Personal Training

Who is it for? 

• The person who’s done physio, but still not where they want to be
• You have pain or flare-ups that prevent you from being as active or healthy as you want
• If you want to learn how to strength train
• It’s been a long time since you’ve exercised regularly
• Bouncing back from surgery or injury
• Wanting to get strong prior to surgery
• Folks who do better with in-person appointments

Don’t let the days turn into weeks, weeks into months, months in to years.
You’ll realize that you didn’t do the things in your life you imagined.
Start now.

Personal Training is:

• 1-to-1 sessions that solve complex and frustrating problems and gets results. We resolve pain, return to being active outdoors, and learn important education concepts so that you have a strong resilient body that performs well for the rest of your life.
• Thorough assessment of your flexibility, strength, movement capacity & cardiovascular fitness to determine your strengths, weaknesses, and areas of most need. We leave no stone unturned. 
• Individualized program created for you based on your goals, assessments, and unique needs. Each session, you’re guided through exactly what you need. I meet you where you’re at each day, and we make adjustments and pivot as needed. 
• Accountability & support. Your progress is tracked, and we regularly discuss where you’re at in the big picture. You have a coach in your corner, ensuring you’re on track and supported every step of the way.
• A consolidated plan coordinated with your physio, surgeon or doctor so that you’re doing what you need to get better, supervised and guided by your multidisciplinary team. It’s simplified, streamlined, and progressed appropriately so you can just focus on showing up and doing what’s needed. 
• Enjoyable! Being active and moving your body should feel good, rewarding, and at times fun, even. 

How much interaction do I get with a coach?

Regular sessions up to 60min with Kim in a one-to-one setting, ideally 2-3 times per week. We communicate before and after sessions to check on how you’re doing. You might be assigned “homework” via the TrueCoach app, where Kim checks your progress. 

Why is it effective?

Because it’s exactly what you need, nothing less and nothing more. 

Your coach guides you through your program so that you do it well. We workshop any challenges or sticking points so that you keep moving the needle forward no matter what. We pull back when needed, push forward when appropriate, and keep our sights on our North Star: your goals. 

Throughout the initial learning phase, we reassess and discuss your progress, where you’re at in the big picture, and what’s left to complete in order to move to the next phase. 

We work through challenges, flare-ups, and set-backs. We celebrate wins. Through highs and lows, we move forward and build momentum.

As a client, what can I expect in terms of results, physical changes, emotional changes, mental changes? In what timeframe?

Clients consistently experience meaningful, lasting improvements across physical ability, confidence, and overall quality of life—not just short-term fitness gains.

Physical results

You can expect to get stronger, move better, and often become pain-free in areas that have been limiting you for months or even years.

Many clients come in with chronic issues (like back, shoulder, or knee pain) and report:

• Significant reduction or complete elimination of pain
• Improved mobility and ease in everyday movements (even simple things like putting on shoes)
• Return to activities they had stopped (running, sports, active hobbies)
• Noticeable increases in strength, fitness, and performance

In some cases, clients even exceed their previous level of fitness or achieve competitive results.

Emotional changes

Clients frequently describe a major boost in confidence and overall wellbeing.

You can expect to:

• Feel more confident in your body and abilities
• Regain independence in daily life
• Feel supported, understood, and encouraged throughout the process
• Experience a renewed sense of possibility about what your body can do

Mental changes

Beyond physical training, there’s a strong mindset shift.

Clients often:

• Develop a healthier relationship with pain (less fear, more control)
• Gain clarity on how to train effectively and safely
• Build long-term habits and knowledge to maintain progress independently
• Feel more motivated and positive about their health journey

Timeline: how quickly results happen

Results can begin surprisingly quickly, but also build progressively over time.

• Short term(first few weeks): Increased confidence, better understanding of your body, early improvements in strength and movement
• Medium term(a few months): Noticeable reductions in pain, improved fitness, return to previously limited activities
• Long term(6 months to 2+ years): Major transformations in strength, performance, and lifestyle—often including complete resolution of long-standing issues and sustained, independent progress

The bigger picture

This is about more than workouts.

It’s about walking back into your life with strength, confidence, and freedom—often in ways you didn’t think were possible anymore.

Average monthly cost of coaching is $600-$1,300 per month.

How many sessions you need depends on your goals; your desired timeline; what kinds of pain/limitation you have, how long you’ve had them; what your experience level is and how active you currently are; and supportive health factors such as stress, sleep, nutrition, relationships, and mindset. Expect a minimum commitment of 3 months. It takes about 3 months to establish new, consistent habits; and it takes that long for your body to start making permanent changes.

The discovery call is to determine if this is the right path for you, not to sell you anything. Let’s talk about where you are and where you want to be, I can help you find the best path forward. If you’re ready to take action and make yourself a priority… book a discovery call!

Importance of Flexibility and Mobility

On day 1 of personal training, I assess each client’s flexibility and mobility. Why?

I need to see what shapes and positions their body is capable of making before asking them to add load or intensity! Doing a 10-minute gentle assessment at the start of our session starts to give me a good idea of how well a person moves, and if I need to modify other movements we might later that day or in future sessions. For example, we will check your ankles. If they don’t have a lot of flexibility, this means that your ability to perform a squat may be impacted, because a deep squat requires a good amount of ankle flexibility. So when I check out how you squat later that day, I might give you a few options for us to work around the flexibility of your ankles in the short term, and will create a plan in the mid term in order for you to get your ankles more flexible! We don’t ignore limitations. We keep you safe and comfortable in the meantime, and then do the work of improving on those limitations so that they get resolved!

What if we find that the source of your knee pain after all wasn’t that you “have bad knees” but was being caused by limited ankles? This exact thing was what we discovered with Laura. See her testimonial below.

4 Pain Rules to Keep You Moving

Adults (including seniors) need 2.5 hours a week of physical activity for general health benefits. We should obtain this doing moderate to vigorous aerobic activity throughout each week, broken in to sessions of 10 minutes or more. Resistance training should be performed 2-3 times a week to achieve maximum health benefits too!

But what to do if pain or discomfort is knocking at our door?

Do we stop and wait it out? Or should we continue?

First of all, let’s eliminate anything suspicious of a serious underlying medical condition. If you’re having deep bone pain (not joints), bilateral pins and needles, 5% or more unintentional weight loss, unrelenting night pain, recent onset of incontinence, malaise, sudden loss of sensation or weakness (such as an unexplained loss of grip strength or saddle anaesthesia) then it’s time to seek medical attention.

Now let’s assume you don’t experience those things OR that you have seen a medical professional and gotten the “all clear” to be active.

At some point you might have been told “if it hurts, don’t do it” or, on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, “no pain, no gain”. We can do better than that. We know more now, and I can help guide you through the uncertainty.

One EXTREMELY useful tool I use with my clients (and in my own personal life!) are the 4 Pain Rules.

They help us determine if what we’re doing is too much.

They help us determine what level of discomfort is okay.

They help keep us moving, keep us safe, and help give peace of mind that we are moving in the right direction so we don’t have to worry all the time that we will “pay for it” in the days to come. Flip through the slide show above for the 4 simple pain rules to help you and your loved one so you can continue to be an active participant in your own life, without pain, discomfort or uncertainty putting you on the sidelines.

Walking is a Game Changer

If you’re a client of mine, you can bet you’ll be encouraged to walk more. No matter your goals, walking will likely help get you there.

When you make the commitment to walking daily, everyone wins! 

These kiddos get an outing with mom, who is being a role model and showing them what strength looks like! 

——-

When we walk instead of driving, we also begin to realize how much closer our point-to-points actually are. You may find that the post office isn’t actually that far when you walk. 

When we walk outside, we increase our time outdoors which is great for our circadian rhythm (sleep) and mental health. 

We reduce our fossil fuel footprint by taking less car trip. 

And when you live with the great outdoors at your doorstep, you can actually increase your sense of connection to nature. 

My personal belief is that the more EVERY person gets outdoors and connects to nature, the more we will understand our role  and connection in caring for the earth: forests, oceans, air, water, animals, ourselves and each other.

Personal Training Testimonials

Kelly isn’t a client of mine. 

 She was, though. 

 We worked together to prepare her for a total knee replacement surgery so that she could bounce back strong and capable post-op. 

She just shared this win with me, let’s celebrate with Kelly! 

“Sonya and I had 3 great days at Lake O’Hara and I pulled off my biggest hike since my knee replacement. 5.6 miles and over a 1000 ft elevation gain! You gave me the tools and I pulled them out and kicked some ass! It was tough going but dammit I made it!! The hike was from Lake O’Hara lodge to Lake MacArthur which is the lake in the picture! Pretty happy 18 months post knee replacement!”

This is Dona. As you can probably tell, she’s got a great sense of humor. 

She had plantar fasciitis, hip, and back pain. It caused her to stop being very active. She lost strength which made every day tasks, like yard work, harder. 

In 24 sessions, we increased her strength & aerobic fitness, improved her mobility, and worked on specific exercises for her feet. She worked on improving her nutrition, self talk, sleep, and stress management. 

One of her goals? To be more active again. 

Now look at her go! 

Let’s celebrate Leah’s progress! 

 We’ve worked together for three months.

 In that time, Leah has…

️ Increased her strength, measurably

️ Decreased her pain

️ Improved her resiliency which means her body handles long work days and bouts of stress better

️Committed to following my plan, which has her doing the minimum effective dose of strength, sprint interval training (SIT), cardio, breathwork, and mobility done in sessions of 20-60min

️ Increased her energy levels, ability to recover, and decreased hunger & snacking via 1 simple nutrition change (hint: it was protein!)

️ Made MY days better just because I get to be around her! She’s positive, inspiring, fun and hella smart. 

 Be like Leah: 

 Make a commitment to prioritizing yourself 

 Make the path forward simple, rewarding, and effective by hiring a coach 

 Enjoy the benefits!

A Resilient, Adaptable and Disciplined version of you is the best version of you. 

This is Kelly and her partner Sonya at Lake O’Hara, BC.

When this photo was taken (Aug 2023) Kelly had the best hike she’s had in recent years. She “booted it” up the hills, had a good recovery rate of about 1-2 min between bouts. She even found herself leading the hike – for the “first time ever!”

Beaming with joy and pride, she told me over the phone:

“I’m back to me again!
Sonya said ‘I haven’t seen you like this in years’.”

They hiked Saturday. Then, she got up early on Sunday and played 18 holes of golf. And THEN came home and mowed the yard.

This is a life well lived.

Oh, and did I mention that Kelly manages daily chronic pain associated with severe knee arthritis and is in line for a full knee replacement? She is strong and capable despite the incredible added challenge, and it’s because of the work she’s been doing in the gym. Way to go, Kelly! There’s much more of this to come in your future.

⚡Let’s celebrate this MASSIVE win with Shelly! ⚡

She trusted me, trusted the process, and spent the time and energy putting in the work and applying the education. She deserves a huge round of applause and cheers!

Here’s what she had to say:

“I’ve been seeing Kim for several months now, and her expert coaching is helping to alleviate shoulder and hip pain that has plagued me for many, many years. After years of physio, massage, chiropractor, acupuncture, osteopathy, yoga therapy and all kinds of self-help and pain management therapies, I wasn’t hopeful that I’d able to snowmobile pain free again.

Imagine my delight when I rode for the first time this season and had absolutely no pain! I was able to maneuver my sled through rough terrain, deep powder, deep bumps and up steep climbs with strength and agility that I haven’t felt for many, many years! My body feels young again! I am so very grateful for her thoughtful and individualized approach to getting me strong and fit again, not only for snowmobiling, but for many other activities I love to do.”

This is Bruce. He’s 72.

You’d have a hard time telling from this photo, but he has osteoarthritis in many joints (shoulders, knees, wrists). Months before this photo was taken, the pain and limitation had increased to the point where he was no longer cross country skiing, going to the climbing gym, or training at Golden’s Gym.

He lost muscle mass and felt like he didn’t have the ability to train in the gym on his own because of his limitations so he reached out for my help. Within 24 sessions,

• his mobility had improved (could not previously put on jackets without severe pain, could not downpull with his hands in order to climb – can now do these things). In fact, he is working toward regaining a strict pullup!
• he is back to climbing and route-cleaning
• has regained muscle mass
• has increased his strength in all lifts at the gym (deadlift, back squat, upper body pushes and pulls of all kinds)

Arthritis doesn’t have to make your world smaller. With the right coaching, you CAN enjoy your favourite activities just like Bruce.