My Story:
My giant epiphany moment about fitness? Yeah, I never had that. I grew up in an average household, where we ate pretty healthy meals. Don't get me wrong I definitely ate my fair share of sweets too. Devil dogs, cookies, and mac & cheese were basically a food group in middle school. Basically, my fitness and nutrition plan is based off of the "everything in moderation" motto. It works for me. I know way too well when I deprive myself of something, I end up craving it even more and overeating.
During high school I almost decided to get my personal training certification. For one reason or another I ended up not completing it. Flash forward three years, I still had a passion for fitness. After taking half a year off after high school before starting college, I fell in love. With yoga that is. I decided to become a certified yoga instructor. After teaching yoga to preschoolers for about a year, I chose to go back to school.
During college I was doing cardio and then more cardio, and ultimately getting nowhere. For awhile, I thought I would get a six pack and cut shoulders from hours on the elliptical. If only it was that easy! haha. I felt stuck, frustrated, and was seeing zero results from my workouts. So I hired a personal trainer with my overall goal to become toned.
Flash forward another year, I needed a change. I was getting bored with lifting light weights and still doing tons of cardio. My gym was constantly advertising trainers who had just competed in figure competitions and body building contests. They looked amazing! I thought to myself now that would be a challenge and an awesome goal to work towards. So, I got a new trainer who asked me the first day, "Why do you want to compete in a figure competition?" I replied "It looks fun!" He goes "Oh, it will be fun." Now I knew I made the right decision and would not be bored with his intense workouts.
After lifting heavy for almost a year now, my strength has increased so much! I am planning on competing in my first figure competition soon.Working out gives me a sense of peace and this is what works for me.
loved ur blog. cool recipes and too cute puppies
ReplyDeleteLove your glasses in the first pic! Cool blog, girl :D
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteHi Ashley! I am just visiting your blog for the first time! Your story has some similarites to mine. I have been interested in health and fitness for the past 20 years and it's only been for the past year or so that I finally "get it"! For years I had no clue what I was doing. I actually got certified as an areobics instructor when I was 18 but never did persue it. I had also gone almost all the way through a personal training certification, but did not complete it. Who knows, maybe I was too young to make a right decision back then! Fast forward almost 20 years, and I am now a Junior black belt in Shotokan karate and will test for first degree black belt in the fall. I have also started teaching some karate classes! It took many years for me, but I am grateful for my opportunites that I have now. My daughter was the one who inspired me. She is 10 and already has had her first degree black belt for over a year! I also wanted to invite you to visit my (NEW!) blog! I did see the post about your trip to Sephora. My daughter and I LOVE that store! She's got a makeup collection all her own! You can find a link to her site on my About page if you'd like to visit her as well! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by! That is awesome that you are teaching karate classes!! You go girl :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a great story! I'm glad I came across your blog. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading! :)
DeleteI love your blog!! I am very into lifting and running!! It is so hard to find a balance! My question is when you went from cardio to lifting did you change your diet at all? Like did you eat more or anything? I was also wondering if you take rest days....I have problems taking them =/
ReplyDeleteThanks so much! I changed my diet completely. I eat so much more good! Def. make sure you are getting enough protein and carbs to put on muscle. I usually take about 1-2 rest days per week. I just started a beginner's guide to weightlifting last week so check it out for more info! I plan on posting another one next week! :)
ReplyDeletethis intro makes me want to ask you a million and 1 questions..i have a college degree in Public Relations and ive found its not for me..so ive been dabbling into going into training or yoga instruction or I dont know..something that incoproate my love of moving my butt...how did you go about doing your yoga certification??
ReplyDeleteI loved getting my yoga certification. It opened up so many new things for me. I did a 200 hour ryt certification. There is also an advanced one that is 500 hours. Usually if you put into google yoga certification & your area, surprisingly a lot pops up. Def find the right yoga teacher for you because there are many different styles. My training was emphasized on vinyasa flow. If you have any questions let me know!
DeleteGlad i found your blog. Looks like we have a lot of the same interests. I will continue to follow and read your past posts :)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for reading! Can't wait to chat more xo
DeleteI love that you taught yoga to preschoolers! Too cute!
ReplyDeleteIt was very fun, but chaotic some days haha.
Delete