All tagged programming

"I Would Kill to Look in the Mirror and Love What I See Every Morning."

"I Would Kill to Look in the Mirror and Love What I See Every Morning."

Stephanie Ondrusek
Bold Body Initiative, coaching, body image, offers

SO many of us have bought the dream sold by the fitness industry: that once we’re lean enough, light enough, tanned and toned and waxed and sculpted enough, THEN we’ll be happy. Then all those opportunities will be offered to us. Then we’ll have the perfect partner, the perfect kids, the perfect wardrobe, the perfect meal prep... we’ll have it all figured out.

And, lucky for you, there’s a cream and a pill and a 21-Day Fix that will give it all to you, no work required, for the low low price of $19.97 (plus a $29 startup fee, and a monthly subscription of $24.95).

How’s that been working for you?

The Time I Trained for a Bodybuilding Show

The Time I Trained for a Bodybuilding Show

Stephanie Ondrusek
Bold Body Initiative, body image, coaching, offers

Once upon a time, someone asked me if I would join them in training for a bodybuilding show.

It sounded like a good idea at the time: I’d have a group of women that would hold me accountable; I had a deadline that included me being on a stage in a tiny sparkly bikini; I had a meal plan perfectly laid out for me.

All I had to do was follow it.

Any guesses on how long that lasted for me?

Say YES to the Life You Want to Live (and a MAJOR announcement!)

Say YES to the Life You Want to Live (and a MAJOR announcement!)

Stephanie Ondrusek
body image, coaching, Bold Body Initiative, offers

Fitness is about your physical, mental, and emotional well-being.

It’s about feeling at home in your body, knowing that you have a powerful tool at your disposal, ready to tackle rogue babies crawling all over your floor, a demanding work life stretching your skills, the weekend pickup kickball game with your friends, and anything else in between.

It’s about saying YES to the life you want to live without the nagging thoughts of, “I don’t have anything to wear,” or, “I shouldn’t do that, because I had too many Goldfish yesterday.”

It’s about FINALLY not missing out on 95% of your life in order to weigh 5% less.

Which is why I've developed The Bold Body Initiative, a 12-week fitness and body image group coaching program to help you feel at home in your body — no matter what you're wearing or doing or eating.

We ALWAYS Have Options.

We ALWAYS Have Options.

Stephanie Ondrusek
mindset, coaching

When we give ourselves the space to play, we find things at which we aren't very good. The rub is, thought, that we're in a low-stakes environment -- who cares if I need a wall for this handstand? It's not a competition, and no one else is in the gym measuring my progress but me. In low-stakes environments, we're free to get curious, to ask exploratory questions, to fail, to learn, and to improve.

Fitness is a means to an end: a way to get connected with ourselves. A way to learn what we're capable of and a place to push boundaries, explore limits, and surprise ourselves.

Waiting for the Right Time?

Waiting for the Right Time?

Stephanie Ondrusek
coaching, mindset, offers

I had a coach who repeated a refrain that has stuck with me since I was 12: “quitting during training only makes it easier to quit when it counts. All you’re doing is practicing quitting when things get hard.”

I’m not sure I got the depth of that message when I was 12, but it’s been reinforced countless times in the 17-plus years since.

Quitting during training only makes it easier to quit when it counts.

Waiting to get started on our goals until "the right time" only makes us better at waiting.

Putting ourselves last on our to-do lists only makes us better at neglecting ourselves.

Sweat it out, or stay home? (Alternate subject: allergies are the worst. Hey spring! ✨😷)

Sweat it out, or stay home? (Alternate subject: allergies are the worst. Hey spring! ✨😷)

Stephanie Ondrusek
FAQs + hacks, general BAMFery, programming

Illness: it happens to the best of us (and, surely, if you’re reading this, we are “the best of us.” ;) ).

It can be frustrating to be going through a training program, amped about how well it’s designed, how much we love it, and the results we’re seeing…and then get a nasty bout of flu, feel ultra weak, and not know where to go from there.

Do we sweat it out, or rest and recover? When we’re better, do we pick up where we left off, or start over, or abandon it and do something totally different? What about nutrition, once we can eat more than soup and saltines?

[#WonderWomanLoading] 8w Program!

[#WonderWomanLoading] 8w Program!

Stephanie Ondrusek
coaching, programming, workouts

I’m honored to be a part of your journey to create a bigger, more fulfilled, more honest life. The day I decided to step into my purpose not as a shrinking violet, but as a loud, muscular, direct (nasty? ;) ) woman was the day my life changed forever. I went from wondering how I could keep everyone happy to making sure I was happy and adding value from my overflow, from maintaining a job where I wasn’t appreciated or effective to designing my work and my life, and from doing hours of cardio on the elliptical that made me want to gouge my eyes out with a rusty butter knife to lifting heavy things and finding empowerment in the hard stuff.

This is available to all of us, so time to get steppin'.

I Lift Things Up, and Put Them Down (and I Hate to Jog). Here's Why.

I Lift Things Up, and Put Them Down (and I Hate to Jog). Here's Why.

Stephanie Ondrusek
coaching, workouts

Aside from wanting to look like I spent all those hours in the gym (aka have physical proof that I don’t just talk about it – I AM about it), I prefer resistance training for a ton of other reasons. Weightlifting increases the size and strength of our muscles, certainly, but it also improves our balance, stability, agility, confidence, self-efficacy (the belief in our abilities to complete a specific task), and has an anti-aging effect.

Free weights give us a more comprehensive training effect: we recruit not just the muscle we’re targeting (e.g., not just our chest when we bench press), but also the stabilization muscles involved in the joint structure. We’re holding a free-floating (heavy) weight, which requires our joints to be stable in order to bear the load without dropping it on our faces (e.g., our shoulders, triceps, lats, traps, and rhomboids, plus their associated connective tissues, are active when we bench press, so that we can lower the bar to our chest before pressing it back up). Using more muscles strengthens the surrounding connective tissues (our joints are able to bear greater pressure in everyday life = less likelihood of injury) and burns more calories (because more muscles are working).

So... How Do I Program This?

So... How Do I Program This?

Stephanie Ondrusek
FAQs + hacks, coaching, programming

I add conditioning days to the lighter or more moderate days, mostly from a length-of-time standpoint, both in the gym and in the time it takes to recover. Conditioning workouts, if done with high intensity, are super tough! Overloading my system on heavy days + conditioning is too much; I’d never recover properly to produce enough force for my lifts (with sound movement patterns, anyway) the next day, plus I’d just feel terrible, which is rarely (heh.) the goal.

Placing the conditioning workouts where we will be able to both drive the intensity highest (lighter lift days or days where the posterior chain is activated and primed for movement) and recover in time for heavy lifts is vital to being able to achieve both strength + body change goals. I find many programs run into trouble by trying to do too much all at once, leaving you exhausted after a week or two, and giving up after three, leaving you pretty much right back where you started (we’ve all been there, myself included.).

Finding a balance is huge. This is what works for me and many clients, but all programs are adaptable to your individual needs. Working in the realm of high intensity + building strength is where the magic happens. Figuring out strategies to do both in the context of real life was the game changer for my consistency in workouts, because I was actually having fun AND seeing results.