HOW IT STARTED
My name is Haley and I am a 28 year old mom. I spend a lot of my time outdoors and too much of my time with horses. I grew up in a small town, graduated from Plymouth State with a bachelors in Athletic training, and found a passion for fitness just before I moved to Denver.
I spent over 1200 clinical hours working with various sports teams for my undergrad. I learned how to prevent, treat, and rehab numerous athletic injuries. I was hired as an Exercise Specialist at Atlas Physical Therapy shortly after moving to Colorado in 2016. I have also worked as a personal trainer and was even fortunate enough to work with a few of the Broncos cheerleaders. I also competed and placed in multiple bikini competitions.
I have always had a passion for education regarding the importance of moving and fueling your body. I believe that the knowledge and background I have in the fitness industry allows me to write and integrate the best programs that fit my clients personal needs.
If you’re going to show up, you want to make your time efficient, to make every rep count. This is the basis of everything I believe. To achieve this you need four things: direction, motivation, accountability, and most importantly, me.
BODYBUILDING
Goal setting is a fundamental part of client programming. Having a vision of what you want in the next 6 months, year, and even 5 years can help to create a path to achieving results out of any program.
I signed up for my first bikini competition in 2015. Why? I knew what I needed to do to in order to have the body I wanted- clean up my nutrition and follow a lifting plan. The problem was that I didn’t have any sort of reason to hold myself accountable. When I came to the harsh realization that I wasn’t going to be a professional athlete of any sort (LOL), I knew it would be hard for me to stay motivated to keep myself in shape. So I hit send on my first body building competition.
I competed in two shows through the OCB, a natural bodybuilding organization. I didn’t place in either. Nor was I super happy about the package I brought. After moving to Colorado I switched to a more known organization called the NPC where I competed in four more shows. I placed top 5 in my class at three of them.
So why is any of this important to what I do? Simple. Competing taught me a lot about the importance of when to eat, how to fuel your body with nutritionally dense food, and how to incorporate those concepts with what I already knew about body biomechanics- the perfect recipe for wellness coaching.
PERSONAL TRAINING OR ATHLETIC TRAINING?
One of the biggest misconceptions about athletic trainers is that we are personal trainers that can tape and ice. While we do possess these skills, we are also able to manage both injury prevention and rehabilitation. My experience working in a physical therapy setting really allowed me to broaden my horizons when it came to personal training. I learned how to incorporate concepts from both body building and physical therapy. I am able break down and combine concepts related to weight training, stability, functional training, cardiovascular training, and injury prevention to formulate a plan specific to my clients needs. This allows for my clients to be able to move their body at all stages of life. Thus creating a sustainable lifestyle.
CREATING THE LIFESTYLE
The entire foundation of my programming follows the objective that you have to find healthy habits that fit your personal needs. And when you incorporate those habits into a day to day routine you are able to create a maintainable lifestyle that works for YOU. I think one of the biggest mistakes people make in trying to achieve their “dream body” is that they set unrealistic goals and expectations for themselves that frankly do not fit their lifestyle. Going from one extreme to another is a good way to set yourself up for failure. Failure over time will inevitably lead you to just simply quit.
By setting short term goals you allow yourself to see a clear and successful path that will surely lead you to achieve those bigger goals. But the task of setting these short and long term goals can be daunting because honestly, what is realistic? And thats where I come in.