Interview: Coaching as a Personal Trainer and the Benefits of Weight Lifting

 Today I am interviewing Sydney Tollett, an online health and fitness coach! She dives into the benefits of weight lifting, her coaching business, what role personal trainers have in decreasing the rate of obesity in the United States, and how her move across the country has impacted her health and business. I hope you enjoy this interview!


Tell us about yourself!

My name is Sydney Tollett and I am an online health and fitness coach and social media "influencer". I grew up in Arkansas and finished my undergraduate degree there as well. My degree is in nutrition with a concentration in dietetics. I also have my CPT (certified personal trainer) through ACE, my level 1 certification through Precision Nutrition, and have been through N1 education. My main interests are pretty basic: lifting weights, living a healthy lifestyle, all the foodie things, and helping women redefine what they view as "fit" plus bring out their potential. Some other hobbies of mine include reading, journaling, beach days, anything in the sun outdoors, walks, Netflix, concerts/music, and self-development. 

When did you start your fitness and health journey? Please describe your initial relationship with exercise and food.

I started my journey in high school. I think it was sophomore year. I had never had to worry about what I ate up until that point but it finally started to catch up to me and I wanted to do something about it. Initially, I just started to work out some more and eat healthier foods. I lose a bit of weight and that was very encouraging to me. It turned unhealthy soon after that. I followed things on Pinterest and Tumblr that were promoting very low calories and crazy amounts of cardio. So, that's what I did. And I got addicted to getting smaller and losing weight. I went from 150 lbs at 5'8 to 105 lbs within a year's time. I developed a very poor relationship with food and exercise. I was eating 1,200 calories or less and doing daily cardio ON TOP OF my sport practices and sometimes another lift. I was terrified of pretty much all foods except "healthy ones" and basically lost my whole social life because of that. It consumed my life but I was addicted to it. I also developed some pretty bad binging and purging habits at the end of high school/freshman year of college. I just had such bad guilt around food when I was trying to gain some healthy weight back that I would do that instead. I never went to an ED clinic or anything but I definitely struggled with a few ED's over a span of about 4-5 years.



Over time, how has your relationship with food and exercise changed? How did your increasing education in health and fitness change your relationship with food and exercise?

My relationship with food and exercise has done a 360 since then. I do not see food as the enemy anymore. I LOVE FOOD now and see it as fuel that my body deserves and that it helps me live my absolute best life in so many ways. I also see that all food is just energy. I don't label things as good or bad. I still eat mainly whole, nutrient-dense foods because that is how I feel best but I am not scared to have some pizza with the fam every now and then either. With exercise, I see it as something I GET to do, not something I have to do. I also don't look at it as something to burn calories. I view is as my outlet, a place to get strong, and take care of my body. I barely do any cardio now. I do weights mainly. And then I do daily movements like outdoor walks just to keep my body healthy and my mental health where it needs to be. But it's nothing like it used to be. I think education helped drastically just being able to see what my body really needed and how things really work inside us. Another big thing that helped was getting uncomfortable and then starting to realize how much better I felt: wasn't cold all the time, had a better social life, had more energy, better digestion, and less moodiness and anxiety. After I started to notice that, I really redefined what I viewed health as. 



What attracted you to weight lifting? How does weight lifting affect the body compared to cardio? Where should someone start if they are wanting to get into weight lifting?

I have actually always loved weight lifting. I was not ever the girl who was scared of it (although I used to do it to "burn calories"- not to build muscle). I had to do it for sports so I liked that. But, I did meet my first ever trainer (James Lancaster) at D1 sports and he really drove my huge passion behind it. He helped push me to eat more and fall in love with getting strong and embracing that power as a female rather than doing everything to be "skinny". Forever thankful for that! Weight lifting puts resistance/tension on the muscle tissue and forces it to adapt and grow stronger. There are SO many benefits to weight training including bone health, insulin sensitivity, reducing depression, reduce risk of disease, improves brain function, builds confidence, improves posture, increases lean mass, increases metabolism, prevents muscle loss, and more. With cardio, it will be more of a cardiovascular adaption. And running specifically is more of an endurance adaption which actually isn't best for body composition goals. I am not totally anti-cardio. I think some is good for just general health and well being. I am just against excessive cardio and only focusing on calorie burn. Changing your body is not just about how many calories you burn at the gym. I also don't love all the "HIIT" type classes that are trending (they aren't even true HIIT either). They are causing a lot of women to overtrain and put way too much stress on their bodies to see the results they want. I think if someone is looking to get started, they should get a coach that can help them walk through things in a safe and healthy way, start slow (maybe just start with 3 days a week), and focus on getting good at the basics first! Don't fall into the social media trap of feeling you need to do 100 random exercises and change it up every week. That won't get you as good of progress as just sticking to the basics and progressing form and strength over time. Also, weights should be the top priority if you want to change your body (along with adequate calorie intake). You don't need to do a ton of cardio.



As a coach, what do you teach your clients? What skills do your clients learn when they hire you?

I teach my clients A LOT. They learn all about nutrition and fueling their body well from a nutrient AND calorie perspective. They also learn about finding that balance so they can still eat the foods they love and see progress. Plus, I teach them how all macros are needed. Carbs are not the enemy. I utilize flexible dieting to teach clients about macros and how much they need of each for optimal results. As far as training, they learn how to train in a smart and safe way and we work a lot on form and getting strong overtime. Plus, I ensure I educate them on the importance of rest days and why more cardio isn't better. I also teach my clients a lot on hormones, metabolism, and biofeedback so they understand what is going on inside of them. And why the scale isn't the only progress measure. Plus, we dive into a ton of other factors like digestion, stress, energy, and more. Outside of that, I work a ton on mindset with my clients. Building belief in themselves, improving their quality of life, managing stress, working through fears of food, etc. My clients learn a ton. I'm sure I missed a lot of things! But that is a good overview.



According to the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, half of the US population will be obese by 2030. What role do you believe personal trainers have in trying to reduce the rate of obesity in the United States. What general advice would you give to the average US citizen who is trying to be healthier?

I think that personal trainers play the role of empowering people. Education drives compliance. And compliance gets results. We need to be able to explain to people what exactly they are doing now so they can see the issue. Then, we need to be able to educate them on proper steps to improve upon those habits. It is also our role to be able to meet the client halfway and help them build self-efficacy along the way so that the new habits stick rather than taking them from 0-100. We also must realize that there is no perfect plan. The best plan is one that someone can stick to and get results. It has to be the client's decision to change though. We can't force that. As far as general advice, I think I would say people first need to realize our society is set up for obesity and eating disorders. We have hyper-palatable, calorie dense foods that lack nutrients AND sedentary lifestyles. A recipe for obesity. On the eating disorder side, social media is a cause for a lot of comparison and unhealthy eating behaviors in the opposite direction. From there, it's realizing that they need to educate themselves on true health and make small steps for that. Here's where I would start: move your body daily (walk, yoga, etc), resistance training (2-4x a week is great), drink water, eat more veggies and fruits, think MORE real food/make more food at home, have protein at all your meals, and manage your stress levels!

What were some challenges that you faced in your profession? How did you overcome them? How has your coaching business grown?

I would say the biggest challenge in my profession is getting people to buy into the fact that less food, more cardio isn't the answer for 90% of people who apply to work with me (usually 25-35 year old women is my demographic). Also, just adjusting to marketing and growth as algorithms on social media has changed. As well as comparison to other businesses/people. It's honestly just a constant growth and learning experience. There will always be something new to learn and things to adjust to as our world and social media changes. I have always prioritized my own self-development though (and education) and investing in those ahead of me to help guide me. My coaching business has grown greatly over the past year. I went from having 8 clients and not knowing if I wanted to do this full time to having a full roster, and 3 employees under me! It's so crazy how quickly it grew but I am so thankful for it and I love what I get to do every day.



What made you decide to move across the country (Arkansas to California)? How has your move across the country changed your life, business, and mental health?

I have always thought about moving to California and I knew I needed something to pull me out of my comfort zone. I was tired of seeing the same things, being around the same people, and seeing the same results in my life. So, I just took the leap! It was super scary and there were a lot of days where I got here that I wanted to resort back to my comfort zone but I pushed through and it has been the best growth experience I could have asked for. I cut off a lot of things that have been needing to go for a while as far as people who were dragging me down. My business has grown quite a bit just because I am more inspired and motivated plus I'm surrounded by many others pushing to be their best as well. As far as mental health, the nature and weather have been a game-changer!!! Beach and sun almost daily have done wonders for me. Plus, I've just had to dig deep internally and I'm seeing so much self-growth. They say you only grow when you are stretched. I'm definitely seeing that to be true here.


Thank you so much for reading! Below are the links for her coaching application, Instagram, and Youtube!



Youtube

Thanks for reading!

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