ha ha!

👉🏻Why did you hire a coach?

In 2016 I was successfully treated for cancer. Prior to that, I had spent many years focusing on running as my primary form of exercise, with some weight training. I also practiced and taught Pilates for many years. After cancer, I just did not want to go back to running, with all of the back, knee and foot issues that were my "normal" when I ran. I felt like I had lost all of my fitness and I needed someone to help me find my way not only back to feeling strong again, but to find a new path that didn't beat up my body the way running did. I really wanted to get strong.

👉🏻What are your current workout goals?

My workout goals are actually pretty wholistic. As I mentioned, I wanted (and still want) to get strong, fit, and build up my conditioning. For me though, my journey with Deanna has also been an internal journey.
I've struggled with body dysmorphia for much of my adult life. I have worked hard to recognize and avoid "the comparison trap" and to embrace the fact that building muscle means getting bigger! As someone who spent so many years running towards getting smaller this is a real mind shift for me.

👉🏻Any tips to those who are struggling?

This is NOT a linear journey. There are times when I feel that I am making great progress and times where I feel I am spinning my wheels. I have made my workouts a priority- I never, ever miss a session with Deanna unless I am out of town or literally am too sick to move (which fortunately has not happened very often!) We have worked though injuries, days when I am under the weather, and now through these strange times via FaceTime.

👉🏻ahhhhh the long game. So many of my clients have come to me wanting that elusive transformation in 12 weeks like they see on Instagram. Kim has settled in for the long game and sustainable results. Body image, muscle gain and confidence do not just happen overnight.

Kim and I have gone through so many ups and downs and I am lucky and grateful to be her coach.

If this sounds like something you can resonate with, please do not hesitate to message me.

Deanna

Client Spotlight, a series- Meet Magda the magnificent.

I am back to showcase another amazing client. It is also a testimonial to how important it is to hire a qualified coach for long term success. ENJOY !

Tonight I want you to meet Magda Usyk

Let’s go!

Thank you for doing this Magda.

First of all, who are you?

👉🏻Magda Usyk, sharing time between being a mother to an incredible teenager and being a professional in the Oil and Gas industry.

What are your goals?

👉🏻Hypertrophy (with a bit of conditioning).

How long have we worked together?

👉🏻My journey with you dates back to 2008.
Post partum, I was determined to get back into my pre-pregnancy shape.
I needed guidance and quick results.

You were my ticket to “rocking body” and physical self esteem.
Despite staying active my commitment to a consistent schedule was sporadic due to parenting, work, finances, and injuries (running, skiing, etc).

This changed 3 years ago after a sprained MCL. I reached out to you to help me recover and also prepare for a beach volleyball season (3 months post injury). It was a success. Whenever something happens now I call you and we work around sprains/injuries keeping the momentum.

Since then my goals shifted to hypertrophy. For the last 2 years I have been consistent and follow “Deanna’s plan” – it finally clicked – eat, sleep, lift. I now have the results I wanted 12 years ago. I wish I listened to her then.

“Deanna is one of the BEST investments I have made.”

👉🏻Thank you so much for this Magda..

I love watching you succeed in all your fitness goals.. and I am so excited to keep helping you build your body and self confidence!!

Client Spotlight… a series.

Ever since Covid-19 hit I got busy transitioning 80% of my training to online. After 22 years coaching people 1-1 on the weight room floor, I was in new territory. I decided I would start a weekly client spotlight on my Facebook Page where I could show case some of the amazing humans I have been able to work with. Now, I realize they need a permanent space, here on my blog. So here we go, a series of client spotlights, which it turns out, are also a testimonial of my work!! COOL!

Let me introduce you to some of my people, and if you are ready to begin your health and fitness journey with a coaching relationship- may this be your sign! x

Client Spotlight: Cathy

Meet Cathy Goulet! 😍

Cathy is an entrepreneur, married for 32 years to a lovely man, has four children and 10 grandbabies.

Me: So who are you?? ☺️

Cathy: I am a 58, sporadically fit and sporadically not fit woman. Right now I am not.

Me: Thank-you for allowing me to show case you here Cathy, so, what are your goals?

Cathy: Goals? I am looking down the road at another phase of life. Sporadic fitness has left me with some structural problems. Moving too quickly from unfit to very fit, sucking it up and working through the pain over and over is getting harder and harder to recover from. My goal is to build function and strength that serves me well. I want to be a strong, healthy Nana who dances at my grandbabies weddings well into my ‘80s.”

Me: Why is hiring a coach important?

Cathy: A coach provides balance and designs programs that work with my body, not against it. As an entrepreneur, with a demanding travel and work schedule, I need a coach who takes time to understand what is doable for me and to keeps me real.

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Right now, for Cathy we have started her back to training with weights 2 times a week. I programmed her workouts to help her strengthen her core, knees, and overall vitality !

Cathy was asking for 5 workouts a week.. when I got deeper into her coaching consult, I realized more isn’t better for Cathy. All or nothing leads to well.... nothing. She was used to running races which left her with injuries and so.... she needed to be open to change her fitness routine.

We started small, and now we have room to progress. We also have the love of wine in common! 🍷

Small changes leads to HUGE wins in 3-6-12 months from now.

Love my career!

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

5 things I wished I would have known before I did a Figure Competition.

5 things I wished I would have known before I did a Figure Competition; a few thoughts from an airplane.

1. You will never look at food the same way again. Food now is just protein, carbs and fats. Food is more about function than pleasure. You will no longer just go out for a meal and allow someone to order for you. You will not be able to sit back and enjoy food. This would be very stressful for me.

2. You will never look at your body the same. Once you have been extremely lean, anything else is “fat” or “ out of shape”. Even if you are leaner than 80% of the population, you just aren’t hard core enough. I would check for my abs 100X a day. Getting them was so gratifying, keeping them was exhausting. Losing the sight of them was devastating. You will always compare yourself to how you looked on stage in 2013 for 5 minutes and forever keep those photo’s in your iphone and feel ashamed.

3. You will have to water load, take diuretics and then go without water to dry out and it is horrible. You will be lying on the floor half naked with 100 other tanned half naked women so you don’t ruin your spray tan. Oh the spray tan- the freezing cold spray tan where you stand naked in tents with all the other bodybuilders- male and female while you dry. No one even bats an eye! Annnnnd we ladies- have to pee into a paper funnel so you don’t sprinkle or drip on your tan! It’s a trip! 

4. Your parents, friends and family do not want to spend $60 to wait 3 hours before it’s your turn to go on stage only to watch you flex for 5 minutes. Don’t invite them. 😂

5. You will never be good enough. Even if you place 1st, you will want to get right back in the gym to improve - and for what? A little trophy and some free protein powder. I spent thousands of dollars on my competitions and I didn’t get much in return for my hard work and money. In fact, I could have easily just trained and got in really good shape to go an a beach vacation. 

**Bonus: you will find yourself posing like a figure competitor in every photo - it’s still my go to way to stand for the camera and it is so annoying! 

Many of you may disagree but your opinion is not mine.
I appreciate the full experience regardless of the negative aftermath. Those Figure Competitions proved to me that I could do hard things! I followed a goal until the end, even when it was hard and I wanted to quit. I didn’t quit.
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For that I am grateful.

Eating Disorders in the Fitness Culture

I spoke on @ctvedmonton during Eating Disorder Awareness week about my obsession with exercise.

I would work out for hours a day.  This included fasted cardio before a full day of training clients, because that was what I thought I needed to do to be a successful fitness leader. I would lift weights on my break in between clients. I was exhausted and I felt like exercise controlled my life.

My body was still never good enough. My personal relationships were suffering because I was choosing the gym over all other social outings. I would always feel anxious about eating at restaurants where I couldn't control exactly what was in my food. I didn't drink wine, which I LOVE!! 🍷❤️ I got help, and everything changed. I started to question my relationship with exercise, decided that in order for me to run a successful business, stay sane and healthy, I just couldn't continue training for hours a day. 😖😖😖😭😭

Fast forward to Saturday morning.  🤙🏻🤙🏻 On days like today I feel SO empowered by short and INTENSE workouts that make me feel fit, stay healthy and strong AF without having to spend all day in the gym. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 On April 7, Katie Chamberlain has put together a seminar,  along with the help of a Psychologist and a RD, to discuss Eating disorders and Excercise Dependance-when does something healthy become not so good?? 😔😔😔😔 Please see the Eventbrite link below. Is it time you questioned your relationship with exercise? Are you training to burn calories or to earn your food for later? Do you feel like you have to train in order to eat? Can you take at least one full rest day a week or does the idea of rest make you anxious? 😎 Let's have a talk. We want to help. Love you, Deanna

I gained weight..... I did it on purpose.

I am celebrating weight gain. What? Really Deanna? How can you celebrate weight gain in a world where we are told to lose weight and stay small?

WRONG!

I have been gaining weight on purpose, and here is why you may want to do the same;

More muscle is always the answer.

If you are looking to put on muscle mass you may have to get comfortable with seeing the numbers on the scale go up.

Seeing the scale jump may scare you, but listen ladies, that doesn’t mean you have to get “fat" or "bulky" or whatever term you use when you think of someone gaining weight.

Dialing in your calorie intake and training so you are gaining at a rate of 0.5-1% body weight per month is a nice sustainable guideline.

This slow and steady rate will minimize fat gain, but you will gain some fat. (and fat isn't bad)

Currently I don’t count calories. Perhaps if I did I would optimize my muscle growth, but it just doesn’t fit my lifestyle right now as a former chronic dieter. Instead I hit a protein goal, eat intuitively, and take my weight once a month. From there I adjust intake up or down. This could look like an extra scoop of whey protein, or 4 oz of meat, with a couple of rice cakes or a large piece of fruit.

I train 6 days a week, for 45 minutes each session, including my Sunday Lift and Bitch workout with Feminist Figure Girl. We like to split the workouts into body parts. Chest and arms, Back/Deadlifts, Glutes- Hamstring focus, Shoulders, and Legs- quad focus. I only do cardio ( sprints) 1 day a week, but I walk as much as possible.

Takeaways:

-Weight is just a number, it doesn’t define who you are

-If you are looking to put on mass, embrace the new number. and yes, a new clothing size.

-Lifting weights does not make you bulky. (Eating too much makes you bulky)

-Aim for 0.5%-1% increase in body weight per month while eating and training for lean gains.

If I am feeling hungrier on training days, like I mentioned above, I will eat more food. Sometimes I add an extra serving of carbs post workout. ( 1/2 cup oats or a banana) some evenings I drink wine....it is about moderation of all foods.

Your body will need more or less depending on the intensity and duration of your  workouts.

Pick a goal, get a solid plan from a credentialed coach, eat and train, get plenty of sleep and watch what happens.

CONSISTENCY, CONSISTENCY, CONSISTENCY!

Let's GO!

xFitbabe