Hey , hey , mamas , welcome back to Conquering Chaos . A mom's guide to self-care and sanity . I'm your host , sydney Crow , and today we have Vanessa Flores . She is a fitness trainer and founder of the Strong Fit Life , the online program Fit Parent Kettleball Kickstart . With 12 years of training experience and a mother of two young children , she understands the challenges and balancing family responsibilities with health . She is on a mission to empower her clients , especially those in their 40s and beyond , to build both mental resilience and physical strength for a healthier lifestyle . Her unique approach centers on kettlebell fitness to create lasting , healthy habits that seamlessly integrate with daily life .
Speaker 1Vanessa's impact spans nationwide , transforming lives by empowering individuals to lead healthier , more confident lives despite the challenges of parenthood and busy schedules . When she's not swinging bells or doing push-ups , she enjoys a glass of Malbec and exploring new restaurants with her husband and children in Tennessee . Welcome , thank you . Thank you for having me here . I'm so excited . I mean you and I were just kind of chit-chatting before the show kicked off and I feel like there's a reason we got connected , because I'm rounding the bend to 40 myself , so I'd love for you to just share with the listeners who you are and what you're all about and kind of why you target women in their forties and beyond .
Speaker 2Yeah , absolutely so , vanessa Flores . And my fitness journey actually started a bit later in life . Growing up , I did have all the you know body image issues , self , you know self esteem issues . My mom was always on a diet . My sister I have a sister seven years older than me she was always on a diet . So that's all I knew was like diets , right on a diet . So that's all I knew was like diets right .
Speaker 2And when I went to college I kind of started dabbling into like food and kinesiology , nutrition courses and I was just like mind blown because I didn't learn any of that growing up . But I took it to the extreme . I really restricted all my foods , was at the gym like two hours a day and I got to the skinny that I wanted , but funny thing is it never fixed anything . I was still insecure . I was still you know , body image issues , self esteem issues , like all of that was still there . And then when I reintroduced those foods , I went to the other extreme and I was binging and binging because I wouldn't allow myself to eat those , because I looked at them as bad foods . And now I was , my body was like give me all of that he wouldn't let me have before . And I went the other extreme and gained tons of weight really fast , was my biggest ever , and that led me to depression and I got to a point where I was like I can't be in these two extremes . You know I have to find a healthy balance , right ? So I started learning more about whole foods , you know , eating more plant based and viewing fitness more as a way to get better , like self improvement , versus I just going to do a workout to burn calories or to punish myself , right ? So really changing my view on what food really is and what fitness really is . It's what really changed my life .
Speaker 2And that's where kettlebells come into play , because kettlebells a lot of people are scared of it because they look manly and they're like I'm going to hurt my back . And kettlebells is a skill and like you really have to focus on what you're doing and it gives you that like mental resilience , that toughness that helped build to where I am today and you could do that with little bit of time . You don't need hours . You could get full body . You know workouts it's so technical that you have to learn it that your body , your whole body , is engaged . You have to use all your muscles at the same time , which is very different than just grabbing some weights and just going through the motions right .
Speaker 2And as I got older , I didn't have kids until I was my first kid , until I was 38 . So my daughter is six now and then I had my son at 40 . Okay , and now it's like okay , I'm into fitness , I'm into health , but how can I keep doing it with all the demands going on ? I started my own business . We moved so all these moving parts . It's like how can I still prioritize me where a lot of people think that that's being selfish where in reality it's like that's how you keep your sanity ? You know it's like In reality it's like that's how you keep your sanity . You know it's like your few minutes for you just to focus on you .
Speaker 2And in the beginning , when my kids were little , it was tough . They wanted mommy , mommy , mommy , you know , and I wanted to work out . And I had to , like , change my expectation and be like my workout is just going to be what my workout is going to be . You know , it's just about being healthy and being able to be there for them . And now they know , mommy , you're working out today , mommy , when you're working out or can we do a family workout ? You know like now they're like in it . So a lot of times people think in the beginning my kids won't let me , my kids won't let me . But the more you do it , the more they see it , the more it becomes a norm . So that's why I really honed in on moms , because we can I mean we put ourselves on the back burner so much to care for everybody else and I always say the most important person in this world is you right .
Speaker 2And if you can't take care of yourself , it's really hard to take care of everybody else . And being an older mom and even with , you know , changes in life and hormones and all that and maybe in their forties their kids are starting to go off in college , like we're in a different season of life than we were like in our twenties and thirties and we really have to take that into account . And I feel like a lot of people still think that they need to do what they did in their twenties in order to get fit now in their forties and they're like deers with , you know , in the headlights . They're like I can't do that . That's too much , that's . And I just want to redefine what fitness really is and you know it can be simple , it is doable , and I just want to empower moms to do that for themselves .
Speaker 1That's really . I mean , I love that so much because I went through my own journey as my kids were growing up and I remember one time I was doing a home workout and it was called for squats and I remember like just doing leg presses , like airplane , with my kids . Right , I was like well , it's the same motion and she was having fun with it . But I had to learn how to adjust my expectations and I love that . You highlight that Women in their 40s obviously can be in a wide variety of seasons . Right , you touched on it . Like you have younger kids , but some moms might have their kids going off to college . Do you find that women in this season need different plans based off of , like , what season they're in ?
Speaker 2Absolutely , and that's the thing . Like with any fitness program , it's not a cookie cutter , even if someone's like I have this magic formula blueprint .
It's like you have to take into account your lifestyle . You have to take into account your preferences . You have to take into what do you like to do ? Like maybe you do every Friday like to go out for pizza ? Fine , you don't have to take that out . You know , and I would never tell anybody . You can't go get ice cream with your kids or say your kids turn 21 . You can't go out with your son or daughter and have a drink . You know . Like , yeah , you have to know where you are , what you like , and some people are like I don't even want to do burpees . Like , don't even make me do burpees , fine , you don't have to . Yeah , there's plenty of other things . Exactly so it is important to know what season of life that you're in you know . Obviously , if your kids are off to college , you have more time . If you have little ones like me , I'm still lack of sleep . Yeah .
Speaker 1You're in it .
Speaker 2So I'm like you know you have to give yourself grace . You're not going to be able to do all the things that you were able to do before , and that's okay . It's about an at our point of life . It's about sustainability and about health versus like flaunting six pack abs Fair , which if you want to find , totally fine , but it doesn't have to be that , absolutely , absolutely .
Speaker 1And I think you kind of mentioned that you touched on something , because in our 40s , I mean , hormones become a major player again . So how do you build a fitness plan around that ?
Speaker 2So , you know there's this big buzz hormones and hormones . If you're doing this , this , this , it's your hormones and if this is happening , it's your hormones which , yes , you know your hormones do play a role in what's going on . But you also have to take a look at your quality of sleep . You also have to look at how do you manage your stress . You also have to look at what you're eating . You know what are you putting into your bodies and what are you doing for fitness ? Because if you're doing all like hit type workouts , if you're eating all these foods that are , you know , like inflame , or you know , all processed foods those are , that's all going to affect your hormones , right ?
Speaker 2So I always say , say let's start at the basics . You know , let's start at the basic , let's build a foundation and then from there you can dive deeper . Feel like a lot of people want to start at the top . It's my hormones . I'm going to blame my hormones . I need to fix my hormones where it's like let's take a little step back , we'll get there , but let's build the foundations before we even , you know , touch that Okay .
Speaker 1So when you talk about building foundation , do you kind of start all your clients off on the same plan and then like customize it around that , or what does that look like ?
Speaker 2So I usually have a lifestyle and habits evaluation like a pretty deep form when they come in , because I kind of want I want to know what a day in the life of their life looks like , Cause everybody's different . You know , everyone says we all have the same 24 hours . There's the number , yes , but within it everyone has different things that they have to get done throughout their day . So we start with where are you right now ? And it's like what's one change we can make to get you to where you want to be ? So , and everybody has a different weakness . So I can't be like everyone's gonna start with this Right , and they're like but I got that , why do I ? Got to start there , yeah , you know . So figuring out where everybody's kind of struggling with and and we've hugely focused on taking step by step and make small changes at a time .
Speaker 1Perfect , Now how long is your program ?
Speaker 2My program is 16 weeks because and we call it a kettlebell kickstart because it is kind of a kickstart you know a lot of people want to see humongous change in four , in four months or 16 weeks , but that really is kind of a kickstart of finding out , even you discovering . You know things that you like , you don't like , and but by the end of the 16 weeks it's amazing where people are mentally from where they started to where they end . And our whole goal is we want you to be able to do what you learned in our program five years from now , 10 years from now . It's not like a 30 day challenge and then it's something you can't keep up with . So that's why we do 16 weeks . So it is at a point where you're like , okay , this was , I'm at a good point right now .
Speaker 1Wow , I love it so much and I know that you mentioned you have a free Facebook group for people where they can come and kind of see what your program's all about , get some tips and tricks . Do you want to tell the listeners about that ?
Speaker 2Yeah , so we have a free Facebook group . It's a strong , healthy parents and in there in our group you get all our free resources , all our free trainings tons of tons of value , because we I was a teacher for 13 years so I always want to teach and I want you to learn , because that's the like people do Weight Watchers , people do , you know all these other programs but the thing is that they don't do is they don't learn the skill of planning , of prepping , of what help make them feel good . So I really want you know people to really understand what works best for them .
Speaker 1I love that so much . If there's one tip or piece of advice that you'd love to give the moms out there , what would it be ?
Speaker 2My one biggest tip if you're struggling even just to get started , start with a 10 minute walk . If you do that over and over again , you're going to see results . You just have to be patient , right , but find just a few minutes in your day . It could be . Maybe while you're waiting in the pickup line you take a walk a little bit around the school for 10 minutes , or maybe you have a 10 minute break before your meetings . Go for a quick walk . Not only will that help you to get results , it'll help build consistency , it'll help you clear your mind , it'll help you boost your energy and your mood . It's like just that small , you don't have to go . You know all or nothing . White knuckle . If it's not an hour , it's not worth it . It's like just find 10 minutes and and if walking is where you start , perfect Start there .
Speaker 1I love that so much . Well , thank you so much for being here today and sharing your expertise with the listeners . I know , as I round the bend to 40 myself , these are really helpful tips for me to incorporate into my daily habits . So you guys will make sure to include the Facebook group in the show notes so that you guys will be able to connect with Vanessa and if you guys have any questions , you guys can , you know , drop those in her Facebook group . Go and get those free tips and tricks . And thank you guys for tuning into today's episode where we help you conquer the chaos one day at a time .