Everyone
has a story. Some people’s life stories are sad, some of them are
exciting, some are boring and some are inspiring. With my story I hope
to inspire everyone from all walks of life. I wont bore you with my
childhood journey into adult hood, instead I will start where life
really happened, and I mean this in the most literal way possible, when I
got pregnant with my son.
When I found out I was pregnant with my son I was 18 years old. I had
many unhealthy habits. I smoked a pack to two packs a day. Caffeine was
my best friend, as I would drink the large Red Bulls several times a
day, on my minimal caffeine day it was coffee and two large Red Bulls.
It doesn't stop there. My diet consisted of a bagel or croissant for
breakfast, I ate lunch at Jack in the Box and dinner at Carls Jr. Back
then I worked for a lawyer and we would take breaks and smoke cigarettes
and drink coffee and I loved it! It made me happy. Receiving the
news of being pregnant I was in major shock and definitely not ready to
make any life changes. I found out I was pregnant really early, only
about 4 weeks and my ultrasound showed only an egg. After my sonogram I
went home and smoked a cigarette, considering this is what I had done
to cope for the last 4 years of my life. After the shock I quit
smoking and quit the caffeine as much as I could, I still had my one-cup
of coffee every single day. Through out my pregnancy my wonderful
husband talked me into walking every day, and so I did. However, I
walked maybe half a mile a day if that. Even though I made big steps
(for who I was back then) my diet was not that much better. I would eat
pizza with a bag of carrots. I did always try to eat something good. I
didn't have any money then so I lived off tuna helper and broccoli. The
meals were cheap and I was saving for my baby. I didn’t know then that
the most important thing was the health of my baby.
After
a long pregnancy Cole was finally born. I fell in love with this
little boy. I have never loved anything more in my life. But this love
was not enough, this little boy never slept (he still never sleeps)
he’s just not a sleeper. I became a little depressed. I had a little
post partum depression and when that wore off I was still depressed. I
remember visiting my mother. My mother told me I was depressed from not
sleeping. While I nursed my new born, she continued to tell me I needed
to join a group that had other mothers to support me. Well my mother
had just had a baby herself, my little sister Ava she was about 2 when
Cole was born. My mother did stroller strides back then and so I
joined. In stroller strides we ran a quarter mile stopped and used some
bands for strength. I was dying. I couldn’t run nor use the bands.
As hard as it was I kept going, it got me out of the house and at the
time I lived 45 minutes from my mom so I got to see her twice a week. My
husband is a Marine and had to deploy when my son was 7 months old. I
was 45 minutes from my mom and alone with a seven month old baby.
Working out got me through the seven months of my life. It quickly
became my release. While this is terrific most would say, I also began
drinking wine, every night while my husband was gone. It got me through
the lonely nights. I felt like I never got a break and never had a baby
sitter. I hung out with my mom a lot and spent my first month living
at my moms house, I was so lost. Drinking helped and when my husband
returned the drinking never stopped it became a habit and a bad one.
About
a year or so after I started stroller strides, my mother Della Whelchel
and Lauren Brooks decided to start a kid friendly class using
kettlebells and strollers (Buggybellz).
I was excited for my mom, however kettlebells were really intimidating
for me. As their first class approached I went early with my mom. She
was trying to show me a few tips and moves with the kettlebells before
other mothers arrived. Anyone that does kettlebells knows that we start
everyone with an 8kg (18lbs). My mother says to me “press it”. First of
all I didn’t even know what a “press” was nor was I sure I wanted to.
The swing was enough to overwhelm me and the class has not even started
yet. While my mother was showing me how to press it ever so gracefully,
she handed me the bell and I begin to press it. Lets put it this way, it
was very ugly and the bell never made it past my shoulders. I was weak.
This was hard for me as in the stroller strides classes I felt I grew
stronger. As my life started to change so did my attitude.
Kettlebells were very intimidating for the first six months or so. I
remember thinking how strong Lauren and my mom were, I thought, “I will
never be like that, I couldn’t, I will just stay where I am physically, I
cant even imagine being that strong.” As I attended these classes
regularly three days a week I eventually got my form down. I had the
best support, my mom. We would practice at her house and talk about it
all the time. My mom taught me almost everything I needed to know to
get through the days with my baby to how to swing a 16kg kettlebell.
Going into these classes I remember how flabby my stomach was, I hated
it. I had rolls; my arms were flabby and weak. In my first year of
learning kettlebells this slowly but surely started to change and so did
my eating habits. I began to follow my mother. We would talk about
diet a lot as she is and was into health. I still didn’t eat that well
though; I would still have pizza every once in a while and hit a fast
food joint. My drinking was probably worse then ever at this point. I
remained pretty mellow while drinking; it wasn’t like I was a raging
alcoholic, or violent, if you didn’t know me you might not even know I
have had something to drink. As time went on my mom and Lauren allowed
me to teach a Buggybellz class for them once a week after receiving my
HKC (Hardstyle Kettlebell Certification). This is around the same time I
took one of Laurens classes at her in home gym. She encouraged
everyone to pick up a bell that they have never pressed before after a
series of progressions. The biggest bell I ever used before at that time
was a 16kg. So I picked up the 20kg I racked it and I pressed it. I
think this was the first time I realized I could be as strong as my
mentors. I had to figure out how to do this. Buggybellz wasn’t going
to work. I couldn’t carry heavy enough bells in my stroller nor afford
them. I really had to think about this. I began taking Lauren's classes once a week. Lauren did heavy snatches in class and I snatched the 20kg, I felt like I was on fire.
After time Lauren and I started talking about me teaching for her. I became RKC,
Russian Kettlebell Certified, my confidence really started to grow. I
felt better than I ever have in my life and I had such great people
supporting me. I felt like going into Lauren's classes I wanted to be
better, as if what I was doing wasn’t enough and I found a way, I just
figured it out. I grew to be really strong and confident. I got
compliments on my body more than ever actually for the first time ever! I
had this fire in me (I still do) to do something, to be something
great; I didn’t want to settle for less. There was more out there, there
had to be. I had a dear friend, make a phone call to a mainstream
fitness photographer. I sent him some pictures and he said he would
throw me in the “hopper”. Well these “mainstream” guys they get busy,
my friend and I kept calling him and emailing and eventually he did a
shoot with me for Compax. I went down to his studio with butterflies in
my stomach I probably could have vomited. Luckily he was a really cool
down to earth guy. I spent hours at his studio and when I left I never
felt more alive. I had a rush and I wanted that to be my life. I had
to figure that out too. While this was all a slow process I kept in
touch with the photographer, and I tried signing with different
agencies. I got really into my training, I got really strong and I was
going to Lauren's classes 3 days a week and teaching one day a week. My
life has officially changed since the day I found out I was pregnant.
I
cut down on my meat tremendously; in fact I even dabbled with being
vegan. I now only eat grass-fed organic meat, I only eat organic
veggies, and I no longer use drinking as a release. I have a glass of
wine or two on occasions. I don't eat any dairy and I make my own nut
milks. I have a garden in my back yard. I don't eat fast food but of
course we have to live and I will have dark chocolate or nut brownies
once in a while ;) I do not drink coffee or any other caffeine (unless
it’s a special treat of course). I am now able to press a 24 kg, pull
up with a 12kg, single leg dead lift 2 32kg’s, swing my body weight and
much more. I will never stop doing kettlebells I will never stop
training it has truly changed my life. I now have a few shoots under my
belt in fitness; you can find me on the cover of 3/GO magazine, in My
Mad Methods Magazine, in Nuun, Compax, etc. I have signed with a fitness
agency in LA, and am signing with a fashion agency as well. I now
train at On The Edge Fitness with Lauren Brooks,
all while continuing to go to college, raise my beautiful son, and hold
my marriage together. My life has forever changed. I will continue to
grow and evolve. I will continue to motivate myself and always strive
to be better as everyone always should. Living outside my comfort zone
as much as I can. If there is anything I would want someone to take away
from this story it would be that just because you are someone you may
not be proud of today, does not mean you have to be that person
tomorrow. You can be whomever you want. Though, it is not an easy
road, you are not stuck and you have a choice, you have to want to
change. There is hope and it only takes one step at a time. Take one
step and never look back!
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