Fit Chick Friday - Ginel Stephenson

We are an amazing community of Fit Chicks right here in Edmonton and I want to highlight that community. Each week I'll be featuring a new new Fit Chick on Friday's. Learn about trainers, teacher, instructors or you ladies who are just into a good ol workout!

This week I had to have my friend Ginel Stephenson on. We met in a moms group when our now almost 6 year olds were tiny 4/5 week old babies! She is one fit and fun mama!

 

Certifications:

Bachelors of Science in Kinesiology, CSEP CPT and CEP CrossFit Level 2

Where to find Ginel:

She has a garage converted into a amazing home gym where she takes clients through True Shape Fitness.

What are your specialties?

CrossFit style training, general nutrition, nutrition for endurance athletes, weightloss and chronic medical conditions. 

What got you into fitness?

Being a kid that couldn't sit still, I realizes that there was no way I could work in a career sitting behind a desk or behind a counter. I love moment and how it makes you feel.

What/Who is your biggest motivation?

Challenging myself is my biggest motivation. I am able to go out to my gym and work out on my own no problem, but there needs to be a reason for me to work out so it doesnt become mundane. Whether its getting a few kf's on a lift, decreasing my time in distance training or getting one more pullup. I enjoy fitness as a sport and tracking improvements and gains. I LOVE CrossFit competitions and ultramarathons. I have yet to complete one solo but am working on 120 km this year.

What got you into to training people?

It was a gradual process and many other instructors and coaches along the way. Wach different niche was foudn through different passions of others that I have been honoured to work with and for. 

What are some of your favourite exercises or equipment?

Olympic lifting, the squat rack and my incline trainer treadmill that goes 40% incline.

What is your favourite outdoor activity?

Trail running.

What is your favourite indoor activity?

Baking and reading the newspaper. (She said she's lame, but that sounds glorious to me)

Any advice you'd like to give to other women?

It's most imperative that you do NOt compare yourself to others. If we were all alike, earth would be a pretty boring place to be! You need to set your own goals and have accountability for those. 
Also, listening to our body. Mother Nature is pretty damn smart and had got us this far. Some days it's okay to sleep in past your 5am alarm set for a workout and just rest and recover. We actually don't make any gains in the gym, it's the rest, recovery and rebuilding time where that happens. 

Find Ginel at www.trueshapefitness.net on Facebook or her new Instagram account!

A shot of Ginel and her husband running together. 

7 Days of Self Care Giveaways

February 1st-7th we are doing 7 days of Self Care giveaways. Ways to find some time for yourself. Each day we will be featuring a new self care on Facebook and Instagram and all you have to do is follow along and tag your friends that you think need some self care! 

Couch To 5km in 8 weeks

Last week on my Facebook page I posted a video about how I "got into" fitness. My journey mostly started with a couch to 5km program. I set a goal in mind to run a 5km run that was being put on and I followed a program I found on the internet. I don't have that specific program anymore, but I put together a version similar to the program I did. 

A few tips:

Make the runs on alternate days, so for example if you run on Monday, don't run on Tuesday, but run again on Wednesday or Thursday. 

Spend 5 minutes doing a warm up walk ahead of time.

Stretch afterwards.

Drink water.

Enjoy yourself! Each time you lace up, think about how excited you are to be on your journey and imagine yourself crossing the 5km finish line! 

Also, check out the awesome Yoga For Runners workshop I am running Febraury 25th! We will chat about about breathing techniques, do a yoga class specific to running and end in some restorative postures to help the body recover. Check out the Facebook event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/706368609545879/

Love, 

Jen The Bitchin' Housewife

Clear Space, Clear Mind

There is a clear trend right now after the holidays of decluttering spaces and getting rid of excess "stuff". We have filled our homes with more toys and gadgets and whatever else, we feel stuffed to the brim and even slightly suffocated by everything. 

I've been in the process since right after Christmas of decluttering closets and rooms and toy boxes. And it feels so good. I've been looking into this a bit lately and there is a lot of weight in being surrounded by "stuff".

In a time of year when we are ready for new challenges and changes, sometimes we can feel stuck. We are stuck in our stuff! Physically seeing doors bursting and drawers overflowing, keeps us in the space mentally even.

When we start to clear the space around us we are allowing the things we want to come in. We can choose what is important and what we want to allow back into our lives, homes and head space. Clean work spaces cultivate calm and creativity!

A few years back I discovered Fly Lady, a great system of daily working on specific small things for a short period of time, eventually leading up to a clean space. I recommend checking it out if you feel like you have a mountain to sift through!

And as you are decluttering and shedding the excess that we do not need, add a little bit of mindfulness to it. Set out to clean a closet or room with the intention of creating space for the things you DO want in your life. Space to create, work, play or whatever.

It feels really good to see the space clear AND to take items to be donated. I am took 4 bags yesterday! Plus a drop off at out cities Reuse centre! Here in Edmonton you can check out the City of Edmonton Waste Wise App for where to send items if you aren't sure. 

"Clear clutter, make space for you" Magdelena Vandenberg

Love, 

Jen The Bitchin' Housewife

Chopped Leaf Turn Over A New Leaf Contest

New year, new leaf to turn over. I don't care what anyone says about resolutions and "New Year, New Me". I love a fresh year, fresh start with the intention of changing something for the better. 

January 1st The Chopped Leaf, launched their Turn Over a New Leaf program. For the month of January, offering healthy tips on their Facebook Twitter and Instagram pages with a chance to enter daily to win $15 gift certificates as well as be entered to win the grand prize worth $2500 including  $1000 Chopped Leaf gift card and a year membership to Goodlife and a spa and wellness package! 

So head on over to follow them and get in on the daily draws and  enter to win for the grand prize HERE.

Pressure Of Christmas Traditions

I wouldn't be the Bitchin' Housewife if I didn't have something to Bitch about every once and a while now would I?

I am THE FIRST to have Christmas music playing on November 12th after observing Rememberance Day. My tree is up early, my gifts are thought of months in advance and I bake and decorate and party as much as I can. I LOVE Christmas.

BUT

Holy crap the pressure to carry out every gosh damn tradition is EXHAUSTING! 

Every time I turn on my computer or open Facebook on my phone there is a new blog post about traditions or whatever else other families do. I love everyone sharing. I do. I love seeing your families doing fun things. 

BUT

Are you also tired of "well we always go to Uncle Jim's on Christmas Eve's Eve" or "its tradition to blah blah blah". I get it. I really get it. My family has these things. 

BUT

This year it was going to be stressful to make it to the Festival Of Trees with my sisters and Mom and kids. So we didn't go.  

It was cold and I had to teach on the night of the downtown Christmas tree light up. So we didn't go. 

Last year for the first time in probably 20 years I didn't watch A Christmas Story on Christmas Day. 

And so on. And you know what? We are happy Christmas spirited people still. We didn't die, we aren't sad and the holiday events happen without us. 

No need for shame or guilt or stressing ourselves out to make everything there is out there to do. To ensure every tradition lives on for every single year. 

I share this in hopes of letting every other mom out there know, it's okay to miss stuff. Sometimes we get so bus rushing to the things and the places that we miss the REAL stuff anyways! 

What are you UNtraditionalizing this year?

Love, 

Jen The Bitchin' Housewife

Times and things change.

 

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5 Minute Mommy Mantras

On my Instagram page I posted a couple weeks ago about after I teach my Monday morning class I hang out after and work through some Mantras.

I had a few responses asking about Mantras, soooooo I've created a FREE 4 week Mantras program I'm launching this upcoming Monday for my email subscribers!

Subscribe to make sure you get in on the mantras!

Self Love & Self Improvement

The world is full of mixed messages and we are in a time in the world where FINALLY marketing to us women isn't 100% about telling us that we are not good enough unless we are thin/pretty blah blah blah. We still have lots of work to do of course, but I feel like it leaves us in  a great divide. 

Recently I've seen some images shared by fitness mamas I admire Mama Lion Strong and Wendy Powell. I agree with both of these images.

 

Reads "If you ever wander into that mindset of thinking that to take care of your body + your emotional + physical well-being is somehow shallow or vain or not important, please think again. You have every right to feel good about yourself." 

Reads "Those extra 5-10 pounds, that place where your body naturally wants to be -that's your life. That's your late night pizza with your man, that Sunday morning bottomless brunch, your favourite cupcake in the whole entire world because you wanted to treat yourself. Those extra 5-10 pounds are your favourite memories, your unforgettable trips, your celebrations of life. Those extra 5-10 pounds are your spontaneity, your freedom, your love. 

I whole heartedly agree with both of these statements and adore these women sharing them. That said, it seems confusing right? A message of "if you want to change, that's okay." and a message of "love those things you may wish to change."

The struggle is real my friends. Finding the balance between these two is very hard. And I will let you in on a little secret. I don't know the answer or what to tell you. I feel this struggle all the time. I don't have a tip or a trick to help you with this one. I just want to let you know you are not alone. 

I've been working with my own nutrition coach because I feel like yeah, there is nothing wrong with wanting to make some changes. Then much to his annoyance I'm sure, I see the other side of the coin and think to myself that I should just eat the thing or enjoy the wine and my body is perfectly imperfect the way it is, this moment will not last. 

So what do we do?

The only advice I offer is sitting with ourselves to see where things really come from. This is a practice of something we do daily, hourly, weekly whatever. I assure you it is not a one time sit down thing. Sitting with ourselves (also known as meditation) and discovering what we actually feel behind these thoughts. 

I wish you look in your journey and know you are not alone. 

Love, 

Jen the Bitchin' Housewife

Slow The F*ck Down

I’ve seen many friends were in Empowered Yoga’s Restorative Teacher Training this weekend and it reminded me of when I took it last year. A weekend filled of conversations and mini naps. It was wonderful. I learned a lot about stress and restoring my mind and body. Since then, it’s most of what I find myself reading about.

Since that training I have added restorative yoga to my own practice a lot, tail ends of vinyasa practices I teach and to the athletes I teach. There are many benefits to restorative yoga.

This post isn’t exactly about that though.

It’s about the fact that we generally SUCK at slowing down.

In conversation with my close entrepreneur and work from home mom friends just today in fact, we were all sharing how we have been sick. Sick, injured, brain fogged etc. We have all been going a million miles an hour and run ourselves into the ground.

You don’t even have to be a bad ass entrepreneur like my friends. We all hustle in our own way. We’ve come to a time in the year we need to rest and restore and what do we do?

Make ourselves busier. This concert and that party. This person’s perfect gift and that stressful family situation.  Volunteer. Help out at school. Take on extra work to make a bit more money. Blah blah fucking blah.

So back to the fact that we SUCK I repeat we SUCK at slowing down. Even if we say to ourselves “I’m going to rest this weekend”. Maybe we end up watching tons of scary movies (and not really relaxing the body) or binge eating popcorn or drinking too much wine and feel the guilt about it all?

Sound like anyone you know??!?!?

We HAVE to be intentional about rest. Plopping ourselves on the couch simply isn’t enough for our busy ass lives anymore. Put the effort into properly relaxing the body and be mindful of “relaxing activities” and how they ACTUALLY make us feel.

Let’s take the example of A Simple Bath, a self care blog post I wrote a while ago. I gave a few tips for making it more relaxing, the big one being TURN OFF YOUR PHONE! Does Facebooking in the tub actually relax you? Like actually? Or do you get irritated every time you see so and so’s post and then that sneaky stress creeps up without you ever noticing? It’s super sneaky like that.

So you ask me, how Jen? Just how do I become intentional in my rest?

PLAN. Plan it. Know on these days you are turning off the tv or drawing yourself a bath or going for a massage.

CHECK IN. Check in with yourself during said activity. Just because you are doing something that’s “relaxing” doesn’t mean you are. How do you feel? What could make you feel better?

GIVE GUILT THE MIDDLE FINGER. Yeah. This is the sneakiest of sneaky stressors I think. Especially if you are a mother. That Mom guilt is something from out of this world. Taking time to rest and restore is NOT A LUXURY. I repeat NOT A LUXURY. It is a KEY link in your survival! Think of it that way, because it’s the honest to goodness truth. Then treat it that way.  

 

Love,

Jen