I knew a girl from Banff many moons ago, when I worked there, who was from a good family and who had clothes to die for! She had amazing clothes, expensive, and she always looked fantastic. She knew how to dress, for sure, and how to layer, match, fit her body type (I was amazed because I have always wanted this skill, me, the shirts and jeans gal. Lazy, really).

Then I saw her at the lake, sun bathing, and all the mystery went away because for the first time, I could see her body, her almost-entire body, and I realized that she looked, well, average without clothes. OK, maybe less than average. OK, she was in really poor shape.

At that point (and this is me trying to make up for this because I just know what you are all thinking….”how judgemental of you”.., I wasn’t rally thinking ‘eghad, look how out of shape she is’, because I wasn’t really into fitness much then, or body image. My fitness level was likely the same as hers. Nothing special to be sure, but she had learned the fine art of clothes shopping and wearing that had eluded me all my life. It was a juxtaposition that has never really left me, some 30 years later.

Funny though, after that beach incident, I realized that I had sparingly dressed myself and make-upped myself all those years (and still do today) because I never felt comfortable with a facade, no matter how great it made me look. Guess I never wanted to undress or take off make-up and hear someone say, ‘wow, you look so different.’ To me, that would feel weird, false, uncomfortable.

Now I am not against make-up, as you know. I wear it, sure. But always minimal, just enough, because I don’t want to lull myself into a false sense of self, or shock myself when the clothes and the make-up comes off, and I realize that my fitness routine just might not be making the changes in my physique that I thought it was. ‘Uh oh, been fooling myself all these years…it wasn’t working! Back to the drawing board’…Nope. I never want to find myself in that place. Better to know up front, I think.

And there are many days when I would forget to make-up up, and leave the house face naked. But it doesn’t derail me, which is a good thing, and it don’t think it weirded people out. A kind of face commando. But admittedly, I do feel a tad better with some face armour on.

Today, my favourite wear is still t-shirt and jeans (it’s really just laziness, or lack of fashion skill), but I figure as long as I can still wear a slightly tight t-shirt and look ok, then I’m staying on track. (I will layer-up when I’m cold, and then I’ll make an exception). And when fashion shifted a few years back, and all the shirts went into long mode (you can almost pull that shirt down to your knees, can’t you? I figure it’s because sadly, so many of our young ladies are struggling with weight issues), I figured then fashion-makers had to keep pace with our changing, growing body shapes that so many younger people are struggling with, now more than ever. (So rather than change legislation so trans fats and sugars are minimized in our foods, clothing manufacturers and style trenders are having to shift their products, to literally, cover up for Health Canada’s messes).

Give me blue jeans and a nice form-fitting t-shirt and I’m off to the races (but I will always wear heels, to give me the illusion of a leaner body. Yep, even I’ll use a style once in awhile to add some fakery). But I figure the day I can’t get into my jeans or I’m bulging uncomfortably through my t-shirt and over my belt is the day I may just take a note from Miss Banff herself, and, well, learn to layer up.

She  did it so well….

Karen

The 10-Week Best Shape Challenge is here! We start January 12th! Sign up has begun! Join us! And wear your favourite jeans and t-shirt with pride!

Everyone is plugging into them, following them like lost zealots trying to find enlightenment, or at least the perfect body.

Apps. Fitness apps. Eating apps. Are you too hooked in?

Now there’s nothing wrong with fitness apps, at the start, or as an occasional check-in (and by occasional, I mean a few times a month). But what I see as a trainer and nutritionist is that those who are heads-down into their fitness app are becoming dependent, removed, and anxious!

I’ve put clients on whole routines, only to see them in the gym pulling up their fitness app, and loading in yet another exercise for back, or legs, or whatever. Seems like what I gave them for a workout wasn’t sufficient, and they needed more (?). (My motto: More is not better, better is better). The same client goes onto the food app, and has learned that according to this wonderful piece of technology, she is supposed to consume 1700 calories (how does it know? Genetics, pH levels, age, acid alkaline levels, hydration, body type and so much more determines your individual metabolism,) and she diligently plugs in her food for the day, to tally up right. Not a smidgen over, or under, please. Gotta be exact or she’s off her game for the whole day.

And then there’s the popular IIFYM (if it fits your macro’s) approach. While it’s good because people are learning about food according to their macronutrient profile (carb, fat or protein), again, it’s creating an anxious, number-counting culture. So, if you didn’t eat the proper amount of carbs for the day, as dictated by the technology theologises, you are to make it up at the end of the day. So stuff that pop tart in your mouth and count it as 30 grams of carbs. You hit your carb macro. Well done! Now you feel in control, safe, on target. The math adds up. Whew! On to tomorrow..same thing, plug in those numbers..

But apps are free, you say. True. They are succinct. True again (boy, are they! Don’t want to be outside those golden numbers of yours!). And they’re portable. OK. And they’re teaching everyone how to eat and train properly, with more info, more options, tending to the numbers….

And that’s where it all falls apart. There are a few coaches out there that use them with their competitor clients. Fair enough, especially if you are going into show and need to go to the extreme that our sport requires to get down to almost single-digit bodyfat (I would still argue that you can do it without an app. I have, for 7 contests now. Oh yeah, and I eat dairy, fruit and drink coffee right up to show, too. I know, I hear the gasps from the competitor’s crowd. But at 53, I crave and move toward total autonomy and freedom. I aim to NOT follow the crowd, and it works beautifully every time. On and off season.)

So let’s ditch the apps, and live real, with freedom. (I just know I’m gonna get a TON of emails over this one!) Let’s come to live by flexible eating, and trust in Self, where we learn to eyeball what we need, how much we need, and know when to eat it (yep, some of these apps actually tell you when to eat too!). Because to me, this is joyful eating, still with a good measure of compliance and discipline, but not dictated by a device in hand. As athletes, and as mature women, we can actually learn to eat intuitively. Power within Self! It’s about time, don’t you think?

And training. Real training for results requires not more exercise choices, but rather proper execution, with intensity, and different training techniques, knowing when to back off on that intensity through the months. And how does your body work with higher rep schemes, or lower reps with more weight (do you even know?), and is that App inspiring you, supporting you, teaching you to strive, reach, apply, test, reapply? This is how real results happen.Training with progressive results, year after year, is intuitive, creative, fulfilling and fun! And we are constantly looking, altering, applying, learning, growing…..that’s the beauty of it.

In my view, apps may have their place for a small time frame, and for certain people, usually those people who need to rein things in. Fair enough. But give an app to someone who has had an eating disorder, or who is borderline OCD, or who is juggling kids, work, life, and, well, you create a bigger mess. Besides, we don’t need to make mathematicians out of our clients, to have them stay within hard, prescribed lines. That’s not human. Or real.

How about returning to basics and put pen to paper, as I’ve always done, for the first while until you learn the ropes. Old school you say? So. It works. And it returns the power to self, and I am not forever relying on a piece of metal that dictates my life, my eating, my body. Release me, please! I’m a big girl! I CAN do this.

In my programs, I teach people to count calories and macronutrients, to start. Then they are taught to un-learn it. I want them to learn to eyeball a buffet and know what they are consuming, to make it all intuitive, flexible, real. I want them to bring that Power back within themselves, rather than give it over to the Technology Gods, the Almighty Apps.

Ah, freedom….can you feel it? That’s what we’re after. That’s the real way to live, eat and train. And that’s what us humans are meant to do!

Coach Karen

PS My 10-week Best Shape of Your Life Challenge is open for registration. We start January 2015! Join us! And the 12-Week Advanced Best Shape Challenge is open for Graduates of the 10-week Challenge only. See you on the other side..!

“It’s my second time on the Challenge, and I loved it! It tunes me up for the year and sets me back on track! And I look pretty good in my (now) size 6 dress. Thanks Karen! It, and you, are one of a kind!” – Sheila Basset, Ontario

I just completed the latest 10-Week Best Shape Challenger, and what a lovely bunch of women it was! 

Twenty-five women completed the Challenge, and all found some level of success, as defined by them. See, many come to the Challenge to lose weight, but that’s not always the case. The reasons vary widely..to gain strength, to learn how to lift properly, to build a stronger immune system, to learn about real nutrition, to change their lifestyle, to tighten and tone, to build muscle (my fav!), and more…

During our Final Challenger’s Luncheon, some notable awards were handed out (as well as a McCoy Fitness Warrior Woman T-shirt, and a copy of my fitness book – One Rep at a Time):

– Biggest Loser Award: Tanya Lee (down 12 lbs, 10.5″ and 5% bodyfat). Pictured right and below.
– Runner Up Biggest Loser – Cathie Ounsted (down 14 lbs, 9.5″ and 4% bodtfat)
– Best Natural Athlete – Sue Hodgson
– Best Long Distance – Sheila Corman, Ontario (down 8.3 lbs, 9″ and 2% bodyfat)
– Best Contest Ready – Tina Halasz (ready for stage, I’d say)
– Best Body Renovation – Valerie Houghton (wow, serious shifting happening!)
– Best Natural Shape – Valerie Hansen (down 9 lbs, 10″ and 5% bodyfat)
– Golden Globe Award (55+ athlete) – Janis Jean (at her tender age of..well, 55+ she certainly is outside the box!
– Best Baby Builder – Sarah Pendray (aiming to keep soon-t0-be baby healthy and started on the right track!

Always a blast. Always confirming. Always unique. Thank you ladies. It’s been my pleasure and privilege to work with you all. Now…keep the momentum, ok? Getting there is one thing, staying there (and continuing to progress) is another. And that’s what my maintenance program – The Healthy Living Program – is all about, which you are all now on.

See you in 2015! (Graduates, you qualify for the Advanced Challenge…CLICK HERE!)
Karen

PS: Our next 10-Week Best Shape Challenge starts January 12th! Join us!

PSS Got a female family member who would appreciate a healthy gift? Buy her a spot in the next Challenge. SAMPLE GIFT CERTIFICATE HERE!

“I am so thrilled with how far I’ve come, and this is just the start! Thanks Karen for designing a program that I love, that fits my life, and that shows awesome results if you’re willing to commit! You get what you give!” – Tanya Lee, (right) Victoria, BC

“I’ve always considered myself to be a fairly healthy and fit person, but Karen’s program introduced me to a whole new way of thinking about my diet and my workouts. I have gained muscle and trimmed fat and feel the strongest that I have felt in years. Finally, I shed those extra 10 pounds and turned it into muscle. Fitting this into our busy lives is a challenge, but with short manageable workout routines, it is do-able. The 10 week challenge was the spark to get me going and now I know what I need to do to maintain my new shape and diet. Thanks Karen, for getting me on my way to a new and healthier body.” – Valerie Pike, Victoria BC

“I have had such a great journey. Doing both challenges has been enough time to make these changes seem almost routine. I am so grateful to you and the work that you have done for us in creating your programs. They truly have altered my life.” – Dariol Haydock

“I have to say that overall I am very pleased.  I feel so much stronger – was even able to do a dip and a pullup that I couldn’t do at all before! I have ab muscles now at the top of my tummy between my ribs that I didn’t have before so even though the measurements don’t show that much difference I can definitely see and feel a difference!   Thank you so much for creating this program! Couldn’t have done this on my own!” – Viola Vanderuyt 

On Thursday afternoon, we put our 13-year old Sunny, to sleep.

It was a good death, as far as deaths go. We brought him home from the hospital for one last visit with us all. We kept the house quiet and warm, fed him steak and endless cat food, and just hung out. Then when the vet came to inject him, we cradled Sunny on our son Tristan’s lap for a bit, and told him how much we all loved him. Then, with my husband cradling his beat up little body, and with all eyes on him and with loving pats, the vet slowly injected our beloved friend. Sunny never took his eyes off of Tristan. Within a very short time, he was gone…

Death is hard, to be sure. It is a very personal experience, and for some they are comfortable in the presence of it, for others, not so much. For our family, we have come to accept death as a part of life (our ever-growing pet cemetery out back is proof of that).  But for me, it always brings up other stuff, not necessarily death-related stuff, but other thoughts / issues / memories/desires that have been kept at bay. And now, well, the floodgates are forced open once again.

So at this time, I huddle in my house, grieve, process, and think. I needed this, a reminder, a STOP action from the Universe because, well, I wasn’t doing it myself and I needed to….

So I am here, asking myself: “What do I want at this juncture in my life? What is working? What isn’t? What have I been afraid to tend to, or what have I pushed away? And what do I need to bring close, and to really own up to? Simply put: “How do I want my life to move forward from this point on?”

Big stuff, I know. All a result from kitty passing over. Yep. That’s how it is with me, anyway. And it’s good. It’s necessary. And it’s needed.

And so I go back to my chair by the fireplace, look at the old feeding dish where our cat Sunny used to hang out, and I contemplate some more. It’s becoming clear, and I know better than to stuff it away. I’ve gotta feel it. It’s the only way, really. It’s uncomfortable and freeing at the same time. Because we cannot move forward unless we release the past. Buddhist Pema Chodron calls it “leaning in to the sharp point.” Embracing what hurts is the way to change, freedom and an open, ever-growing heart.

Thank you Neil for your compassion, as always, with all living creatures. Thank you Tristan, for your bravery and for doing what was best for Sunny, despite how painful for the humans.

And thank you Sunny, for being, well, you, and sharing your life, and your lessons, with us over the years.

(Top right, Sunny at 12 weeks, Tristan at 5 years old. Bottom right, Sunny’s last day with us).

karen

Ever wonder why some people in the gym work so hard and never really change their physiques? It could be due to many reasons – too lax in their eating, not consistent in their training, not using progressive intensity and proper movements in their weight programs….

Or it could be that they are ALWAYS trying to lose weight, so they binge and restrict, binge and restrict…and the body doesn’t know what to do with all the roller coaster stuff that is being thrown at it. Or they simply restrict too much, year round. No fuel for the fire, so to speak.

Remember ladies, you have to EAT to build…if you restrict calories too much, you will halt your progress. You simply cannot build in a deficit. That is why we focus on either losing the weight or building (now I’m not saying that if you are 40 pounds overweight, you don’t want to focus on losing, because you do. And if you lift and tend to your eating, you surely will. It naturally has to happen).

But if I want to sit at a yearly fat percentage of, say, 18%, then I know it’s gonna be tough. I’m naturally lean in my limbs, but not in my tummy or glutes…that’s where I hold it, so for years I stayed super low in bodyfat to be thin year round. It was ok for awhile, but I made NO GAINS in the gym because there wasn’t the fuel to feed my muscles, my strength suffered.

I thought a 20 lb shoulder dumbell press was good, but now I do 30+ pounds and have added nice muscle onto them, but only after I started to EAT MORE. For me, adding more to my shoulders was (and still is) a work in progress! But I simply could not do it when I was only eating around 1200 calories. For ME, this didn’t work. I am a hard gainer, it takes a long time to gain muscle, and my joints aren’t always in agreeance (I think with 30 years of lifting and being 54, it’s all adding up to more aches and pains, and I have to be very careful in my lifting!). So I increased my calories, paid super close attention to my macros, started eating lots more protein and carbs, and learned about proper lifting intensity (I thought I was intense until I saw how REAL women lifted, and how much they were lifting!). I also backed down on the cardio so I would have more energy to LIFT, which led to better BUILDING, aka PROGRESS and RESULTS.

Now some women can stay lean and build at the same time but it’s rare, and it’s what every new competitor thinks will happen when she starts on the body-shaping journey, but it’s (usually) not so. That’s one reason why your IFBB Pro’s like Nicole Wilkins, Erin Stern, Ava Cowan, are, well, pro’s. They only add 5-8 pounds off season, but even if they were to add more, they still look aesthetically perfect because they put on bodyfat evenly throughout the body, a rarity in women, for sure. (I don’t know about you, but mine goes on in the middle of my body! Wham BAM!). And so when we read that they eat such-and-such and take in this many calories, we think we can do the same. But it just ain’t so for the majority of us. They are genetically gifted. That’s why they are pro’s. I am NOT saying they don’t work for it (have you ever seen a pro train? My gosh, it is INTENSE!) The pros have superb recovery and a strong immune system that they have built up over the years through quality nutrition and consistent, progressive training.

So decide what you want, and make that your majority…if you are holding a lot of extra weight (20+), then you may want to focus on losing a good chunk of that first. Or you may not…you may want to keep the fluff so you can continue to lift heavy to build some more, change your physique, improve your consistency in the gym.

Or, if you want to live lean year round, then try it out…see how hard (or easy) it is for you…see if you can find that ‘sweet spot’ and live there, the place where you can still make changes in your body while staying lean. You may be able to do it (I personally couldn’t, or I wasn’t seeing the gains fast enough, anyway). You may be able to do both – add nice shapely muscle year after year, while staying at less than 20% bodyfat year round. How nice for you!

That’s the beauty of the human body. It is our canvas, our work of art. We can alter it, add to it or subtract from it. And your relationship with your body is the most intimate of all relationships, and it takes time to learn and grow together. It also takes consistency and a clear focus, day in, day out, year after year. Progress is slow, to be sure, but it makes the rewards all the sweeter.

So ask yourself ‘what do you want at this moment?”‘ Then carve out a plan to get there…and STICK with it! And know that it can change – and should – as you progress, learn, and assess your results!

Coach Karen