Your Body, Your Workout | Ashley Reaves

Your Body, Your Workout | Ashley Reaves

SWEAT journal yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7 Your Body, Your Workout | Ashley Reaves women lifting fitness exercise diet cardio

“You can sculpt YOUR body the way YOU want it.” – Ashley Reaves

Fitness enthusiast and trainer Ashley Reaves works every day to inspire others to get fit. She helps people to set their own fitness goals and gives them the tools and strategies to help them accomplish them. Ashley is all for aiding others in finding physical activities that they love to do. In her opinion that is the best way to get fit and maintain it. “I say just start doing something. Start small. Find a fun activity that you love and try to do that a couple of times a week. Then maybe find a friend who needs to lose some weight and go with them to a gym a couple days a week. So at this point, you’re being active four days a week and it’s not even that hard because you’ve made these changes gradually and doing things you enjoy. If you just cannot find it within you to get motivated, maybe look for a personal trainer in your area. They will for sure keep you accountable and obviously know how to help you,” Ashley says.

Start

Ashley has always been into physical activities. She began to expand her training over time leading her straight to the weight room. “I’ve always been a very active person from yoga to Pilates to weight lifting. I’ve done it all, but what I do right now all started because I met my boyfriend, Josh. Before we met, I was a bit of a cardio bunny. Not in the traditional sense. I did some resistance machines and HIIT training, but I definitely didn’t know what I was doing in the weight room. He, being a guy, was pretty into lifting weights and back then, I wanted to impress him, so I let him show me around. For about a month, I just let him train me how he would train. He taught me the basics first. I could barely squat the bar when I first started and now I squat triple that for reps easy! I did a very traditional workout split for a while until I learned my way around. I remember being so sore every day. After a while, I just fell in love and I haven’t looked back. I did my research and after about three years, I’ve finally kind of adapted my own way of training to build my body how I want it. That’s why I love the weights,” Ashley details.

SWEAT journal yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7 Your Body, Your Workout | Ashley Reaves women lifting fitness exercise diet cardio

Obstacles

While Ashley didn’t seem to have to cross many hurdles when it came to hitting the gym, she still faced challenges that she had to overcome to get where she is today. “My mother could be very overbearing at times. She struggled with an eating disorder when she was young and that aspect of needing to be in control stuck around. She would push food on me and even if I didn’t want it, I would take it because she would get upset if I said “no.” I was overweight for several years until puberty hit and I lost the extra pudge. My parents also divorced when I was a teenager. I don’t have much of a relationship with my dad and that’s been hard to accept, but at some point, you just have to move on and work past it. I think to overcome anything, you need to accept that it happened, and look forward to creating a better future. My dad leaving me with nothing (no money) forced me to have a good work ethic. I have a full-time job and I also train four clients on the side to make extra and go to school as well. I keep myself busy. Like I said, it’s all about looking forward to a better future and to do that, you have to work for it,” Ashley exclaims!

SWEAT journal yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7 Your Body, Your Workout | Ashley Reaves women lifting fitness exercise diet cardio

Rewards

Just as many other trainers, Ashley feels rewarded by her ability to help others. “Recently, I’ve been getting so much love and support and positive feedback and it makes it all worth it. I get messages from people I’ve never met or even talked to saying how motivational I am and how great I look. Just knowing that I motivate even one person makes me immensely happy. I have to throw this in there too because training clients is a big part of my life right now. I work very hard with my clients. I put time and a lot of energy to giving them the best workouts I can and to see them physically improve and transform gives me such happiness I can’t even explain. To know you have helped to change someone’s life, well, there isn’t a better feeling,” Ashley explains.

The positive feedback she gets from others helps her to continue along her path of fitness training. Combined with her love of fitness, Ashley plans to continue to grow her brand and expand into new aspects. “I’d like to be a household name in the fitness industry. I want to own and run my own gym and continue to train clients. I’d also like to start a fitness clothing line. That’s also a big passion of mine,” Ashley says.

SWEAT journal yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7 Your Body, Your Workout | Ashley Reaves women lifting fitness exercise diet cardio

What motivational/inspirational books have you found to be most helpful?

I haven’t read a book in years to be completely honest. I think nowadays, people find their inspiration mostly on social

Why do you think a person’s mindset is so integral to their success?

Our mindset is who we are. If you have a negative mindset, you will never get anything accomplished. It’s my job as a trainer to help build a positive mindset so that you will stay motivated and hard-working.  media anyway.

What’s your beliefs on performance diet like?    Do you prescribe to a particular philosophy on diet (example: Paleo, Gluten free, etc…)?

I don’t follow a diet. I know what’s good and not good for my body and I try to follow that. I’m not perfect. I like to eat the junk too, but I try to avoid the processed crap if I can.  I know that because I lift weights, I need to eat more protein. I also eat around my workouts. If I’m training in the evening, I’ll eat a lot of carbs before and after my workout and more protein after as well. I try to eat 5-6 times a day to keep my metabolism up. When it comes to diet, I don’t think there is any secret. I think we all know what is good and not good for our body.

SWEAT journal yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7 Your Body, Your Workout | Ashley Reaves women lifting fitness exercise diet cardio

Ashley Reaves

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