Q&A With Katie :From Cancer to Chest day Royalty

In this episode of Strength in Numbers, Katie gets real with an Instagram Q&A that covers everything from taking two months off training during cancer treatment to her unapologetic love for Tonal’s Power Build program (spoiler: they’re basically in a long-term relationship

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/p/C5536OnOTy_/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Transcript

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Hey, welcome back to Strength in Numbers. I'm your host, Katie Tonal addict Muscle Chaser Cancer Warrior, and trying to be a personal trainer who still occasionally doubts whether she deserves to be here. So basically, your average gym girl with a podcast Mike, and way too many opinions about leg day AKA Bulgarian split squats. So today's episode is a q and a straight from my Instagram, and y'all really said, let's get deep. We're talking about what it felt like being forced to take time off during my training, during my cancer treatment. When am I bringing guests Yes, coaches onto this podcast and how I'm handling imposter syndrome as I take a leap to become a personal trainer in my forties. So grab your protein shake. I have mine or your pre-workout. I don't know why you're having it now,'cause it is mid-afternoon or grab a snack. Let's get into it. All right. What was it like being off for training for two months? During my cancer treatment, it was, it was really brutal. Not just physically, but mentally. I felt like I was losing momentum, like the strength that I had built was just gonna slip away. I think the scariest part was I was gonna see that old Katie in the mirror, and nothing scares me more than seeing that 120 pound girl, and it just. I had that thought in my head, but you know what I learned? You don't lose strength, you just redefine it. Strength became about healing during this time about rest, about listening to my body. Even when my mind was like, you need to do something. You are gonna lose all this muscle that you've worked so hard for. And those voices were real. And when I came back on tonal. You know what? I wasn't at zero. I came back with more grit than ever. When will I start bringing guests on like AKA? The tonal coaches soon. Like mic check soon, like I would say fall, they're all traveling right now, so I gotta get, you know, but I'm definitely gonna have tonal members on in the process of getting that scheduled up. So I've, I've got your guys wishlist from talking to Joe a Akeem, t Tim Woody, uh, coach Ash. You know, I, I, I've, Tim, I've got all of them, like all listed, and I, you know, you guys gave some questions on like, things that you would like to ask them because I know I have some questions like I need to know. Coach T's. Uh, like a whole, like how does she plan the sunglasses with her outfits? Like her sunglasses, like how many, how many sunglasses do you have? Coach T And then for Woody, I need to know about like bagels and cooking. And then Joe, we need to know about like the ketchup and the hotdog ordeal. We need to go dive deep into that. So I am going to get. I'm going to ask all the coaches if they would like to come on the podcast, I would love for them to come on, but I'm just gonna give some time while they're all tra traveling. So their stories are, and you know, hear about their stories and their favorite lifts and also, yes, I wanna ask them like, what is their like dreaded move. We know Joe's is Frogger. We know that it does brighten my day when he has to do that. Alright, how does stepping into personal training. While I am just really unsure about what I'm doing, basically imposter syndrome, it's like I'm wearing somebody else's shoes sometimes, you know, I, I feel like I'm tripping over them with the laces untied. Some days I think, why am I doing this? Who am I? But then I look at like, where I've been. I've, you know, I've survived cancer. I'm raising a daughter, a family. You know, I'm rebuilding, you know, strength. You know, I was a beginner coming to Tonal so I know what the possibilities are that I can help someone'cause I've been there. So, and I feel like that, like my experience brings something that I can help people with because of knowing what is possible using a certain machine. That, that's, that's like always like, what my goal is, is to help you guys in the tonal community see that it is possible. I don't, you know, I don't, I don't need to be perfect. I just want, I just need to be passionate about it. And that's what I remind myself every day, that it is, it is just my passion. I don't need to be this perfection. And if I help someone feel stronger or help someone flex a little more in the mirror. It's so worth, it's so worth me doubting myself that I made somebody else feel that way, because that's always my goal. Like I, I want, I wanna be that impression on somebody that like how I made them feel. All right. Next question. Favorite tonal program. You guys, you guys know, sorry, we're gonna have. A sip of the protein shake. All right. You guys know it's power build always and forever. I have a serious long-term relationship with this program. I have yet to break up with it. I will never break up with it. It is the best chess program out there. Hands down. That thing has sculpted more than just my packs. It has gotten me to do Pilo pushups. It has built like patience, it's built power, and a level of respect for bench day. I never thought I'd have, like I, you guys know, I'm a huge, huge goal setter for Bench and it is is the best program. I ha like, I'm so connected to that program because it was my first program when, you know, I started signing when I started on tonal. And it's just, it's just meant a lot to me. And every single time I complete it, it just reminds me of how far I've come. And you know, I see when Joe,'cause that was Joe's really first program on tonal, so it's like three years of growth and you know, I see where Joe's was at then and where he is at now. I mean, he's like twice the size. So Coach Joe knows what he's doing and I tr I trust him wholeheartedly, even when I'm laying there mid set wondering if this is how I go out. So what was, what is the biggest lesson I learned in strength training? What is, what is the biggest lesson strength training has taught you? Sorry, I'm reading the questions from my phone that I don't need to shrink myself to be strong. I used to think strength meant smaller. You know, the people I used to look at was, it's just all abs and, you know, being, you know, thin as possible to see the muscle underneath instead of learning how to actually build muscle. Um, because we all have muscle underneath. It's just, you know, how small do you wanna get to see it or do you want to. Put on weight to help see the muscle, and I would, you know, it's just been a whole learning curve for me. You know, I, I, I don't think strength is meant to be small. I think now strength means louder, bolder, and present. It means sh it just means so much more to me, it means like showing up for yourself when it's hard. It means taking up space. It means saying yes to the version of you who isn't afraid to stand. And lift heavy shit because we all know we can all lift heavier. I even tell myself that sometimes is that I can lift heavier. So, and then I also got some questions about Abigail and her. Lego obsession. She's a Lego ninja. We all know she's a Lego ninja. Um, right now she's kind of on, let's see, when did she finish? Was wicked. She's like really big into Wicked, but now she's like mostly excited about, uh, shark Week. So Lego doesn't have any really good shark Lego sets. I mean, she did the Jaws one, which was absolutely awful. That was the worst Lego build ever. Um, so yeah, she's kind of on a hiatus right now. We kind of don't do a lot of Legos between now like August because we prep for Christmas, because I don't know if you guys have teenagers, but as the kids get older, it gets harder to buy gifts for them. So I just hold off on giving stuff to her right away and I wait for, uh, Christmas. so I really enjoyed, the q and a questions that I got from you guys, asking about, training and, stuff like that. I am always available on Instagram, to help you guys. I think that, you know, helping since I've been able to do what I've done. I wanna help others be able to feel like they can do it too. Like, what's the point of me doing this just for myself? Like, that's just crazy to me. You know, I know many people, um, you know, they kind of do things and then like, are they really helping people with it? And I don't want people to ever like, think that I am not wanting to help people because that is, that is my goal is to, to help you guys. So I just wanna say thank you so much for listening. If you made it this far, I love you long time. That is it for this episode. And if you made it to the end, man, you're my kind of strong people. Whether you're rebuilding, questioning, or just lifting through the hard days. I see you. This space is for everyone. the ones who have fallen and gotten back up. The ones who are still figuring out. But still show up anyway. And remember, if Imposter Syndrome tries to sneak in like we talked about in the last episode, hit it with a super set of confidence and a side of SaaS. So I'll catch you next time on strengthened numbers. And don't worry when the coaches come on, I promise to ask them the hard hitting questions like, why does everything have to burn? I mean literally like what? Why? Sometimes, just why. So I'll see you guys on the next little quick chit chat. Thank you so much for taking part in this quick little q and a and I will see you next time. I.