You know that question in a job interview when the big boss asks you what your weakness is? Well, my weakness has always been asking for help or should I say I don’t ask for help. I always feared that asking for help meant that I was incapable for doing the job myself or that I wasn’t good enough, thus showcasing my inability to be successful. Asking for help is never easy, but what I have learned as a mom and as a blogger, is that the old saying of it takes a village to raise a child is so irrevocably and pressingly true! As a mom, I have a small army of people who help me. They drive or travel by the hours to get to us in whatever hockey town our life brings us to. The moment my husband walks in the door he switches from coach mode to dad mode and I slather on additional tasks for him to do as well before my mind wanders into a deeper abyss of mommy brain. As a blogger, I’ve learned that community is the key to ‘success’, but most importantly, to the way I feel as a woman chasing her dream. Support is essential to getting by in this world.
This school of thought has translated into the health category in my life. Now presently at 11 weeks postpartum, I am in full throttle mode of getting my body back. In my post previous to this one, I vowed to ditch the gym for one year. My workout routine was mundane and fair-weather. I had little motivation when I actually got to the gym unless I went to a workout class where I was pushed and there were witnesses to attest to the level of effort I put forth, or at least in my head there were people watching me, judging me. I need that intrinsic theatric of imagining that others are watching me… keeping track of how low my squats are, how many dead lifts I can push out, or how many times I ‘check in’ to my said workout activity.
I’ve assembled an amazing team of bodacious and health conscious babes who are going to whip me into shape! What I love about blogging and social media is that it has given me a tight knit community of {mostly} women who support one another whether it’s in motherhood, hockey wife life, fitness, fashion, motivational jargon, or even dogs of instagram. And through Instagram and our crazy hockey wife life, I’ve collaborated with three strong and fierce woman who are going to go on this health and fitness journey with me. Basically they are going to whip my arse into shape! Each of these fine women will be specializing in my ‘target areas’ giving me unique exercises and tips to get closer to my goal. I’m stoked to introduce my three trainers!
Meet Abby!
This is Abby Sharp. This girl is like Instagram fitness crack to me. Married to NHLer, 3 time Stanley Cup champion and Olympic gold medalist, Patrick Sharp of the Dallas Stars, this mom of two has really nailed the fitness game and shows that strong is the new beautiful. As I said previously, I’m not that fixed on the number on the scale but tone and strength is a must-have for me. This was always important to me as I grew up an athlete. But for Abby she says she never really excelled at sports. She recalls that after gaining weight in university {who doesn’t?!}, she began running. It was cardio, cardio, cardio for this girl. She didn’t step foot into a weight room. It wasn’t until she had her second baby girl that she began working with a trainer 3X a week and continued her running 3X a week as well. She was motivated to get that oh so toned look. She’s nailed it.
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| Those are my “Carrie Underwood/Jessica Simpson/Abby Sharp” legs I WANT! -I tell me friends |
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| Two babies + 2 years = 6 Pack. Math seems right to me |
Two years later, she continues this workout ratio mixing up her programs depending on what her goal is : strength, definition, or speed. Abby has also found excitement in the trending cross-fit workouts. I have invested genuine curiosity in this platform of workouts myself. Abby states that, “It’s a good balance {for me}since I enjoy the athletic side of cross fit and Olympic lifting, along with the group setting {it provides}.” When she put it that way, it seems to be right up my alley. I’ll add that idea to my thought bubbles.
This journey is not all encompassed by ‘working out’. Fitness and health comes from the kitchen as well. What you put into your body is just as important, if not more, than what you do with your body. Diet is a philosophy and a way of life. It’s not a fad. Abby’s credo when it comes to ‘diet’ is, “clean eating, but everything in moderation.” What is clean eating? It’s about embracing whole foods and nixing out anything processed. Stick to fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and healthy proteins and fats. Abby coordinates her foods according to her workouts. For example, she eats her carbs with her meal before her workout, and after her workout she indulges in a shake for recovery and then a protein rich post-workout meal about an hour later. And it’s mostly water and almond milk for this momma.
As a mom, she makes sure that the gym or place of workout she attends has a daycare option for her two girls, Madelyn and Sadie. She makes the time to get a workout in. “It’s important to carve out time for you,” And if she can’t get out {like me}, she does a workout at home when her littlest is napping, “Jump rope, pushups, dips from a chair, abs…If we are at the park, the girls and I will take turns sprinting, doing burpees, chin ups from the monkey bars! Yup, I’m that crazy mom.” No, not crazy. Leading by example and fostering a healthy association with fitness is the way I see it.
Abby is going to be the boss of my LEGS and BOOTY!
Meet Jillian!
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| “GreenBelly” drink from Jillian’s collaboration with Starbucks |
This is Jillian Supryka! Jillian is my homegirl locale! I get the privilege of seeing Jillian often as our hubby’s coach together in the OHL. The love of her life is Jason Supryka, assistant coach of the Kingston Frontenacs. Ahem…conference champs. Anywho, throughout the tail end of my pregnancy and after I popped the little Duke out, Jillian was heading over to the McFarland homestead making me delicious clean meals with an abundance of leftovers so I didn’t have to cook every night while juggling two kiddos for the first time. Heart.of.Gold.
Also…Resume.of.a.Renaissance.Woman. There isn’t anything this gal can’t do. She lives and breathes the healthy lifestyle and even better? She lives it with passion. Life just wouldn’t work for her if she didn’t do it with love. Jillian owns her own personal training studio in which she trains and leads personal fitness, yoga, and dance to “humans in all walks of life from NHLers, Olympians, NCAA athletes, and any goal driven humans.” She has graced the professional health industry for 15 years and believes that hustle and “making love to your life” is the key to success. She exercises her passion for living a healthy lifestyle within the walls of her studio as well as in her virtual studio, a passion I relate to, on her blog, Make Love to Your Life. <– Check it here! She is constantly building and maintaining her site with free workouts, recipes, and positive affirmations! In addition to all that, she is also a holistic nutritionist to further support her passion and practice. To boot…she’s an ambassador and summit alumni for LuluLemon. Fist Bump.
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| Jill’s parade! |
Her life, like mine, is engulfed in the hockey/parenting world in which we become the jugglers. “My incredibly supportive and encouraging husband also requires hustle from me. Whether he purposely does this by having, at times, the worlds most unreliable, unpredictable, and worst-timing hockey schedule as a coach, or simply by telling how unreal I am, causing me to then live up to his fog of love.” She finds motivation in every facet of life. Her hustle includes being a step-mom extrodinaire to her hubby’s amazing athletic parade of 4 kids, her entrepreneurial commitments, her personal goals, and ensuring she gets her own fitness freak on as well. You can often catch an Instagram post of her getting a workout in at the wee wee hours of the morning. She believes in sweating and moving at least once a day. The workout and length depends solely on her goals and schedule for the week. Do what you can.
Being a holistic nutritionist, she believes in the power of food and also in the love of food. Jillian has tried every diet out there from low-fat to high protein, but ultimately lives the foodie ideology that balance is key.
“I have become well versed in creating daily self-love via food and sweat.”
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| Ummm, who wouldn’t want dem abs… |
Jillian is getting to the core of my CORE. Come at me girl!
Meet Chrissy!
This is Chrissy! This contagiously positive person is literally a ray of sunshine. Her spirit is so bright and reassuring I trust her with any part of my body…heck my kids, my budget. Frig. Chrissy for President! Too bad this home-grown Canadian girl is too busy running her own little colony. Chrissy is mom-extrodinaire to Blake and Bella and keeper of her NHLer hubby Vernon Fiddler’s heart. The family resides in Dallas where Vern plays for the Dallas Stars. The perfect place for this fit mama to be as the outdoors has long been her fitness playground. Chrissy graduated with a kinesiology degree from the University of Alberta which spurred her love for activity into a physiological aware and health benefiting path.
As a registered yogi and kinesiologist, Chrissy has trained a wide variety of clientele from inspirational quadriplegic and paraplegic persons, who she considers to be her mentors, to the general public as well as elite athletes. As a hockey wife, she has found that exploring fitness through their hockey life journey is something that has remained a faithful constant in a sometimes ever changing lifestyle. Between the daily grind of raising her family, checking homework, providing substantial meals, getting the kids to their activities, teaching, and getting to those hockey games to support her man, “the duration of my workouts and consistency of my workouts wavers greatly each week. I, consequently, have a hard time compartmentalizing how I workout or how I nourish my body. I know I am not alone and I super high five everyone out there for doing their best to make it work,” Chrissy confesses. Chrissy likes to schedule 3-4 workouts in various formats whether it’s at the gym, in a studio {like Barre, Spinning, Bootcamp}, hitting the pavement or a trail, or planning a workout at home, even if it’s just 15-20 minutes after the kids have gone to bed. Wisely she shares, “I have let go of any guilt of not achieving an hour plus workout consistently. That simply doesn’t always work with life, but what I’ve come to learn is that the effort is what counts and that something rather than nothing will leave a satisfied smile on my face.” This is my new fitness MANTRA.
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| Arm Strength + Balance = Hell Ya! |
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| “I believe so greatly in it’s benefits. I teach and practice yoga in it’s many forms.” |
Chrissy loves food! She can appreciate all avenues in which the taste buds travel. Although she tries to consume a mainly plant-based diet, she does make the exception for the occasional seafood delight. She eats as clean as possible and prepares her meals from local providers as well. “I will never beat myself up for enjoying something fried, rich in flavour or decadently sweet.” Her aim with food revolves around the idea that the choices she makes in her diet should aid in her overall health and energy.
In discussing fitness with Chrissy, she makes me feel like it’s a process and that it’s possible. I’m so excited to hand off my ARMS and BACK to this woman.
I’ve never been so pumped to get into shape in my life. I have always loved the idea of being in shape and always wishing and wondering why my body wouldn’t do what I wanted it to do, but with Abby, Jillian, and Chrissy pushing me and giving me ‘mom-friendly’ and ‘hockey-schedule’ friendly workouts, I’ve never felt so positive about this transition in my life. My heart and head are with you girls. And for all you readers out there, join me. Post with me. Let’s have a conversation about how we feel, what we are seeing our bodies do, and how our self-talk can change about what we are capable of.
It’s SO possible to get our “Before-Baby-Bod” BACK!
