The other day I googled ‘how to build a successful online personal training clientele’. More than one result said the answer is to blog. Really? I mean, who knew? Why though? How does writing a blog help build my business? Apparently it will make me ‘relatable’. Okay then, let’s roll with that! I’ll let you decide….

If you are here reading my very first attempt a blog, I hope you find something relatable enough that you come back next week when I write the next one!

On the eve of my 43^rd birthday, 2023 promises a year of big things. It occurred to me today that in June I will be the mother of an 18 year old AND an 18 month old… chuck a couple in between and life is definitely not dull! Whilst navigating a HSC student and a never ending flow of dirty nappies, I’ve got an L-plater who is starting his working life as a school based apprentice carpenter and a 14 year old in the throes of puberty. So why not decide this is the year to build my PT business on platforms I never knew existed? Why not indeed!

I didn’t always set out to have a career in fitness, 17 year old Christy aspired to be a sports journalist. A short course in freelance journalism killed that dream and I took myself off to Uni to study a business degree with a major in accounting. I hated maths, so how I ended up down that path I’ll never know. Obviously, that didn’t work out, but let me spare you that story.

Looking back I think I was overweight slightly from about 14. I was raised in a working class family with meat and three veg the staple meal. It’s not a criticism, my parents worked their backsides off, but starchy white potato and sausages probably wasn’t doing me any favours. I was always active though, a cross country runner, netballer and Rock Eisteddfod enthusiast (if you know what Rock Eisteddfod is, know that I love you.) I never thought I was fat, hats off to mum for raising me with a positive body image. My weight plummeted after I finished school, I’d moved out and my then boyfriend (I married him) and I moved out and lived the good life of take away and nights out on the weekend. I don’t remember a day before my 23^rd birthday where I wondered what the calories were in what I was about to eat. Fast forward to 2009, I’d given birth to 3 sons and my 156cm frame weighed 114kg……

In the 4 years I was having children, I reckon I tried just about every fad diet available at the time. My take away from the Grapefruit Diet and the Cabbage Diet was that I hate grapefruits and cabbage!

Then one day I discovered Jenny Craig (no this is not a sponsored blog, however Jenny, if you are reading, feel free to throw come sponsorship this way!). I was looking for a meal plan that was easy and would suit the fussy eater that I am. Long story short I lost 48kgs with the help of Jenny craig, I loved that I could put my meals in the microwave while feeding/bathing or playing with my babies and it was ready when I was. To this day, Jenny Craig is seriously THE only ‘diet’ that has ever worked for me, largely due to the fact that I hate cooking, I’m usually exhausted by dinner time and I like not thinking about it. I tend to jump back on Jenny Craig when I feel like I’m starting to return to my old habits and a couple of kgs are creeping on.

Now I said I lost 48kgs with the HELP of Jenny Craig, I also found myself a great trainer. The year is 2009, I had three babies 4 and under, my husband was an interstate truck driver running his own business and we thought it was a great idea to buy a children’s indoor adventure play ground! I figured that I had now spent enough money at these places that we may as well own one. Hands down the worst financial decision we ever made, but that’s a story for another day. Anyway the point is, I was busy. Very busy, I wanted someone to run my fitness for me, kick my arse, hold me accountable, motivate me blah blah blah. Meeting Tracey, my trainer, was the best thing that ever happened to me when it came to fitness.

Tracey trained me three times a week, every week for 2 and a half years. She was a chef in her other life so she helped me wean off my crutch that was Jenny Craig. I would turn up, verbally unload whatever was stressing me out at the time, while she moved me around the gym from exercise to exercise. She completely changed my body shape and attitude to health and fitness. She had my back and motivated me in ways I never realised at the time.

Then she died.

I will talk about that in a future post, because I really do want to publicly honour this amazing woman that I truly loved dearly, but for now I will say that her death rocked my world harder than I ever felt possible.

I couldn’t understand how this woman’s death could affect me so deeply when she was essentially, someone I just paid to take care of my fitness?

I cried.

Everyday.

For days.

Then I realised....

Tracey had become not only my trainer, but also my marriage counsellor, sounding board, mentor and friend. She knew everything about me. She would have been the person I went to help me deal with her death. When she died she left a large gaping hole in my life, that I didn’t know how to fill.

The day I said goodbye to her I promised her that I would pay it forward.  I would find a way to give back all that she gave me.



And that’s how my passion to pursue a career in fitness began…….