Hello, I'm Kristi

Welcome and thanks for stopping by!I’ve always been around sports. As an only child, it was how I kept myself occupied. I grew up playing soccer and basketball, and I eventually played basketball in college at East Stroudsburg University (Go Warriors!).The common thread in almost everything I have done and continue to do in my post-playing career involves coaching. I coached youth soccer, junior varsity and varsity basketball, and AAU basketball. I love people and helping people and I want to change lives in a positive way anyway I can. Probably why as a point guard I was always more excited by making a good pass than a 3-pointer. When I got into television I realized quickly with the intense travel and strange hours coaching basketball or soccer “in-between” was not going to work.The first step I took post soccer/basketball coaching was to become a Beachbody coach. Most of you have heard of the Beachbody programs and workouts and they are a great resource if you want to just push play in your home. I would create challenge groups and help motivate people to push play. I also assisted clients in finding the right workout for them. Beachbody continues to be an effective vehicle to motivate people and get them moving. You can workout with a ton of people together online from the comfort of your own home and no matter what type of workout you’re looking for they have it.But this wasn’t enough for me.I decided to become a personal trainer. I ended up getting two certifications (NASM and NCCPT) and I did an apprenticeship under a trainer who I respected. I loved it. (You see this coaching theme developing? )The next feather in my coaching cap came through Group Fitness. I earned my certification to teach Les Mills BodyCombat. Les Mills is a company out of New Zealand and their workouts are done all over the world. I have taken the same classes in countries like Brazil, Argentina, and Chile, as well as all over the U.S. while traveling. Combat, in particular, is mixed martial arts to music. It sounds intimidating I know, but it’s not. It’s actually halfway between dance and fighting. It’s choreographed every step of the way. You’re doing mixed martial arts moves but you don’t actually hit anything. I do tell my members I cannot be responsible for whoever their imaginary opponent might be that day though LOL! Now I teach at a few local gyms and it is a blast! It’s a great way to get some exercise and work off life’s daily rigors. I love watching the sense of accomplishment on the faces of the members with each track and seeing their self-confidence grow. The improvement week-to-week is amazing.I want to stop here for second and layout a few important points for you from what I have talked about thus far. I’ve talked about 3 workout options you can do - Group fitness at a gym, Personal training - which is one-on-one - and at home through video.

1. The first piece of advice I would give you is that it’s about YOU…you have to find the workout or exercise program that turns the key for you - and there are so many avenues. For some people that’s Orange Theory for others it’s having a personal trainer. You have to figure out what makes you tick. Maybe you need the support and accountability of a personal trainer. Maybe you need the regularity of a Group X class. Bottom line is to find something that you LOVE that works for YOU. Something is always better than nothing. A workout can be 15-20 minutes it doesn’t have to even be an hour!
2. Being a bit uncomfortable is ok - don’t give up on it. Nothing I have talked about that I have done was comfortable at the start. When I started P90x in 2008, I couldn’t do a pull-up. Ok, I could do ONE unassisted. But by the time I finished my 90 days I could do 7-8. When I started Bodycombat I was so uncoordinated. I didn’t give up - I got better through mirror work. When I became an instructor that was a new level of discomfort. Now you’re form matters…and oh, by the way, we are talking while we do it, we have to cue a move before it’s time to do it…and oh yeah, I’m your mirror image and my right is your left so I’m telling you to do the opposite of what I’m actually having to do…Confused yet? You get the point. The bottom line is throwing curveballs at your mind and body is a good thing. Give yourself time to make progress and decide if you like something. After one month or 4 classes, you’re going to know if that’s the workout for you or you need to move on.
3. Don’t be cardio crazy. It’s not enough to just run or just hop on a spin bike. Resistance training and flexibility training are so important to your long-term health going forward. Two days of resistance training per week can make a huge difference. Resistance training is going to help you in life in so many ways including with bone density as you get older. Cardio is important but you need a mix.
4. Set tangible realistic goals and don’t base them on the scale. I want to read more books is not a tangible goal. I want to read 3 books in the next 3 months is measurable/tangible. We call them SMART goals at NASM - Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Tangible. This is a good thing to remember in business, in life, and in fitness.

So now I’m moving on to the latest and last chapter of my journey to share.The summer of 2016 was really hard on me. Simply put, I didn’t feel good and I knew there was something wrong with me. No one seemed to be able to figure it out. I went to doctor after doctor and I was in and out of emergency rooms. I’m making a long story short because it took me 7 months to get an answer. During this time I was trying to travel and show up at work every single day. I went from one doctor saying it was allergies to another telling me it was anxiety. Eventually, I saw a Neurologist. I was sent for an MRI of the brain/neck and I will never forget the day I read the report. I was going to pick up an extra copy of my films and reports to bring to my chiropractor because I have always had some neck issues. I opened the report in the car and will never forget what I read. I had lesions in my brain that were consistent with findings of Multiple Sclerosis - MS. It was shocking to see those words. I just sat there for about 15 minutes. not crying, not moving…just sitting.It eventually took a spinal tap to confirm my diagnosis but by January of 2017 it was official - I had MS.I immediately decided I was going to beat this and I would do everything I could to not let it change my life. My focus shifted to the 4 things I believed I could control. If I put my energy into my diet, my attitude, my sleep, and my exercise I knew I could succeed.Exercise-wise I went to the trainer I learned from and asked him to work with me - people ask why do you need a trainer if you are a trainer? Well, first of all, Wagner Ferreira is the best so why wouldn’t I want to work from someone who can teach me new things every day? Plus I needed to take something off my plate. I needed another set of eyes, people see different things from the outside. We do multi-tasking and compound exercises that help engage my brain and body. I enjoy the collaboration and back forth. It’s been a huge success.My attitude is positive. It wasn’t always this positive but I’m married to one of the most positive people on the planet so that helps a ton. My positivity is also influenced by author Jon Gordon, who I respect greatly, and meditation. Meditation is no joke. It helps with everything - from sleeping better to not snapping off that quick email/text response to controlling road rage. It’s part of my daily routine now.Nutrition-wise I decided to try the Whole30. It’s a reset, it’s not a diet. Diet to me means driven by a number on a scale and not sustainable. This was not about weight. I wanted to change my relationship with food and find out what would make me feel better or worse. I read the book and I read a bunch of incredible success stories. There were people no longer on medication for certain diseases, people who no longer had certain food sensitivities, people who stopped getting migraines — the list goes on. Every doctor I talked to was in favor of it.My first Whole30 coincided with my diagnosis and since then I have had no new lesions and can’t remember the last time I had a bad flare-up.I had some pretty nasty osteoarthritis in my left knee. I was getting shots at least once a year to help keep knee replacement an arm’s length away. My X-rays don’t look any worse than 3 years ago and I’m able to exercise at a very high level. I used to wake up with my hands sore - never happens now.My family has a history of inflammatory diseases. I “could” feel like I’m genetically predisposed to getting these diseases just like some people would feel the same about cancer, heart disease, and high blood pressure. We may have the genes but one of the greatest lines I read in the book It Starts With Food is “genetics loads the gun —— your environment pulls the trigger”. So that means given the right information you can prevent this from happening. It’s not a predetermined conclusion that you will get these diseases or not be able to help cope if you do have one.I get asked about other “diets” out there all the time - and there are a lot of them - Keto, Paleo, Atkins, South Beach Diet, Intermittent Fasting, the Mediterranean Diet, etc… My opinions on them don’t really matter. It goes back to what I said earlier. It’s about what works for you, and if that’s not Whole30 that’s ok. As different as some of these “diets” are there is one common thread. They all give your gut a break and allow it to heal by eliminating foods that cause a leaky gut and inflammation. So that means what you eat is pretty darn important.There are a lot of reasons why I chose the Whole30. The program educated me on me! Every person is different and every person’s triggers and results are different. We are all trying to problem solve different things in life. Sometimes it’s a lack of energy, sometimes, it’s managing stress, sometimes it’s controlling cravings. This is not a “diet” and not about weight loss. This is about ME and this is about YOU. It’s the most important self-experiment you could ever do.I have learned that people don’t always know how bad they feel because it becomes the norm and quite honestly, they have never felt good. When I told people I had MS - because I did not want to hide from it - the response was amazing. The amount of support and the offers to help were just so humbling. But the thing that struck me the most was the number of people who were living with diseases and were struggling and feeling lousy. A lot of them were hiding autoimmune diseases and were depressed. My advice to them was always the same - YOU can do something to help this.The key to my self-education was journaling. It was huge. I wrote down everything, every day - I wrote the time I go to bed, how many hours I slept, sleep quality, what I ate, when I ate, how much I exercised. I evaluated my body and mind daily. I learned very quickly through the Whole30 and my reintroduction period what my triggers and patterns were.I know that with my MS if I have 3 nights in a row of fewer than 8 hours of sleep I could start to feel symptoms. I learned that dairy was a massive trigger for my skin and my stomach. I know that with the inflammatory history of my family sugar is a real trigger. I focused on eliminating inflammatory foods and eating a lot of anti-inflammatory foods.I thought it was the end of the world that I had to give up cream in my coffee or cheese. It definitely wasn’t the end of the world and I learned 30 days is nothing when you are serious about changing your life.Now I’m so excited to embark on the next chapter of my “coaching career”. I am a Whole30 Certified Coach who can now help lead people through the process. The Whole30 is hard - but nothing good has ever come easy. I’m determined to change lives and here to help.Just understand there is only one you and you have the power to do something.