The CHEK INSTITUTE and Continuing my Education as a Fitness Professional 
Our growth in careers, in our relationships and in life is limited to or expanded by our choices to continue to learn or our choices to stay stagnant in our thoughts and education. Once we learn one way of doing something it can be very comfortable to stay in that mindset and not challenge what we have learned.
I began my personal training education in 1997 with the AFFA Weightroom Certification as that was something that I was so interested in at that time. It covered the correct way to lift, what muscles, joints, and actions
are involved in the various lifts, and to teach people to lift correctly and safely. After a couple of
years, I realized that certification was not enough, and I went on to study and become certified
by ACE Fitness as a Certified Personal Trainer. I also became certified by the National Strength and Conditioning Association as a Certified Personal Trainer. For both of those certifying agencies, you have to do continuing education every year to remain certified, which helps with increasing your knowledge base, but what you learn also depends on what choices you make for the continuing ed. For example, you can focus on senior fitness, helping pregnant women maintain a healthier body throughout pregnancy and after the delivery, or you can focus
mainly on nutrition protocols, etc.
Over the next several years, I developed some severe food intolerances, and I began my
personal education in how the body works and how food, thoughts, and stress can affect our
system in a bad or good way. I already had Hashimoto’s, which is a thyroid issue where your body attacks your thyroid and now I had food intolerances (I did not know this is what it was at that time, and I did not know
that these two things were linked.) At times the symptoms were so bad that I couldn’t
leave the house without my stash of immodium to make it through the next several hours. The
symptoms varied in degree over the next 5-6 years, but when they were bad it affected
everything from my fitness training to training clients, to my mood, and obviously my health. I
had quite a few medical tests done including dye tests and an upper GI test at the hospital to
see what the heck was going on with my digestive system and conclusively was told “nothing”
showed up on the test and “nothing was wrong.” Hmmm…
That is when I began my detective work and started researching online and reading books
about what my symptoms could be telling me. A very long story short, I found information on
an elimination diet and starting removing my staple foods from my diet. I took out eggs, peanut
butter, and dairy and over the years other foods as well. It took time to see everything starting
to change, and this has been a long process, but with elimination, testing that I had not done
before, and supplementation with a Naturopathic doctor, we were able to start figuring out
what was going on with my body.
Over time testing showed I had an overgrowth of bad bacteria, not enough good bacteria, lots of food intolerances, and positive results for heavy metals. She was able to help me understand what the tests showed and informed me of what I needed to do.
At some point, I started listening to Underground Wellness radio and found Paul Chek. After many years of listening to him and following some of his guidelines, I have joined the Chek Institute Academy for the next 3 years to increase my knowledge and understanding of how our emotions, spiritual growth, beliefs, nutrition, connection, and movement can help us to be healthy and well or sick. The 3-year program covers everything from Holistic Health to Deep dives into Training Programs, Anatomy and Physiology, and Corrective movement.
As far as how all of this has affected my health and why it has become so important to me? I no longer have Hashimoto’s. I do not make antibodies to my thyroid anymore. I have a much more positive attitude about everyday life and challenges. I have learned ways of testing and supplementation that I can use for myself and clients that are willing to investigate their own symptoms. I have learned to “listen” to my body, and when something does not make me feel good or causes gastrointestinal issues, stress or is an energy drain, I remove that food from my diet for
a period of time. My microbiome is in much better shape, my thoughts are much more positive
and productive (this is not 100% but really won’t be for anyone,) and my energy level is great.
Everything that I will be learning with my continuing education will be utilized with our training
at B-Fit. I’m looking forward to learning, improving, sharing and teaching!