GOALS: Strength, Strong Fit Bod, Gut Health, Stress Management

I stopped making exercise a priority – as a result my mental health paid the price and I didn’t even realise!

Jen helped to me gain a deeper understanding of myself. She helped me rediscover my love of training, health and spiritual connection. Together we discovered that stress is a strong influence over my eating patterns and subsequent bloating. She has also encouraged me to meditate daily to reduce my stress and reengage with my sub conscious.

I am so glad I found Jen and have been able to call her my trainer and friend for over/nearly five years. 

For the last 15 years, I have maintained a consistent gym/exercise routine During my time in the defence force, being fit and strong was an expectation. After leaving the Army the purpose of my exercise regime was to maintain fitness levels, weight loss, health, and to a lesser extent mental health. I loved being healthy, fit, feeling lean and enjoyed a variety of fitness activities (which always included LOADS of cardio). I loved exercise, the feeling of utter exhaustion after a session was exhilarating and I loved being able to ‘eat more’ as a result. On reflection, I didn’t always have the best relationship with WHY I was exercising; sometimes I would use it as ‘punishment’ for not eating as well as I should have, or to ‘earn’ a big dinner with friends.

The following is a recount of the role health and fitness has played in my life and how Jen has helped me.

After giving birth to my first child, I didn’t want to do as much cardio so I turned to weight training to achieve my fitness and weight loss goals. I participated in my first bodybuilding competition. I joined a few gyms and worked with numerous trainers, each with their own ideas of how to get ‘comp ready’. These usually entailed an insanely restrictive diet. Comp prep is hard enough, adding an 18-month-old baby into the mix was extremely challenging to stay on track with the restrictive diet. After, what ended up being a gruelling experience of getting on stage, I was left feeling completely exhausted, starved and deflated. I devoured everything sugary/carb laden in my path with no ‘off switch’ in sight. I felt completely lost and sad. I was riding the sugar rollercoaster, experiencing all the highs and lows of consuming an insane amount of sugar (it wasn’t unusual to eat a few bags of lollies and then back that up with a few chocolate bars and ice-cream). My mental health took a downward spiral and I am certain I developed some disordered eating patterns as a result of this. My need to turn to sugar for comfort – a pattern that I developed from childhood comforts – was only exacerbated by my whole competition experience. I feel I am still fighting this battle today.

When I started training with Jen I loved that she knew exactly how I was feeling 1 year post comp and understood my desire to feel empowered and strong along with repairing my metabolism and mental health. Initially, I wanted to train with Jen because I noticed her clients got amazing strength and weight loss results. I also admired how happy and healthy they all looked leading up to their comps. I loved having the freedom to choose the foods I could consume and noticed results straight away. I felt leaner, stronger and healthier than I had ever felt before. After falling pregnant with my second child, I felt a stronger desire to focus on my health and nutrition and overall wellness rather than getting up on stage.

Jen has helped me realise some fundamental truths about my life .

My key learnings from my five years of training under Jen are:

• Everything in our bodies is interconnected;
• Balance – between work, family, fitness and health takes time;
• Be Kind – Jen’s calm and caring demeanour is a constant reminder that it is ok to not get it right every single time. What is important is that you learn from your mistakes and try to be better/change tomorrow and to not be hard on yourself;
• Find the love – reconnect with why you wanted to train, be healthy and nourish your body, mind and soul. I had to learn to balance my love of training, exercise and healthy eating with my new teaching career.
• Be Organised and Prepared – life throws so many challenges at you every single day. Planning when to train, preparing weekly meals and organising these things to suit your lifestyle will 100% help you to achieve your goals. Trying to short cut any of these only makes the process more difficult for yourself;
• Reflect – regular meditation and written reflections/downloads will help to reduce stress, improve mental health and achieve my goals.

Thanks forever Jen xxx