EMILY'S TRADITIONAL BIO

Each stage of my life has influenced me as a trainer.  

​

As a former competitive skater, I still have a love of working with athletes.  The reality is we are all athletes.  It doesn’t matter if it is competitive, recreational, or just an athlete of life - life is the ultimate marathon after all.  I’m a fairly competitive person, and I love challenging others as well as being challenged.  I can’t watch a sport without admiring the form and mechanics involved. I thrive on having to figure out how to make people stronger, fluid, and more efficient.

​

Once I started formally working as a trainer, I had a couple of experiences early on that increased my passion to helping others improve their quality of life.  The first was a young mother that was in chronic discomfort with her back.  She struggled to lift her little ones while simultaneously trying the vacuum. I shared in her excitement when she was able to play with her kids and clean her house pain free for the  first time like she had just won a gold medal.  The second major impact occurred when my client and I shared tears as she excitedly came in and told me she was able to put on and tie her shoes for the first time in forever without having to have her husband assist her.  

​

Throughout that time period, I also had a chronic pain disability and went through over a dozen surgeries.  I had a few critics make comments to me like, “for being so healthy & teaching health and fitness, you sure have a lot of problems.” That impacted me significantly. I responded with: “imagine what I would be like if I DIDN’T work out and take care of myself.” My love of working with my clients, and my need for integrity— lead by example — kept me going to work every day and exercising myself. This influenced my life tremendously.  I had to keep reminding myself to appreciate what I had, and not focus on all of the things I felt were breaking down and failing me.  I watched and worked through struggles with my clients, and they likely have not known how much they helped inspire me at the same time! That is why I love the saying: “work out because you love your body, not because you hate it” (unknown quote).

​

Then I became a mother.  Best job ever, right? Going through having a baby, my body changing, trying to figure out how to juggle being a parent, having a career and taking care of myself only further improved my skills for helping others.  We are all caregivers, whether we take care of our children, loved ones, students, employees, or clients. I’ve learned it is vital to have good time management skills, delegate, and have self care.  Preparing made the flow of life much easier by arranging  meals and snacks early in the week; picking out clothes the night before (not just for my kids, but for me as well); scheduling chores and housework so it is automatic.  As my children got older, I taught and delegated! Time management was the toughest one, so I started finding ways to be really creative.  I would work out with my kids, teach them lessons and make activities where I would get my exercise.  I still to this day will sneak in workouts while doing laundry.  

Most importantly, as I tell my clients, I had to learn how to take care of myself.  As most of us do, I had plenty of setbacks and each time they were usually telling me to slow down.  Perhaps this is a lesson the world received throughout this pandemic.  Nothing feels more rewarding than helping and taking care of others, but you really can’t do that if you don’t take care of yourself.  You also don’t have to take care of yourself first; you can do it simultaneously.  To me, it is not a matter of prioritizing oneself over your family, but arranging your life so you can tend to all of your priorities with quality.

Today my passions have expanded, and I employ all of the skills I have acquired throughout the seasons of my life to help the athlete, caregiver, and person we all have inside of us.