DIY Fitness, LLC.
Hello! I’m Shannon the woman behind Do It Your Way Fitness (DIY Fitness, LLC), a mother of four, a personal trainer, Pre- & Postnatal Fitness coach, Nutrition Coach, and I specialize in women’s fitness training. I help mothers with three or more kids improve their energy, gain strength, and prioritize their mental well-being. I provide flexible in-person private sessions, flexible online training, and offer workouts for you to do with minimal equipment at home or at the gym. I encourage practicing “good enough” eating habits so you can achieve your goals almost effortlessly while taking care of your family.
When it comes making a health change, many of us are not looking to become an elite athlete, a figure competitor, or become obsessed with fitness. Many of us are looking to feel better, improve our blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, gain confidence, increase our energy, fit into our clothes comfortably again, rock an outfit or no outfit — without adding more difficult tasks to our day.
My goal is to empower you towards sustainable, lasting change. I acknowledge that you’re the expert in your life and over your body, I bring expertise on how to get there through exercise and improved nutrition. Together, we navigate around your challenges and obstacles.
I hold my Personal Training Certification through the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) as well as completed specializations in Women’s Fitness, Behavior Change, Fitness Nutrition, and Corrective Exercise Specialization through the same organization. I hold another fitness nutrition certificate through Precision Nutrition. I am a Girls Gone Strong Pre- & Postnatal Fitness coach and Level-1 Coach.
Women’s Fitness Coaching
Women’s issues are still under-served by much of the fitness industry. Women are likely to be bombarded with messages about weight, leanness, optimal body weight for performance, health, and of course, appearance. In addition to many of those unrealistic messages, much of the fitness and nutrition research has been tested on young adult males. Women’s bodies experience more change over time, women respond to environments differently than men, women carry their power and strength differently than men, women’s hormones fluctuate more, and women recover differently than men. When creating a fitness program or nutrition plan for a female client, I aim to work with her physiology, rather than against it. I also take into consideration how her mental load, chronic stress, time constraints, financial constraints, and lifestyle may impact her goals.
Pre- & Postnatal Coaching
During pregnancy and after birth we tend to get conflicting information about what is appropriate, safe, and realistic for our changing bodies. This stage of life may also bring about fears, insecurities, and not feeling like ourselves. Safety is the main goal during training in pregnancy. For those clients that do enjoy their workout routine and want to keep it up for as long as possible, we adjust workout and nutrition expectations to fit your energy levels, how well you feel during each trimester, how well you are sleeping, your food cravings and aversions to support you in having a healthy, happy, safe, and strong pregnancy.
The postpartum period is unique and diverse to each woman. After being cleared by your doctor and/or after being evaluated by a Pelvic Health Physiotherapist, I take into account your labor and delivery experience, your mental health, the support you have available, how well you are adjusting, etc. Our focus is to come up with a plan that aides in recovery, rehabs the body, and prepares you to get back to the activities you love or a goal of becoming more active.
Corrective Exercise
Pain that affects the muscles, ligaments and tendons, and bones is becoming more common. Research suggests that the increase in musculoskeletal pain is due to decreased activity which leads to muscular dysfunction and, ultimately, injury. A corrective exercise program addresses any movement deficiencies and corrects them through appropriate exercises to increase flexibility, strength, and control. If you have graduated from working with a physical therapist in treating foot and ankle, low-back, knee, or shoulder injuries, we can build upon that work during our sessions together.
Change Coaching
The goal of a fitness routine and nutrition plan is to create long-lasting change. Following a program for a specific amount of days is rarely enough to create that long-lasting change. In order to make changes last, we need to address our habits — behaviors that we do automatically. Changing our habits too quickly can leave us feeling frustrated and overwhelmed; which can lead to our thoughts and behaviors working against our body or health transformations. Change coaching is about embracing what is right for you and your goals by discovering ways to overcome your actual circumstances and self-defeating thoughts and behaviors. The techniques I use with my clients have been well tested in research studies and provide the maximum benefit in the shortest amount of time.
Nutrition Coaching
When increasing or changing our physical activity, it is not as simple as, “eat less.” Your daily calorie needs are determined by the results you want to achieve, your body composition (the amount of fat mass vs muscle mass), your age, your gender, your height, how active you are outside of fitness, and more. By understanding the demand exercise places on our bodies in addition to the demands of the systems that keep us living, we have a better idea of what your body needs daily. Like it or not, our overall health and fitness results are dependent upon our food choices. We also need to be aware that our food choices are strongly influenced by taste and texture preference, cost, convenience, and who does the cooking or shopping in our household. I’m not a licensed dietitian or nutritionist so I cannot write you a specific meal plan, but I offer guidelines to help you make better food choices to improve your overall health and achieve your fitness goals no matter your situation.
Private or Online Training
Each session includes a personalized workout, improving our food choices, how to keep moving forward to your goals. I offer private in-person sessions, online sessions or a hybrid of the two. With the hybrid sessions and the in-person sessions, I offer pay-as-you-go format. This allows you to master the new habits we discuss while living your life. The goal of mastering things on your own is become self-accountable, become self-sufficient, and to build immunity to all the marketing and bad advice out there. What you are able to achieve during whatever time frame you choose depends on where you are starting from, what you have available to use, your ability to learn and apply techniques, and your willingness to communicate openly and honestly with me.
Fitness Program Design
A fitness program should leave you feeling strong, energized, and able to perform daily tasks better. It should be challenging, yet doable for your current fitness level. When creating programs, I take into consideration any chronic health issues, past or current injuries, movement issues, number of pregnancies, or if you are postpartum. Programs are designed for the results you want to achieve, the time/days you have available to workout, the types of workouts you enjoy, and more.
Private Personal Training Sessions
I offer a different kind of fitness experience. I encourage you to practice more self-care, to speak and think more compassionately towards yourself, to talk about the things that get in the way of you taking action, help you discover how to become more self-accountable so you can continue on your own. If you are local to me or willing to travel to Marathon, WI you can come train with me in my home. The lower level of our home has been converted into a kid cave and a fitness cave. You are welcome to bring your baby, toddler, or child with you to your sessions. They can explore, play, craft or color while we work on creating healthier habits. Currently, in-person session are on hold while we navigate COVID-19. I hold sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays, sessions begin at 9a, 10a, 11a, 12:30p, 1:30p and run 45-60 minutes in length. In order to give clients and my family the time and attention they deserve, this all I can do face-to-face until 2021. All fitness levels and experience are welcome.
Constructing a fitness plan depends on many factors and before we begin working together — and to make sure our first session is productive as possible, I will require detailed health information from you in order to make sure you are healthy enough for exercise. I will also want to know what your life typically looks like on a daily basis. What you are able to achieve during our time together depends on where you are starting from, what resources are available to you, your willingness to learn and apply techniques, being able to communicate openly and honestly with me about your frustrations and triumphs.
Online Personal Training Sessions
If you have a demanding schedule or prior commitments that make it difficult for you to workout with someone on a regular basis, then online coaching could be the solution for you. Online training is also something that can be incorporated with your in-person sessions. You get still get the support you need, but you have the freedom to train whenever, wherever, and with whatever you have available. Online training is open to most fitness levels, experiences, and pre- & postnatal women. Due to the online environment, pay as you go is NOT available with online training. I offer 6-12-18 week sessions ‘packages’ that include fitness program, nutrition coaching, and change coaching.
I treat online sessions the same as private sessions — I require detailed health information from you in order to make sure you are healthy enough for exercise. I will also want to know what your life typically looks like on a daily basis. What you are able to achieve during the time-frame you choose depends on where you are starting from, what resources are available to you, your willingness to learn and apply techniques, open and honest communication about your frustrations and triumphs.
Beachbody Coaching
Before I decided to pursue a career as a personal trainer, I was a stay-at-home mom with a tight budget and limited time. I discovered Beachbody before having kids and found great success with Yoga Booty Ballet. After kids, I again found success with working out at home and overcame many obstacles that growing a family brings — access to a gym at a convenient time (before 24 hr access gyms were available in my area), childcare, time of commute vs actual workout, and cost. Working out at home is the only reason I continue to exercise consistently.
I started with zero equipment and slowly added fitness equipment as I was ready for more challenging programs. I now have a stability ball, dumbbells, bench, barbell, fitness step, ankle weights, and a yoga mat and feel my fitness cave is complete. Even if you do not have any fitness accessories, many programs come with different accessories to get you started. Beachbody’s programs are an affordable investment to improve your fitness habits, eating habits, or changing your mentality. Most of Beachbody’s programs and supplements come with a 30-Day Money Back guarantee.
As a Beachbody coach, a Mom of four without family support near by, I am not interested in becoming a top-earner of the company or earning free trips. I do earn a commission in the event you decide to make a purchase through one of the affiliate links — which I will probably use to buy food for the kids or plants for my garden.
As a thank-you for your purchase*, I offer free coaching for 30 days with the purchase of any Beachbody DVD Program, Portion Fix, Shakeology, Challenge Pack, or Beachbody on Demand subscription. To make a purchase, you can click on any of the affiliate links and you will be redirected to my site. If any of the links do not work, please email me at BBCoachShannon@gmail.com. To claim your 30 days of free coaching, you must email me within 15 days of the purchase date and include your order number again, my email is BBCoachShannon@gmail.com. During the 30 days, we focus on completing workouts, improving eating habits, and/or how to keep your momentum going. After our 30 days together is over, I do charge for additional coaching sessions.
*Before making a purchase, if you have not been physically active in the past 3 months and answer yes to any of the following questions, I strongly recommend you make an appointment with your healthcare provider to discuss the questions you answered ‘YES’ to and figure out best way to proceed.
1. Has your doctor ever said that you have a heart condition AND that you should only do physical activity recommended by a doctor?
2. Do you feel pain in your chest when you do physical activity?
3. In the past month, have you had chest pain when you were NOT doing physical activity?
4. Do you lose balance because of dizziness, or do you ever lose consciousness?
5. Do you have a bone or joint problem (for example, back, knee, or hip) that could be made worse by a change in your physical activity?
6. Are you currently taking/have prescribed medications for blood pressure or heart condition?
7. Do you know of any other reason why you should not do physical activity?
8. Are you pregnant or trying to become pregnant in the next 6-12 weeks?
If you answered NO to all of these questions, we’re ready to move forward!
Join my Facebook Group
Hey! You kept scrolling!
Still on the fence? I get it. You’ve seen or read a lot of scary, irritating, unrealistic advice, or you are just so tired of all the gym/sweaty selfies. My tiny facebook fitness group is different. I mainly use the group to upload free resources for your personal use. I attempt to post weekly (again, I’m a Mom of four) resources. The group is also there to let you know of upcoming challenge groups, openings in my schedule, awesome books or podcast that are actually helpful, and you might even see a humorous post about life here and there.