From Pastor to Personal Trainer: The Transformative Journey of Stephanie Lueras

Transcript

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And welcome back to another episode of Life Changing Challengers.

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I am so honored and privileged to have Stephanie Lou Aris on our podcast.

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She is a personal trainer, nutrition specialist, author and, if I go into even more detail, she's an A-certified personal trainer orthopedic fitness specialist, fitness nutrition specialist, certified diabetes care, educational specialist.

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She is like alphabet soup.

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I don't think that LinkedIn or anything has enough space on the top of their titles to put every single thing that Stephanie has accomplished, done and been certified in.

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So, with that being said, stephanie, welcome to the podcast.

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How are you doing today?

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I am the podcast.

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How are you doing today?

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I am excellent today.

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How are you doing?

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I am excellent, too, because I'm talking to you.

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So as I start the podcast for everyone, I ask the same question Stephanie, can you tell us a little bit about your childhood, the complement of your family?

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where you grew up and what your environment was like.

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Well, I grew up in several different places.

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So when everyone's like, well, where are you from, I'm like, well, you can look at it this way, you can look at it that way.

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I was born in Pennsylvania, we lived in Tennessee for a while.

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Back to Pennsylvania, when I was a teenager, we moved to Arizona.

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But then, as an adult, I have lived all over the Southwest, in Canada or California, and so ultimately I'm a little bit from everywhere.

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But at the end of the day, I would say Arizona has been home.

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It's where I've spent most of my life at different periods, my life at different periods.

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The early years are fairly uninteresting.

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It was the quote unquote typical 80s.

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You grow up, you go to school, you go off to college, and it was in college that things started to change quite a bit and I was brought up, before moving to Arizona, in an area of the country where women really didn't pursue a lot.

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They would be secretaries and teachers, and that's a horrible kind of stereotype for 2024.

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But that's what we grew up with, and moving to a completely different culture across the country, learning that there was something more, was a little overwhelming and ultimately, I went to college to be a teacher, but in that process I didn't want to teach.

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Being in the classroom with children was not something that I enjoyed.

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It wasn't exciting to me.

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Ultimately, I graduated college with whatever degree could get me to the diploma, and that is learning and pedagogy, which is a really long term for the science of learning.

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People with that degree typically go on to write textbooks, and that was not the route I took, because, through going to college, finding a job and finding my place in the world, I was doing social work for a church and got more involved with that church, went off to seminary.

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It's where I met my amazing husband and we became pastors and for almost 20 years we're pastors in different small communities in different small communities, and we came to a point in 2018, 2019, 2020, it was not going to be something that was going to pan out to retirement.

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We just we looked around at the climate of where we were and looked at each other and said can we do this for another 15 years until we retire?

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And not happily, not in alignment with our values.

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And so it was time to go, and that's when my business was born.

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But my business was born, not because, oh, we're leaving the ministry, I need to have a job.

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Why not be a personal trainer?

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It came about through my personal wellness journey.

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I have been a person that has been overweight my entire life.

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You name the diet.

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I've been on it.

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I've gained and lost hundreds and hundreds of pounds through the years.

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I've gained and lost hundreds and hundreds of pounds through the years, but it wasn't until I quit dieting that I actually lost weight, that I understood what that self-care was to truly take care of yourself inside and out.

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Once I quit, dieting, focused on those habits that served me well, things like drinking water, nourishing my body not at the fast food restaurant and starting to get into movement.

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That's when the weight dropped off.

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I've lost almost 250 pounds at this point, and it's where, in this process, I found the exercise that I loved, which is endurance sports.

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I'm the kid that fakes sick in gym class, so to tell someone that I started running in my mid 30s was a crazy thing, but that became from someone who could barely walk up and down the street because I was so large I was almost going to lose my mobility to running marathons, half marathons, triathlon and continuing down the course, and that's where I found my continued passion in serving people, in helping people.

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Obviously I had done that as a pastor for many years in many capacities, but in working with quality people that understood me, understood my needs a triathlon coach, a sports dietitian that really centered around my understanding of intuitive eating and mindful eating and could relate with some of my history, that's where the magic happened and I wanted to understand, I wanted to learn more about what they were teaching me.

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That's where all the certifications came in.

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Initially was I want to understand what you're telling me about my body.

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And from there it was.

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I have these people watching me get well, change, not only physically, but it changed my emotional health.

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It changed my spiritual health.

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It truly changed who I was as a person and they're like I want that.

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Show me what you're doing.

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Well, okay, I've got a framework here.

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That's where my business came from.

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Business opened.

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Six weeks later the world shuts down from COVID, so again it's adapting again and coming into.

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Where is it that I can serve people where they're at?

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And I've continued to really hold that experience, not only through the education, the certifications, but in the people I work with, really specializing in orthopedic fitness and chronic illness, because if you're in pain, you're not living your best life in on any front, and it's helping people to live how they want to live, right where they are today and moving forward to where, essentially wherever they want to be.

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And it's a journey a little bit longer for some than others, but I'm that Pollyanna thinker that it's not impossible.

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We just got to find the way to get there.

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Excellent, all right.

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So I love that.

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Except I am going to put you on the spot because I want to dig in a little bit deeper.

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So let's go back.

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We're going to step to the beginning, all right.

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So you said it wasn't all.

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Your childhood wasn't all that eventful.

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Obviously there was something wrong.

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So, mom and dad, what did they do?

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My father was a steel executive.

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My mom was a stay-at-home mom until we were a little bit older and then had some different part-time jobs Didn't really work full-time until my brother and I were in college and then, when we moved to Arizona, my dad had retired from that career.

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He opened a business.

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Then came the Great Recession of what was it?

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2008 or something like that, and so then for him he pivoted again everyone's favorite word and went into the nonprofit sector and did emergency management for a international nonprofit, and my mom not only worked for his business but then followed suit into the same organization and did some grant compliance and things like that.

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So that was my parents route in what they did, how they changed over time to continue supporting their family and what they wanted.

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Nice and your brother?

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Is that your only sibling?

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No, I also have two older sisters.

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Okay, so you had mentioned that you were large, like most of your life, right Before you had gotten to this point.

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Did that trait run in the family?

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Absolutely, and I think a lot of us that are in their 40s grew up around that diet culture that are maybe our moms, maybe both of our parents were enveloped in the Jane Fonda aerobics, slim, fast type view of dieting and we picked up on that that thin is healthy.

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Anything else is not and you need to be thin at all costs.

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Okay, so did your parents, did they ran this diet kind of yo-yo thing as well.

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Absolutely.

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You said your mom was a stay-at-home mom, so I'm going to.

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Well, I'll just ask you did she cook?

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In the loosest sense of the word, ed.

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We love our parents.

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I grew up learning how to cook pasta and casseroles and things that came out of a box.

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It wasn't until I got married, and I married a guy that went to culinary school oh well, there you go how to make things from scratch, and the breadth and width of fruits and vegetables and their versatility, and that they actually taste good when they don't come from a can things like that.

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See, that is, that's a huge point that during the research that I did on you, that I didn't get to see.

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I think this is like a very powerful statement that you could make about yourself.

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You've been, you're successful now in the fitness community, but the idea that you grew up like hundreds millions of other people and found this transition is huge.

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Right, I was there too.

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Right, my mom actually cooked.

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She cooked from scratch.

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I was, and I didn't like it.

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As a kid, give me McDonald's.

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And I was a happy camper until I learned the same thing, but I learned it through osmosis.

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Six, seven days a week I had good solid dinners, lunches, whatever, and once in a great while mom would say, hey, I don't feel like cooking, let's go to Mickey D's.

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Yay, but it was never a normal thing.

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It was never a normal thing.

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So that kind of bred into that where you're the other opposite, you're on the other side of it.

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It probably was, like you said, casseroles, pasta, high in carbohydrates, low in protein.

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I'm going to say the word hamburger helper.

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Yeah, a lot of things like that.

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Okay, yeah, there you go.

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It was hamburger helper from scratch.

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It didn't come from the box, but everything else came from the box.

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But even as a result of that I was a really picky eater until my 20s.

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If it wasn't white meat, chicken or ground beef I probably wasn't eating it.

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See, and that's a huge point because a lot of people have done that we call it the SAD, right?

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The Standard American Diet is getting stuff from the inside of the grocery store.

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The old adage which still holds today and and I still believe, is the outside of the, is the outside of the of the grocery store, right.

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I don't know where it is, where it was, where you are, but I usually, in every grocery store I've been to, one of the two sides has fruits and vegetables.

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You go into lean meats, dairy, and then you get into seafood and butcher and stuff on the outside.

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So if you stay on the outside of the grocery store, you end up with everything fresh.

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Then, as you start to get into the middle, everything is processed.

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So I still believe that and I still give a little bit of those tidbits.

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I mean there's a lot more to it, but on the whole, but I think it's very that's just somebody that's in this industry.

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That's a huge thing that you did what everybody else did, right, until you found real whole food.

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So okay, let's continue on here.

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So then, so that's how you grew up Brothers and sisters the same way, yes and no, there was a big age gap between my sisters and my brother and I, and so my brother and I were very similar.

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My sisters were a picky eater until you were 20.

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It was now going away to college.

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Experiencing new things definitely made me open to trying a lot more.

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But even cooking at home it was still very limited.

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It wasn't until I met Mary, on my husband, in my late 20s that it was OK.

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Now here's a dramatic shift.

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Yeah, and just the fact that you met your husband in a seminary.

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I know it's probably something that happens.

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We're not talking about you going into seminary and taking a vow of chastity, but it's just.

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That's the picture that everybody's going to get, but I think it's fantastic.

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So, all right, so you get into seminary.

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So I'm assuming that this is where I mean.

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You said that you had decided that you didn't like to teach kids, but the seminary taught you to give back.

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Right and for me, I have always worked better with adults, older adults, and so, even as a pastor, children's ministry was not my thing.

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I I could do it.

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I I knew the nuts and bolts would get through it, but my passion really was working with people my age and beyond, and it's where I could identify, it's where I could use myself, put myself in their position and really take a lesson to the next level, because if I couldn't conceptualize it and live it myself, I have a hard time with trying to teach it to other people.

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And even today, with kids and teenagers, I can't put myself in their shoes because it's not the way we grew up and it's a lot harder for me.

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I get it, but I do commend you on your self-actualization.

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A lot of people don't understand it.

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Right, you say listen, not that I don't like kids.

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I like kids.

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They're not for me to teach and instruct.

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I'm just not.

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I'm not built that way.

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I'm and I'm totally cool with that.

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I have no issues whatsoever.

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And that takes I think it takes a special kind of person.

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And then there is a special kind of person that is able to start, you know, talking to people about fat phobia and body positivity and stuff like that.

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And that's you.

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Where was the turning point where?

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Okay, so you're in the seminary and you're helping out here, and then you said that you made this shift.

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So what was?

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Can you give me circumstances that all of a sudden it was like, hey, you know what, I need to do something.

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I need to do something else.

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I need to start moving.

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Well, and this wasn't in seminary, this was well into our career, and I just I call it my Holy Spirit moment because it was something that I really felt like I didn't have control over, in that I was sitting in my office and I'm just like I'm miserable.

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Yeah, everything looks great on the outside, I'm in charge, I'm the administrator, I'm doing all these things, wearing all these hats, doing this, that and the other thing in our community.

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But I was so unhappy, I was miserable with myself in that self-loathing, that I almost felt like a hypocrite because I tell people in that daily life, if you do ABC, life's going to be great, life's going to be easy, but I'm not applying these things, I'm not doing these things to grow myself spiritually, I'm not taking care of my mental health, I'm not doing what I'm telling everyone else to do.

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And that bothered me.

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But I knew from my crazy history with dieting, from dealing with eating disorders and eating disorder recovery, that it couldn't go the way it had always gone.

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To try to change it, this had to be different and I didn't know what different was.

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So I'm like, okay, we're going to figure it out, because I'm a figure outer and it wasn't going to be a program, it wasn't going to be a plan, it wasn't going to be something that was going to involve overhauling life again, in making myself and my husband miserable.

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Because, if miserable, because if someone's on a diet, their partner is miserable too, and I.

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It was very foreign to me to say, okay, I'm going to change one thing, and that first one thing was drinking water.

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And because I looked around, I'm like all I'm drinking is coffee and Diet Coke all day.

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Because I looked around, I'm like all I'm drinking is coffee and Diet Coke all day.

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I would, maybe would have a glass of water in there, but I mean, my body is not even properly hydrated and it wasn't going to be well.

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Okay, I'm going to do these crazy water challenges and things we see on social media, because I knew that was going to be something that lasts for a day and I'd be done.

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So I started with this little eight ounce cup and a kitchen timer.

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Every time that timer would go off, I think I'd set it for 30 or 45 minutes and I would have to go to the water cooler and fill it up, and if it wasn't empty, well then I'm drinking eight ounces of water, but just getting in that habit of doing that day after day, cultivated that one small habit of drinking water, and then just that one thing that I'm like, all right, I'm doing this really well, what can I do now?

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And so, instead of going to the drive through twice a day because we were so busy, we were so tired, I'm going to cook at home.

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And it didn't matter what it was that I was going to cook, because at that point I was still learning and everything, but I was just going to cook at home.

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We weren't going to jack in the box anymore.

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And so then, just those two habits hydration, cooking at home.

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I lost like the first 40 pounds without doing anything.

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And so then I'm like, all right, so something's working.

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Let's talk about movement.

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My arch nemesis and I knew it could not be getting the gym membership showing up for a week and never showing up again.

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And they're done.

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That bought the t shirt.

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So I'm like, okay, what is the most basic thing I can do?

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Well, I can walk.

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And then I realized no, I really couldn't.

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I mean, the first walk I took was I went to the end of the street and back wearing flip flops, because putting on shoes would have been too much work and I thought I was going to die.

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And I'm like all right, well, I lived, so let's try it again, and try it again.

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And then, okay, walking to the end of the street got a little bit easier.

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Start to put on real shoes.

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Now that became around the block, around the neighborhood, further and further building up that stamina, starting to build some fitness.

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And then I have again no idea where this came from, the idea that one day I wonder if I could run.

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And there was like a stop sign, I don't know like 40 yards down the street or something.

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It wasn't very far.

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I'm like, okay, I'm going to run to the stop sign.

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Again, it was this I am going to die, feeling because if you don't run and then I'd run, it hurts, yep.

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But that was a shift in my mind and just willingly being willing to run was a new thing.

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And I'm like, all right, I'm gonna go figure out this fat girl running thing.

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And went home, looked up all the training plans of blah, blah, blah and then I'm like, okay, well, let's make a little challenge.

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I'm consistent with the water, I'm great at eating, I'm getting moving.

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What about 5K?

00:23:09.515 --> 00:23:18.138
And there was like a color run or something here in town and I'm like, all right, I'm going to work out to running, walking, crawling, whatever three miles.

00:23:18.138 --> 00:23:25.897
And then it was during that 5K that I'm like, well, if I can do this, I can do a half marathon.

00:23:28.145 --> 00:23:31.851
Didn't even decide to go to the 10K, she just went from half day to half.

00:23:32.393 --> 00:23:32.934
That's it.

00:23:32.934 --> 00:23:35.332
There was that leap in there.

00:23:35.332 --> 00:23:41.357
But then in that training process for the half marathon, I mean I've done so much more since.

00:23:41.357 --> 00:23:52.048
I've done so much more since, but it was that half marathon that I learned the habits that served me.

00:23:52.048 --> 00:23:59.586
I learned the many things that didn't work and my need for accountability and for guidance.

00:24:00.307 --> 00:24:04.897
And after that race was I'm like we're going to keep going with this.

00:24:04.897 --> 00:24:09.576
So let's get some help, because I've come to the point of my expertise in Google.

00:24:09.576 --> 00:24:24.586
And so that's when I got a coach and I went through several coaches to find the right fit, looking at a dietician, because was that fuel in my body properly for the distances I was doing?

00:24:24.586 --> 00:24:28.951
And wouldn't find myself sitting there on the sidewalk being like, well, I can't feeling my body properly for the distances I was doing, and wouldn't find myself sitting there on the sidewalk being like, well, I can't go any further.

00:24:28.951 --> 00:24:41.737
Well, yeah, because you're not feeding yourself anything.

00:24:41.737 --> 00:24:53.832
And so really, just I think more that inner change and being willing was far greater than any athletic accomplishment that I've had.

00:24:54.854 --> 00:25:04.115
Oh no, I've, I've heard this story so many times and it's those people, and like yourself, who tried everything.

00:25:04.115 --> 00:25:06.439
Nothing really worked all that well.

00:25:06.439 --> 00:25:13.538
And then, all of a sudden and that's my big thing too is I'm like no one thing, one one thing.

00:25:13.538 --> 00:25:28.271
And it becomes all of a sudden it becomes like a chain reaction Water turns to good eating, eating turns to movement, movement turns to running, running turns to a race, race turns to longer race, and it's this effect.

00:25:28.271 --> 00:25:38.935
And then you finding OK, now I you know, like you said, you ended your Google searching, you've done the YouTubing and all that and you've come to the end of your rope, to where you need more, more help.

00:25:38.935 --> 00:25:44.315
And of course, you're yes, you're talking my bread and butter here.

00:25:44.315 --> 00:25:44.855
You know what I mean.

00:25:44.855 --> 00:25:45.698
I'm an endurance coach.

00:25:45.698 --> 00:25:48.213
I am loving what I'm hearing because it's exactly what it was.

00:25:48.285 --> 00:25:56.317
When I talk to people about their diet and I'm the exact same thing and I look at the same thing, I said, okay, find one thing that you eat, that you mostly we're treaters of habit.

00:25:56.317 --> 00:25:57.931
We eat a lot the same things every week.

00:25:57.931 --> 00:26:05.971
Right, I'm like find the one thing that you can change.

00:26:05.971 --> 00:26:08.063
So they say well, I love mashed potatoes, fabulous One day a week that you usually eat mashed potatoes.

00:26:08.063 --> 00:26:14.174
Eat mashed cauliflower, Make it with water, and you can still have your butter right.

00:26:14.174 --> 00:26:20.071
Make it with water, do it with butter, mash it all up and it saves like 390 calories.

00:26:20.071 --> 00:26:21.876
You know what I mean.

00:26:21.876 --> 00:26:23.798
You like, oh.

00:26:23.837 --> 00:26:26.287
And then, of course, oh, I like stuff that's a little bit sweeter.

00:26:26.287 --> 00:26:34.209
I'll want, like, all right, butternut squash, cinnamon butter, matt, just like you cook mashed potatoes.

00:26:34.209 --> 00:26:39.385
It tastes delicious and it's got everything that you know.

00:26:39.385 --> 00:26:39.787
That's got.

00:26:39.787 --> 00:26:45.137
It's got a serving of vegetables in it, it's vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin K and the whole thing.

00:26:45.137 --> 00:26:51.557
So I, yeah, you are like, yeah, you're preaching my, you're preaching my choir.

00:26:51.557 --> 00:26:54.250
Oh, coming from the woman who used to be a pastor.

00:26:54.250 --> 00:26:55.654
But anyway, all right.

00:26:55.654 --> 00:26:56.537
So you went ahead like this.

00:26:56.537 --> 00:26:59.934
So where did it come in that you started to educate yourself?

00:27:10.884 --> 00:27:22.712
after I had lost I don't know probably 120, 120 pounds and was really deep in racing and I had done my first marathon, I was going for the second and and really trying to just figure out.

00:27:22.712 --> 00:27:24.936
I love doing doing this.

00:27:24.936 --> 00:27:30.066
This is great, but how can I continue doing this?

00:27:30.066 --> 00:27:49.517
That I'm not, that I can keep the enjoyment without rattling my body and it it was not only ensuring that I was training properly and nourishing my body properly, but I wanted to understand why those things worked.

00:27:49.517 --> 00:27:58.498
I love the question why, and so that's where I think it was my own curiosity.

00:27:59.224 --> 00:28:02.234
And when I would ask my coach, when I would ask the dietitian, I'm like, well, why is that?

00:28:02.234 --> 00:28:02.474
Why is that?

00:28:02.474 --> 00:28:04.361
And they'd be like, oh, the Kre, would ask the dietitian.

00:28:04.361 --> 00:28:04.923
I'm like, well, why is that?

00:28:04.923 --> 00:28:05.384
Why is that?

00:28:05.384 --> 00:28:08.914
And they'd be like, oh, the Krebs cycle, or blah, blah, blah.

00:28:08.914 --> 00:28:10.652
And I'd be like, well, what is that?

00:28:10.652 --> 00:28:17.237
And it came to that point where there was the disconnect in the why.

00:28:17.237 --> 00:28:20.932
The why existed, but I didn't understand it.

00:28:20.932 --> 00:28:33.834
And so I needed to go do line homework and be educated and understand it, and so that I could fully grasp and envelop it.

00:28:33.834 --> 00:28:42.214
Because for me, when I really internalize something like that, it becomes almost second nature.

00:28:42.214 --> 00:28:50.296
It's the difference between knowing that hydration is important, but at a cellular level.

00:28:50.296 --> 00:28:52.122
This is why we stay hydrated.

00:28:53.286 --> 00:28:54.067
That's amazing.

00:28:54.067 --> 00:28:59.965
And then another deep simile between the two of us, something that's super similar.

00:28:59.965 --> 00:29:02.712
I am the same way, matter of fact, my clients.

00:29:02.712 --> 00:29:06.790
They have to tell me to shut up me, laura, I am the same way, matter of fact, my clients, they have to tell me to shut up.

00:29:06.790 --> 00:29:09.355
So I've got two sets of clients and then you probably feel the same way.

00:29:09.355 --> 00:29:09.998
You probably have it.

00:29:09.998 --> 00:29:17.387
I'm not going to assume it, but I'm going to let you know.

00:29:17.387 --> 00:29:17.828
You can let me know.

00:29:17.828 --> 00:29:19.852
I have a set of clients that's yo coach, give me what I got to do and I'll do it.

00:29:19.852 --> 00:29:20.492
That's it.

00:29:20.492 --> 00:29:21.674
I have the other set.

00:29:21.674 --> 00:29:22.276
That's okay.

00:29:22.276 --> 00:29:22.516
Why?

00:29:23.397 --> 00:29:26.248
But I tell everything the same way, because I'm thinking the same thing that you do right.

00:29:26.248 --> 00:29:31.590
Once you get it, once you understand why, now it's like, all right, one step in front of the other, all right.

00:29:31.590 --> 00:29:32.573
Well, why am I?

00:29:32.573 --> 00:29:34.196
Why is he giving me this long run?

00:29:34.196 --> 00:29:38.413
And I've got four intervals of tempo within the long run.

00:29:38.413 --> 00:29:40.218
Why vo2 max?

00:29:40.218 --> 00:29:53.019
Next time you make that long run, your z2 is going to be that your Z2 pace is going to be a little bit higher because you're doing these tempo intervals right and I go to them and I can do that at a cellular level and I can show them that and I can make it.

00:29:53.079 --> 00:29:55.067
But the people that sit there and they harness it.

00:29:55.067 --> 00:29:59.986
So when they go, I don't get those questions anymore and I get compliance.

00:29:59.986 --> 00:30:14.348
You might feel the same way when I put those four tempo ones, when I put those four tempo intervals in their long run, the people that ask me why never complain, the ones that don't know why, just tell me what to do.

00:30:14.348 --> 00:30:15.452
Well then, why didn't you do it?

00:30:15.452 --> 00:30:17.027
You told me this is what I wanted you to do.

00:30:17.027 --> 00:30:17.709
Why didn't you do it?

00:30:17.709 --> 00:30:21.027
Well, I wasn't really feeling it that day and blah, blah, blah.

00:30:21.027 --> 00:30:22.470
But so I get it.

00:30:22.470 --> 00:30:24.555
Do you find the same situation?

00:30:25.276 --> 00:30:25.696
I do.

00:30:25.696 --> 00:30:38.951
And then I think there's also a third set of people in that you tell them what to do, they're happy to do it and they don't question it.

00:30:38.951 --> 00:30:43.096
They're just happy to not have to think about it.

00:30:43.096 --> 00:30:51.048
And really I find that in it's a certain population of people.

00:30:51.048 --> 00:31:11.361
It's people that are in the helping profession, that were something along those lines, where their brain power, their energy, their emotional power is tapped out so much that they thrive in being told what to do, doing it and not having to think twice about it.

00:31:12.525 --> 00:31:12.925
Excellent.

00:31:12.925 --> 00:31:13.967
Yeah, I love that.

00:31:13.967 --> 00:31:16.410
Yeah, I agree, I agree wholeheartedly.

00:31:16.410 --> 00:31:17.751
I do have a third set as well.

00:31:17.751 --> 00:31:19.133
I never thought about it that way.

00:31:19.133 --> 00:31:28.513
Yeah, because I've got people that know why and they're compliant, people that don't know why that are 80, 75 to 80 compliant.

00:31:28.513 --> 00:31:34.950
And then I have those that never question just tell me what to do, I'm going to do it, and the results will follow.

00:31:34.950 --> 00:31:38.137
Trust the process and they just do what they're going to do.

00:31:38.846 --> 00:31:45.058
I use a sas program called training peaks, and when they're compliantaks, and when they're compliant, it's green.

00:31:45.058 --> 00:31:52.617
When they're somewhat compliant or they're close, well, when they're less than 80% compliant, it goes yellow.

00:31:52.617 --> 00:31:54.670
And if they're not compliant at all, it goes red.

00:31:54.670 --> 00:32:01.755
And those people that you're talking about, they hate the red, hate it.

00:32:01.755 --> 00:32:04.182
They hate the red, they hate, hate the yellow.

00:32:04.182 --> 00:32:05.384
They want to see everything green.

00:32:05.384 --> 00:32:06.467
And what?

00:32:06.467 --> 00:32:14.633
And the funny thing about training peaks is that if they do better, it'll go yellow too, because they're outside of their range.

00:32:14.633 --> 00:32:18.567
Right, and those are the, but those people that are doing better, and blah, blah.

00:32:18.567 --> 00:32:19.930
That's when I go and make the fudging.

00:32:19.930 --> 00:32:20.692
So it goes green.

00:32:20.692 --> 00:32:28.669
Um, because I want them to feel because they did the workout, they did it to the best of their ability, just turned out to be better, so they deserve it.

00:32:28.669 --> 00:32:30.366
Yes, but the other ones?

00:32:30.366 --> 00:32:35.153
Now they can go yellow and red, but yeah, but anyway, I don't know if you ever use that, that software before.

00:32:35.313 --> 00:32:43.369
I have, and there there was a period of time I was very much that person like pre and it.

00:32:43.369 --> 00:32:46.298
For me, it be it became that obsession.

00:32:46.818 --> 00:32:54.538
I have that addictive personality yeah that you know hitting in on training peaks and strava, and is it looking the same on garmin?

00:32:54.538 --> 00:33:04.217
And yes, I still wear a garmin and some of the things are there, but I I've gotten rid of Strava.

00:33:04.217 --> 00:33:24.477
My train is on paper Because so much of that started to affect other things that I'm like yes, it's great I could go back to it at some point, but I need a break and I'm not sure how long that break is going to be, but it's been quite a while.

00:33:24.477 --> 00:33:29.480
In fact, I couldn't even tell you what my straw belonging is anymore.

00:33:30.624 --> 00:33:30.904
Yeah.

00:33:32.165 --> 00:33:47.582
And I'm better for it, because, instead of pushing for the numbers and pushing for the green, which it absolutely has its merit, I'm much more focused on how is this making me feel?

00:33:47.582 --> 00:33:54.601
What difference is this making in the day-to-day, and is this making me stronger, faster?

00:33:54.601 --> 00:33:59.336
Whatever for the long haul or for this period?

00:34:00.786 --> 00:34:03.924
And that makes pure sense on a coaching perspective.

00:34:03.924 --> 00:34:08.188
As far as Training Peaks goes, there's tools in the background that.

00:34:08.188 --> 00:34:10.230
So I only give a week at a time.

00:34:10.230 --> 00:34:13.833
I literally give a week at a time and I'm checking.

00:34:13.833 --> 00:34:40.306
So if they go hard one day and their fatigue level like falls below the norms, I will immediately change the workout for the next day and call them, text them, do whatever, and say listen, I changed your workout, make sure you, make sure you change that, because you're falling and you're falling your fatigue levels, falling below your fitness level, and so I require that they wear either a whoop ring garment all the time, because I want to see sleep, I want to see all that stuff.

00:34:40.847 --> 00:34:41.347
But I get it.

00:34:41.347 --> 00:34:45.677
I get the fact that it could be very addicting, and it could.

00:34:45.677 --> 00:34:56.472
If you are, I feel my personal opinion if you don't know your ins and outs and you're not self-actualized like yourself, it could be a detriment.

00:34:56.472 --> 00:35:06.447
Because if you buy a generic plan or you buy a plan off of a coach and you're not actually getting coached, then yeah, you want to see those greens, no matter what, and it's just for you.

00:35:06.447 --> 00:35:07.851
Even if it's not going to Strava, you're going.

00:35:07.851 --> 00:35:09.094
No, I want to see the greens.

00:35:09.175 --> 00:35:09.965
What did I do wrong?

00:35:09.965 --> 00:35:11.289
Why didn't I get a green on this one?

00:35:11.289 --> 00:35:15.748
And you look at it and you're like, oh well, see, I missed this, I wasn't fast enough here.

00:35:15.748 --> 00:35:23.739
And then that's dangerous, because then you end up pushing yourself and you might push yourself over and above what you should be, what you should be doing, right.

00:35:24.902 --> 00:35:38.849
No, nothing on generic plans, okay, I personally am not crazy about them, but most of them have enough recovery built in that it should work for a majority of the people.

00:35:38.849 --> 00:36:01.474
It's the extra 10% that I am concerned about that will either go far and above what they will, and most of them seven of those 10% of those 10% 90% is going over and above trying to do better, which then is causing more harm to their body, a risk for injury and the whole bit.

00:36:01.474 --> 00:36:05.313
But anyway, that's me, not you, but this is all about you.

00:36:05.313 --> 00:36:14.371
But, of course, because we entwine so much, I'm going to start talking and I don't talk about myself, mostly in podcasting, so in this podcast, all right.

00:36:14.371 --> 00:36:19.445
So you start heart and soul, fitness and wellness.

00:36:19.445 --> 00:36:21.530
When did that happen?

00:36:22.251 --> 00:36:24.094
That was early 2020.

00:36:24.094 --> 00:36:25.275
Oh, 2020.

00:36:25.295 --> 00:36:47.141
Oh oh right, during the pandemic six weeks later, the world shut down oh geez yeah, that was a big exercise in in becoming very clear in in who I serve, what I do and how I do it.

00:36:47.141 --> 00:36:50.914
And again back to that accountability.

00:36:50.914 --> 00:36:55.853
This is why I have business coaches, because I can't figure this stuff out on my own.

00:36:55.853 --> 00:37:07.512
Somebody has got to be there alongside me Because in my mind, zoom was there for my clients who couldn't make it to the gym, that we could work virtually no problem.

00:37:07.512 --> 00:37:11.199
Zoom wasn't there so that I could have clients anywhere.

00:37:11.199 --> 00:37:15.646
That was beyond my conception at that point.

00:37:15.646 --> 00:37:31.134
So it was even redetermining my business model in being able to be 100% virtual, that you didn't have to be local and have the virtual option but you could be anywhere.

00:37:31.134 --> 00:37:35.190
And this is how we work out, this is how we do our coaching.

00:37:35.190 --> 00:37:52.032
This in how things panned out and it was very interesting to not only be a new business but then having to add in all the extra challenges of COVID.

00:37:52.112 --> 00:37:55.018
When the mandates came out, the gyms closed.

00:37:55.018 --> 00:37:58.590
Well, technically, I'm not a gym.

00:37:58.590 --> 00:38:01.474
Do I still see people in person?

00:38:01.474 --> 00:38:12.576
And it was something where I went down to my insurance company and my lawyer and had to massage things out about who I am, what and where this fits in.

00:38:12.576 --> 00:38:18.574
I got in under a few gray areas in my state and I never have stopped seeing people in person.

00:38:18.574 --> 00:38:31.313
I mean, we had all the protocols and everything, but that was one of the gifts of being new in the process and being like, well, okay, there has to be an answer here somewhere.

00:38:31.313 --> 00:38:32.255
I just got to find it.

00:38:33.885 --> 00:38:34.367
I get it.

00:38:34.367 --> 00:38:35.068
I get it.

00:38:35.068 --> 00:38:38.375
I was lucky because everything that I do is outside.

00:38:38.375 --> 00:38:41.668
So if I wanted to see somebody, oh okay.

00:38:41.668 --> 00:38:44.617
So when we're on the bike, we got to make sure we're six feet apart Big deal.

00:38:44.617 --> 00:38:45.226
To see somebody, oh okay.

00:38:45.226 --> 00:38:47.235
So when we're on the bike, we got to make sure we're six feet apart big deal.

00:38:47.235 --> 00:38:48.440
But when we're running, we make sure we're six feet apart.

00:38:48.440 --> 00:38:48.882
Swim didn't matter.

00:38:48.882 --> 00:38:51.728
Uh, because that was so I got super lucky at that point.

00:38:51.728 --> 00:38:53.271
But that's fantastic.

00:38:53.271 --> 00:38:56.496
What well?

00:38:56.496 --> 00:39:00.231
We covered the fact that you know why you decided to do this right?

00:39:00.231 --> 00:39:02.637
Um, if you want to reiterate that, that'd be great.

00:39:02.637 --> 00:39:03.425
I know you'd be.

00:39:03.425 --> 00:39:06.795
The fact of helping people and what you went through, taking your experience.

00:39:07.465 --> 00:39:09.567
Right, it was meeting a need.

00:39:09.567 --> 00:39:25.661
I mean throughout my tenure as a pastor, that in programs that I would develop, in the different things that we did with people, it was always this is the need, that we see how can we meet it.

00:39:25.661 --> 00:39:34.911
And when I was having people come to me saying you need to show me what you're doing, you need to show me what you're doing.

00:39:34.911 --> 00:39:42.498
Well, what I'm doing is great, but it's probably not going to work exactly the same for you.

00:39:42.498 --> 00:39:47.233
And so how can I help people?

00:39:47.233 --> 00:39:50.666
How can I get them to where they want to be?

00:39:50.666 --> 00:39:55.717
They see my results, but they don't necessarily see the process.

00:39:55.717 --> 00:40:07.958
So what is the result that somebody else wants and how do we back it up to where they are at today to get them there?

00:40:07.958 --> 00:40:15.528
And that's where, like you said, generic programs are a starting point.

00:40:15.528 --> 00:40:38.608
Some things work, some things don't just say this is the plan, because more often than not, anytime we take a plan, a structure and superimpose it on our life, there's pieces that are going to fall away.

00:40:38.608 --> 00:41:03.516
It doesn't fit our schedule, our values, our finances, our tastes and so many different things, and so just giving someone a plan and saying, okay, do this, didn't never have sat well with me, and so it's the reverse engineering of where someone wants to be, where they are today, what is standing in the way of them getting there?

00:41:03.516 --> 00:41:21.916
And that's where I go off into the weeds with people, because they don't always see the barriers that have stopped them from getting where they want to be, and it is sometimes figuring out the time piece.

00:41:21.916 --> 00:41:41.871
Or maybe they didn't realize that they quit every time because they got sick of cooking two meals, because they were cooking this very specialized thing for themselves, something completely different for their family, and didn't want to do that, but it was never something that they connected the dots to.

00:41:41.871 --> 00:41:48.119
And so what are the things that are stopping you from doing this?

00:41:48.119 --> 00:41:57.005
What can we do today that's different than yesterday and that's going to move you forward?

00:41:57.806 --> 00:41:59.509
And I find a lot.

00:41:59.509 --> 00:42:04.454

From Pastor to Personal Trainer: The Transformative Journey of Stephanie Lueras

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