Category Archives: HAWT

A fresh start:

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This may be the longest I’ve gone without posting, at least in recent history!! I’ve been so busy, between traveling to Saskatchewan last weekend and starting my new job this week, I’ve barely had time to breathe, let along blog! _uacct = “UA-4888259-1″;urchinTracker();

Big changes, bloggie friends. Big changes over here. 
The most significant change has been recent and has been an incredibly difficult decision to make. Leith and I decided to remove ourselves from our affiliation with HAWT Fitness this week. There were some unacceptable and upsetting actions taken against us, and it was decided that the best choice was to relinquish any and all control in the company to the other shareholders.
I’m not upset. My knowledge and my expertise is still mine and mine alone – I’ve spent countless hours learning, researching and applying knowledge in pelvic floor health and core restoration that I needn’t worry about being tied to any particular brand. I’ve worked under other brand names before HAWT, and I will continue to work after HAWT.
Of course, it means that I will not be able to offer any HAWT programs myself. Any that were on the table needed to be cancelled. But as Meaghan Dickert, CSEP-CPT, I will still continue my goal of educating women on the importance of pelvic floor health until no one else pees when they sneeze!
I’ll be blogging a bit on the topic here, but I’ll still blog about the insane things my children and husband do, my wild culinary exploits and the abstract ramblings while I pursue my 101 in 1001 list.
Onwards and upwards, dear readers! Keep moving forward, enjoying the days as they come, and appreciating the opportunities to learn and grow :)

This n that

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  • I am trying to train my bugz to go to sleep before 8pm, because starting Tuesday, we have to be up at 5:30am. So far, it isn’t working…
  • I’m 6 days in to my 90 day challenge…but really only on Day 4 due to the blender that dropped its bottom out and ruined one of my shakes, running out of samples while I waited for my own stash to arrive in the mail, and being one shake short of 6 days anyway ;) But my stash arrived today, and I am shakin’ it up! More info at MagzDHealth…
  • I found myself getting bored this weekend and did what anyone else would do: I went and bought a quarter gallon of pink paint and painted a border in the bugz’ room.
  • I’m addicted to the Kobo e-reader my parents gave me for my birthday. I love that it is small enough to fit in my purse so that I have dozens of books at my fingertips at any given time! And I may also love the fact that I can read cheap, trashy novels without anyone knowing…
  • I had the opportunity to do some pelvic floor/prolapse coaching today. What an honour it is to be trusted with such an intimate problem – a huge quality-of-life issue that too many women ignore or are ashamed of. I am so blessed to be able to help women
  • It’s raining, raining, raining still, with these tricky little breaks of sunshine that get your hopes up. Thank goodness for Vitamin D and my flower essence blend from My Nature Baby!! 
  • I’m heading to Key Lime clothing tomorrow to get a rain jacket, on that note!
  • I love singing Rainbow Connection with my bugz at bedtime. It was their lullaby as babeez, and now it’s their bedtime song.
  • I’ve slowly been restocking my non-workout wardrobe for my new job – thank goodness everything is on sale right now!!
  • Speaking of new jobs, I went in to HR today to sign all the paperwork and get my ID card. It’s official!
  • I went for a delicious run in the cool rain today. I don’t know where I find the strength or energy, but the fact that I can pull off 30-minute continuous runs after taking 15 months off amazes me! I think it’s the world’s way of telling me I was born to run.
What’s new in your world?

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{30 days of truth} Day 3

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Something I need to forgive myself for: _uacct = “UA-4888259-1″;urchinTracker();


I’ve been stalling on Day 3 for a long time because I haven’t been able to think about something I need to forgive myself for. Finally, in the past few weeks I have found it:
I need to forgive myself for the past 12 years of being a dreamer at the expense of my responsibilities.
Now before you step back and wonder what has me so jaded, let me assure you that I am not. I am still a dreamer, and I will always search for the things in life that make me happiest and I will never settle.
But every time our family has faced a hardship of some sort, I always find myself questioning the selfish motives that have moved me through my career paths. I left a perfectly good 4.0 GPA at MacEwan University (then Grant MacEwan Community College) to pursue dance, which I promptly quit 11 days into the semester because I was scared. I taught dance and worked menial retail and service jobs to support my passion. I took over my own dance studio when I was 21 without a lick of business sense, passing up an acceptance into the Science program at MacEwan to follow my dream. When dance crashed, I went back to school and became a personal trainer. I passed up an incredible job opportunity in the last 6 weeks of school because it would have meant that I had less time for my outside passions. 
Over the next 3 years, I dabbled in little things, afraid to push myself and afraid to fail. I kept a safe bubble around myself, refusing to step out of my comfort zone and get a full-time job to help our family while Leith busted his tail to support the four of us. He was (and is) always supportive of me – I am so grateful for that. But every time we slipped behind, I heard this voice gnawing at my conscience, telling me I needed to pull my own weight instead of chasing dreams.
Finally this past year, I was able to realize a way to keep building my dreams AND support my family as needed. Unfortunately, that position ran out. We spent all July trying to rearrange things, trying to budget ourselves into the smallest box possible so that I could continue to grow and realize my dreams. Everything became “if we can just hit this ____, everything will be okay“.
Then I got a call. I was offered an interview for a job that would take me from flighty and irresponsible dreamer to mature, responsible, contributing member of our household. I was torn, but decided to go to the interview anyway. After all, it was only an interview. What were the chances of even being offered a job?
The more I thought about it and the more Leith and I discussed things, the more we realized that this was an opportunity to finally fix our mistakes. While I don’t regret living in pursuit of any of my dreams, I don’t want to keep living in this limited little box, hurting my husband and kids. I am craving some stability, some continuity, some relief.
When I was offered the job less than 3 hours after my interview, I was floored. And I began to forgive myself.
I began to forgive myself for all the give-me-three-more-months promises. I began to forgive myself for all the times I’ve had to tell Leith “no” because my job or my business didn’t give us the money for him to play. I was living out my dreams and he was living at work. It wasn’t fair.
So I am beginning to forgive myself.
I start my full-time position after the long weekend. Monday to Friday, 8:00-4:30, salaried, benefits, vacation, the works. 
HAWT Fitness will still live, which is the best part. I won’t be the face in the classrooms, but I will continue to develop and research and promote everything that I am so passionate about. But if registrations are slow, it won’t give me a heart attack. I won’t lose sleep, wondering if I’ll meet my registration quota, wondering if I’ll need to shut everything down. I already have one fabulous instructor, and I will hire another to teach the extra classes. I can focus on what I love: being an expert resource in my field.
I’ll be in a big company, with huge room for growth. I will know where I need to be on any given day and what to expect (to a degree, of course). 
I’ll be able to forgive myself for all the dreams I haven’t realized and safely pursue the ones that still matter.
I’ll be able to forgive myself for  all the times I’ve let my family down while chasing my own dreams, ignoring theirs.
I’ll be able to find that elusive balance between nurturing my passion and being a responsible adult, wife and parent.
I’ll be able to forgive myself and breathe deeply for the first time in years.

Baby, I’m back!

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And a lot happier than the last time we chatted! _uacct = “UA-4888259-1″;urchinTracker();

First of all, I am happily typing away on my brand-new iMac which I purchased today from WestWorld Computers. Let me just say this: I was blown away by their customer service. They hooked me up BIG TIME. Now I can work away in peace at my desk, rather than hunched over my iPad or crying over my dead MacBook.
*happy*
I also had one last product key to use on my Office for Mac software, so I can actually work instead of just staring at the interwebz wishing for $140 to fall out of the sky…
Excellence :)
But I know that you are all waiting with bated breath to hear the future of HAWT Fitness. Well, never fear, dear bloggy friends! We found a way around the chaos of last week and HAWT will live on without my family needing to beg for food or live in a cardboard box! Woohoo!
I won’t get into the details, but suffice to say that with some clever budgeting and taking the bugz down to only 2 days a week at the dayhome, we will be able to make HAWT work with a lot smaller class commitment than we’d originally calculated.
I know, I amaze myself!
I’m also expanding my HAWT services a bit to fill in some holes and fluff up my bank account so that we can live comfortable instead of frighteningly – you know, in case there are emergency expenses like *cough* new computers.
All is well and good in the world of Meaghan today :)

Shift

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Here I am, typing away on my iPad like a woodpecker. A lot of people have been asking a lot of questions, and rather than reply to a dozen Facebook and Twitter inquiries, I decided to blog.

After all, blogging is what I do.

Yesterday involved several very difficult decisions in my life, none of which I’ve enjoyed making. Unfortunately, the first decision I had to make was to resign from most of my position at the dance studio. There were a lot of factors involved, and we tried our best to overcome the obstacles but eventually I had to choose my family’s needs over the studio’s. It breaks my heart because that is my happy place, and I love everyone there so much. I will miss my daily dose of squishy babies, but I needed to step up and acknowledge my responsibility to my family. I’ll still be teaching a couple of evening classes, but that’s all for now.

Leith and I had agreed at the outset that this would be my last attempt to make health and wellness a full-time career, outside of a position in a major, well-established institution. So with my choice came the consequence of now needing to find a full time position that provides enough income to support our needs, and also our child care needs that come from that. It seems ridiculous, but I have to pay so much in child care to be able to make enough to pay our bills in the first place. And keep in mind that we have already cut back and paired down every bill and expense we have by over a third…this is literally as tight as we can get.

So with the job hunt in full swing, I’m left with a beautiful HAWT mess. A full-time/daytime job means that I can’t run daytime HAWT classes this fall. I am utterly torn in my decision. I can’t think of a combination of scheduling that will work with our family, allow me to work full time AND give me 4 mornings off a week. My heart is breaking. HAWT is my life’s ambition, and it is finally gaining momentum. I have no idea where to go right now. Any idea I have sacrifices the key principles of HAWT, and I’m not prepared to trade my integrity or my vision for dollars.

And then, to top it all off, my MacBook died. The hard drive crashed, with all my life on it. It hasn’t been backed up since February. I can’t build a résumé or cover letters, or print anything. I sent last night at Sherrie’s and today at my parent’s house doing just that. Unfortunately, it takes a wee bit of planning and organizing. Sher has no Internet, Mom is in the city. Between the two, I was able to apply for 2 jobs today. There is a third I’ll apply for tomorrow, but I need to go to my mom’s first (Internet…printer…email…agh!). I did get a preliminary callback already for one job, so that is positive!

And then there is the stream of bills that have been held up during the postal strike that has seen fit to appear in my mailbox in the past 24 hours…I’m trying to keep my head above water, but every breath feels like it’s full of cotton and dust. I’m gasping, trying to physically breathe and keep the panic and anxiety at bay. For the first time in my adult life, it’s actually on my shoulders to sink or swim.

So I’ll just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming…

Health & Wellness

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I’ve been laying in bed following a Twitter stream about my friend, Jen Banks’ recent post about her weight loss journey on MomNation. I tossed and turned with this post bubbling in my head, trying to decide if it belonged here or on my HAWT Fitness site. _uacct = “UA-4888259-1″;urchinTracker();

Here it is ;)
I soap-box about fitness a lot (like that’s any surprise to my wonderful readers!), but I am so passionate about lifestyle choices and the barrage of misleading/confusing/conflicted information that assaults us on a daily basis about what we should and should not be doing with our bodies.  It leads to a mountain of questions and confusion, and unfortunately, there are far too many “professionals” waiting like Red Riding Hood’s wolf in the woods.
Trickery.
I approach fitness like I approach most things in my life nowadays: is it something that humans have been doing for thousands of years to maintain their health and well-being, or is it something manufactured and marketed.
If it’s got its own marketing division, I stay far, far, FAR away.
**which isn’t to say that things like walking don’t have marketing teams…I am speaking more to the flash and sizzle of “the industry”**
Our bodies were designed thousands of years ago.  Evolution doesn’t allow us to change our daily needs that much over the course of a hundred years or so.  Unfortunately, our lifestyles haven’t acknowledged that, and the industrialization and globalization of the world has caused some MAJOR kinaesthetic and biomechanical problems for our poor bodies!  We sit more, we expend less energy, and we eat more.
Thus, we get stiffer, fatter and more sedentary.
It’s a vicious cycle, and one that leaves our society vulnerable to the well-meaning diet and fitness industry.  Of course, I say “well-meaning” with tongue firmly planted in cheek… It’s a multi-billion dollar industry, based solely on the fact that we are not active and live manufactured lifestyles.  It makes simple sense that we are then drawn to manufactured, simplistic “cures” for over-weight and its co-morbidities.  If it’s that easy to put the weight on, shouldn’t it be that easy to take it off?
*pops pill…waits for miracle*
Oops.  No.
As I already mentioned: our bodies were designed thousands of years ago for an active, survivalist lifestyle.  My beloved Vibram has a fantastic copy on their Facebook page: 20,000 years ago, people who didn’t believe in barefoot running got eaten.
Simple.  Truthful.
One could replace it with any other lifestyle choice:
“People who didn’t believe in healthy eating died”
“People who took supplements…um, didn’t, because they ate food”
“People who didn’t believe in exercise were eaten”
“People who didn’t believe in _____________”
You name it.
Our bodies have not adapted to the 21st century lifestyle in a positive manner, so it only stands to reason that the 21st-century “cures” won’t work.
How many clients have I met with who told me, “I did the XYZ diet, and it worked really well! I lost x-number of pounds!!” or “I did the (horrible, ‘doctor-supervised’, starts-with-a-B, shall remain nameless) treatments and it was great!“?
Too many. 
It begs the question: if you spent all this money on something that worked so well, why are you sitting across from me today?
Because it didn’t actually work.  It tricked your body for a short time into believing that you were making lifestyle choices, and your attention-starved body clung to it for dear life.  Unfortunately, Solution XYZ was either a) too costly, b) too time-consuming, or c) too dull/repetitive/painful/unchallenging/challenging/whatever for you to stick with it in the long run.  And as creatures of habit, you slipped back into the 21st lifestyle that you were already accustomed to; voila! Back to square one.
That reason alone is why I am IN LOVE with Jen’s journey at MomNation.  She is making huge but sensible lifestyle changes.  She isn’t losing unrealistic amounts of weight or inches.  She isn’t on a crazy, restrictive diet.  Everything that she is doing is healthy.
Healthy.
As in, for health and wellness benefits.
Health. And. Wellness.
Fitness has two components, in my opinion: wellness and performance.  Very few people actual fall on the “performance” end of the fitness spectrum, yet most people seem to focus on that result.  Instead, we all would benefit from focusing on the wellness end: the end that provides both mental and physical health benefits, reduces the co-morbities of a sedentary lifestyle (heart disease, stroke, diabetes, etc) and increases quality of life.
Do you know how good it feels to have energy to live your daily life?  It isn’t about how many miles you can run, or how much weight you can lift, or how many back-to-back spin classes you can handle.  Can you enjoy an unrestricted lifestyle?
Can you maintain your healthy weight range without sacrificing foods that you enjoy?  Or are you so restricted in your nutrition or your time that you cease to actually live??
There’s a happy balance: it’s called lifestyle.  It looks different to everyone, but I encourage you to find what makes YOU happy on a regular and continuous basis.  Not short-term; find what makes LIFE enjoyable.
Then you’ll be fit.

Lifelong Learning

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Waaaaay back in 2000, I was a young, naive dancer with hopes for the world.  I was enrolled at Grant MacEwan in their 2-year dance program with plans to transfer to the University of Calgary’s Kinesiology degree after. _uacct = “UA-4888259-1″;urchinTracker();

Two weeks into the course, I withdrew.  It was waaaaaaay too modern-dance for my small-town, low-self-esteem, 19-year-old ego to handle.  I was terrified.  I got a job at Chapters, taught dance in the evenings and went to the Edmonton School of Ballet.  2 years later, I reapplied to the Faculty of Science, got accepted, opened my own dance studio, declined my BSc and continued dancing at ESB.
Three years after that, I closed my studio and went to NAIT.  I graduated from the Personal Fitness Trainer diploma program with Honours and was class valedictorian.  I chose that route over a Bachelor of Physical Education because a) I didn’t want to spend 4 years in school and b) the NAIT programs was very focused and intense – no need for meaningless, well-rounded Arts options and the like (i.e., wasted tuition dollars).
Then I had my twins.  And life became very family-focused.  I finally had the chance to relaunch my career in the past year, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it.  But it’s left me wanting more.  I want that degree that I never got to when I started out in 2000.  I want that BSc Kin because I crave anatomical and biomechanical knowledge like some kind of junkie.
I’m up late reading textbooks, for goodness’ sake!!
I need to go back to school.  I already have a good dayhome.  My fall teaching schedule would actually allow it, as long as I had someone else teach my Devon and Stony Plain classes… The only problem is money.
Ha.  Isn’t money always the problem??
We’re looking at $10,000 a year for tuition/books/fees/etc., plus another $1200/m for day home, plus you know, the extra money I bring in for our lifestyle.  
I surely don’t have that in my bank account.  The last thing I want is a $60,000 loan after 4 years of hard work (3 years, if I studied through the summers…).  We just got out of that kind of debt.
I guess I’m looking for answers.  For someone to reach out and say, “Hey! Here’s a great idea/resource that will help you fund your education as a mature student without being indebted for the rest of your adult life.”
Any ideas on how to scratch this learning itch?

What not to do with your pelvis

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A lot of life and worldly wisdom floats by me from day to day.  When I’m caught up in a particular thought though, it seems that opportunity flies into every open window! _uacct = “UA-4888259-1″;urchinTracker();

I’ve been focusing a lot of pelvic floor health with HAWT Fitness lately as I try to nail down our curriculum and write out my core expectations of instructors (haha…punny).  I’ve been talking to many different colleagues and professionals about various aspects of pelvic floor health, and there is a lot of misinformation abounding in the wild web of the Internetz.
I was talking to a physiotherapist friend of mine about pelvic floor dysfunction this week, and how the joint instability can cause little muscles like piriformis and the hip adductors to overcompensate.  Then, when the pelvic floor is weak and vulnerable, you have a whole chain reaction of misuse and misfiring muscles.
Delinquent little bodies ;)
Sigh… Oprah, I love you, but your “experts” hurt my heart…
Then I came across Pfilates today.  And that heart hurt became heart-screaming-in-frustrated-agony.  Here’s the gist of the program, directly quoted from their website:

“…In creating the Pfilates program we have ventured to provide a plyometric (movement oriented) method of pelvic floor exercise that could be incorporated in to any regular fitness routine. Our neuromuscular research reveals that movements which engage the external hip rotators, adductors of the thigh, transverses abdominals, and gluteal muscles also facilitate, or induce, a pelvic floor contraction. This information has proven especially useful for women unable to perform an isolated voluntary pelvic floor contraction….”

The thing is, those contractions might induce a pelvic floor contraction IF the neuromuscular pathway between the brain and pelvic floor muscles is strong and well-used.  Unfortunately, it isn’t in most people.  Thus, those bully muscles that take over for the pelvic floor functioning get to show off again and further destroy the kinetic chain.

Oh, that hurts my heart.

Oh, the prolapse!!  The incontinence!!

Sigh…

This is why I am leading my HAWT Revolution…to teach people about the importance of building up a strong foundation first, giving those phasic bully muscles a break and helping our bodies learn to function efficiently.  Unfortunately, there are a lot of misinformed individuals (and professionals!) out there making it tricky for me ;)

Do me a favour?  Ask me how to properly activate and strengthen your pelvic floor.  Your organs, posture, daily activity and sex life will thank me.

And remember: this is just my opinion.  I’m always open to constructive feedback and corrections.  Just don’t be mean and snarky about it ;)

Oh, and Gramma?  I’m sorry I wrote “sex” in a blog post.  Please forgive me…

Addition:


I got all freaked-out at myself, like I always do after a soapbox moment, and decided to delve even further and find some video examples of the Pfilates exercises.  Here is a link to #5 – the Butterfly:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao4TQ5EILPw&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

It really is as bad as I want to think it is.  Working with many clients (both moms and otherwise), I know that holding the feet off the ground with the hips and knees flexed at 90 degrees requires a LOT of deep core/pelvic floor strength so that the rectus abdominis and hip flexors (psoas) don’t take over.  How does one concentrate on multiple pelvic floor contractions in this dynamic exercise when their pelvic floor is being over-powered by such strong phasic muscles?


I rest my case.  This program is NOT what a weakened pelvic floor need.

Lazy Monday

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I kept my bugz home from the day home today.  I don’t teach on Mondays anymore, and with a busy weekend behind me, I needed some momma-bug time.  Last week was hard on me (it’s still hard, but it’s becoming normalized…) and I just wanted a lazy, lovey day. _uacct = “UA-4888259-1″;urchinTracker();

We slept in a bit, made quinoa porridge, baked chocolate chip/oatmeal/cranberry cookie crisps, made really good mac n cheese, visited with Alysha and played with Bailey, had a long nap and watched a movie.  Now it’s storming outside and I am indoors enjoying a Baileys-and-ice-cream sundae with my Bailey keeping my feet warm.
B is doing well.  Her breathing is congested, but she is happy and wants to play whenever her energy is up.  She gets tired a lot quicker now and naps a lot more.  Her steroid dose got dropped tonight from 150mg to 25mg, so we’ll see how she is with that.  It’s tough…
I’ve definitely been bad about my eating habits during all this stress.  I’m a stress-eater to begin with, but I’ve been a little rebellious with the emotional toll of this past week.  I’ll need to start running asap, or my bum won’t be thanking me at all!
Twitter and Facebook have been a constant source of support while I navigate these waters.  I am so grateful for all the kind words of support, and for not having to explain when I see people in real life.  It means a lot to me!
On the biz front, I am getting very excited about our summer and fall HAWT schedules.  I was at the Mommylicious trade show yesterday and the HAWT Outside Kick-off is this Friday!  It’s nice to have something to distract me.
On that note, I am still craving Bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology.  I know it’s a long-shot right now due to both cost and time commitment.  I’ve been looking at a few other options, including the NASM Corrective Exercise Specialist, and a restorative exercise certification from Aligned and Well.  It’s less of an investment that a 4-year degree…but that is still the ultimate goal!
That’s about it for updates…I’ve rambled enough.