“The model on the cover doesn’t look very strong?”

“I’m surprised at the choice of the model on the cover?”

I have been getting some feedback about the model they used on the cover of my newest book, Drop Two Sizes, and I wanted to take this opportunity to respond…

My first book, The Female Body Breakthrough, I poured everything into including my own personal story, every tidbit & coaching story I use with my clients, my philosophies, the science, EVERYTHING! My picture was on the cover and throughout. This was my first experience writing a book. (If you don’t have a copy of it pick one up now!)

Choosing the model for this first book, they sent me pictures in an email of each model. Of course I picked the one with the most muscles, looking the fittest of the group. She looked great and could do all of the exercises (except I will admit she could not do a chin up).

When I flew out to do the photo shoot I ended up also working with Adam Campbell on his Big Book of Exercises Books, which were Men’s Health & Women’s Health Branded. He had a number of Women’s Health models but did not use the model I had chosen. I didn’t realize at the time but now looking back I understand why, because she was not approved for the Women’s Health Brand.

Women’s Health is a brand with a very clear vision and idea of their target market. They know their audience, what inspires them, what resonates with them and what will motivate them to buy a book or a magazine. Their mission statement of 2013:

Women’s Health is the must have action plan for today’s modern woman. From Beauty to style to fitness, Women’s Health gives readers the tools they need to make instant, positive changes in their life.

They know their target market better than anyone, motivating and inspiring 15.6 million of these 18-24 year old women to buy their magazine making it one of the most successful women’s fitness magazines.

If you own a gym or have a business as a personal trainer you too should know your target audience as well as Women’s Health does and take a few lessons from this –

1)   You are not your customer.

2)   You must meet your customer where they are.

I have worked with Women’s Health now for 6 years and over that time have also become familiar with their target market and have realized I am not their target market (A 38 year old gym rat who’s been lifting weights for over 20 years, with a goal of deadlifting 315 lbs). I “get” this because I am also not our gym’s target market.

I would never use the above picture in our marketing & understand why Women’s Health wouldn’t either, although more and more of our female members are at the point, where the above does inspire them (instead of intimidate them) but only after being on their journey at our gym for a number of years. Eventually more and more women will too.

I recently interviewed one of the editors of Women’s Health for our mastermind coaching group and we talked about this and how she is so grateful that I “get” the audience and can speak their language yet give them the right, scientific information that they need putting it in terms they can be inspired and motivated by, meeting them where they are at while still giving solid advice. I’m further along on my own journey of strength training and fitness but can still put myself in their shoes as they are just getting started on the path to transforming their body. After all, I do this everyday with new clients joining our gym, meet them where they are at.

I was very proud of my first book. I did everything I could to promote it and had a goal of inspiring as many women as possible to start to strength train. The book has done really well, sold 20,000 copies so far and has inspired a large number of women.

The audience of 20,000 that I reached with my first book is extremely small compared to the audience of

15.6 million

that Women’s Health has. I still wanted to reach this much larger audience. My first book was just a little too “hardcore” to connect with this audience. Maybe the model did have something to do with it? The squat racks & barbells? Or maybe the cover picture showing off my guns had something to do with it…who knows? The larger demographic wasn’t ready for it yet in the package I delivered it in.

Let’s put it this way, Oprah wasn’t calling yet…

My idea for my second book started to form after running the Jeans Challenge at our gym and coaching other trainers who have run it successfully with their clients. I originally called it a “Skinny Jeans Challenge” in an effort to connect with the target audience in their terms. That language worked and still to this day many of the women who do the challenge still call it that. I don’t like the word “skinny” but again I am not my target audience. If I can hook them in with the word “skinny,” then I can inspire & motivate them to get strong and reinvent their body to be the best version of themselves – smaller, fitter, stronger, leaner…and if they want to call themselves “skinny” or “toned” I’m fine with it as long as they have learned that “skinny” doesn’t equal a number on the scale anymore, instead it equals rocking your jeans using strength training as the priority to do that.

When I found out my new book would have the Women’s Health Brand on it I was so excited! Having Women’s Health behind me to help promote & reach this much larger audience was exactly what I wanted with this second book. I wanted to resonate with even more women than my first book.

Having the Women’s Health brand did mean that the book would look and feel like the Women’s Health brand, which means I would be using one of the models they have approved for their brand.

What I would not compromise on was the content, which is exactly my message and what I wanted to say to this audience with a program that is exactly what we use at Results Fitness and what works.

This time around when they sent me the pictures of the models for the book right away I noticed that none of them had as much muscle definition and so I asked if I could request the same model I used in my first book. The response was –“Her muscles are too developed for Women’s Health.”

Of course my first reaction was – what?!?!?!  If you think she’s too developed, you must think I look like the hulk???

But then, after a deep breath, remembering I am not the target market, I realized her being “too developed” means that the audience we are after has no muscle definition, is just getting started on their journey and so we need to meet them where they are at. Some muscle definition but not too much will resonate with this audience, too much might intimidate them. I chose the one with the most muscle definition and of course she was already booked for something else and so I got my second choice who had even less muscle but that is ok because she matches the brand that resonates with the audience of 15.6 million to finally reach them to start lifting weights.

Am I compromising my message by having a model who has less muscle definition? Not at all.

The fact is – It isn’t easy to gain muscle definition & size (despite what some women still think- that they might sprout huge muscles the moment they pick up a dumbbell). That is what this whole book is about- how women can gain 10 pounds of muscle and lose 10 pounds of fat and be smaller, “skinnier”  & “toned” like the model on the book.

Women who start to lift weights in the first year will have developed muscles that look similar to the model on this book. I have clients who are tall and thin who fight for every pound of muscle they build and the first year working with us look just like the model on this book with a little bit of definition in their triceps and abs, looking more “toned” (not ripped with a 6-pack showing and guns).

In fact, just this week one of our clients reminded me that when she joined our gym 8 years ago we discussed how she was “skinny fat.” Not anymore! Eight years later she now has developed muscles, sculpted shoulders, six pack abs, looks amazing and has built a strong, fit body. It has taken her 8 years. The first year she looked similar to the model. It takes years of lifting to really see serious muscle definition and that is not everyone’s goal especially when they are just starting their journey.

This reminds me of when I did my first triathlon and thought people who did a full Ironman triathlon must be completely nuts! How could you ever even think about doing a race that would take all day to complete. A marathon is a long way to drive people!!! And you do the marathon after a 112-mile bike ride and 2-mile swim? Completely insane!!! I distinctly remember telling a friend – I would NEVER do an Ironman. After I did my sprint triathlon of a ¼ mile swim, 12-mile bike and 5K, I decided I could probably do an Olympic distance and did, which was double the distance of the sprint. Once I had completed that goal I started to comprehend and talk myself into that I could do a Half Ironman…and so the journey continued until one day I became one of those INSANE people who trained for and completed an Ironman! Day one I was not ready to grasp ever doing an Ironman. I never would have signed up to do a triathlon if an Ironman was my only choice because initially I had no interest in an Ironman.

It wouldn’t work to meet a target audience who has never lifted weights before with an image of someone who has been lifting weights for 5-10 years or like myself for 20 years. Instead we meet them where they are. Baby steps.

Eventually this target audience, as they “get” it and are inspired hopefully with this book, will want more and more muscle definition, realizing they can be strong and stay feminine. Overtime as we inspire this bigger audience to lift weights we’ll see models with more and more muscle definition in the magazines.

Unfortunately, we just aren’t there yet…proof that my first book didn’t make the impact I wanted it too…

This is why I put total trust in Women’s Health & the Women’s Health brand to reach this larger audience that they have experience reaching. I don’t know if this is also why they chose to not put my picture anywhere on or in the book…since I do have muscles and I’m also older than the target market. They haven’t told me this but I’m assuming if they thought the model from my first book had muscles that are too developed. Since I have been developing my muscles for 20 years, mine are definitely too developed. The fantastic part is that I am on the DVD’s along with other real women, not models, to coach and encourage this audience to be strong- showing off my “developed muscles,” flexing…

At the photo shoot when I met the model in person she looked great, had a great body and worked her butt off for this book. I owe her a big thank you! We shot all of the exercises in 2 days and I worked her. She was so sore on day two but sucked it up and did another whole day of shooting phase three exercises, which got more and more difficult. This girl is in shape. Being a fitness model is hard work especially when it is one of my routines. This girl did lunges, squats, planks, push ups, deadlifts over and over, rep after rep and every time had to look fresh, with excellent form and not complain. Yes she’s a model with long legs and a fantastic body but she works hard. Look at the pictures of her doing the Phase Three exercises and keep in mind that is at the end of a long two-day shoot. Respect for this tough chick!

“Get Off The Scale” was the original title of this book. The talented marketing department at Rodale pointed out that the women reading this book don’t want to “Get Off The Scale.” That doesn’t solve their problem and they won’t buy the book. The title was changed to “Drop Two Sizes.” This new title solved the problem that the target audience has, which will inspire them to pick the book up and buy it…and eventually get off the scale…

As you can see, a lot of time, thought and expertise goes into the marketing, cover and design of a book. My job was to provide the solid content inside with an effective program to follow while trusting Women’s Health to handle the rest. A company like Women’s Health knows how to get through to their target market and get them to pick up a magazine or a book. I’m so excited that this book will be picked up by a larger audience leading to more women being inspired and changing their lives.

The program and content within is a solid program based on what we do at Results Fitness. It is a proven plan that we have used over and over again. Anything you ever see me publish has been used at our gym with real clients and works. If you already own the Female Body Breakthrough, you’ll learn new updated information in this new book and most of all will get a dose of motivation & inspiration.

The moral of the story is- If you are further along on your journey because you followed my first book you can still follow the program in my new book, learn even more and get a great workout. The warm ups are laid out more specific and detailed, the TRX is included and the metabolic workouts are a step up from the last book.  Also this new book is laid out so fantastic (speaking of design) that it will really keep you motivated to stick to it and stay consistent. Plus my first workout DVD’s are available of this book! You can have me coach you through the workout!

Don’t judge a book by it’s cover unless…you are part of the Women’s Health demographic who is just getting started on your journey and the cover resonated with you and hooked you in. If that’s the case – then WELCOME and please don’t be intimidated by the picture or my mention of a 315lb deadlift above …

If you are fitness professional, be aware and careful not to have a self-righteous attitude about what you know and where you are at on your journey. You’ll be able to inspire a lot more people if you let go of that and instead put yourself in your client’s shoes seeing it from their point of view, speaking their language working to understand where they are coming from to connect with them. If they want to be “toned” and fit in their “skinny” jeans, if you speak their language, you can show them the path and get them exposed to strength training, changing their body and changing their life for good.

Pick up your copy TODAY on AMAZON!

If you are, like the average woman, size 10 or above, you have probably been disappointed when shopping because most boutique and high-end fashion clothing stores don’t cater to you. In fashion, size 14 is where plus-size starts, despite it being the size of the “average” woman. A Los Angeles Times article from 2009 titled “Fashion’s Invisible Woman” said it perfectly:

“When it comes to shopping, the average American man has it made. At 189.8 pounds and a size 44 regular jacket, he can wear Abercrombie & Fitch, American Apparel or Armani. Department stores, mall retailers and designer boutiques all cater to his physique–even when it’s saddled with love handles, a sagging chest or a moderate paunch. In menswear, schlubby is accommodated. But the average US woman, who is 162.9 pounds and wears a size 14, is treated like an anomaly by apparel brands and retailers–who seem to assume that no one over size 10 follows fashion’s capricious trends.”

In a quest to fit into your skinny jeans and the fashionable apparel at most clothing stores, you may have considered going on a diet or doing whatever will work to look and feel the way you want to. But this “ideal” often leads to disaster. Three out of every four American women between the ages of 25 and 45 report having disordered eating behaviors, according to a survey from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dieting this way leads to temporary weight loss and a focus on hitting the magic number on the scale. You may have hit this magic number in the past and bought yourself a pair of fashionable jeans in your new size–your “skinny” jeans. The problem is that the majority of the weight loss you achieved was likely from reduced lean muscle mass, the loss of which slows down your metabolism–and keeping your metabolism humming is one of the keys to lasting weight loss.

You may have been on this roller-coaster ride, even recently, and already gained pounds back at this point, returning to the weight you were originally or even getting heavier. Your size 12 or 14 jeans (now known as your “fat” jeans) may fit even worse because your body is now made up of more fat and less muscle.

First, know this: You’re not alone. This yo-yo phenomenon is very common among women, and many times the process is repeated over and over for a lifetime. A study conducted in Australia in 2009 suggested that women ages 25 to 45 (most of you reading this book) are at the highest risk of gaining weight, and those with children are at increased risk because of weight gain associated with pregnancy and subsequent lifestyle changes. The study noted that average self-reported weight gain is almost 1 1/2 pounds per year. From 25 to 45, that adds up! The goal of this challenge is to reverse that.

You may have a number on the scale associated with those skinny clothes, which you have reached before–it’s where you think you have to be in order to look and feel the way you want to. Throughout your lifetime, you may have reached this magic number on the scale more than once by following various crash diets and plans, but each time the results were fleeting, as the pounds slowly crept back on.

A restrictive diet sets you up to fail. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2011 looked at the long-term hormonal effects of weight loss from a low-calorie diet. The results showed the damage was still evident a year later, with a number of hormones still affected, including appetite control hormones. You’ll still feel hungrier and more likely to binge a whole year after you’ve finished your low-calorie diet. It is impossible to maintain your weight loss when your body is fighting you to gain the weight back even a whole year later. A different approach–this one–that includes exercise, fueling your body with the right foods, and not focusing on weight loss will set you up to succeed.

Don’t throw your skinny jeans out yet! Instead get your copy and get started TODAY…

 Click NOW to order your copy and have it before the end of the week! 

I used to be extremely afraid of public speaking – terrified! The interesting thing is that I grew up performing as a dancer and loved being on stage but I was terrified to open my mouth and speak.

The first time I realized this was when I started to compete in fitness competitions and certain organizations required an interview on stage where you had to answer questions on the spot. I was totally fine with standing on stage in my bathing suit and performing a dance/fitness routine but the thought of having to speak into a microphone and answer questions on the spot was out of my comfort zone completely. The first time I completely blew it, freezing up and not knowing what to say. The second time I had decided I would use the strategy of repeating the question I was asked to give me time to think it through. The questions was- “You have been a competitive dancer and have won national championships in dance competitions. That is such a great accomplishment. How does competing in fitness compare?”

My answer- “Yes, that was a great accomplishment.” And because I hadn’t collected my thoughts yet I repeated, “Being a national dance champion was such a great accomplishment.” Uh oh! Now I sounded like a completely conceited broken record…panic!!!! I moved on to say – “Competing in fitness has given me a lot of self confidence.” And then again like a broken record the only word that kept popping in my head was “self-confidence.” I couldn’t think of any other word seriously except “self-confidence.” So I continued to repeat myself – “Competing in Fitness has given me so much self-confidence and I really feel self-confident. And I’m so much more self confident…” Oh boy!

I felt like such a fool. I didn’t open my mouth again in front of an audience until later in my career in fitness when it was getting to be about time that I take some of the speaking opportunities that had come my way.  I decided I would overcome this fear once and for all and took the opportunity to speak at the International Society of Sports Nutrition Conference. I had committed to be one of the speakers, was on the schedule to speak and planned on it. That year though Alwyn was diagnosed with cancer for the second time, he was in stage 4 and would be going through a stem cell transplant. He was admitted to UCLA and started going through his treatment. I completely forgot about the conference, focused on his treatment and being with him at UCLA. As the date approached I realized that I was committed to speak and it definitely crossed my mind to pull out. After all, I had a pretty good excuse. But Alwyn encouraged me to go and speak. He would have been very upset at me if I didn’t and wanted me to follow through with my commitment. He was not going to let me get out of it that easy…Plus, to me, this talk had become such a minor thing compared to him being in the hospital fighting cancer. I was no longer nervous or scared to speak.

I was with him at the hospital the day I left for Vegas. Gave him a kiss and headed to the airport to go to Vegas to speak the next morning. I got there in the evening, had some dinner and went to bed. When I woke the next morning I was going to be speaking in front of an audience of my peers.  I reminded myself that I knew my topic inside and out.

Because of the circumstances, my husband being in the hospital at UCLA undergoing a stem cell transplant fighting for his life, speaking in public no longer seemed as scary.  I realized that I was speaking about something I knew better than anyone because it is what I do everyday- working with real clients getting results. I knew that many of the audience members would be researchers and students and that I could offer them the practical, real world experience I had. The talk went great and I actually enjoyed it. I got great feedback and hopped on a plane immediately following to head straight back to UCLA.

Lessons I have learned to overcome the fear of public speaking:

1. Whenever you are asked to speak, know that you wouldn’t have been invited or approved if you didn’t have something to offer your audience. Stick to topics you know very well. The better you know your topic, the better your speech will be and realize that you must know more about the topic than your audience.
2. Keep in mind that the goal is to put your energy out to your audience. When you are focused on getting your message out to your audience and sharing what you have with your voice you’ll be a better speaker. Rather than let that energy build up within you, creating more nerves. Get it out!
3. Interact with the audience. I have found that I am much more comfortable when I interact with the audience rather than standing talking while they all stare at me. Ask them “yes” questions or have them raise their hands or high five each other. This helps take the focus off of you, the pressure off of you and make you more comfortable. I know as a coach I am completely comfortable with one on one interaction but an audience of people staring at me can make me very uncomfortable.  When I get them interacting and talking to me and each other it puts me at ease.
4. Tell stories. When you tell your story or client’s stories or any story that fits in with your talk you’ll immediately feel more comfortable.
5. Avoid reading off of your power point but instead have images that remind you of the stories and ideas you want to get across. Keep the words to a minimum on your presentation. I know myself if I have a bunch of words on the screen I get caught up trying to read them all afraid I missed something. Instead keep your presentation simple giving you triggers to say what you want to say.  And remember you know your stuff.

I hope these tips help you to give your next presentation with confidence and get your message across. Remember that is your goal- to get your message across to the audience and change lives.

If I can do it you can do it!

Note: This is just one workout that I designed based on the equipment we had, the number of people in the room and the time limit of 35 minutes. This is not a program, which is how you should think about designing your client’s plan’s as a program. Thinking about the whole 12 weeks or the whole year of their training and working backwards to figure out what their workout should be today.

The Workout 

Warm Up- The warm up should get you ready for the workout you’re about to do.

Hip Flexor Stretch(30s ea), Bridge Marching(8ea), Clam Shell (8ea), Cross Over Lunge (8ea), lateral jumps(8ea), Inverted Hamstrings(8ea), front/back single leg hops(8ea), Lunge w/ rotation, lateral single leg hops(8ea), stationary alternating lateral lunge

Power- A priority in a Results Fitness program

1A- Kettlebell Swings(8)

1B- Rotational Sand Bag High Pulls(4ea)

Core- Another priority

2A- Offset KB Farmers Walk or KB Overhead walk(two lengths)

2B- Plank with Sand Bag lateral drag(4ea)

Strength

3A- Single Leg Romanian Deadlift

3B- Push Ups progress to use a band for resistance

4A- Lateral Lunge w/ sand bag progress to Lateral Lunge w/ sand bag clean(8ea)

4B- Hip Thigh Extension(8ea)

5A-Zercher Sand Bag Good Morning

5B-Cable or we used a band Reverse Lunge with a row(8ea)

5C- Goblet Squat with rotation(8)

Finisher- Jump squat 20s/squat 20s/ isometric hold 20s/ rest 1 minute and repeat.

Don’t miss our upcoming Results Fitness Blueprint Training Event! We are covering everything we do at Results from program design to training figure competitors, to executive athletes. Click Now to get signed up and reserve your spot! 

Early bird discount runs out this week! Take advantage. Don’t wait…Register Now!

As a trainer there is an idea that competing can help with your career in the fitness industry. To be honest the majority of the clients you are trying to attract to grow your business don’t want to look like a Figure Competitor. Having pictures of yourself competing could be intimidating to them. It can also be inspiring but just be careful using the pictures as your brand and realize competing should be for you as a goal, not necessarily a career move.

The last time I trained a client for a competition (I’m covering everything I do to get our clients ready for a competition at our next event- click here to learn more) and I was hanging out at the competition around the competitors all day I was inspired to write this post…

Image after image and in one video after the next, you’ve seen flawless Figure girls on stage. Their skin glowing, all that light bouncing off a countless number of rhinestones perfectly positioned over their fabulous suits, their faces beautifully made up, and their physiques looking impeccable.

Each and every one of these women looks unquestionably glamorous and absolutely striking in those bright lights — that’s undeniable. What is questionable, however, is just how “glamorous” their journey up on stage really was.

There’s little talk about what these stunning ladies went through to look the way they do when we see them flaunting their physiques for the judges.

No, we’re not talking about their Spartan lifestyles for the last four months. What we are talking about, are the few days before that all-important event, and the hours upon hours spent backstage getting prepared to walk up those steps looking as flawless as they do.

Ladies, it’s time that someone tells it like it is.

Let’s talk about the prep the day before and on the day of competition. You’ve done all the training to look your absolute best; you may as well know a few truths about those final stages of prep. Brace yourself — some of these facts may surprise you enough to punch some of the enchantment right out of the alluring world of competition.

Waxing

It’s best to wax your entire body. We’re talking everything. Absolutely everywhere. Ouch! Now there’s something to get you feeling glamorous right off the bat, huh?

The suits are teensy-weensy, and you don’t want to risk showing any hair where it doesn’t belong, so it’s best to wax it all off!

Waxing should be done a few days before the show in case of skin sensitivity and redness; never the day before.

Tanning

You know that gorgeous dark tan you see on stage? Well, it doesn’t look like that up close!

You’ll be the color of a yam and smell very distinctly, too (hint: it’s not a pretty smell, by a long shot!). The darker you are, the better you’ll look in those bright stage lights; but if you go out in public, people will stare at you as though you’ve just landed from another planet!

To obtain this “tan” look, you’ll have to literally paint yourself with a sponge or a brush, starting as early as three days before your show. Expect to look quite alien-like on your peak day and for a few days afterwards — this stuff takes a while to wash off.

Just hope it comes off evenly and not in blotches, as is often the case. If the latter does occur, don’t be surprised when your acquaintances start asking you if you’ve got some kind of skin disease.

In any case, don’t worry; you’ll still look fabulous on stage!

Leaving Your Mark

And not in a good way. That tanning paint you have all over your water-depleted physique? It rubs off very easily.

You’ll leave a nice brown mark on anything you touch, so any toilet seat you sit on, any clothing you wear, and all the sheets you sleep on before your show will most likely be forever stained. Be prepared to either live with the reminders of “that show” you did last year, or get rid of these items once you’ve washed off your tan.

No Shower

Now this one really shocked me. Nobody tells you that during your moment, your big night to shine in the limelight, you’ll have to get up on stage after not having showered for two whole days!

You have to paint on your first coat of tanning paint early the day before your show, so your last shower is that morning. You’ll reapply the paint in the evening that same day, and you won’t be able to shower until after the evening show on Saturday night!

By the time you’re up for judging on Saturday night, you’ll have not taken a shower for about 36 hours and you’ll have painted yourself with thick tanning paint at least twice (yes, that same smelly stuff we’d already talked about!).

The next time you go to a Figure show, just think — none of those girls have had a shower in a couple of days. How glamorous!

Bikini Bite

How do you keep that suit from riding up? You glue it! figure competition

Those suits aren’t held in place by magic!

Yes, you get to be glued to your suit, and after taking one suit off and putting another one on for prejudging… and then doing it all over again for the evening show, you’ll have a nice residue of glue on your butt, boobs, and anywhere else you decided to glue something in place.

Fake Lashes

And more glue! Yes, gluing on the eyelashes is part of the fun and glamour, too.

Stage Makeup

Your face must match your body tan (remember, color of a yam?), unless you want to look like your head’s been photoshopped onto your body in all of those stage photos. This means your makeup will have to be very dark.

You’ll also have to use stage makeup, as the everyday stuff you’d normally use will get completely drown out by the lights. You need to do your eyes, lips, and cheeks much darker than usual to see your expressions on stage. If not, you’ll look washed out.

Ever feel like you overdid your makeup? Well, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet! Just when you think your makeup is dark enough, you’ll need to go a little darker. By the time your look’s complete, your makeup will look like you belong on a street corner.

But on stage, you’ll be looking fabulous!

That’s the Truth

And now you know it!

After all that training and dieting, when it’s time for your big moment, time to show off your hard work — your moment to shine and look fabulous…

… you’ll be the color of a yam. You won’t have had a shower for 36 hours, you’ll have glue residue on your butt, eyes and boobs.

You’ll be leaving brown marks everywhere you go, and your makeup will resembles that of a hooker, a look well accented by those stripper heels you’ll be getting ready to rock.

It ain’t all glitz and glamour, ladies. But hey, you look fabulous up there. Enjoy your moment — glamorous or not!

I’ll be teaching the programming and system we use with our clients at Results to get them competition ready at our next Results Fitness University event. If you have ever wanted to compete or train competitors come to our next event! Take advantage now to get the early bird price- CLICK NOW TO SECURE YOUR SPOT 

–      Fashion Expert, Tim Gunn

What to wear, what to wear? As a fitness professional this can be a difficult question. If you don’t work for a gym that you have to wear a uniform and instead you work in a gym training clients, demonstrating exercises all day…what should you wear everyday to look professional yet be functional and able to do your job well?

Having been a trainer(aerobics instructor for the first 2 years) for 18 years, I have been wearing sweats for my entire adult working life. When I put on jeans that usually means I’m dressed up for a fancy date night, usually with my nicest pair of Nike’s (this is especially true since my husband has been wearing sweats for his career longer than I have). If either of us come home from work and put on a pair of jeans…wow, your dressed up, are we going out tonight? I have always loved fashion, shopping and clothes ever since I was young. I remember demanding that my jeans must be Jordache when I was probably 8 or 9 (what a brat huh? Sorry Mom…)

When I was working as an aerobics instructor in the early 90′s I rocked a leotard and stretch pants and yes I even wore a thong leotard at one point(not too professional). Then I started working as a personal trainer in New York and was surrounded by male personal trainers, wanting to be at the same level as them I dressed similar to them wearing mostly black all the time. When Alwyn & I opened our gym(over 12 years ago) we ordered polos that we both wore along with black sweats. The polos were not flattering since they were men’s polos. It took me awhile to realize I didn’t need to dress like a man and could still be seen as a professional.

So back to the question, what to wear? There is a fine line between getting dressed for work as a personal trainer, getting dressed for your own workout, wearing sweats around the house and what you wear to bed…

First of all, if you are wearing the same clothes you wore to bed to train your clients- not OK.

In fact, if you are wearing the same clothes you worked out in or are going to work out in- Not OK.

Remember, your goal is to be seen as a professional by your clients and potential clients. Your clients are paying you a high hourly rate as one of the professional’s on their team. Their doctor or physical therapist would never wear their pajamas when meeting with them and neither should we if we want to be seen as part of their health professional team.

If you want to be seen as a top level expert in your profession you must dress like one. If you aren’t making the money you want as a personal trainer, it is time to pay attention to your appearance and be sure you look professional everyday.

“Dress, approach your day and act as if you are making the money you want to make.”

Dress for success and dress to impress everyday. Dress as if you were going to meet someone you have always wanted to meet or make an impression on every single day because you never know what the day holds. I am amazed at how people in our industry dress to go to work. I have seen top coaches in our field show up for appointments with paying clients in flip flops and shorts. I realize that we need to be able to move and demonstrate exercises but that doesn’t mean we can’t dress like we are coming to work as a professional and not dressing for our own workout or for the beach. Think about what you wear and the impression you make on your clients.

Tips for you as you are getting dressed for work as a personal trainer:

1. Put some thought into it. Come up with a uniform that you wear when you train your clients that looks professional (it can be fashionable too).
2. Get shirts made with the logo of your business as part of your uniform.
3. Stick to one clothing brand. Wearing all one brand gives the impression that you are sponsored, by that company.  Act as if and who knows one day you might be!
4. Remember the training session isn’t about you, it is about your client. I’m a big believer in practicing what you preach and looking the part but you don’t need to show your body off while you are training your clients. Wearing next to nothing can be intimidating for a lot of people and gives the impression that the training session is about you, as you are drawing attention yourself wearing next to nothing, and not about the client. Hint: Save your half tops and short shorts for your own workout when it is about you.
5. Color is a good thing. I have more black Nike pants than anyone I know. Black is easy and always looks good. Black pants are fine but start to learn what colors you look best in and wear some color for your “uniform” shirt. Certain colors will make you look more tired and others will bring out your coloring. Notice the days you get compliments, you are probably wearing your colors or when you take a good picture, what color were you wearing?
6. As more and more women are building careers in the fitness industry we can bring a sense of fashion and attention to detail when it comes to our appearance and how fitness professionals dress, rather than looking like we are wearing the sweats we slept in last night. (But let’s vow to never bring back thong leotards!)

As you build your career in the industry and have a team working for you, start to be sought out as an expert and have opportunities to speak to audiences and be in the public eye this becomes even more important. Represent our industry in a way that elevates our field, from being seen as gym rats to being seen as professionals.

What should you wear to do your first presentation? When speaking to an audience dress similar to what the audience wears to connect with them, except one level up so they see you as the expert in the room. For example, when I am giving a lecture at a conference most of the audience are personal trainers in sweats. If I am not doing a hands on, then I’ll dress one level up, wearing jeans a shirt and a blazer(shows I mean business). This way I can still connect with the audience but I’m also seen as the expert in the room, wearing my nicest pair of jeans of course.

Overall, my bigger mission is to change the way fitness is done and elevate women in the fitness industry. It starts with how people perceive us as professionals, being seen and taken seriously. The only way to get there is to start dressing and acting like professionals.

If you want to join the mission of changing the way fitness is done come to our next Results Fitness University Event! Take advantage of getting the Early Bird discount TODAY. Click here to learn more. 

 As you learn to guard your time, know what your time is worth, watch out for yourself and stick to your boundaries you may get labeled a “diva.” This is not a bad thing. In fact, I give you permission to be a diva.

There was a time when I would do anything for anyone at a moments notice. I wanted everyone to “like” me, and I still do. A few years ago, I had signed a contract with one of the biggest companies I had ever signed with. When they said jump, I would jump. No matter what time of day they called I’d answer or call them right back (many times after 8pm at night or on the weekends), if they sent an email I’d email right back. If they asked me to get on a plane tomorrow and be somewhere, I’d clear my schedule and make it happen. I wanted to please.

As women we are people pleasers. We want people to like us. Many times we will drop our own priorities, plans, commitments to ourselves to please someone else. As you get more and more opportunities in this industry, you will learn that you need to find the inner diva and let her come out to protect you and your time. The fantastic part is that doing this, other people will start to treat you and your time like it is valuable and like the diva that you are. This way you can choose what your time gets used for instead of letting others choose. Remember – You teach people how to treat you.

After years of bending over backwards trying to please everyone and as more and more opportunities were coming my way, along with running the gym, I was being pulled in a million different directions. The turning point was a very powerful phone call that gave me permission to be a diva. This was one of the best things that ever happened to me.

Although I had been doing everything I could to accommodate requests and keep everyone happy, during the phone call I was told, “You are acting like a Diva.” I am? Really? Well, ok then…My response, “You are right. I will proudly own the title of Diva no problem” And I did…

I’ll show you Diva. From that moment forward all scheduling had to go through my assistant including scheduling a call with me. I stopped being accessible at a moment’s notice and took my own time back. I had permission to be a diva and it was the best thing that ever happened to me. You’re right I am a “diva,” proudly. I hung up the phone and stood a little taller feeling pretty good about having permission to be a diva.

The definition of “diva” in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary is “a usually glamorous and successful female performer or personality.” Another definition is “a usually glamorous woman who is preeminent in her field of activity.” I’m ok with that…In Italian it literally means Divine. Some synonyms are Goddess, Princess and Queen.

Shortly after this I signed to do another project with another company but kept the lesson I learned that I now had permission to be a diva. I set boundaries on my time, I made sure I was paid what my time was worth and I was not available on a moment’s notice but instead everything went through my assistant. When I showed up to work I gave 100%. Because I had boundaries on my time I felt I could give even more. Diva’s don’t spread themselves too thin, they guard their time making sure they can always bring their best and the people who hire them and work with them can always expect they will get a professional who brings their best to everything they do.

What happened? The companies I worked with started to respect my time and realize that I am very busy. They were happy to pay me what I am worth and when they did have my time I gave them the absolute best I had and they made sure they used it effectively and treated me like the “diva” that I am.

Oh and take note, you can be a diva and still be approachable, giving, easy to get along with and friendly. A diva doesn’t always have to = bitch. Although, if you read my first book you know I’m ok with BITCH too – Be Inspiring Totally Confident and Hot.

Being a diva simply means your own time is valuable and you will protect it, it also means you know how to ask for what you want. If you don’t ask you won’t get it. Being a diva also means that you are a true professional. Being a diva opens more time to spend with friends, family and volunteering for charity work.You are living your life on your own terms, not someone else’s and will be much happier and easier to get along with because of it.

I grant each of you permission to be a Diva!

If you say yes to something, you have said no to something else. Who have you been saying “no” to? Who do you not have time for? No time for your family, your friends, the activities that will actually impact your success growing your business and get you closer to your goals, your paying clients, or worse, for yourself? No time for your own professional development? What about your own workout? Or how about time for the things that you enjoy and make you happy? Or maybe you have always wanted to volunteer for a charity that means a lot to you but don’t have time?

We all love what we do, are passionate about helping people and let’s be honest we would do it for free. In fact, many of us do end up doing it for free giving away our training advice, our motivation, our nutrition tips and recipes…giving away all of the knowledge that we have built up over a lifetime, learning through our own experience of trial and error, through books, courses, other people and coaching our clients. All of that knowledge that you have built and continue to build is extremely valuable and even more valuable is your time.

One of the most common ways I see women in the fitness industry let people take their time (notice I said “let” because you are the one who has taught people how to treat you):

Email (also includes your facebook inbox or any other inbox that people can access you)- As you grow in the industry and put out your information to help others you’ll get more and more people who have questions, want more from you and want a direct line to you. They want your time. As long as you make your direct email available they will use it and start to take your valuable, precious time along with your knowledge from you. You CANNOT be accessible to anyone and everyone by email (or your facebook inbox). You will end up spending hours and hours answering questions and trying to help everyone for FREE. Giving your time away for free.

If you get the following three lessons then I’ve accomplished my mission with this post.

Get this…

1. If someone doesn’t value what you have to offer and is not willing to pay you what you and your time is worth you will not be able to help them.
2. Not everyone is for you and that is ok, help those who are.
3. It is not fair to your paying clients and customers who value, and pay you when you help someone else for free. Think of it as “stealing” from your paying clients and customers.

IMPORTANT: Read the above three things again and make sure you got them.

Action steps:

1. Decide now that you will no longer be accessible by email except to your paying clients, who value your knowledge and your time.  When you find yourself about to answer an email from someone who wants your knowledge and time for free, catch yourself and instead do something to get you closer to your business goals. You can answer their question but leverage your time spent answering that question (read below #4). Instead spend that time helping a paying client, or spend the time with your kids or your husband.
2. Guard your time. Write a response that explains that you get hundreds of emails a day (your allowed to exaggerate because one day you will be getting hundreds of emails a day and your setting this up with that in mind) and do your best to read them all but unfortunately you do not have time to respond to each of them individually but that you do answer many of the questions that come in through email on your blog and in your email newsletter so make sure they are signed up on your email newsletter (you have an email newsletter don’t you? If not we’ll cover that another day). Funnel them to become one of your paying clients or customers.
3. Organize these emails by putting them into a folder that anytime you are creating content you can easily access them and get tons of ideas of what your audience needs and wants to fuel your content.
4. Leverage your time by answering the questions that come in once on your blog and/or in your email newsletters. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t give valuable information away because that is how you are going to connect with people to get them to take action. You just have to use your time wisely, leveraging it by writing your response to help more than one person at a time. I’m giving you the best I have in this post on guarding your time for free. Of course, it’s not EVERYTHING I have because I couldn’t fit that in a blog post, but it’s really valuable, powerful advice that if you put into action you’ll be interested in learning more from me.
5. Funnel the people who are reading your free content on your blog and your email newsletter or attending a free seminar you give locally to a way to pay you for your services. This advice goes for building your business locally too. Start to think of ways you can spend your time to get in front of your target audience and connect with them to funnel them to sign up for your services to help them.

For example, everything I decide to spend my precious time on funnels to either our gym to become one of our valued members of Results Fitness or to our mastermind coaching group. When I write a blog, a facebook post, an email you better bet my goal in spending that time is to connect with someone to funnel them to attend one of our live events, purchase one of our products or join our gym so I can help them accomplish their goals. If I speak at a seminar locally (the other night I spoke to our local triathlon club) or in the industry I am hoping to connect with people in the audience to funnel them to join our gym or join our mastermind coaching group so I can help them.

By the way, if you send me a message in my facebook inbox, if I read it (I get hundreds, I really do:)) watch for me to answer it on my facebook page for everyone to see or in future content for my email newsletter (which if your not subscribed you should get subscribed above) but you won’t get a direct line to me unless you are one of our coaching members or a client of our gym because I have to guard my time.

My time each day is spent working directly with our mastermind coaching members and our clients at Results Fitness along with our team who work directly with them. I only have so much time and I give it to the people who value what I offer because I know I can help them.

This is permission to start to guard your valuable, precious time as closely as I do. Use that time for YOU. You deserve it!

I’ll be sharing more secrets to guard your time in my email newsletter so make sure you are subscribed (above) and at our upcoming seminar on February 22^nd & 23^rd. Mark your calendar. More details will be released in the next week on our website at www.resultsfitnessuniversity.com.

(Incase you didn’t catch that I just spent time writing this blog post giving you really powerful advice hoping to connect with you and am now funneling you to sign up for my newsletter and come attend one of our live events so I can help you even further…hope to see you there!)

In the fitness industry, attending conferences throughout my career, learning from the other experts in our field and now speaking on many of those circuits I have been surrounded by men. The road I chose, because I have found it to be most effective for myself and my clients, of using strength training rather than staying on the path as an aerobics instructor (I took my AFAA Aerobics Instructor cert 20 years ago! I can “woo” and grapevine with the best of them) I have been primarily surrounded by men.

Not to say that I mind being surrounded by good looking, extremely smart, fit men (including my husband)…but over the past two years I have started to see a shift in our industry of more and more women taking the same path I took, using strength training as their priority exercise and building careers on helping others get strong, fit and healthy and it’s awesome! Over the past year many of the conferences I spoke at, most as the only female speaker, my room was full, some standing room only, the majority made up of inspiring women all taking action to learn, improve their skills as a coach and build their career as a fitness professional.

A long time goal and vision of mine is to walk into any strength training area in a gym and see more women than men lifting weights, and it is happening more and more. In fact, I see it everyday at Results Fitness. This vision fueled every article I wrote, blog post I put up and my first book, The Female Body Breakthrough. Seeing groups like, Girls Gone Strong, who have started a movement of close to 30,000 women is so awesome! It’s happening! It is so refreshing that women are embracing strength training, no longer scared of getting big and bulky but instead wanting to build muscle and be strong, realizing the benefits.

Hearing women in the gym tell me how they are excited for every pound of muscle they build realizing it is boosting their metabolism, giving them the body they want, is seeing my vision being fulfilled.  And with other women in the fitness industry leading by example, putting themselves out there, inspiring so many more women, the momentum is set in motion.

In fact, women are not only taking over the strength training floor, but they are also moving in as strength and conditioning experts building careers in this industry, opening gyms, offering their knowledge and experience, inspiring others.

Feeling like the momentum is set in motion inspiring more and more women to lift weights, my vision is shifting to focus on growing the number of women in the fitness industry leading successful careers. I have been fortunate to already have a number of women as part of our Results Fitness University Mastermind group and sub group of Women in Fitness. Some of the inspiring women in our group at one of our masterminds below…

From left to right- Dianne Sykes-Scope, owner of Achieve Fitness in NY, Jennifer Parker, Director of Happiness at BRIK Fitness and mother daughter team Cecily and Lucy Casey, owners of RealFit Gym in Chicago.

My vision includes having as many women as men in attendance at fitness conferences, along with as many women speakers as men. Also seeing more women used as experts in the magazines(especially women’s magazines), and overall stepping up and building successful careers alongside the men in our industry. As women we can offer something completely different with our experience, perspective and approach. Plus I think all of the men in our industry would appreciate being surrounded by good looking, smart, fit women for a change…

After thinking through my goals for 2013 and what I want to accomplish, I have realized it is time for me to focus in on mentoring the women in the fitness industry. This audience of up and coming women in fitness are who I am writing for, speaking to, mentoring and focusing on helping as I move into 2013.

If you have been following my advice and have been thinking about getting certified and becoming a trainer, or you have been working as a trainer and want to continue to grow in the industry, or are one of the trainers already running a successful fitness business and are looking to get to the next step I’m talking to you.  My goal is to help you to elevate your career and bring to the table everything you have to offer to this industry to accomplish our bigger mission, at Results Fitness, of changing the way fitness is done.

I will still write on general fitness, nutrition and mindset, which I believe is an integral part of bringing our best as females in this industry- we have to practice what we preach and keep our own fitness a priority. I’m not done putting out general fitness advice including my second book coming out this year, Drop Two Sizes, along with my first workout DVD’s. Because of this, I’ll be mentoring and coaching other female fitness professionals from a place of not only “been there, done that” but “I’m still doing it.” Most of my general fitness content will be posted on our Results Fitness Blog moving forward along with the rest of our team.

On this site, I’ll be getting focused on offering advice on building your career, writing, speaking, being a better coach, marketing yourself, time management, cultivating your self worth, leadership, creating systems, delegating, your decision making process and overall how to thrive as a woman in the fitness industry and change as many lives as possible.

I’ll also be hosting live events including our upcoming Results Fitness 2013 Seminar where I’ll be doing a talk speaking specifically to this audience sharing my secrets to achieve success as a woman in fitness. Mark your calendar for this event on February 22^nd & 23^rd which will take place in Santa Clarita, California where Results Fitness is located. More details will be revealed on ResultsFitnessUniversity.com. Really excited to start sharing some of the lessons I have learned over the years and get focused in 2013 to help as many women in the fitness industry reach their potential as possible.