Get to know me and my “why”

Movement is my first language, my mother tongue. But I forgot that for a while.

Looking back, I owe my early years of fluency to my parents, who saw to it that I tried every sport at least once. My first memory was swimming with my dad. At two years old, I recall getting the idea to assert my command over the water by submerging my head. I came up coughing, but proud.

Sport was the way I ventured through life, my childhood spent cajoling my neighbors into racing me down the block in roller blades, or tossing baseballs from as far apart as we could stand. As I got older, I competed in swimming, cross country, triathlon, skating, volleyball, basketball, and martial arts.

Midway through high school, once it became unmistakably clear that adulthood was coming for me, my attention rerouted to “serious matters.” Terrified of not living up to my potential, I studied hard and got into the University of Pennsylvania.

I studied hard at Penn, too, because I wanted to succeed and contribute something to the world. I cultivated my fluency in other languages: networking, having a perspective on tech and business, pitching myself as the world’s best job candidate. Four years later, Penn spit me out as a consultant to-be.

My good health had managed to cling on, even if secondary to securing my career. I’d earned my yoga teacher certification one summer and started teaching classes on campus, championing the concept of “balanced life.” But I had no idea what real life had in store for me.

In wanting to prove that I could “make it” in consulting, while building my new life post-college, I made my health negotiable. Eventually, after years of 60+ hour work weeks, traveling across the country almost every week, and indulging my cravings on the road, I had a rude awakening.

“You could call these numbers ‘pre’-pre-diabetic,” my doctor said, after reviewing a routine blood test. ME?! I was practically an athlete!

Pausing to ponder this, however, it dawned on me that I’d lost my basis for that claim. Sure, I huffed and puffed at a HIIT class every so often, and rode my bike every other weekend, but for years I’d lacked consistency and intention. My diet was hurting me. Over time, my body and heart felt the extra weight. I didn’t feel strong, physically or mentally. This wasn’t the right direction.

On the weekends, I became an avid student of the science behind fitness, including:

• The role of resistance training in building muscle mass, strength, and bone density, and the best way to structure training sessions around maximizing those outcomes
• The benefits of cardiovascular training and the impact of different levels of intensity on fat loss, endurance, and performance
• The strategies behind fueling to support muscle growth, fat loss, and longevity
• Knowing how to recover and rest to sustain steady progress

Most important of all, I figured out how to make this work without giving up my job, my social life, and the foods I enjoyed.

The outcomes came naturally — I lost 22 pounds of fat and gained 4 pounds of muscle by implementing changes that felt great.

Now, I feel closer than ever to the language I first learned when I was younger: the act of making myself strong, showing up for myself, counting on myself. While shaped by a path rooted in movement and sport, these are the building blocks for every part of my life.

I’ve now learned the words to articulate how others can get closer to that, too. I believe it’s this type of fluency, manifested in the way we make ourselves physically strong, that helps us move through life with resilience and purpose in all the things we do, and brings us closer to our true potential.

I hope to meet you soon,

Karen

In 30 minutes, I’ll tell you the top 3 things you can start doing today.