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Begin Wellness Coaching, 504 Broadleaf Street, Ottawa, ON (2025)

07/05/2022

Ten guiding principles for my next ten years:

1. Stay open minded: Few things in life are as black and white as you’d like to believe. Seek out well thought out opinions and arguments you disagree with, then shut up and listen.
2. Laugh hard and often: While the world behind the screen appears to be collapsing in front of our eyes, there are few things more restorative and healing as a good hard belly laugh. Seek out the people and places that help you find genuine laughter.
3. Be your primary healthcare provider: Feed your body appropriately, train your tissues intentionally and for goodness sake floss your damn teeth!
4. Journal daily: It’s all too easy to forget what you’re after in life and to get off track. Journal daily for gentle reminders of what’s most important to you.
5. Read as much as possible: Keep your mind sharp and your conversations interesting.
6. Take the road less travelled: The greatest gift in life is the freedom to carve your own path and make your own mistakes. Heed the advice of others but ultimately make your decisions your own.
7. Secure your oxygen mask first: To best serve others, you must be at your best. You cannot help others learn to swim while you are drowning.
8. Protect your time: Do not spend one more minute than is absolutely necessary in the wrong place, with the wrong people, doing something that does not align itself with what is right for you. The world is too full of possibilities to be doing the wrong things.
9. Show up: You cannot win unless you sit at the table and put your chips in the pot. Sitting back and waiting for great things to happen to you won’t magically result in getting what you want out of life.
10. Remain humble: Do not be fooled into thinking you deserve all of the amazing things in your life. Your good fortune is 10% skill and 90% luck. There are many more talented and skilled that have been less fortunate than yourself.

04/21/2021

Earn your comfort.

The last month of this pandemic has been particularly challenging for me as I’m sure many of you readers can relate to. After the most recent set of lockdown announcements in Ontario, my GAS factor (or Give-a-Sh*t factor) has gotten dangerously close to zero.

I’ve recently begun to claw my way out of my depressed state and any success I’ve found has been a result of delaying my comfort later into the day.

With nothing to do and virtually no one to see, it’s never been easier to start the day off lounging on the couch with a coffee, blanket and a book and end the day lounging on the couch with a blanket, tea and a TV show.

While lounging all day sounds wonderful in theory, there are few prisons worse than living inside the mind of someone sitting idly by as their lives go on without them.

To escape the mental prison that I’d built myself, I started by looking for the key. For me, it seems the key has been to put off sitting on the couch until the end of the work day - which admittedly, comes earlier than it used to. Nonetheless, I’ve literally made it my top priority to earn my comfort.

For the few of you reading this, that are low on energy and even lower on hope, don’t give up. Remember who you are and who you strive to be. For a moment, forget about completely crushing the day and taking over the world, today focus on delaying your comfort and earning it before hanging your hat and throwing your feet up.

You’ll be glad you did.

03/25/2021

Today’s reminder.

You are deeply in love with .

You want nothing more for them than the opportunity to experience a brief moment of joy, happiness and gratitude.

It’s the little things that go the furthest.

•It’s beautiful in Ottawa today, get outside and go for a (run, walk, bike ride).

•Catch up with some friends.

•Clean your room.

•Get some movement in (gym, yoga, pilates, whatever!)

You’ll think of something, just go do it and have a great day!

03/24/2021

What are you certain of?

The way I see it, there are two certainties in my life.

I am stuck with myself for the rest of my life, so I’d better honor that relationship.
I will die eventually.

Most people would want to throw taxes into that list, but a certain former president seemed to prove that not even taxes are a certainty for everyone.

So, if there are only two things in our lives that we can be certain of, that leaves a lot of room for uncertainties.

If you wait until you are 100% certain of the outcome before you choose to act, two things will happen.

The relationship with yourself will slowly break down and wither.
You will die before you ever choose to live.

Uncertainties breed fear, fear breeds anxiety. The longer you sit with your uncertainty, the scarier it becomes.

The only way to overcome uncertainty is to act.

For example, if you want to ask somebody out but you’re afraid (uncertain) of their response, the ONLY way to become certain is to ask them out.

It is fundamentally impossible to think your way out of your uncertainties, you have to play out the situation in real life to become certain of how it will unfold.

My goal for today is to do 1 thing that scares me, feel free to join me in this challenge!

While hanging out upside down doesn’t scare me anymore, exposing my super pale and slightly flabby belly to all of you certainly does! 😂😅

03/23/2021

**Shameless Plug Coming Right Up**

If you’ve ever wondered what an hour working one on one with me actually looks like, here’s how I operate.

First I’ll start with what I don’t do.

I don’t focus on weight loss.
I don’t focus on hitting strength targets.
I don’t focus on changing your physical appearance at all.

Those may come as side effects, but they certainly aren’t the priority.

The world has enough people telling you to work on your reflection in the mirror, I’m not one of them.

Here’s what the world doesn’t have enough of in my opinion.

People who ask you questions and then genuinely listen to your answer.
People who help you to develop your beliefs about your life and how you want to live it.
Places to practice overcoming your fears in a judgement free and safe environment.
An environment to develop the mental toughness necessary to take on the challenges of life.

Attempting to be that person and create that space is what I strive for.

**If that sounds like something you could use more of in your life, keep reading.**

I currently have training slots available and my DM’s are always open.

We train out of my basement gym in Orleans. It’s cold, it’s dark, it’s dingy and it’s everything we’ll ever need and more.

All of my equipment is owned, so I charge only for my time.

Until my schedule is filled, I’m offering 10 sessions for $350.

For comparison, if I were still working at a box gym my rate would be between $75-95 per hour, plus tax, plus your monthly membership.

Personally, I’d rather spend my time helping people in need, not just the wealthy.

(Wealthy people are cool too tho 😅!)

03/18/2021

Meditation 101, the why and the how.

Sit still and fend off the urge to move. That’s it.

Why?

To regain control of your headspace.

Your thoughts are not you, your emotions are not you, your feelings are not you, your pain experience is not you. Learn to live with your brain, even if it can be a pest.

How to:

1. Sit comfortably (no matter how comfortable you are, your brain will find a way to make you feel uncomfortable)
2. Sit still (move only with your breath)
3. Breathe

While meditating:

Your lips may feel dry, do not lick them.
You may feel itchy, do not scratch.
You may feel sore, do not move.
Your thoughts may drift, do not follow them.

No matter what your mind throws at you, do not react. You are in control.

Meditation builds the skill of allowing your cravings, urges and compulsions to pass without reaction. Once you eliminate the need to react, you become free to act.

Start with 5 minutes and let me know how it goes!

03/08/2021

From good to great in exactly 45 minutes.

So, what’s the main difference between picture 1 and picture 2?

We did six highly specific exercises with resistance bands that I purchased off amazon for $45.

The main areas that Anna needed to prime for improved mobility and control were knee flexion, hip flexion, hip internal/external rotation, shoulder internal/external rotation.

We started from the ground up.

Lying banded hamstring curls
Lying banded internal rotation pulses
Lying banded external rotation pulses
Lying mini band sprinters
Shoulder external rotation
Shoulder internal rotation

The end result was a drastic improvement in mobility and stability at the bottom of the squat. The biggest feedback was how painless and comfortable her squat became.

Step 1. Discover why your brain is limiting your body's ability to move freely.
Step 2. Convince your brain to allow your body to move freely.
Step 3. Be blown away by what your body is and has always been capable of doing.

02/24/2021

Passive stretching. Yay or nay?

Most people that think they are looking for flexibility are really interested in mobility.

Flexibility is passive meaning you aren’t actively participating in the movement.

Mobility refers to your ability to maintain strength, stability and control throughout the entirety of a given movement.

It refers to your ability to squat low without pain or the fear of falling over, to jump as high as you can without having to worry about hurting yourself on the landing, to sprint full tilt without the fear of blowing out your knees.

An immobile ankle, for example, struggles to absorb impact. A mobile ankle works like a shock absorbent spring.

So, which would you rather?

1. The ability to run, jump, climb, and move your body freely.
2. The ability to lay on your back while I stretch your leg overhead.

If you went with door number one, it’s time you develop a mobility routine and dumped the ineffective stretching routine.

02/23/2021

Take a deep breath.

“People overestimate what they can accomplish in a year and underestimate what they can accomplish in a decade”. - Tony Robbins

Take the time to breathe, to smile, to laugh and for goodness sakes stop being so damned hard on yourself. You aren’t perfect and you never will be, so stop demanding perfection of yourself.

As a society, we are addicted to putting undue pressure on ourselves. The pressure to succeed, to grow, to learn and to be better than everyone around you has become an unhealthy addiction.

Not only is the resulting stress slowly killing us through the many afflicting forms of hypertension, but it’s causing us to miss out on the joys of life along the way.

Absolutely, get s**t done. Take care of business and crush your priorities. Ignoring your responsibilities won’t lead to less stress that’s for sure.

I’m only asking that you stop and enjoy the fruits of your labour along the way.

Don’t wait until you’re dead to live.

Today’s challenge.

Do something that 5 year old you would have done for fun.

Personally, I’m about to start a pillow fight with Kat. What will you get into today?

**Update: I definitely lost the pillow fight.

01/29/2021

Manage your pantry, manage your health.

You already know how to eat well intuitively, that’s not the issue.

We’re creatures of convenience. We need calories, and so we subconsciously seek out the most calories for the least amount of effort. That’s a fine strategy in 10,000 BC, but what about today?

The most effective strategy is to make it as inconvenient as possible to go for convenience foods. If it’s on your shelves, in your fridge or in your freezer, it’s too convenient.

Totally restricting your diet and avoiding certain foods at all costs is not the answer and has the potential to spiral into a full blown eating disorder rather quickly, or at least late night binging.

What I’m talking about is establishing a set of rules to make it easier to make the healthy decision more often than not.

Here’s what that process should look like:

Craving for unhealthy food.
Physically go and pick up the food yourself and if it's within reasonable distance, walk there.
Throw out any leftovers, do not pack them up for later. (bonus is that you’ll naturally order smaller portions)

Side note: Strategy for Drive Thrus

Pack a lunch, and...
Keep your wallet in the back seat.
Keep spare change up front for your drive thru coffee, but not enough to tack on the donut.

So, here’s my challenge for you today. Take a good look at your pantry, fridge and freezer. Score yourself on a scale of 1-10, 1 being wildly unhealthy and 10 nothing unhealthy in sight.

Here’s our kitchen score:

(8) - (freshly baked rack of 200+ CookiesbyKat)

=negative 6432.

How would you score your kitchen?

01/29/2021

Manage your pantry, manage your health.

You already know how to eat well intuitively, that’s not the issue.

We’re creatures of convenience. We need calories, and so we subconsciously seek out the most calories for the least amount of effort. That’s a fine strategy in 10,000 BC, but what about today?

The most effective strategy is to make it as inconvenient as possible to go for convenience foods. If it’s on your shelves, in your fridge or in your freezer, it’s too convenient.

Totally restricting your diet and avoiding certain foods at all costs is not the answer and has the potential to spiral into a full blown eating disorder rather quickly, or at least late night binging.

What I’m talking about is establishing a set of rules to make it easier to make the healthy decision more often than not.

Here’s what that process should look like:

Craving for unhealthy food.
Physically go and pick up the food yourself and if it's within reasonable distance, walk there.
Throw out any leftovers, do not pack them up for later. (bonus is that you’ll naturally order smaller portions)

Side note: Strategy for Drive Thrus

Pack a lunch, and...
Keep your wallet in the back seat.
Keep spare change up front for your drive thru coffee, but not enough to tack on the donut.

So, here’s my challenge for you today. Take a good look at your pantry, fridge and freezer. Score yourself on a scale of 1-10, 1 being wildly unhealthy and 10 nothing unhealthy in sight.

Here’s our kitchen score:

(8) - (freshly baked rack of 200+ CookiesbyKat)

=negative 6432.

How would you score your kitchen?

01/24/2021

I’ve been told recently by somebody close to me that I’ll never become a successful online trainer.

I happen to agree.

The assessment was that the key element that the wealthiest trainers share is the ability to narrow in on people's vulnerabilities and simply take their money. There are so many training programs out there that make incredibly bold promises like 6 pack abs in two weeks and they make a killing. Yet somehow nearly two thirds of Canadians are overweight or obese according to Statistics Canada.

For me, it’s far more personal. Health and fitness gave me my life back and helped to slowly sew a smile back onto my face.

Here’s the thing, being overweight is hard. Dealing with chronic back pain is hard. Suffering from depression is hard. Having zero confidence in yourself is hard. It is so much easier to enjoy your life and feel good about yourself when your body is working for you and not against you.

I know it because I’ve lived on both sides of the fence.

I have no interest in taking people’s money in excess of what I need to live a comfortable life. I simply want to reach out a helping hand to anyone who is truly ready to make the climb over onto the other side of the fence like I was four years ago.

I won’t make you any promises of six pack abs in two weeks. I will however do everything that I can to be a knowledgeable resource, and a supportive friend that helps you to build your life into something you’re proud of.

Let me know if anything I said above resonates with you in the comments below or send me a personal message. I’ll be glad to answer any questions you have and do my best to lend a hand in any way that I can.

Begin Wellness Coaching

07/05/2022

04/21/2021

03/25/2021

03/24/2021

03/23/2021

03/18/2021

03/08/2021

02/24/2021

02/23/2021

01/29/2021

01/29/2021

01/24/2021

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