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From Cardio Crazy to The Weight Room and Down Two Dress Sizes! Inspiration for Type A Ladies with Suzanne Waldrop and Coach Jim Laird, #36

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Show Notes

In this episode of Food, Sex & Life for the Modern Woman we chat with Suzanne Waldrop and former podcast guest Coach Jim Laird. Suzanne is one of Jim’s most inspirational and transformed clients so we invited her on the show to discuss her success with powerlifting. She shares with us her struggle with weightloss while training and running marathons, how she moved into strength training with Coach Laird, to become what she is now, amongst many other titles, a competitive powerlifter.

For all us Type A personality females, this is a great inspiration story. One that reiterates the mere existence of this podcast, to cut through the clutter of information that is available through the media and the internet, find an expert that challenges you, gets your personality and that you can put your trust in to know they have your back.

Most of us think that more is more. If we want to lose weight, we have to exercise more. But this is a myth.

In the case of Suzanne, like many female runners, she got into running to lose stubborn baby weight. Going on training  4-5 mile runs, three times a week preparing for half and full marathons. But she still wasn’t happy with the way her body looked. She found Coach Jim Laird and started to see small changes with his strength training support. Once she adopted his nutrition advice of eating paleo, then she really saw significant changes, dropping 2 dress sizes in 4 months! So Suzanne wanted more…like most of us would. But much to her dismay, Coach Laird refused to work with her further unless she quit distance running. It wasn’t easy, but Suzanne agreed and soon she became competitive powerlifter and founded The Miss Fits, with a group of other ladies like her at the gym, and with Coach Laird’s encouragement of course.

Sounds crazy right? Listen in on the podcast episode to hear Coach Jim’s reason. For more info on running and how it may not be providing you with the results you want if your goal is to look good, listen on our interview with Jason Seib- The Four Pillars of Weight Loss, Exercise.

Running is a very therapeutic sport and finishing a marathon is a true accomplishment for those who want to run because it feels good and offers a great way to de-stress and clear your mind. For great marathon training advice, listen in on our interview with Angie Spencer, 26.2 Miles- Is Running Really All It’s Cracked Up to Be?

 

Tips for losing 2 dress sizes in 4 monthslose-2-dress-sizes

These are the steps Suzanne took to get there:

  • Stopped running
  • Strength training
  • Eating paleo
  • Super motivated (she’s a Type A!)
  • Asks her coach a lot of questions
  • Keeps a log to compare herself to what she did in weeks prior and remind herself how far she’s come.

 

The Miss Fits is a fun group of women of diverse backgrounds brought together by the iron. Powerlifting (deadlift, squat and bench press), has helped them to find not only solidarity in each other, but also the self-confidence to be independent and strong outside of the gym. They’re blog shares their goals, triumphs, struggles and works in progress—under the bar and in their everyday lives. They love the advice and support we read on the blogs of professional trainers, but sometimes it helps to get motivation and “been there, done that” tips from peers. That’s why they started their blog. So if you’re ready to get strong and have fun, join these average ladies on their anything-but-average adventures with barbells, bench presses and everything in between.

 

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Suzanne’s 3 Habits to Ensure Her Health:

Keep it simple: eat, train, sleep, repeat.

 

Jim’s 3 Habits to Ensure His Health:

  1. Sleep in a float tank a couple of times a week.
  2. Delegating- getting Suzanne’s help at the gym.
  3. Fishing.

Suzanne Waldrop Bio:

Suzanne is a 45 year old wife and mom who believes that strength training is her fountain of youth. As a reformed long distance runner, she says that she might just be the healthiest and fittest she’s ever been.

Years of training for countless half marathons and one full marathon never gave Suzanne the body she wanted. She could run 12 miles on any given day but her weight was constantly up and down and she carried a lot of belly fat. Finally, Suzanne went looking for help and she met Jim Laird, owner and coach of Gym Laird Strength Conditioning.

Suzanne describes herself as stubborn, type A, slightly neurotic, and competitive as hell which doesn’t exactly make for an easy client. Against Jim’s advice, she continued to run while she also attended strength training classes, but that only lasted a couple months. In April 2012 Suzanne finally agreed to give up all distance running and she has never regretted that decision.

Today, Suzanne has become a passionate advocate for strength training for woman. She is a member of The Miss Fits, a group of average ladies who blog about their goals, triumphs, struggles and works in progress – in the gym and in their everyday lives. Suzanne also competes in powerlifting and holds multiple state and national records. Her personal records include a 292 squat, 121 bench and a 375 deadlift.

 

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