I would like to believe that I was always interested in fitness and staying healthy. School went in the direction of bookkeeping and accounting for me. I was actually good at it, but that meant a life of sitting at a desk. Apart from working full time, I owned two successful businesses over the years which kept me pretty busy. It wasn't until after I had my two beautiful children that I began to really focus on working out. I started with videos in my living room. Yoga was first. I followed Denise Austin and loved her style. I did Weight Lifting for Dummies, Gilad and many other tv fitness shows which lead to 3 hours every Saturday morning of me working out in front of the tv. Every day included atleast one hour of workouts at home.
One day I saw an add in the newspaper for a Self Defense Workshop for Women. This was something that I always wanted to do and now it was my turn! I was so excited. The workshop was held by a Karate instructor, Sensei Jaymie Pastoor at a local studio. That one workshop turned into years of women's kickboxing. I loved every minute of it. From time to time, the classes were very small, and some times just me. On those days, we did weight training instead. I loved it! I was using 5 and 10 lbs weights and was really impressed. Looking back, I'm laughing as I write this because of what I'm up to now. I added power walking into my day which then turned into running 5 km 5 days a week. I loved it!
Then one day, I decided to take Tai Chi at the Senior's Centre. Now, I'm far from a senior but they were offering classes for every one at every age and it was cheap! I was introduced to some very fascinating people at this class. My instructor, Master Michael Klein, was beyond amazing in his skill and movement. It was beyond anything I have ever seen or experienced before. His understudy, Andrew Redden, was a cage fighter that did Tai Chi to heal his body and another lady who had been hit by a bus more than once (really!) was incredibly graceful. Our unique class held together for 5 years with 5 of its original members, moving classes to the park, to a school, to a church, wherever we could find a home but we were always there, together. I dabbled with Kung Fu but this really wasn't where I needed to be. I started teaching Tai Chi and Qigong at the Cancer Support Centre in Stratford.
I was enjoying my kids and being on their school council. I became Treasurer and eventually Chair. I also took part in the Rotary Clubs Dragon Boat Festival Committee. I was in charge of setting up the vendors for the festival and also began to help run the Fun League. After a few years, I became Co-Chair of the Committee. I absolutely loved every aspect of Dragon boating.
One day in my kickboxing class, my instructor said to me "why do you come here? You could do this on your own". And he was right! I could! And I did! After the collapse of my marriage, I decided to get back to COLLEGE for my Personal Training Certification (not a weekend certification). The anatomy classes were the toughest but I endured! After that, I took every weekend conference that I could find. I signed up for every Certification course that was out there. At one of those early Conferences, I stumbled upon kettlebells. Some little voice inside my head told me to spend the extra cash and take the extra 4 hour course. I will never forget those 4 hours. It was those four hours that shut my legs off from use for the next three days! The same three days that were during a fitness conference that required a great deal of use as well as heading up and down stairs to all the different classes over that weekend. I couldn't get enough, I was sold! I signed up for a three day weekend Kettlebell Certification Program. I'll never forget that weekend either! Three levels of Yoga Certification came next, then Indian Clubs, Mobility and on and on it went. My first job was working at the College training the Police Foundations students.
The next step seemed to be an easy one: open up for business. Well, it sounded easy. Over time, and patience and with the help of my partner (remember that cage fighter I mentioned earlier), Iron Monkey MMA & Fitness Club was open for business in October 2008. I started training jiu jitsu and after that 3 month mark, all my frustration of not being able to doing anything other than defend myself finally turned into something I loved and wanted to do endlessly! I also added in wrestling in order to help with takedowns for competing.
The club was small and cold but over time, we grew and then grew some more, but our patience grew the most. It was a long slow process. Throughout all this growth, there was still much learning to be done. My college Professor once said, "there are many, many personal trainers out there, you have to differentiate yourself from the rest. You need to excel in something". I started competing. For the first time in my life, I'd have to leave my comfort zone and push myself to the limit. Kettlebells!! I went to Manhattan and competed at the World Longcycle Championship. First time ever and it had to be a big one! But, I did it and I left with gold!! There was no stopping me now. I competed much closer to home after that for the next while, taking a few golds and one silver at smaller events. Running had to stop because my knee would swell. I never did understand why running would cause this, but the swelling would last for over a week.
Then came the jiujitsu tournaments. I did a few with great success earning 2 silver medals at Grapplers Quest London in 2010 and leaving with the gold in several ICADS events. Training and competing in Jiu Jitsu as well as Kettlebells, became too much to manage. Try fitting in all the training and competing in different sports and add a full time day job along with teaching fitness classes in the evenings while still juggling kids. It is NOT an easy feat. So I had to focus. I had to cut something out. The worst thing to have to do, EVER. I had to let jiu jitsu slide to let an injury heal and then I switched my focus to kettlebell competitions. It just didn't allow for jits back into my schedule.
Overtraining was a still a problem. I had to stop competing to continue to heal injuries. I never knew that I was suffering from Adrenal Fatigue. That took a year to figure out what it was. But it certainly didn't stop me.
One day at the club, our amazing Judo instructor, Big Andy Burwell, was talking about an upcoming powerlifting competition. My ears perked right up! He'd done it for 20 years and he started coaching me right away. (I know, I'm nuts) My first competition was the Provincials and it was less then 3 months away. I had never done anything like it. I loved every thrilling moment of each squat, bench and deadlift rep! It sounds strange, I know. How could lifting a weight be thrilling. Well, I tell ya, if you've never lifted or squatted 100+ lbs more then your body weight, it's freakin thrilling! I was waking up some unused muscles and tapping into some deep rooted drive! In less then 3 months of training, I was holding 4 Canadian records! And I was only just beginning! The next competition was just 6 months after the first one I had done, The Nationals!!! Not only did I beat my Canadian Records but I now had 4 World Records! Over the next while, I followed that up with a couple more competitions and the current grand total is 8 Canadian AND 8 World Records! Top that motherfuckers!
I took a holiday to Costa Rica and one late night, flipping through Spanish TV, we came across ESPN showing the World's Olympic Lifting Championship. I literally couldn't wait to hit the gym. I was so excited to start Olympic lifting. Came back home and found some top notch instructors to train with and competed as soon as I could. Placed third in the 2018 Provincial Masters Competition (everyone over 30 is a master) and then went to the Nationals in Gaspe. I placed third in the snatch and the jerk but my overall total only earned me a fourth place finish. I'm currently lifting 4x a week and getting ready for my next competition. I totally wanna crush it!!
Life is busy. I can't see that ever changing. Make time for yourself and do what you need to do.
Love the life you have, and make every minute the best you can. Have no regrets and learn as much as you can.
One day I saw an add in the newspaper for a Self Defense Workshop for Women. This was something that I always wanted to do and now it was my turn! I was so excited. The workshop was held by a Karate instructor, Sensei Jaymie Pastoor at a local studio. That one workshop turned into years of women's kickboxing. I loved every minute of it. From time to time, the classes were very small, and some times just me. On those days, we did weight training instead. I loved it! I was using 5 and 10 lbs weights and was really impressed. Looking back, I'm laughing as I write this because of what I'm up to now. I added power walking into my day which then turned into running 5 km 5 days a week. I loved it!
Then one day, I decided to take Tai Chi at the Senior's Centre. Now, I'm far from a senior but they were offering classes for every one at every age and it was cheap! I was introduced to some very fascinating people at this class. My instructor, Master Michael Klein, was beyond amazing in his skill and movement. It was beyond anything I have ever seen or experienced before. His understudy, Andrew Redden, was a cage fighter that did Tai Chi to heal his body and another lady who had been hit by a bus more than once (really!) was incredibly graceful. Our unique class held together for 5 years with 5 of its original members, moving classes to the park, to a school, to a church, wherever we could find a home but we were always there, together. I dabbled with Kung Fu but this really wasn't where I needed to be. I started teaching Tai Chi and Qigong at the Cancer Support Centre in Stratford.
I was enjoying my kids and being on their school council. I became Treasurer and eventually Chair. I also took part in the Rotary Clubs Dragon Boat Festival Committee. I was in charge of setting up the vendors for the festival and also began to help run the Fun League. After a few years, I became Co-Chair of the Committee. I absolutely loved every aspect of Dragon boating.
One day in my kickboxing class, my instructor said to me "why do you come here? You could do this on your own". And he was right! I could! And I did! After the collapse of my marriage, I decided to get back to COLLEGE for my Personal Training Certification (not a weekend certification). The anatomy classes were the toughest but I endured! After that, I took every weekend conference that I could find. I signed up for every Certification course that was out there. At one of those early Conferences, I stumbled upon kettlebells. Some little voice inside my head told me to spend the extra cash and take the extra 4 hour course. I will never forget those 4 hours. It was those four hours that shut my legs off from use for the next three days! The same three days that were during a fitness conference that required a great deal of use as well as heading up and down stairs to all the different classes over that weekend. I couldn't get enough, I was sold! I signed up for a three day weekend Kettlebell Certification Program. I'll never forget that weekend either! Three levels of Yoga Certification came next, then Indian Clubs, Mobility and on and on it went. My first job was working at the College training the Police Foundations students.
The next step seemed to be an easy one: open up for business. Well, it sounded easy. Over time, and patience and with the help of my partner (remember that cage fighter I mentioned earlier), Iron Monkey MMA & Fitness Club was open for business in October 2008. I started training jiu jitsu and after that 3 month mark, all my frustration of not being able to doing anything other than defend myself finally turned into something I loved and wanted to do endlessly! I also added in wrestling in order to help with takedowns for competing.
The club was small and cold but over time, we grew and then grew some more, but our patience grew the most. It was a long slow process. Throughout all this growth, there was still much learning to be done. My college Professor once said, "there are many, many personal trainers out there, you have to differentiate yourself from the rest. You need to excel in something". I started competing. For the first time in my life, I'd have to leave my comfort zone and push myself to the limit. Kettlebells!! I went to Manhattan and competed at the World Longcycle Championship. First time ever and it had to be a big one! But, I did it and I left with gold!! There was no stopping me now. I competed much closer to home after that for the next while, taking a few golds and one silver at smaller events. Running had to stop because my knee would swell. I never did understand why running would cause this, but the swelling would last for over a week.
Then came the jiujitsu tournaments. I did a few with great success earning 2 silver medals at Grapplers Quest London in 2010 and leaving with the gold in several ICADS events. Training and competing in Jiu Jitsu as well as Kettlebells, became too much to manage. Try fitting in all the training and competing in different sports and add a full time day job along with teaching fitness classes in the evenings while still juggling kids. It is NOT an easy feat. So I had to focus. I had to cut something out. The worst thing to have to do, EVER. I had to let jiu jitsu slide to let an injury heal and then I switched my focus to kettlebell competitions. It just didn't allow for jits back into my schedule.
Overtraining was a still a problem. I had to stop competing to continue to heal injuries. I never knew that I was suffering from Adrenal Fatigue. That took a year to figure out what it was. But it certainly didn't stop me.
One day at the club, our amazing Judo instructor, Big Andy Burwell, was talking about an upcoming powerlifting competition. My ears perked right up! He'd done it for 20 years and he started coaching me right away. (I know, I'm nuts) My first competition was the Provincials and it was less then 3 months away. I had never done anything like it. I loved every thrilling moment of each squat, bench and deadlift rep! It sounds strange, I know. How could lifting a weight be thrilling. Well, I tell ya, if you've never lifted or squatted 100+ lbs more then your body weight, it's freakin thrilling! I was waking up some unused muscles and tapping into some deep rooted drive! In less then 3 months of training, I was holding 4 Canadian records! And I was only just beginning! The next competition was just 6 months after the first one I had done, The Nationals!!! Not only did I beat my Canadian Records but I now had 4 World Records! Over the next while, I followed that up with a couple more competitions and the current grand total is 8 Canadian AND 8 World Records! Top that motherfuckers!
I took a holiday to Costa Rica and one late night, flipping through Spanish TV, we came across ESPN showing the World's Olympic Lifting Championship. I literally couldn't wait to hit the gym. I was so excited to start Olympic lifting. Came back home and found some top notch instructors to train with and competed as soon as I could. Placed third in the 2018 Provincial Masters Competition (everyone over 30 is a master) and then went to the Nationals in Gaspe. I placed third in the snatch and the jerk but my overall total only earned me a fourth place finish. I'm currently lifting 4x a week and getting ready for my next competition. I totally wanna crush it!!
Life is busy. I can't see that ever changing. Make time for yourself and do what you need to do.
Love the life you have, and make every minute the best you can. Have no regrets and learn as much as you can.