I’m wrapping up with our final post of the year spotlighting some of my amazing clients and Achieve with Athena Ambassadors! If you missed the previous months, you can find them here:
Now, meet Ella! Ella and I have been working together for five years. During that time, we moved from working on her stress and mindset to digging into specific nutrition and fitness information. If you are feeling stressed, overwhelmed, or stuck, read on – I bet you will relate to Ella’s story!
*Responses have been slightly edited for clarity.
Meet Ella!
How long have you been working with Athena?
I’ve been working with Athena in some capacity for over 5 years now. I started by purchasing her Fit-On-The-Go workouts back in early 2017 and have continued working with her via her FOTG 2.0, LOTG, Ambition Nutrition, 1-1 Best Self Coaching, as an ETCC member and now in her Balanced Body beta program… I guess I’m really an Athena groupie! 🙂
What did your fitness and nutrition look like before working with her?
Before working with Athena I’d describe my fitness and nutrition as resembling a rollercoaster. Back in my 20s, I would cycle through extremes of obsessively counting macros/calories (yes, as part of Weight Watchers and other diet programs) and killing myself with hours and hours of cardio in the gym or on long distance runs, even though my body was revolting against those choices. Most recently, when I reached out to Athena about joining her 1 to 1 coaching, I had reached a new low point in terms of how I felt about myself and my overall wellness. I found myself wishing on my 36th birthday that I could run away from my life, and nothing made me more sad than that. I have a beautiful and incredibly blessed life with my husband and 2 young boys, but I was so depleted that I couldn’t even appreciate it, let alone show up as my best self.
What are some of the most impactful changes you’ve made over the years? Have these changes helped the way you show up outside of the gym too?
Working with Athena in a 1 to 1 capacity was life-changing for me. For the first month, we barely even touched the topics of nutrition or fitness in the way I expected us to – Athena had me start with a deep dive into mindset work and habit tracking. We made seemingly small, yet impactful changes that helped me feel grounded enough to build upon. Over the months of working together, Athena helped me incorporate wellness practices into my life in a way that work FOR me, not against me. It became routine to do these things and ultimately, care for myself in the way I need and want to. Everything I worked on building with Athena has allowed me to care for myself holistically, so that I feel my best and therefore show up as a better mom, wife, and person in my daily life.
“I feel my best and show up as a better mom, wife, and person in my daily life.”
What advice would you give to someone who feels hesitant about working with a fitness coach?
If you wanted to play Olympic level soccer, and you’d only ever played recreationally, you would never expect to step onto the field and be drafted for the Olympic team without putting in some serious work and being guided by an expert-level coach. Same goes for wellness. I can’t speak for all coaches out there but Athena is certainly an expert at what she does. She has years of experience and hundreds of clients to draw upon, and most of what you might come to her with (while it’s unique to you and your life) is not new to her. She is extremely skilled at pairing this experience with your unique circumstances and in a 1 to 1 setting, will be able to give you a customized plan that is actually sustainable and works in the long-term. She’ll have you on the Olympic roster in much less time than it would take you to get there alone, and with a lot fewer ups-and-downs and frustrations along the way!
If you could only do one strength move for the rest of your life, which would you pick?
Probably pull-ups. I was a competitive gymnast growing up and still have this extremely vivid memory of middle school gym class when we were doing physical fitness testing and I blew everyone out of the water with my 14 pull-ups and my teacher had to stop me! Ha!
What are you excited to continue focusing on in your journey?
I’m forever working on my all-or-nothing mindset, something Athena talks about a lot, so that I can just live life and incorporate fitness and nutrition as life happens. As a mom of little kids, I know there’s no such thing as perfect and I am excited to continue working on that mindset piece so that I can live a long, strong, happy life with my family.
If you, like Ella, want to stop feeling depleted and start showing up as your best self with your family and in daily life, 1:1 coaching might be a great fit for you! Athena has two remaining 1:1 spots in 2022 – book a FREE connection call here to find out more.