Personal Trainer Kristen

From my teenage years I battled with a healthy body image. Looking around at my classmates and family members, I always felt that i was heavier than my peers. It wasn't until I ran the mile as a fitness assessment in high school clocking in at 11:50 that I faced the reality that i was not physically fit. I was so tired, winded and out of breath when half of that mile was spent walking the track. At 15, I realized i needed a change. After complaining about my weight, my mother reminded me that all I needed to do was lace up my tennis shoes and hit the pavement--that being fit doesn't always require a gym membership. From that day forward I made a promise to myself to live a healthy lifestyle where daily activity became a necessity. I made running after school a daily habit. First starting at 1/2 a mile everyday, within a year I had progressed to running 3 miles without resting. Since then and throughout college I continued to run, bike, swim (i taught myself), lift weights, and completed a 3- week triathlon in two weeks on top of doing my own workout. I am proud to say my mile time is now 7:13! I didn't have a trainer, a team, a coach or fitness mentor. Just the love of runner's high, the passion for competing against my own personal best and the power of knowing that you CAN do anything you think you CAN do. After competing in my first and second figure shows consecutively this past June and July (2010) it became clear to me in my personal struggles and setbacks that inner strength and mental health are just as essential if not more, than being physically fit.

Most recently resigning from a position in Corporate America I realized how stress in that position had been affecting my life, my goals, attitude, my body and was hindering my dreams. I had been enrolled in the National Personal Training Institute for a year of intensive lectures and on-the-floor gym training. Taking a leap of faith, I had finally realized how training and fitness was the only positive constant in my life and decided to pursue it as my "day job". I began independently training and offering nutrition advice in January 2010 then pursued another dream of competing in a figure competition. My competition coach most recently reminded me, after placing 3rd in my first show: "You will always be your greatest competitor," it has become an honest reminder that being fit in all areas: mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually can positively or negatively affect your body as well as your life. With that said, I would like to encourage and motivate all of my clients that they can do anything they think they can do and then some. Workouts should be challenging to the body and therapeutic to the mind.

The more active you are, the more free your mind is.