3 Steps to Kick Off Your Fitness Journey with Trainer Kaitlin Coward

Ready to get your health goals in gear? We asked fitness trainer Kaitlin Coward, for some quick tips to help you get started on your fitness journey. After all, she trained the one and only Dale Brisby. Here’s what she recommends:

Fitness Trainer - Kaitlin Coward

“If you’re thinking it is too late to get going on your fitness journey this summer, you would be surprised how much can change if you start today! Sure there’s no fast, fix all approach to losing weight or making sure we have abs next week. I mean if there were a top secret pill, I’d tell you and probably hold stock in it because your girl loves to eat tacos. However, if we can start implementing these 3 really great steps now, you will notice a difference in not just how you look but how you FEEL!

Step one: a great body on the outside starts with a healthy body on the inside. With any fitness goal, an understanding of nutrition has to take place, and it’s not as scary as it seems! If you have never tracked calories or macros before, there are so many free platforms available to get set up. My personal favorite is MyFitnessPal. Start by logging your food daily for a few days without much of a change in your regular routine. It’s a fast way to gage how much or how little you’re eating and paying attention to the nutrients in your food. As much as it pains me, there are calories in chips and queso. Unfair, I know but go ahead and log it. From there you can assess the quality of food you’re eating as well as the caloric content. For example, I recently had a client swear she was eating “healthy” but just not seeing results. The quality of her foods were great...veggies, fruits, plus good sources of protein and fats. She quickly realized through weighing and tracking her food, the quantity of snacking on almonds was adding up because fats have a higher calorie content per gram. If you want help learning the caloric goal you need to be in or what the heck is a macro, ask a certified fitness professional or nutritional dietician that you trust!

Step two: Start Resistance training. Most people are at home right now and gyms are closed, which luckily your body weight is enough resistance to reach your goals. I have the majority of my female clients who want to lose fat and tone move through a series of circuits that involve strength and functional training movements. For example, I recommend adding something as simple as this to the end of your at-home workout to ramp up your heart rate and calorie burn throughout the remainder of the day!
3 Rounds For Time

• 200m Run

• 30 Reverse Lunges

• 10 Frog Jumps

• 15 Reverse Crunches

Tell me your legs and peach don’t burn after that!

Step three: BEGIN! Start today. Create a habit of investing and believing in your goal. Don’t wait for next summer or next Monday. Your best time is with the body you have right now. It’s fully capable of moving, eating healthy, and gaining confidence! If you need help reach out. There are plenty of fully capable certified trainers to help you reach your goal and set a plan out that you can achieve! Write it on a sticky note everywhere in the house as a reminder. Go ahead, do it!” -Kaitlin

You can reach Kaitlin on her IG @kait_coward or via email at kaitcoward@gmail.com.