Fitness Facts Friday

Hello all!

Welcome to what will become known as Fitness Facts Friday!  As part of my journey into the world of fitness and fitness coaching, I am studying to become certified as a personal trainer.  There are several reasons why I want to be certified as a personal trainer including but not limited to:

1. Increasing my knowledge of how the body works and how to maximize its capabilities
2. Have an official certification for my business 
3. Be able to apply the knowledge I learn to help others!

What will Fitness Facts Friday be?

An opportunity for me to share some of what I am learning through my studies with you!

I'm hoping to answer some questions people have about fitness and exercise along with giving some base knowledge.  Topics covered will include but won't be limited to:

• What exactly is a muscle?
• Why am I sore?  What is this lactic acid thing everyone always talks about?
• Will this exercise make my butt look big?
• How much protein do I really need?
• Using physics to maximize results
• Why do I have to eat well to see results?  Can't I just exercise?
• What benefits come from lifting weights?
• What benefits come from aerobic exercise?
• AND SO MUCH MORE!

I'm super excited to get this up and going next week :)  Make sure you check back next Friday to see what fun fitness fact I talk about first!  If you have any questions or want to know more about a specific topic, comment and I will look into it!  And remember:

☆ Stephanie Ann

Take a deep breath and GO!

I'm officially starting my journey as a Fitness Coach by participating in my first challenge group!  Not going to lie, I am a little overwhelmed right now about the onslaught of information I have received about being a coach in the last few days but I am also SUPER excited! :)

I want to have a record of my triumphs and struggles as I complete this first challenge so when I am a coach I will be able to share this with people who are just beginning their own fitness journey.  They say that looking back you have 20-20 vision and I want to be able to give beginners the real thing, not watered down memories of what it was like when I was starting.

To make this post as easy to navigate as possible I'm going to break it into three sections.

1.  Who I am and where I am currently at in my fitness journey
2.  Why I want to be a Fitness Coach
3.  My vision for my coaching business, Stephanie Ann: Accept Yourself Fitness #StAAYFit

What makes me, me!

My name is Stephanie Ann and I like to consider myself a "Jill of all Trades," as in, I don't like to be put in a prelabeled box!  I'd really rather not be in any box at all!  I grew up in southern Rhode Island (Go Rhody) and was a bit of a tomboy, nerd, and athlete.  I guess you could say that I still embody those characteristics.  In college I studied chemical engineering and pole vaulted for the track and field team at my school.  During the summer, I spent most of my days life guarding on the beach and soaking in the rays.  Being physically fit and succeeding academically came easy.

Pole vaulting junior year of college.

Enter the real world, aka grad school.  No more set practice hours, no more set work hours, no more easily accessible dining hall, no more Rhody.  More gaining weight, more depression, more junk food, more stress, more sedentary activity.  I did my best during this transition including purchasing a road bike and mountain bike, growing a garden of my own etc but my overall wellness always managed to be the last of my priorities.  I felt lost in my own skin.

Two plus years after graduating with an MS in Engineering, my general fitness routine includes:

• Eating relatively healthy, except for breakfast.  Breakfast is definitely my least healthy meal of the day
• Instructing snowboarding two to three times a week
• Weekend hiking, skiing, or skating adventures with my dogs and partner
• Spending hours wishing I had more energy, or still fit into my old clothes, or was stronger
• Occasionally lifting at the gym

Ross and I when we got Altai this past September.

Needless to say, I found myself lacking structure and consistency in my lifestyle habits.  My current fitness journey status is: Ready for a POSITIVE change!

Why a Fitness Coach?

Consistency, accessibility, accountability, and helping others while helping myself!  I like the idea of using social media in a constructive way that helps others accept themselves and become the best them they can be.  I've always enjoyed coaching and tutoring and wanted to bring it to the next level.  I'm super excited to participate in my first challenge group and can't wait to start one of my own!  I'm also working on becoming certified as a personal trainer as I do this!

Stephanie Ann:  Accept Yourself Fitness #StAAYFit

A HUGE part of my own struggle with fitness and a healthy lifestyle post college has been accepting who I am as a person.  I struggle with depression which makes it hard to love myself all of the time and especially hard to find the motivation to change the parts of myself I want to improve upon.  It is one thing to say you are going to do something and another entirely to accomplish it while battling depression or any mental illness or exhausting/stressful situation.  Through my business I hope to inspire others who may be struggling mentally or physically to push past the voice in their heads telling them it is too much, too hard or not worth the effort.  I truly want to give people a chance to share their journey with a coach who understands where they are coming from with compassion and encouragement.

~~I believe that the first step to changing anything about yourself is accepting and embracing who you are today.  Without judgement.  Just acceptance.  If you have the ability to accept yourself, flaws and all, you will be unstoppable!~~

And so, I invite you to join me on my journey either by reading my blog and Facebook Page or joining a challenge group.

☆ Stephanie Ann