When working at Les Mills, New Zealand in 1992, I was invited to take responsibility for a new initiative introducing Personal Trainers to the fitness sector. At the time, I knew very little about Personal Trainers except that in the USA in a post-Jane Fonda era, those in the business were mainly working in the realm of the ‘rich and famous’.
Fast forward to the next 20 years whereby I was educating and mentoring numerous Personal Trainers. Not once, did I teach them about peri-menopause, menopause and post-menopause however and I know that in the fitness industry, notable gaps in the knowledge of Trainers about hormonal health, particularly weight loss in menopause, continue to this day.
That’s why, I was delighted when Rachel from Wales undertook the new MyMT™ Education Weight Loss Coach Course. She share’s her story below.
We live in a time when greater emphasis is placed on the reduction of morbidity and non-communicable diseases, such as obesity and heart disease in women, through physical activity and exercise. But this requires Personal Trainers and other Health Professionals to have knowledge specific to the population that they are training. Rachel sees a lot of middle-age and older women and I’m so pleased that I was able to bring menopause weight loss to her attention in the Health Practitioner course.
“I have had the pleasure of working in the health and fitness industry for the past 30 years, not only in coaching 1:1 and group exercise but also managing Health Clubs to a Regional Level.
My passion lies as a functional movement specialist, by helping my clients out of pain and discomfort from injuries, accidents or surgeries and to help them to lose weight. I love my role as a Personal Trainer and Nutrition Coach here on the beautiful Isle of Anglesey, North Wales, UK.
I had a lifesaving radical hysterectomy 19 years ago when I was just 32 years of age and at the time I had no support or after care to help my body to repair and recover the right way. I just tried to build myself up to doing the same exercises I had pre- hysterectomy, but with so much internal structure change the body struggled to do this without discomfort and pain.
Fast forward to today and I am lucky enough to have found an amazing women’s health physio who is slowly releasing my internal scar tissue and helping me to function the core muscles correctly again. I feel my body is performing the best it has ever done functionally, and now with the wonderful research and education that Dr Wendy Sweet (PhD) is allowing us to become part of, I feel I can also start to give back my new knowledge and understanding to my midlife female clients.
I have just completed the Menopause Weight Loss Coach Course and have loved finding out so many ‘why’s’ as to how my clients have been feeling in some of their sessions. Some days they would come in exhausted, stressed and with low mood. They hadn’t slept well, and they would be so frustrated that they couldn’t enjoy their normal exercise intensity.
Now that I know why these feelings occur, I can tailor my sessions to how their bodies feel – get them in the fresh air, or simply do more breathing, relaxation and release work to make their bodies feel well again.
I love to learn, and I have thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to gain knowledge from such an inspirational and passionate World Leader in Women’s Health. Dr Wendy Sweet’s (PhD) ‘Menopause Weight Loss Coach Course’ has given me the understanding to answer so many ‘Why’s’, which as a fellow Fitness Professional, she knows only too well, that we are asked every day.
This will be life changing for so many of my clients and to see their symptoms reduce or disappear is a magic moment for me as a coach, as I adapt their exercise and nutrition to suit their time of life. Thank you!”
