December 4, 2023 • 46 mins
Nanci Ickes is owner of Bare 5 LLC, a Personal Training at Home business, focused on the comfort and convenience of training clients in their own homes while using a variety of strength training to improve clients physically, as well as build self-efficacy, for sustainable healthy living. Nanci’s methods have produced numerous improvements in overall quality of life. Nanci’s objective is to build individuals up, from the inside out - physically and mentally - to ultimately create healthier communities and world as a whole. Nanci Ickes is the catalyst for positive growth you’ve been waiting for.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:11):
This is Angela Grayson fromthe Loving Life Fitness Podcast.
To help others in their fitnessjourney.
It's all possible! It’s timeto wake up.
(00:35):
Here we go.
Hello, everybody.
This is Angela Grayson from theLoving Life Fitness Podcast.
Today we have Nancy Ickeswith us, who is
a personal trainerand so much more.
Hi, Nancy.
Hi, Angela.
Thank you so much for having me.
Yeah, it's exciting.
(00:56):
I know that people are goingto be listening and they're
going to be gainingso much value from all
the things that youhave to share with them.
So let's take it back tothe beginning where you
started with your career andwhat brought you
to this direction and maybeinspirations.
Go ahead.
Well, I really thinkthat it started when I was
a child.
(01:17):
My mom had us in all kindsof sports and athletics.
And I mean, we startedgymnastics as a young age
just to kind of helpmy mom throw to help us develop
coordination.
And then in school, you know,athletics there.
So join cross-country teamand softball and basketball and
all those sports.
(01:38):
And then when I go to college,I had this, like,
pivotal moment.
And I'll never forget it was mysophomore year.
And it's kind of the timewhen you need to
declare a major.
And, you know, I can't tell youhow many people asked, you know,
what do you want to be?
What do you want to dowhen you grow up?
And that questionalways stumps me.
I'm like, I don't know.
How do you know you want to bea dentist star?
You know, how do you knowyou want to be a teacher?
(02:00):
And I just couldn't figure outwhat it was that I wanted to do.
And there was this one momentI'll never forget.
And I just felt likeeverything in my life
was balanced.
My social life, my physicalhealth, my education.
I just felt such peace.
And I thought everybodyshould feel this, at least
(02:24):
for a moment in their life.
This is one of the best feelingsI've ever had.
And so I thought, you know,how can I do that?
And to me, it was I knewit had a lot to do with my
physical health because alot of times I know from working
with older adults, there area lot of aches and pains
as we age andif we've had injuries and they
(02:44):
may never go away,but it's learning how to manage
that pain and there arelots of things that we can do.
So I thought, okay, that isexactly where I want to go.
And when it comesto physical, I'm sure you know,
Angela, it's not just aboutthe physical.
As a trainer, we sometimes dealwith a lot of emotional
and mental thingsthat our clients
are going through.
(03:04):
So I continued my educationand finished college
with a degree in education,but my specialty was health
promotion.
And I loved it because wehad to learn about all
those different aspectsof wellness, which has
come into play as I kindof refined my specialty into
personal training.
So that's kind of whereit all started, and I just
(03:27):
didn't feel like I knew enoughafter undergraduate school.
So I was like, No, I'm going tograd school.
I feel like I need to learna little bit more.
But I love the broadnessof health.
Like, I just I just am a spongeand I consider myself a student
for life.
I will learn until the day I diebecause there's so much and
and I thought, well,how could I be?
(03:48):
How can I be the best resourcefor the people I work with,
whether it be clientsor coworkers?
And I knew that had to bewith education and learning,
you know, as much as I couldabout as much as I could.
So that kind oftakes you to care.
I just kept kept going and Igot my personal training
(04:10):
certification because I,I did start with my group
exercise certificationin college, and I did
enjoy that, but I just feltso disconnected with being able
to help people.
And I don't knowif you've ever had this feeling,
Angela, but you know,when you take a group class,
even as a participant and you'vedone classes before and as
(04:33):
an instructor, I just, I justwant to help everyone like, oh,
I want to help youwith your form and trying
to think of 50 milliondifferent ways to say
the same thing, to makeit connects in their mind
and their mind and their mind.
But sometimes participantsdon't hear us trainers because
of the filters, or they'renot thinking and paying
(04:53):
attention to their form.
So I decided, no, I, I want todo personal training.
I want that one on one.
And what I've been asked to dogroup training.
I say no, because to methat's not personal training
any more, because nowmy attention is divided
and I do best when I cangive you my undivided attention.
(05:14):
I am focused on theperson on you and what you.
So that's kind of how I ended upas a personal trainer.
Very good.
Yeah.
And there's different people,you know, like different things.
Some of them really, really needand want that personal one
on one attention and othersthrive in the group
(05:35):
fitness classes.
They take me so many classesbecause they enjoy the stamina,
they enjoy the energy,they enjoy being around
their friends, meeting people,just the atmosphere 100%.
And I have worked in so manydifferent types of fitness
environments.
I mean, from, you know, YMCAto, you know, boutique fitness
(05:59):
to very specific one onone personal training to typical
personal training.
And the thing that I findthat never fails is it's
about finding what works for youand what you feel is helping
you grow.
I'm never going to say that'snot a good fitness thing
because it may be good for you.
(06:20):
It may not be good for me,but I'm not going to deter
anybody from trying somethinguntil you find what it is
that you love.
And you try that.
And going back to your loveof education, we do
basically the same thingevery day, day in and day out.
Right?
Whether it's personal training,teaching classes,
the same people, you know,the same thing every day, day
(06:42):
in, day out, trying to helpdifferent people.
And our minds want more.
So getting that extraeducation is is a push.
Sometimes we have tostruggle with that because
our lives are already so busy.
But getting the different ideas,the newer science,
different things to trywith different people,
(07:03):
especially if you workwith a lot of older people
with their injuries.
Not necessarily always olderpeople, younger people that have
injuries to that they have todeal with, whether it's
from sports or just lifein general, bad
backs, bad knees.
So all that extra educationis definitely something
(07:24):
that you need to havein your back pocket.
And sometimes it's it'sa lot simpler.
I feel like now on a dayto day basis, because everybody
has social media, I mean, eventhe big names in personal
training, I mean, whether it's,you know, doesn't have to be
personal training, but groupfitness, like, you know,
Ace and Nasm, they're all onsocial media.
(07:45):
And so it's those greatlittle doses in front of you
every day.
If you follow thoseorganizations to kind of
feed you some of those newexercises or tips.
And, you know, I follow doctorphysical therapy because I know
that physical therapistis going to know more than I do.
And when a clientcomes to me with, you know,
this hurts or this isn'tworking, great, let me pull
(08:08):
from the resources that I followand see if we can figure it out.
And if you do need to gosee a specialist, but I'm
going to stay and do whatI can in my lane
and we'll try and figure it out.
But if not, I know that,you know, that's out
of my scope.
We need to find somebodywho can help them,
which is one of the reasonswhy I started my Health
(08:28):
and Fitness podcast, because Idon't know at all.
Clients don't have enoughtime to learn it all.
Don't have the time, really.
So education about the bodyis so interesting to me.
And I could learn, learn, learn.
But when am I goingto have the time to help others?
So with these podcasts, I haveother people talking
(08:49):
about whatever theirspecialty is, and that is
really helpful to the listeners.
So what do you consideryour specialty?
Nancy So I consider my specialtystrength training, and I'm going
to kind of lean a little bitmore towards beginners.
(09:12):
I really enjoy beginnersand I really love meeting people
where they're at.
And I think the majorityof clients that I met, you know,
I don't know anybodyexcept for one that I've had
to be honest with you, has cometo personal training like super
excited, ready to go.
I always feel with new clientsthere is this hesitation, kind
(09:33):
of this little bit of fear.
And I get it.
You don't know what to expect,especially if you've never done
personal training before.
And so it's important to meto really meet my clients
where they're at.
And and I have I mean,I've worked in a fitness
facility where most of themknew each other, which,
you know, so they would always,you know, kind of tease
(09:55):
and say, don't give me thatperson's workout.
And I go, well, I'm not going tobecause you are not that person.
And to me, that'sone of the most important things
as a trainer is this ispersonal training because it's
personal to you.
And so if you're not gettingthat kind of training
from your trainer, that to mesays you need a new trainer
(10:16):
because this is your time.
It is your money and it isso valuable and you're
supposed to get things out of itthat you need.
So to me, that's why I love New,new strength training clients,
because I love to teach themand build that foundation
and not just withtheir strength, but with their
confidence, their self efficacy,and that they can do this
(10:39):
on their own.
Because, Angela, I'm probablythe worst personal trainer
because I don't want anybody tobe dependent upon me for a life.
I go, I am meant to be usedand let go, but you can always
come back and say,I need a refresher, or you know,
I just need a little push.
I never want anybodyto feel like you can't do any of
(11:02):
these exercises without me.
Never, ever.
You so can.
And I'm going to teach youhow to do that.
So yeah, that'swhen it boils down
to personality, though.
When you take a lookat the psychology of working out
so many different personalitiesout there, especially with
(11:22):
new people, yes, there could beintimidation and, you know,
never having walked intoa facility before to do strength
training on their own.
Yeah.
Which is a lot why a lot ofpeople like to go with a friend,
but sometimes that falls offand you're left again alone.
(11:44):
So, yeah, the psychologyis a is a big part of strength
training, especially when you'rewhen you're brand new.
So more there are thosewho I've trained in the past
that do actually gooff on their own.
And then there are thosethat I feel like I will have
(12:08):
for life.
Sure.
The buzz of the accountabilityand that's totally
understandable.
Like to me, those are kind oftwo different lanes.
Like, yes, you need that.
Great.
That's why we're here, right?
Like, we are definitely goingto hold you accountable
to your workouts, to showing up,to committing to what you said.
(12:29):
And then some people are justreally good about doing that
on their own once they'vehad the skills and the tools
and the training, theythey carry on themselves.
So yeah, I definitely amnot negating us as professionals
or what we do, but there'sdefinitely, you're right,
different personalities.
Do you usually work with youngerpeople or older people or
(12:51):
does it matter?
I worked with a variety ofdifferent ages and I'll
be honest, the majorityof individuals I worked with
are older.
My very first personaltraining job is, I think,
the majority of peopleI worked with were between
the ages of 60 and 90.
I mean, I worked with a lot ofretired individuals,
(13:12):
a lot of knee replacements,hip replacements,
and it was such a specializedtype of training.
It really taught me a lot of howto strengthen muscles with not
necessarily moving joints, whichI don't think I ever would
have learned had I not beenin that employment atmosphere.
So that really helped me.
And then most recently,my clients have been, I'm
(13:36):
going to say, just older typeof professionals.
I really have not worked with,you know, many children
or young adults, but mostly,you know, active or looking to
be healthier working adults.
I found that the older adultsare my most reliable clients.
They are?
(13:57):
Yeah.
They don't like younger people.
Unfortunately, it's life, right?
They're working.
They have children,they have families,
they have a lot of going onand there is always excuses why
they can't make it.
And older people, they're alwaysthey're always there.
No matter what.
I have gotten a notefrom their doctor saying,
you need to startdoing something or you're
(14:18):
going to die.
The light goes on.
Whoa.
Okay, I better do something.
I've known it long enough,but now my doctor's telling me,
do it or die, you know?
So you've got that, too.
Their life is getting shorter.
They're at the other endof the spectrum in their life,
and they want to be able to livea healthy life until we go
(14:41):
over to the other side.
We don't want to be overweight.
We don't want to be not beable to walk.
We don't want to not be ableto do the things that we love.
So it's a little different.
The mentality is a littledifferent with the older
generation.
Definitely.
See that? Yeah.
And they want they wantto be there.
And because of my silversneakersas a recent Silversneakers
(15:05):
program experience, like,I found so much reward and
value in that becausethey wanted to be there,
like it was so much easierto show up teaching those types
of classes because if anything,I felt like they held
me accountable because I knewthey were counting on me
more so than I wascounting on them.
And I don't knowabout you, Angela, but
(15:26):
some of their storiesto actually hear that,
I mean, you know, coming insaying that the doctor did
tell me I need to losethis weight or I am
going to die.
And just watching thetransformation, even in,
you know, retired, active olderadults, just to see that
and see how much light and,you know, vibrancy their life
(15:47):
has gained because of that.
And I don't know about you,but that's kind of one of
the reasons I went into it, isjust to see people
just come alive and havethose moments.
Mm hmm.
Yeah.
Not everybody gets to hearthe story of the group
fitness instructor or thepersonal trainer, how we feel.
Yeah.
And it's a good feelingto see others doing really well,
(16:09):
getting better and havingso much more energy to to live
a great life.
Some of that you said earlieris, you know, like
we don't have time to work out.
And and I heard this and I said,this is just brilliant.
Like, nope, nobody does.
Nobody has time to work out.
That's why we make the time.
And I mean, you could say thatwith a lot of things,
(16:30):
but I know one ofthe struggles is a lot of
people say thatabout working out.
And so with the older adults,you really see that because now
they're making the time for thatand you don't have to wait
till you're retired.
Or the doctor sayssomething like,
You can make time right now.
Yeah, not faking it.
Make it something you love todo, Right.
Well, and even ifyou don't know.
(16:51):
So this is another reason I loveworking with beginners is
I like to ask the question,well, what can you do?
Because oftentimesI think we have
this preconceivednotion in our head that I have
to work out for an hourin the gym, you know,
with people who knowwhat they're doing in the gym,
you know, liftingthe heavy weights or running
on the treadmill.
I can't like maybeit's I can't run
(17:12):
or I have no ideahow to use that.
Yeah, that is scary,like you said earlier, but.
Okay, but what doesn't soundscary to you?
And so that's whereI have people say,
well, I can walk.
Great.
Excellent.
Well, how long?
Like, what length of timeSounds good to you.
And if they're like, Oh, like,I don't know about you,
but sometimes people areafraid to say a lesson out.
(17:34):
They expect us to be like,No, you can't work out less than
60 minutes a day,five days a week, and that's not
how I work.
And I say, okay, well,how about one minute?
And they're like, I could doa minute.
I can't.
Great.
So then after a minute,if you still feel great,
why don't you do another minute?
And how about we just shootfor 5 minutes?
(17:55):
And if you still feel greatafter 5 minutes, then go
another minute and justdo a minute from there on.
Because to me, it's aboutbuilding.
Like I want people to have thatsuper strong foundation
is beginners and it doesn'tstart with 60 Minutes
in the gym.
It starts with somethingthat makes you feel
comfortable, gets you started,and just builds that confidence
(18:15):
because you can't do it.
Absolutely.
Do you get involved with howpeople eat, changing
their lifestyle habitsor anything like that?
Yes, especially withthe ones who are open to that
because I do believeit's important to meet people
where they're at.
And if they're not readyor willing to talk about
(18:37):
their food, I'm not goingto push it.
But it is 100% plays a huge partin our overall health
and wellbeing, and I'm not goingto negate that.
But again, if somebody isnot willing to talk about it or,
you know, do anything about it,okay, well, I'll meet you
where you're willing todo things.
And sometimes it's justabout let's just talk about
your water consumption.
(18:58):
You know, how much wateryou drinking.
So it's not necessarilysomething I avoid, but I just
kind of, you know, ask some ofthose questions to see where
they're at, because every weekmy clients, not where
I left them.
So I meet them in a new placeevery week.
So how about you?
So usually, always ask them towrite down for me what they're
(19:20):
consuming for a week, everythingconsuming, eating, drinking,
snacking.
And that's alwaysthe hardest one for people.
They have so many excuseswhy they can't do that.
I try to tell them it'snot for me, it's for you,
so that you can look at itafter a week and say, Oh really?
I consumed all that fruit juice,or I consumed, you know, that
(19:43):
much snack foods.
And I didn't thinkI was drinking that much coffee.
Really.
You know, and just looking at itand seeing what
you can tweak here and there,a little tweaks
to make it betterso that you can feel better
and maybe get alittle more energy
out of your day.
Yeah, but and I got awayfrom having them write it down
(20:06):
because a lot of themkind of forgot.
And I said, You know what?
Just snap a picture ofyour plate before you eat it
where I can really seewhat you're eating
and kind of see some of theportion sizes.
And also you don't have todo anything that takes up
too much of your time.
And I seem to get a lot moreof a consistent week's
worth of food when I set upa picture before you eat it
(20:27):
or if you ate it now, I mean thewrapper or the box.
So I could see a good idea.
Yeah.
Nobody writes anything downanymore, right?
Nope.
No.
The difference between our agesthat I still have right now.
I do too.
I'm such a paper person.
You're no idea.
Yeah.
Lists.
Susan.
(20:47):
Yeah.
Goal setting, journaling,all of that.
I love to write.
Right, Right.
Yeah.
That's very helpful.
And you do what works for you.
Snapping a picture is goodfor you. Great.
If writing things down isgood for you, great.
You know, and that'sanother thing.
Even journaling on a daily basiswhere if you feel like you know,
you're feeling like you don'thave energy and you take taken
(21:08):
a look at what youate the day before and sit there
and journal about how youfeel today, you know,
maybe the next day you'll changethings a little bit about what
you're consuming or your amountof activity and how you're
feeling.
Again, when you sit thereand journal and, you know,
see how your day is goinghigher energy level is
what you feel like doingand sleep is important.
(21:31):
You know, we need to get theright amount of sleep.
I don't always do that.
I try to and I find that sleepis just so, so important
for everything.
Yeah. Yeah.
So do you have a success storythat you would like
to share with us?
People like to hearreal life stories.
I'm going to say there's twoand they're two different ones.
(21:54):
The first one I'm going totalk about is I was asked
to train by my previoussupervisor at the
fitness center.
Her neighbors daughterand her daughter
is about two yearsyounger than me, but she has
the mentality of a fourthgrader.
So there are some mentaldisabilities there and then also
(22:15):
some physical like her hipsnever fully formed.
So we're like her femur doesn'tfit completely in the hip socket
and she's overweight.
And, you know, her parents aregetting older.
So she needs to be ableto be better about moving
and taking care of herselfbecause her parents, of course,
(22:36):
are not going to be ableto do that the rest of her life.
I had no idea what to do.
And and I was, ofcourse, scared.
But also I loved itbecause it was forcing me
to stretch as a professionalbecause I had to learn
how to train this very brandnew person that I'd never,
never experienced anythinglike before.
(22:56):
And to me, she wasthe most rewarding because she
taught me that fitnesssometimes is just about fun.
And I knew with her as a fourthgrader mentality, I wanted her
to enjoy coming to thefitness center,
enjoy working out,and I knew that I just needed
to make it about fun.
And so we we had we had awonderful time, of course,
(23:19):
every week.
And it was interestingto see how because of her
dependance on her parents,that I really had
to get her parentsinvolved in her physical
transformation journey that,you know, okay, she does
live at home.
It's about what she's eating.
You're in chargeof what she eats and what
she drinks and what you bringinto the house because she
(23:40):
clearly cannot go shoppingherself.
But it was just wonderfulto see her.
She lost over £50 from the timethat I started seeing her.
And for somebody with suchlimited mobility in her walking
and stuff like that, I mean,we focused a lot on strength
training.
And I mean, I'm a firm believerin that, you know, muscle does
(24:02):
burn more calories than fat.
So just to see that,really, really it was amazing
to watch her transform and justgrow a love for fitness.
So that was that's what I'mvery good at.
So you're not trainingher anymore?
She's not with I I'm not justbecause she was one of my ones.
I just moved recently downto Florida.
(24:24):
So yes, I'm from Ohio.
She's the one that I didnot feel comfortable doing
virtual training because theredid need to be some physical
assisting of getting her inand out of equipment and,
you know, in and out of things.
So I felt better handing her offto a qualified trainer
to continue her training.
So she's still training,which makes me so happy.
(24:44):
Yes.
And that's to mewhat it's about.
Yeah.
She's continuing her journey.
That is so awesome.
Yeah, It'd be so nice to keepin touch with her.
Oh, I do.
Yes. Yes.
Her mom sends me text messagesevery week.
That's awesome.
Yeah, it's wonderful. Yeah.
That really makes you feel goodinside to know that you've
(25:04):
helped somebody like that.
Yeah. Okay.
You said you had anothersuccess story.
Yes.
This will be a little bitshorter.
So I started working witha gentleman in his late fifties,
and here he came to me,you know, pretty, pretty good
physical fitness.
And when we firststarted training, I had him
(25:25):
do some bear crawls.
And for those who maybedon't know what that is,
it's basically just get downon your hands and your knees,
but lift your knees like an inchoff the ground and start
walking on your hands and yourtoes, basically.
And so he couldbarely go ten feet high.
And so our last sessionwe had together, he went over
(25:47):
he went way over a hundred feetand he had a £36 sandbag
on his back.
So it was just amazing to seethe strength transformation.
And that was in a matter of likeseven months.
So to me, like that was justso rewarding to see
his strength grow and that wasso important to him.
So there's a story.
(26:09):
Excellent.
Yeah. Yeah.
We all need our strengthto stay strong, keep the bone
strong, keep the muscleshealthy.
This energized, keep usenergized also to keep
some metabolism burningthat's so important.
The more we move, the morewe're going to keep
that metabolism burning.
(26:29):
Everybody wonders why theirmetabolism slows down.
Well, take a look at whatyou're doing today
compared to when maybe you thinkyour metabolism was better.
I mean, but look at ourprofessions.
You know, a lot of themare seated.
You know, we said all dayand it's hard and I totally
(26:50):
understand.
And I feel for know everybodyin those professions
where they're kind of stuckat a desk, you know,
five days a week.
So I'm happy.
I'm happy to play with you.
Get up and and, you know,yeah, I've never been that
person to sit still.
I would never put myselfin that position where I'd be
sitting behind a deskall day long, five days
(27:11):
a week indoors.
You know, I would gototally insane.
So we don't have to do thatsort of thing, you know, if
we're finding that our our jobsare detrimental to our health,
why not make changes?
There's a lot of peoplewho are scared to make a change
in their life.
Rob Ashley with yourwith your job, if that's
(27:34):
if you're in a successful place,but if it's deteriorating
your health, why not makea change?
You know, figure it out.
Yeah.
Or or ask for support or help,because I know sometimes we do
get stuck in thingsbecause sometimes we just need
that little extra support.
And I think Angela, sometimeswe provide that at, at a
different level.
(27:54):
But you know, we kind ofgive you the permission.
It's okay.
Like it's okay to strugglethrough this.
I mean, to me, exerciseis practice for life.
Life's hard.
And if you do need tochange jobs because it's
affecting your health,okay, well, let's do something.
But that change or thattransformation or transition
(28:14):
is going to be hard.
So exercises practiceto help you deal with the hard
things in life.
I love to hear the storiesof people who were working
in a particular line of workand they thought they were going
to be there forever.
And something happens.
Maybe the businessgets closed down.
Or recently I was talking tosomebody who got fired
(28:34):
and he was talking to his coach,his life coach, about, okay,
so what do you want to do now?
And he said, Well, I guess I'mgoing to have to go and apply
for another job, you know,in my field.
And the coach was like,Are you sure you want to do
that?
You are you really happy there?
(28:55):
You know, you got fired.
Why did you get fired?
You know?
Ah, well, you reallyhappy there?
Would you like to dosomething else?
You know, sometimeswe talk to others,
find ourselves a life coachor a good friend to talk to,
and we'll realize, you know,maybe we're not
in a happy place, you know?
And at a pivotal pointlike that, this is the time,
(29:17):
you know, to make a changeto where you can be
happier, healthier and maybereally, really, really
do something that you love.
Yeah.
And I love that.
And I agree with allthat, Angela, because to
me, life is meant to be enjoyed.
And you define what enjoyyour life means because you're
(29:38):
the one living it.
And I love that that lifecoach asked that question like,
are you sure?
Because we we do you needthose people to ask us
those questions, you know,to kind of help us pivot
and have that courage to pivotwhen we need to.
And yeah, being stuckdoesn't sound fun to me.
So did you ever work forcompanies in the health
(30:01):
and fitness industry?
Yes.
So besides some fitness centers,I did work for, I did work
for corporate fitness companies,and I worked for a hospital
system, Cleveland Clinicin Cleveland, Ohio.
And I did work for some likeesthetic doctors at one point.
(30:23):
So I had held many differentpositions, kind of in
different areas of healthand wellness.
Did you enjoy that or you wantedto get out of that
arena to be more on your own?
I definitely enjoyed certainaspects of it.
How I mean, I whenI went to school,
I loved doing the programdevelopment and doing the needs
(30:46):
assessment to see, you know,what needs need to be met
in this work environmentand how to put together
programing that would helpimprove the health of, you know,
the population of the company,the employees.
And, you know, I ran a weightloss program at the
Cleveland Clinic and managedwellness programs or employer
(31:06):
benefit programs.
So if you do these healthyactivities, you get a reduction
in your healthinsurance premium,
which is great.
It just comes backto I just felt so far removed
and I couldn't really tellif I was helping people.
And I kind of like to think of,you know, what we do
in the health and wellness fieldis very different
(31:28):
than, you know, constructionworkers.
Like you go to work,you have your starting point
and you can see your progressevery day.
You see like maybe you'rebuilding a house.
Okay.
Well, today, the foundationsdone, you can see that when you
leave work.
And as a health professional,I just felt like I didn't
I didn't know.
I couldn't see if I was actuallydoing anything,
(31:49):
being so far awayfrom the people I was trying
to help in those companies.
So that's where I decided.
I'm like, now I need to bemore one on one with people.
And that really just shifted meinto that.
Like, maybe I'm ready forsomething else.
Yeah, yeah.
Those.
I used to work for thepost office for 30 years
(32:09):
as a mail carrier.
Wow.
And so, yeah, they had all thoseprograms, incentive programs, to
try to stay healthyand get reductions on your
health insurance.
And even me, the kindof person who I always
worked out all my life.
You know, I just really log onand do what?
(32:30):
And and adhere to this andand send in this
and send in that to showwhat you did.
And it's like, oh, my gosh,this is just too much.
Yeah, I want to go the gymwhen you're out a bike ride
or go for a walk or whatever.
I guess for those who don't,you know, work out on their own,
(32:52):
you know, having thatlittle bit of an in Santa to do
the right thing, it might behelpful for that population
here.
But with you not being ableto see exactly what was going on
and, you know, the gainsthat people were getting
from it, it's I could see whereyou could lose interest in that
(33:13):
because you want to see peopledoing better and if not
make changes or help them,advise them in different ways
to move on, becausewe all have to make changes.
And what we do, it's good to dowhat you enjoy, maybe at first,
but if we don't make changesin what we do, there's going
(33:33):
to be parts of the body that areleft behind.
So variety is so important.
Do you give your clientsregimens for variety
or do you just how do youwork that?
Yes, so dependingon the client, but oftentimes,
especially when I'm buildingstrength to new clients,
(33:53):
it's usually very consistentand usually the same types
of exercises that we build upon.
So like, for example, one of thenewest clients I had, we started
with ridges, so laying onthe ground back flat, you know,
knees bent, digging your heelsinto the ground and just raising
your butt, squeezing your gluteswhen you're butt's in the air.
(34:14):
And, you know, that's wherewe started because hers couldn't
have her squat.
Her squats were very weakhips, knees caving in.
And I was like, Nope, I need alittle bit more of a
stable surface so that wayI can start working on her
hip mobility.
And so we didn't.
Bridges for the longest time,you know, added a band
around her thighs to bridgeand kind of have her
(34:35):
push against to kind of buildthat outer thigh
strength as well.
So for somebody like herthat I really needed to focus on
building the strength in veryspecific areas, it was pretty
much repetitive with addingin some of those, I call them
elements of fun.
And my clients lovewhen I say I'm adding in an
element of fun.
So like the band aroundthe legs, this is what would
be an example.
(34:55):
But for some others, like theone success story
I told, he wanted varietylike no other.
He never wanted to dothe same thing twice, so he may
have seen the same moves.
But again, there is alwaysa different, you know,
twist to it.
And so like the bear callswith a sandbag or
he bear crawled, you know,pulling a dumbbell
(35:18):
or adding a row in and thingslike that.
So same things, but with a spinor a twist on my
elements of time.
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
I just and a lot ofclient really and truly.
Yeah.
And that's all pretty muchfunctional training, everything
that you're talking aboutright there.
Do you ever use machinesor do you try to stay to the
(35:40):
with the functional sideof it all?
No, I definitely use machines.
I had a client.
We could not figure out whyher knees were hurting her.
I can't tell you how manydifferent trainers
I reached out to, you know,what else can I do?
I have no idea what else to dowith her.
I've done all these differentexercises to try and avoid
(36:01):
her knees while the thingwas avoiding her quads was
the problem because herquads were weak and that was
causing her kneecaps to move.
And that's why she had pain.
And I was so surprised causeshe was 22 years old, so
I would throw her on the legextension Every workout
we're starting on the legextension or firing up
those quads, and thenwe are going to go to
(36:21):
the leg press.
So we spend a lot of timein every session a recession.
We started on thatleg extension.
But yes.
And so sometimes I will throwin machines with the functional
training, and sometimesI will do all machine work,
and especially for new clients.
I don't know about you, Angela,but I find machines are
really in some ways safe.
(36:43):
You know, if your trainersets you up at the right seat
setting and shows youhow to properly
move the machine, because Iloved walking into a
fitness center and peoplesometimes think that
just because I use themachine, it's working
the muscles I want.
And that's not always the case.
Like your form is importantin the machines, but at least
(37:04):
you don't have to worry so muchabout the stability because
you're safe, you're securein your stable
in those machines.
Yeah.
And there's days that maybe youcan't meet them at the gym or,
you know, they only want to meetwith you once or twice a week
and they want to go and work outon their own.
So, you know, the machinesare good for people because they
(37:24):
pretty much do.
You hold you in the positionthat you need to be in as long
as you have all the settingsand the numbers correct and you
follow that for your bodytighten.
Good place to go.
Yeah, but I find thatwhen I work with my clients,
you know that I do like to doa lot of functional stuff,
body movement in waysthat we use it in everyday life.
(37:48):
But Maybe with a littlebit of weight, can weights,
medicine, balls, just bendingand twisting in different
directions.
Because in real lifethat's the way it is right now
that. Yes.
And when when I taughtSilversneakers,
I would always saythis in my classes and I said,
yes, I'm trying to be funny, butat the same time
I'm very seriousbecause we would
(38:09):
just squat, get up and downout of the chair.
And even if you can't get upand out of the out of the chair,
you know, just squeezingyour butt cheeks, digging
your heels into the floor.
And so I say, I wouldtell them all, I said, You are
95 years old.
I said, I want you to be ableto get off the toilet
by yourself.
Because I said, I feelI 100% do, too.
So I said, I know itsounds funny, but I'm also
(38:30):
very serious because oncewe lose that independence, like,
I don't know howmany people think now about,
Oh my gosh, I never thoughtabout not being able to get off
the toilet by myself.
And I mean, that is that isa possibility for everybody.
So like I 100% agree with thefunctional because that is
(38:50):
what keeps you moving and keepsyou independent.
And I don't want peopleto lose that.
And even getting upoff the floor, that's an
issue for people who areyounger or, you know,
you start yourself gruntwhen you get up off the floor.
That's a sign.
That's a sign.
Yeah.
There should be no gruntingwhen you're in your forties.
(39:12):
No.
Oh, no, no, no.
I had a client whose son in lawwas a physical therapist,
and she shared with methat he said he was having
a hard time with individualscoming in for physical therapy
who were much older adults.
But he said they were havinga hard time.
They could not eventurn themselves over in bed
because their abdominalswere so weak.
(39:34):
And I and like thatjust makes my heart break
because I don't know aboutyou, but like, that's
what makes me just want to helpas many people with their
physical well-beingbecause I don't want anybody
to not be ableto turn themselves over to
get out of bed.
I mean, that's what call us.
You call us, we'll help you.
Absolutely.
(39:54):
Yeah.
That'll definitely a sign.
You can't roll over.
How are you going to get upand get out of bed if she can't
even roll over.
Exactly.
You know, whether it bebecause there's a tweak in
your back or the abdominalsor weak the core of the body,
whether it's the frontor the back of the body,
it needs to be strengthenedand kept strong.
It doesn't have to be cruncheson the floor either.
(40:16):
There are so many to strengthenthe core of the body
so that we can do things likeroll over in bed.
I have a couple of clientsthat I've been working
specifically with tryingto get them to be able to get up
off the floor in wonder,drop things on the floor.
We have to bend downfront of a cabinet and reach
to the back of the cabinetand get something out of it.
(40:38):
You need to beable to bend down,
get on the floor and get back upagain.
And even if you have to do itin a different kind of way,
so essential to everyday life.
So what's in the futurefor Nancy?
Anything different?
Anything new?
What's what's the latest here?
That is a great question.
(40:59):
Before I starteddoing my podcast,
you met Jay Scheer at theradio station.
Jay Junior was at the gymwhere I used to work,
and he said to me it was thebeginning of a new year.
I think it was maybe 2021,and now this was before
COVID, actually, Yeah.
Angela, what's new for youthis year?
(41:22):
I don't know.
Jay.
I'm happy where I'm at.
Well, the more Jay talked to me,it's like I realized there's
so much more.
How can we be happywhere we're at when there's
so much more?
So what more is there for you?
Well, with what's newand what's more is I've only
(41:44):
been in Florida for noteven a month, So
this is so what's new for me?
So 100% enjoying thisprocess and, you know,
finding my my groove, my flowand whatever that is down here.
And then just what's more is,I mean, with meeting Jay at the
(42:08):
radio station, you know, FlaglerBroadcasting and and I'm
going to say things to my unclebecause it's his radio
show on Friday,that host and Jay and the others
with a lot of the Flaglertheaters.
And so I would not have metthem had I not gone into it,
just kind of, you know, seemy uncle do a show.
And so I've met a lot of,you know, different things
(42:30):
at the radio, kind of seeingwhere things go that way,
just kind of helping outwith Flagler Broadcasting
and doing some things there.
And then with DaytonaState College working their
hopefully come January.
So, I mean, there are somany different moving pieces
(42:51):
right now.
Like Angela, there's somuch going on and it's why
it is exciting and it is so newand all of these things
that I'm just soaking it inand just enjoying where I'm at
right now is really,really awesome.
What will you be doingat Daytona State College?
Is that in the healthand fitness field?
(43:11):
Unfortunately, no.
I will be an academic advisor,but I am.
To me, health and fitnessand personal training is
not something I plan to everget rid of, and it's definitely
ingrained in my bonesand in my cells.
So you won't see me leavingthis profession for a long time
ever.
So just kind of note thatif anybody out there is looking
(43:34):
for a personal trainer,Nancy is looking for clients.
People there.
You got it.
I'm here to help.
Awesome.
So one last question that I liketo ask people.
If you were to ask ourour listeners to set a goal
for the future in the healthand fitness fields, what
(43:56):
would you tell them to doand how would you advise them
to get there?
So if you are trying todo something new or reach
a certain goal or just trying tofigure out what that is.
What I would definitely suggestwith you is if you don't know
where to start, talk to somebodythat you know is either doing
(44:17):
what you want to do or has donewhat your what
you would like to doand then hold yourself
accountable.
I think the mostimportant thing is
we talk about whatwe want to do, but we don't
actually followthrough and do it whether it be
setting a deadline andit doesn't have to be
the whole thing.
I mean, pick somethingkind of like I said
(44:37):
in the beginningwith, okay, well,
what doesn't sound scary to youand ask yourself that question.
Okay, well, that soundssuper scary, but what part of
it is something that I could doand could do today?
Because ultimatelyyou want to choose to do
something today that is going toset you up for whatever it is
(44:58):
you want to do.
So break it into thoselittle pieces.
Talk to somebody who's done itor doing it.
Hold yourself accountable.
Give yourself a deadlineand start small.
Excellent.
I love that.
Hey, everybody.
You heard it from Nancy.
Get out there and takethose small steps.
Talk to people and you can doit, too.
(45:18):
Well, Nancy, thank you so muchfor being on the show today.
I really appreciate youand your knowledge
and your sharing.
Thank you, Angela.
It's been a pleasureand I really appreciate
you having me.
Wonderful talking with you.
This is Angela Grayson fromthe Loving Life Fitness Podcast.
(45:43):
To help others in their fitnessjourney.
It's all possible! It’s timeto wake up.
Here we go.
This is Angela Grayson fromthe Loving Life Fitness Podcast.
To help others in their fitnessjourney.
It's all possible! It’s timeto wake up.
(00:35):
Here we go.
Hello, everybody.
This is Angela Grayson from theLoving Life Fitness Podcast.
Today we have Nancy Ickeswith us, who is
a personal trainerand so much more.
Hi, Nancy.
Hi, Angela.
Thank you so much for having me.
Yeah, it's exciting.
(00:56):
I know that people are goingto be listening and they're
going to be gainingso much value from all
the things that youhave to share with them.
So let's take it back tothe beginning where you
started with your career andwhat brought you
to this direction and maybeinspirations.
Go ahead.
Well, I really thinkthat it started when I was
a child.
(01:17):
My mom had us in all kindsof sports and athletics.
And I mean, we startedgymnastics as a young age
just to kind of helpmy mom throw to help us develop
coordination.
And then in school, you know,athletics there.
So join cross-country teamand softball and basketball and
all those sports.
(01:38):
And then when I go to college,I had this, like,
pivotal moment.
And I'll never forget it was mysophomore year.
And it's kind of the timewhen you need to
declare a major.
And, you know, I can't tell youhow many people asked, you know,
what do you want to be?
What do you want to dowhen you grow up?
And that questionalways stumps me.
I'm like, I don't know.
How do you know you want to bea dentist star?
You know, how do you knowyou want to be a teacher?
(02:00):
And I just couldn't figure outwhat it was that I wanted to do.
And there was this one momentI'll never forget.
And I just felt likeeverything in my life
was balanced.
My social life, my physicalhealth, my education.
I just felt such peace.
And I thought everybodyshould feel this, at least
(02:24):
for a moment in their life.
This is one of the best feelingsI've ever had.
And so I thought, you know,how can I do that?
And to me, it was I knewit had a lot to do with my
physical health because alot of times I know from working
with older adults, there area lot of aches and pains
as we age andif we've had injuries and they
(02:44):
may never go away,but it's learning how to manage
that pain and there arelots of things that we can do.
So I thought, okay, that isexactly where I want to go.
And when it comesto physical, I'm sure you know,
Angela, it's not just aboutthe physical.
As a trainer, we sometimes dealwith a lot of emotional
and mental thingsthat our clients
are going through.
(03:04):
So I continued my educationand finished college
with a degree in education,but my specialty was health
promotion.
And I loved it because wehad to learn about all
those different aspectsof wellness, which has
come into play as I kindof refined my specialty into
personal training.
So that's kind of whereit all started, and I just
(03:27):
didn't feel like I knew enoughafter undergraduate school.
So I was like, No, I'm going tograd school.
I feel like I need to learna little bit more.
But I love the broadnessof health.
Like, I just I just am a spongeand I consider myself a student
for life.
I will learn until the day I diebecause there's so much and
and I thought, well,how could I be?
(03:48):
How can I be the best resourcefor the people I work with,
whether it be clientsor coworkers?
And I knew that had to bewith education and learning,
you know, as much as I couldabout as much as I could.
So that kind oftakes you to care.
I just kept kept going and Igot my personal training
(04:10):
certification because I,I did start with my group
exercise certificationin college, and I did
enjoy that, but I just feltso disconnected with being able
to help people.
And I don't knowif you've ever had this feeling,
Angela, but you know,when you take a group class,
even as a participant and you'vedone classes before and as
(04:33):
an instructor, I just, I justwant to help everyone like, oh,
I want to help youwith your form and trying
to think of 50 milliondifferent ways to say
the same thing, to makeit connects in their mind
and their mind and their mind.
But sometimes participantsdon't hear us trainers because
of the filters, or they'renot thinking and paying
(04:53):
attention to their form.
So I decided, no, I, I want todo personal training.
I want that one on one.
And what I've been asked to dogroup training.
I say no, because to methat's not personal training
any more, because nowmy attention is divided
and I do best when I cangive you my undivided attention.
(05:14):
I am focused on theperson on you and what you.
So that's kind of how I ended upas a personal trainer.
Very good.
Yeah.
And there's different people,you know, like different things.
Some of them really, really needand want that personal one
on one attention and othersthrive in the group
(05:35):
fitness classes.
They take me so many classesbecause they enjoy the stamina,
they enjoy the energy,they enjoy being around
their friends, meeting people,just the atmosphere 100%.
And I have worked in so manydifferent types of fitness
environments.
I mean, from, you know, YMCAto, you know, boutique fitness
(05:59):
to very specific one onone personal training to typical
personal training.
And the thing that I findthat never fails is it's
about finding what works for youand what you feel is helping
you grow.
I'm never going to say that'snot a good fitness thing
because it may be good for you.
(06:20):
It may not be good for me,but I'm not going to deter
anybody from trying somethinguntil you find what it is
that you love.
And you try that.
And going back to your loveof education, we do
basically the same thingevery day, day in and day out.
Right?
Whether it's personal training,teaching classes,
the same people, you know,the same thing every day, day
(06:42):
in, day out, trying to helpdifferent people.
And our minds want more.
So getting that extraeducation is is a push.
Sometimes we have tostruggle with that because
our lives are already so busy.
But getting the different ideas,the newer science,
different things to trywith different people,
(07:03):
especially if you workwith a lot of older people
with their injuries.
Not necessarily always olderpeople, younger people that have
injuries to that they have todeal with, whether it's
from sports or just lifein general, bad
backs, bad knees.
So all that extra educationis definitely something
(07:24):
that you need to havein your back pocket.
And sometimes it's it'sa lot simpler.
I feel like now on a dayto day basis, because everybody
has social media, I mean, eventhe big names in personal
training, I mean, whether it's,you know, doesn't have to be
personal training, but groupfitness, like, you know,
Ace and Nasm, they're all onsocial media.
(07:45):
And so it's those greatlittle doses in front of you
every day.
If you follow thoseorganizations to kind of
feed you some of those newexercises or tips.
And, you know, I follow doctorphysical therapy because I know
that physical therapistis going to know more than I do.
And when a clientcomes to me with, you know,
this hurts or this isn'tworking, great, let me pull
(08:08):
from the resources that I followand see if we can figure it out.
And if you do need to gosee a specialist, but I'm
going to stay and do whatI can in my lane
and we'll try and figure it out.
But if not, I know that,you know, that's out
of my scope.
We need to find somebodywho can help them,
which is one of the reasonswhy I started my Health
(08:28):
and Fitness podcast, because Idon't know at all.
Clients don't have enoughtime to learn it all.
Don't have the time, really.
So education about the bodyis so interesting to me.
And I could learn, learn, learn.
But when am I goingto have the time to help others?
So with these podcasts, I haveother people talking
(08:49):
about whatever theirspecialty is, and that is
really helpful to the listeners.
So what do you consideryour specialty?
Nancy So I consider my specialtystrength training, and I'm going
to kind of lean a little bitmore towards beginners.
(09:12):
I really enjoy beginnersand I really love meeting people
where they're at.
And I think the majorityof clients that I met, you know,
I don't know anybodyexcept for one that I've had
to be honest with you, has cometo personal training like super
excited, ready to go.
I always feel with new clientsthere is this hesitation, kind
(09:33):
of this little bit of fear.
And I get it.
You don't know what to expect,especially if you've never done
personal training before.
And so it's important to meto really meet my clients
where they're at.
And and I have I mean,I've worked in a fitness
facility where most of themknew each other, which,
you know, so they would always,you know, kind of tease
(09:55):
and say, don't give me thatperson's workout.
And I go, well, I'm not going tobecause you are not that person.
And to me, that'sone of the most important things
as a trainer is this ispersonal training because it's
personal to you.
And so if you're not gettingthat kind of training
from your trainer, that to mesays you need a new trainer
(10:16):
because this is your time.
It is your money and it isso valuable and you're
supposed to get things out of itthat you need.
So to me, that's why I love New,new strength training clients,
because I love to teach themand build that foundation
and not just withtheir strength, but with their
confidence, their self efficacy,and that they can do this
(10:39):
on their own.
Because, Angela, I'm probablythe worst personal trainer
because I don't want anybody tobe dependent upon me for a life.
I go, I am meant to be usedand let go, but you can always
come back and say,I need a refresher, or you know,
I just need a little push.
I never want anybodyto feel like you can't do any of
(11:02):
these exercises without me.
Never, ever.
You so can.
And I'm going to teach youhow to do that.
So yeah, that'swhen it boils down
to personality, though.
When you take a lookat the psychology of working out
so many different personalitiesout there, especially with
(11:22):
new people, yes, there could beintimidation and, you know,
never having walked intoa facility before to do strength
training on their own.
Yeah.
Which is a lot why a lot ofpeople like to go with a friend,
but sometimes that falls offand you're left again alone.
(11:44):
So, yeah, the psychologyis a is a big part of strength
training, especially when you'rewhen you're brand new.
So more there are thosewho I've trained in the past
that do actually gooff on their own.
And then there are thosethat I feel like I will have
(12:08):
for life.
Sure.
The buzz of the accountabilityand that's totally
understandable.
Like to me, those are kind oftwo different lanes.
Like, yes, you need that.
Great.
That's why we're here, right?
Like, we are definitely goingto hold you accountable
to your workouts, to showing up,to committing to what you said.
(12:29):
And then some people are justreally good about doing that
on their own once they'vehad the skills and the tools
and the training, theythey carry on themselves.
So yeah, I definitely amnot negating us as professionals
or what we do, but there'sdefinitely, you're right,
different personalities.
Do you usually work with youngerpeople or older people or
(12:51):
does it matter?
I worked with a variety ofdifferent ages and I'll
be honest, the majorityof individuals I worked with
are older.
My very first personaltraining job is, I think,
the majority of peopleI worked with were between
the ages of 60 and 90.
I mean, I worked with a lot ofretired individuals,
(13:12):
a lot of knee replacements,hip replacements,
and it was such a specializedtype of training.
It really taught me a lot of howto strengthen muscles with not
necessarily moving joints, whichI don't think I ever would
have learned had I not beenin that employment atmosphere.
So that really helped me.
And then most recently,my clients have been, I'm
(13:36):
going to say, just older typeof professionals.
I really have not worked with,you know, many children
or young adults, but mostly,you know, active or looking to
be healthier working adults.
I found that the older adultsare my most reliable clients.
They are?
(13:57):
Yeah.
They don't like younger people.
Unfortunately, it's life, right?
They're working.
They have children,they have families,
they have a lot of going onand there is always excuses why
they can't make it.
And older people, they're alwaysthey're always there.
No matter what.
I have gotten a notefrom their doctor saying,
you need to startdoing something or you're
(14:18):
going to die.
The light goes on.
Whoa.
Okay, I better do something.
I've known it long enough,but now my doctor's telling me,
do it or die, you know?
So you've got that, too.
Their life is getting shorter.
They're at the other endof the spectrum in their life,
and they want to be able to livea healthy life until we go
(14:41):
over to the other side.
We don't want to be overweight.
We don't want to be not beable to walk.
We don't want to not be ableto do the things that we love.
So it's a little different.
The mentality is a littledifferent with the older
generation.
Definitely.
See that? Yeah.
And they want they wantto be there.
And because of my silversneakersas a recent Silversneakers
(15:05):
program experience, like,I found so much reward and
value in that becausethey wanted to be there,
like it was so much easierto show up teaching those types
of classes because if anything,I felt like they held
me accountable because I knewthey were counting on me
more so than I wascounting on them.
And I don't knowabout you, Angela, but
(15:26):
some of their storiesto actually hear that,
I mean, you know, coming insaying that the doctor did
tell me I need to losethis weight or I am
going to die.
And just watching thetransformation, even in,
you know, retired, active olderadults, just to see that
and see how much light and,you know, vibrancy their life
(15:47):
has gained because of that.
And I don't know about you,but that's kind of one of
the reasons I went into it, isjust to see people
just come alive and havethose moments.
Mm hmm.
Yeah.
Not everybody gets to hearthe story of the group
fitness instructor or thepersonal trainer, how we feel.
Yeah.
And it's a good feelingto see others doing really well,
(16:09):
getting better and havingso much more energy to to live
a great life.
Some of that you said earlieris, you know, like
we don't have time to work out.
And and I heard this and I said,this is just brilliant.
Like, nope, nobody does.
Nobody has time to work out.
That's why we make the time.
And I mean, you could say thatwith a lot of things,
(16:30):
but I know one ofthe struggles is a lot of
people say thatabout working out.
And so with the older adults,you really see that because now
they're making the time for thatand you don't have to wait
till you're retired.
Or the doctor sayssomething like,
You can make time right now.
Yeah, not faking it.
Make it something you love todo, Right.
Well, and even ifyou don't know.
(16:51):
So this is another reason I loveworking with beginners is
I like to ask the question,well, what can you do?
Because oftentimesI think we have
this preconceivednotion in our head that I have
to work out for an hourin the gym, you know,
with people who knowwhat they're doing in the gym,
you know, liftingthe heavy weights or running
on the treadmill.
I can't like maybeit's I can't run
(17:12):
or I have no ideahow to use that.
Yeah, that is scary,like you said earlier, but.
Okay, but what doesn't soundscary to you?
And so that's whereI have people say,
well, I can walk.
Great.
Excellent.
Well, how long?
Like, what length of timeSounds good to you.
And if they're like, Oh, like,I don't know about you,
but sometimes people areafraid to say a lesson out.
(17:34):
They expect us to be like,No, you can't work out less than
60 minutes a day,five days a week, and that's not
how I work.
And I say, okay, well,how about one minute?
And they're like, I could doa minute.
I can't.
Great.
So then after a minute,if you still feel great,
why don't you do another minute?
And how about we just shootfor 5 minutes?
(17:55):
And if you still feel greatafter 5 minutes, then go
another minute and justdo a minute from there on.
Because to me, it's aboutbuilding.
Like I want people to have thatsuper strong foundation
is beginners and it doesn'tstart with 60 Minutes
in the gym.
It starts with somethingthat makes you feel
comfortable, gets you started,and just builds that confidence
(18:15):
because you can't do it.
Absolutely.
Do you get involved with howpeople eat, changing
their lifestyle habitsor anything like that?
Yes, especially withthe ones who are open to that
because I do believeit's important to meet people
where they're at.
And if they're not readyor willing to talk about
(18:37):
their food, I'm not goingto push it.
But it is 100% plays a huge partin our overall health
and wellbeing, and I'm not goingto negate that.
But again, if somebody isnot willing to talk about it or,
you know, do anything about it,okay, well, I'll meet you
where you're willing todo things.
And sometimes it's justabout let's just talk about
your water consumption.
(18:58):
You know, how much wateryou drinking.
So it's not necessarilysomething I avoid, but I just
kind of, you know, ask some ofthose questions to see where
they're at, because every weekmy clients, not where
I left them.
So I meet them in a new placeevery week.
So how about you?
So usually, always ask them towrite down for me what they're
(19:20):
consuming for a week, everythingconsuming, eating, drinking,
snacking.
And that's alwaysthe hardest one for people.
They have so many excuseswhy they can't do that.
I try to tell them it'snot for me, it's for you,
so that you can look at itafter a week and say, Oh really?
I consumed all that fruit juice,or I consumed, you know, that
(19:43):
much snack foods.
And I didn't thinkI was drinking that much coffee.
Really.
You know, and just looking at itand seeing what
you can tweak here and there,a little tweaks
to make it betterso that you can feel better
and maybe get alittle more energy
out of your day.
Yeah, but and I got awayfrom having them write it down
(20:06):
because a lot of themkind of forgot.
And I said, You know what?
Just snap a picture ofyour plate before you eat it
where I can really seewhat you're eating
and kind of see some of theportion sizes.
And also you don't have todo anything that takes up
too much of your time.
And I seem to get a lot moreof a consistent week's
worth of food when I set upa picture before you eat it
(20:27):
or if you ate it now, I mean thewrapper or the box.
So I could see a good idea.
Yeah.
Nobody writes anything downanymore, right?
Nope.
No.
The difference between our agesthat I still have right now.
I do too.
I'm such a paper person.
You're no idea.
Yeah.
Lists.
Susan.
(20:47):
Yeah.
Goal setting, journaling,all of that.
I love to write.
Right, Right.
Yeah.
That's very helpful.
And you do what works for you.
Snapping a picture is goodfor you. Great.
If writing things down isgood for you, great.
You know, and that'sanother thing.
Even journaling on a daily basiswhere if you feel like you know,
you're feeling like you don'thave energy and you take taken
(21:08):
a look at what youate the day before and sit there
and journal about how youfeel today, you know,
maybe the next day you'll changethings a little bit about what
you're consuming or your amountof activity and how you're
feeling.
Again, when you sit thereand journal and, you know,
see how your day is goinghigher energy level is
what you feel like doingand sleep is important.
(21:31):
You know, we need to get theright amount of sleep.
I don't always do that.
I try to and I find that sleepis just so, so important
for everything.
Yeah. Yeah.
So do you have a success storythat you would like
to share with us?
People like to hearreal life stories.
I'm going to say there's twoand they're two different ones.
(21:54):
The first one I'm going totalk about is I was asked
to train by my previoussupervisor at the
fitness center.
Her neighbors daughterand her daughter
is about two yearsyounger than me, but she has
the mentality of a fourthgrader.
So there are some mentaldisabilities there and then also
(22:15):
some physical like her hipsnever fully formed.
So we're like her femur doesn'tfit completely in the hip socket
and she's overweight.
And, you know, her parents aregetting older.
So she needs to be ableto be better about moving
and taking care of herselfbecause her parents, of course,
(22:36):
are not going to be ableto do that the rest of her life.
I had no idea what to do.
And and I was, ofcourse, scared.
But also I loved itbecause it was forcing me
to stretch as a professionalbecause I had to learn
how to train this very brandnew person that I'd never,
never experienced anythinglike before.
(22:56):
And to me, she wasthe most rewarding because she
taught me that fitnesssometimes is just about fun.
And I knew with her as a fourthgrader mentality, I wanted her
to enjoy coming to thefitness center,
enjoy working out,and I knew that I just needed
to make it about fun.
And so we we had we had awonderful time, of course,
(23:19):
every week.
And it was interestingto see how because of her
dependance on her parents,that I really had
to get her parentsinvolved in her physical
transformation journey that,you know, okay, she does
live at home.
It's about what she's eating.
You're in chargeof what she eats and what
she drinks and what you bringinto the house because she
(23:40):
clearly cannot go shoppingherself.
But it was just wonderfulto see her.
She lost over £50 from the timethat I started seeing her.
And for somebody with suchlimited mobility in her walking
and stuff like that, I mean,we focused a lot on strength
training.
And I mean, I'm a firm believerin that, you know, muscle does
(24:02):
burn more calories than fat.
So just to see that,really, really it was amazing
to watch her transform and justgrow a love for fitness.
So that was that's what I'mvery good at.
So you're not trainingher anymore?
She's not with I I'm not justbecause she was one of my ones.
I just moved recently downto Florida.
(24:24):
So yes, I'm from Ohio.
She's the one that I didnot feel comfortable doing
virtual training because theredid need to be some physical
assisting of getting her inand out of equipment and,
you know, in and out of things.
So I felt better handing her offto a qualified trainer
to continue her training.
So she's still training,which makes me so happy.
(24:44):
Yes.
And that's to mewhat it's about.
Yeah.
She's continuing her journey.
That is so awesome.
Yeah, It'd be so nice to keepin touch with her.
Oh, I do.
Yes. Yes.
Her mom sends me text messagesevery week.
That's awesome.
Yeah, it's wonderful. Yeah.
That really makes you feel goodinside to know that you've
(25:04):
helped somebody like that.
Yeah. Okay.
You said you had anothersuccess story.
Yes.
This will be a little bitshorter.
So I started working witha gentleman in his late fifties,
and here he came to me,you know, pretty, pretty good
physical fitness.
And when we firststarted training, I had him
(25:25):
do some bear crawls.
And for those who maybedon't know what that is,
it's basically just get downon your hands and your knees,
but lift your knees like an inchoff the ground and start
walking on your hands and yourtoes, basically.
And so he couldbarely go ten feet high.
And so our last sessionwe had together, he went over
(25:47):
he went way over a hundred feetand he had a £36 sandbag
on his back.
So it was just amazing to seethe strength transformation.
And that was in a matter of likeseven months.
So to me, like that was justso rewarding to see
his strength grow and that wasso important to him.
So there's a story.
(26:09):
Excellent.
Yeah. Yeah.
We all need our strengthto stay strong, keep the bone
strong, keep the muscleshealthy.
This energized, keep usenergized also to keep
some metabolism burningthat's so important.
The more we move, the morewe're going to keep
that metabolism burning.
(26:29):
Everybody wonders why theirmetabolism slows down.
Well, take a look at whatyou're doing today
compared to when maybe you thinkyour metabolism was better.
I mean, but look at ourprofessions.
You know, a lot of themare seated.
You know, we said all dayand it's hard and I totally
(26:50):
understand.
And I feel for know everybodyin those professions
where they're kind of stuckat a desk, you know,
five days a week.
So I'm happy.
I'm happy to play with you.
Get up and and, you know,yeah, I've never been that
person to sit still.
I would never put myselfin that position where I'd be
sitting behind a deskall day long, five days
(27:11):
a week indoors.
You know, I would gototally insane.
So we don't have to do thatsort of thing, you know, if
we're finding that our our jobsare detrimental to our health,
why not make changes?
There's a lot of peoplewho are scared to make a change
in their life.
Rob Ashley with yourwith your job, if that's
(27:34):
if you're in a successful place,but if it's deteriorating
your health, why not makea change?
You know, figure it out.
Yeah.
Or or ask for support or help,because I know sometimes we do
get stuck in thingsbecause sometimes we just need
that little extra support.
And I think Angela, sometimeswe provide that at, at a
different level.
(27:54):
But you know, we kind ofgive you the permission.
It's okay.
Like it's okay to strugglethrough this.
I mean, to me, exerciseis practice for life.
Life's hard.
And if you do need tochange jobs because it's
affecting your health,okay, well, let's do something.
But that change or thattransformation or transition
(28:14):
is going to be hard.
So exercises practiceto help you deal with the hard
things in life.
I love to hear the storiesof people who were working
in a particular line of workand they thought they were going
to be there forever.
And something happens.
Maybe the businessgets closed down.
Or recently I was talking tosomebody who got fired
(28:34):
and he was talking to his coach,his life coach, about, okay,
so what do you want to do now?
And he said, Well, I guess I'mgoing to have to go and apply
for another job, you know,in my field.
And the coach was like,Are you sure you want to do
that?
You are you really happy there?
(28:55):
You know, you got fired.
Why did you get fired?
You know?
Ah, well, you reallyhappy there?
Would you like to dosomething else?
You know, sometimeswe talk to others,
find ourselves a life coachor a good friend to talk to,
and we'll realize, you know,maybe we're not
in a happy place, you know?
And at a pivotal pointlike that, this is the time,
(29:17):
you know, to make a changeto where you can be
happier, healthier and maybereally, really, really
do something that you love.
Yeah.
And I love that.
And I agree with allthat, Angela, because to
me, life is meant to be enjoyed.
And you define what enjoyyour life means because you're
(29:38):
the one living it.
And I love that that lifecoach asked that question like,
are you sure?
Because we we do you needthose people to ask us
those questions, you know,to kind of help us pivot
and have that courage to pivotwhen we need to.
And yeah, being stuckdoesn't sound fun to me.
So did you ever work forcompanies in the health
(30:01):
and fitness industry?
Yes.
So besides some fitness centers,I did work for, I did work
for corporate fitness companies,and I worked for a hospital
system, Cleveland Clinicin Cleveland, Ohio.
And I did work for some likeesthetic doctors at one point.
(30:23):
So I had held many differentpositions, kind of in
different areas of healthand wellness.
Did you enjoy that or you wantedto get out of that
arena to be more on your own?
I definitely enjoyed certainaspects of it.
How I mean, I whenI went to school,
I loved doing the programdevelopment and doing the needs
(30:46):
assessment to see, you know,what needs need to be met
in this work environmentand how to put together
programing that would helpimprove the health of, you know,
the population of the company,the employees.
And, you know, I ran a weightloss program at the
Cleveland Clinic and managedwellness programs or employer
(31:06):
benefit programs.
So if you do these healthyactivities, you get a reduction
in your healthinsurance premium,
which is great.
It just comes backto I just felt so far removed
and I couldn't really tellif I was helping people.
And I kind of like to think of,you know, what we do
in the health and wellness fieldis very different
(31:28):
than, you know, constructionworkers.
Like you go to work,you have your starting point
and you can see your progressevery day.
You see like maybe you'rebuilding a house.
Okay.
Well, today, the foundationsdone, you can see that when you
leave work.
And as a health professional,I just felt like I didn't
I didn't know.
I couldn't see if I was actuallydoing anything,
(31:49):
being so far awayfrom the people I was trying
to help in those companies.
So that's where I decided.
I'm like, now I need to bemore one on one with people.
And that really just shifted meinto that.
Like, maybe I'm ready forsomething else.
Yeah, yeah.
Those.
I used to work for thepost office for 30 years
(32:09):
as a mail carrier.
Wow.
And so, yeah, they had all thoseprograms, incentive programs, to
try to stay healthyand get reductions on your
health insurance.
And even me, the kindof person who I always
worked out all my life.
You know, I just really log onand do what?
(32:30):
And and adhere to this andand send in this
and send in that to showwhat you did.
And it's like, oh, my gosh,this is just too much.
Yeah, I want to go the gymwhen you're out a bike ride
or go for a walk or whatever.
I guess for those who don't,you know, work out on their own,
(32:52):
you know, having thatlittle bit of an in Santa to do
the right thing, it might behelpful for that population
here.
But with you not being ableto see exactly what was going on
and, you know, the gainsthat people were getting
from it, it's I could see whereyou could lose interest in that
(33:13):
because you want to see peopledoing better and if not
make changes or help them,advise them in different ways
to move on, becausewe all have to make changes.
And what we do, it's good to dowhat you enjoy, maybe at first,
but if we don't make changesin what we do, there's going
(33:33):
to be parts of the body that areleft behind.
So variety is so important.
Do you give your clientsregimens for variety
or do you just how do youwork that?
Yes, so dependingon the client, but oftentimes,
especially when I'm buildingstrength to new clients,
(33:53):
it's usually very consistentand usually the same types
of exercises that we build upon.
So like, for example, one of thenewest clients I had, we started
with ridges, so laying onthe ground back flat, you know,
knees bent, digging your heelsinto the ground and just raising
your butt, squeezing your gluteswhen you're butt's in the air.
(34:14):
And, you know, that's wherewe started because hers couldn't
have her squat.
Her squats were very weakhips, knees caving in.
And I was like, Nope, I need alittle bit more of a
stable surface so that wayI can start working on her
hip mobility.
And so we didn't.
Bridges for the longest time,you know, added a band
around her thighs to bridgeand kind of have her
(34:35):
push against to kind of buildthat outer thigh
strength as well.
So for somebody like herthat I really needed to focus on
building the strength in veryspecific areas, it was pretty
much repetitive with addingin some of those, I call them
elements of fun.
And my clients lovewhen I say I'm adding in an
element of fun.
So like the band aroundthe legs, this is what would
be an example.
(34:55):
But for some others, like theone success story
I told, he wanted varietylike no other.
He never wanted to dothe same thing twice, so he may
have seen the same moves.
But again, there is alwaysa different, you know,
twist to it.
And so like the bear callswith a sandbag or
he bear crawled, you know,pulling a dumbbell
(35:18):
or adding a row in and thingslike that.
So same things, but with a spinor a twist on my
elements of time.
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
I just and a lot ofclient really and truly.
Yeah.
And that's all pretty muchfunctional training, everything
that you're talking aboutright there.
Do you ever use machinesor do you try to stay to the
(35:40):
with the functional sideof it all?
No, I definitely use machines.
I had a client.
We could not figure out whyher knees were hurting her.
I can't tell you how manydifferent trainers
I reached out to, you know,what else can I do?
I have no idea what else to dowith her.
I've done all these differentexercises to try and avoid
(36:01):
her knees while the thingwas avoiding her quads was
the problem because herquads were weak and that was
causing her kneecaps to move.
And that's why she had pain.
And I was so surprised causeshe was 22 years old, so
I would throw her on the legextension Every workout
we're starting on the legextension or firing up
those quads, and thenwe are going to go to
(36:21):
the leg press.
So we spend a lot of timein every session a recession.
We started on thatleg extension.
But yes.
And so sometimes I will throwin machines with the functional
training, and sometimesI will do all machine work,
and especially for new clients.
I don't know about you, Angela,but I find machines are
really in some ways safe.
(36:43):
You know, if your trainersets you up at the right seat
setting and shows youhow to properly
move the machine, because Iloved walking into a
fitness center and peoplesometimes think that
just because I use themachine, it's working
the muscles I want.
And that's not always the case.
Like your form is importantin the machines, but at least
(37:04):
you don't have to worry so muchabout the stability because
you're safe, you're securein your stable
in those machines.
Yeah.
And there's days that maybe youcan't meet them at the gym or,
you know, they only want to meetwith you once or twice a week
and they want to go and work outon their own.
So, you know, the machinesare good for people because they
(37:24):
pretty much do.
You hold you in the positionthat you need to be in as long
as you have all the settingsand the numbers correct and you
follow that for your bodytighten.
Good place to go.
Yeah, but I find thatwhen I work with my clients,
you know that I do like to doa lot of functional stuff,
body movement in waysthat we use it in everyday life.
(37:48):
But Maybe with a littlebit of weight, can weights,
medicine, balls, just bendingand twisting in different
directions.
Because in real lifethat's the way it is right now
that. Yes.
And when when I taughtSilversneakers,
I would always saythis in my classes and I said,
yes, I'm trying to be funny, butat the same time
I'm very seriousbecause we would
(38:09):
just squat, get up and downout of the chair.
And even if you can't get upand out of the out of the chair,
you know, just squeezingyour butt cheeks, digging
your heels into the floor.
And so I say, I wouldtell them all, I said, You are
95 years old.
I said, I want you to be ableto get off the toilet
by yourself.
Because I said, I feelI 100% do, too.
So I said, I know itsounds funny, but I'm also
(38:30):
very serious because oncewe lose that independence, like,
I don't know howmany people think now about,
Oh my gosh, I never thoughtabout not being able to get off
the toilet by myself.
And I mean, that is that isa possibility for everybody.
So like I 100% agree with thefunctional because that is
(38:50):
what keeps you moving and keepsyou independent.
And I don't want peopleto lose that.
And even getting upoff the floor, that's an
issue for people who areyounger or, you know,
you start yourself gruntwhen you get up off the floor.
That's a sign.
That's a sign.
Yeah.
There should be no gruntingwhen you're in your forties.
(39:12):
No.
Oh, no, no, no.
I had a client whose son in lawwas a physical therapist,
and she shared with methat he said he was having
a hard time with individualscoming in for physical therapy
who were much older adults.
But he said they were havinga hard time.
They could not eventurn themselves over in bed
because their abdominalswere so weak.
(39:34):
And I and like thatjust makes my heart break
because I don't know aboutyou, but like, that's
what makes me just want to helpas many people with their
physical well-beingbecause I don't want anybody
to not be ableto turn themselves over to
get out of bed.
I mean, that's what call us.
You call us, we'll help you.
Absolutely.
(39:54):
Yeah.
That'll definitely a sign.
You can't roll over.
How are you going to get upand get out of bed if she can't
even roll over.
Exactly.
You know, whether it bebecause there's a tweak in
your back or the abdominalsor weak the core of the body,
whether it's the frontor the back of the body,
it needs to be strengthenedand kept strong.
It doesn't have to be cruncheson the floor either.
(40:16):
There are so many to strengthenthe core of the body
so that we can do things likeroll over in bed.
I have a couple of clientsthat I've been working
specifically with tryingto get them to be able to get up
off the floor in wonder,drop things on the floor.
We have to bend downfront of a cabinet and reach
to the back of the cabinetand get something out of it.
(40:38):
You need to beable to bend down,
get on the floor and get back upagain.
And even if you have to do itin a different kind of way,
so essential to everyday life.
So what's in the futurefor Nancy?
Anything different?
Anything new?
What's what's the latest here?
That is a great question.
(40:59):
Before I starteddoing my podcast,
you met Jay Scheer at theradio station.
Jay Junior was at the gymwhere I used to work,
and he said to me it was thebeginning of a new year.
I think it was maybe 2021,and now this was before
COVID, actually, Yeah.
Angela, what's new for youthis year?
(41:22):
I don't know.
Jay.
I'm happy where I'm at.
Well, the more Jay talked to me,it's like I realized there's
so much more.
How can we be happywhere we're at when there's
so much more?
So what more is there for you?
Well, with what's newand what's more is I've only
(41:44):
been in Florida for noteven a month, So
this is so what's new for me?
So 100% enjoying thisprocess and, you know,
finding my my groove, my flowand whatever that is down here.
And then just what's more is,I mean, with meeting Jay at the
(42:08):
radio station, you know, FlaglerBroadcasting and and I'm
going to say things to my unclebecause it's his radio
show on Friday,that host and Jay and the others
with a lot of the Flaglertheaters.
And so I would not have metthem had I not gone into it,
just kind of, you know, seemy uncle do a show.
And so I've met a lot of,you know, different things
(42:30):
at the radio, kind of seeingwhere things go that way,
just kind of helping outwith Flagler Broadcasting
and doing some things there.
And then with DaytonaState College working their
hopefully come January.
So, I mean, there are somany different moving pieces
(42:51):
right now.
Like Angela, there's somuch going on and it's why
it is exciting and it is so newand all of these things
that I'm just soaking it inand just enjoying where I'm at
right now is really,really awesome.
What will you be doingat Daytona State College?
Is that in the healthand fitness field?
(43:11):
Unfortunately, no.
I will be an academic advisor,but I am.
To me, health and fitnessand personal training is
not something I plan to everget rid of, and it's definitely
ingrained in my bonesand in my cells.
So you won't see me leavingthis profession for a long time
ever.
So just kind of note thatif anybody out there is looking
(43:34):
for a personal trainer,Nancy is looking for clients.
People there.
You got it.
I'm here to help.
Awesome.
So one last question that I liketo ask people.
If you were to ask ourour listeners to set a goal
for the future in the healthand fitness fields, what
(43:56):
would you tell them to doand how would you advise them
to get there?
So if you are trying todo something new or reach
a certain goal or just trying tofigure out what that is.
What I would definitely suggestwith you is if you don't know
where to start, talk to somebodythat you know is either doing
(44:17):
what you want to do or has donewhat your what
you would like to doand then hold yourself
accountable.
I think the mostimportant thing is
we talk about whatwe want to do, but we don't
actually followthrough and do it whether it be
setting a deadline andit doesn't have to be
the whole thing.
I mean, pick somethingkind of like I said
(44:37):
in the beginningwith, okay, well,
what doesn't sound scary to youand ask yourself that question.
Okay, well, that soundssuper scary, but what part of
it is something that I could doand could do today?
Because ultimatelyyou want to choose to do
something today that is going toset you up for whatever it is
(44:58):
you want to do.
So break it into thoselittle pieces.
Talk to somebody who's done itor doing it.
Hold yourself accountable.
Give yourself a deadlineand start small.
Excellent.
I love that.
Hey, everybody.
You heard it from Nancy.
Get out there and takethose small steps.
Talk to people and you can doit, too.
(45:18):
Well, Nancy, thank you so muchfor being on the show today.
I really appreciate youand your knowledge
and your sharing.
Thank you, Angela.
It's been a pleasureand I really appreciate
you having me.
Wonderful talking with you.
This is Angela Grayson fromthe Loving Life Fitness Podcast.
(45:43):
To help others in their fitnessjourney.
It's all possible! It’s timeto wake up.
Here we go.
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