Fit Leaders Talks

How do you define true wealth? Why should your fitness and health be the compass of personal wealth building? These are the types of questions Bart Zandbergen and I take a deep dive and discuss!

Bart Zandbergen is a Certified Financial Planner and CEO of The Zandbergen Group based out of California in the US. Bart is 60 years young and a true testament of how prioritizing health over (financial) wealth fosters true wealth and optimal performance and well-being.

During our dynamic conversation, Bart and I discuss:

• How Bart’s childhood upbringing was at the root of his lifelong fitness journey
• Where his passion for weight training all started & why he prioritizes his morning routine
• Bart’s 8 pillars of true wealth & how they intertwine to provide ultimate abundance
• His current training focus and what his workouts look like
• How he fuels his day to perform optimally in life and within his business
• Why being mundane with his Sunday meal prep keeps him on track with his nutrition
• A wicked sounding go-to cauliflower rice dish that he preps weekly
• How to master eating out at restaurants while still hitting your fitness goals

Bart Zandbergen can be found on Facebook & LinkedIn via his name and, to learn more about his financial planning services, his website is Bartzandbergen.com

Bart also host’s a podcast called the Zandbergen Report and can be found wherever you get your podcasting on!

William Nippard is a national speaker and author in the area of job dissatisfaction, corporate teamwork, and the science of happiness. He has a book coming out in March 2022 called “I Hate my Job; The Cure for the 9-5 Syndrome.”  William embodies an active lifestyle regardless of his traveling schedule but has empowering insights on living happy, healthy and to our full potential.  According to William, to be authentic and a leader, you must align your actions with your core beliefs and values.

“We are managers of our own lives and we must manage our time and priorities in the hecticness of life."  - William.

William and I discuss a variety of topics including:

•The notion of feeling “well” and the importance of defining what that means to you

•How momentum inertia happens both while in a rut or when thriving & the value of a healthy lifestyle to build lasting momentum

•Why discipline is essentially not needed when you truly enjoy the physical activities you do regularly

•How competence impacts your confidence and ability to stick to healthy habits

•William’s pillars of fitness

•The science of happiness and job dissatisfaction and how it drives our wellness actions

•The core principles of leadership

•How William uses his fitness routine to set up his day for optimal focus and performance

•William’s current fitness goals, training focus & his approach to nutrition

•The power of ‘time boxing’ and how it can help you better manage your daily and well-being tasks

Show Notes:
*William Nippard can be found at www.williamnippard.com

His facebook is William Nippard and his IG handle is @williamnippard

His new book is called “I Hate my Job; The Cure for the 9-5 Syndrome” is coming out in March 2022

After a hiatus, we are back!!  Onto to season #2 with the Fit Leaders Talks!

This week, I chat with local entrepreneur and personal client of mine, Amanda Dawe, on finding your inner strength through fitness.

Amanda, 45yrs, has practiced plant-based eating for the past 5 years and always had an active lifestyle.   But what she was lacking, prior to us working together, was resistance training and a sense of feeling strong and confident.  Our primary focus over the past 3 months has been structured and progressive strength training and she absolutely crushed things with her training!  Thus, I wanted to share her story and discuss where she was mentally prior to us starting together and the impact of feeling/being stronger has had on her both physically and mentally.

We discuss:

• Where her passion for fitness originates from & defining what fitness means to her

• Why she transitioned to a plant-based eating lifestyle & how she has benefited from that change

• Why Amanda prioritizes strength training & the tangible impacts of being stronger has had on her
• How does she manage and organize her week to juggling her fitness and operating a small business

*Amanda Dawe owns/operates the Natural Emporium here in St. John's Newfoundland.
*https://naturalemporium.ca/
*Her IG handle is @silversparkleandgrace

Had the great pleasure to chat with one my coaching clients and local meteorologist, Eddie Sheerr, about his personal fitness journey and balancing work, a young family and staying fit.  

In this episode, we chat about:

• Where his fitness story all started
• His ebb's & flow's of his fitness journey & finding his fitness passion
• Where his competitiveness originated & why he got into the sport of rowing
• Why Eddie values having coaches to push him to the next level
• How he plans and prioritizes his mornings to fit his life schedule & achieve his fitness goals  

Fit Leaders Talks is a podcast where I expose inspiring fitness transformational stories from leaders of all industries, both locally and internationally, to help motivate and inspire other leaders to level up their own fitness and life.

Eddie Sheerr is the Chief Meteorologist for NTV located in St. John's Newfoundland.

Had the great pleasure to chat with executive and fitness enthusiast, Ingo Ickoldt, about the value of having a team-first and "community" mentality when it comes to managing his fitness and establishing a positive home and work environment.

Ingo and I discussed where his love of sport/activity came from and how it is a core pillar inside his family.  We chatted about how he approaches his fitness and how the Pandemic has impacted his approach (and how two separate lockdowns had completely different outcomes from a mental standpoint).

Ingo also talked about the love for his gym and how the team-community mentality has helped to drive him to be more consistent and push to his outer fitness limits and the value of leaning on a friend-coach during the lockdown times to keep things in perspective.

He connects his fitness approach / gym environment to how he operates as a Director by collaborating as a team vs supervising individual sales reps. 

Ingo is a true fit leader from his mindset to wok ethic.  

**Ingo Ickoldt is the Director of Sales for Terra Nova Old Port Foods Inc. and is based in St. John's Newfoundland.
*Islander Athletics is a fitness facility in St. John's.

Leadership consultant, University Professor and ironman triathlete, Brent Scholar, has experienced the ultimate training/performance highs and the unimaginable lows. A decade ago, his life got rocked with a back injury that left him barely able to walk let alone run.

Brent and I discuss his passion for fitness and movement and how he was "pushed" into doing an ironman and now his life's biggest test is his current battle with physical rehab/recovery.  

Brent explains how he applies his leadership strategies, that he teaches his students and clients, into his daily life and how it is enabling him to literally get back up on his feet again.

Great inspirational chat with an ultimate fit leader!

--
Brent Scholar provides leadership consulting to an array of clientele.  You can book a free discovery sessions via his website www.scholarconsulting.com

Attention mothers and women entrepreneurs!

In this episode, I speak with budding entrepreneur, Kelli Hayes Smith of Tennessee, about her battle with motherhood, postpartum depression and bodyweight image and how her resilient mind acted as a precursor to starting a successful business - during the pandemic.

“If I never had the confidence to be successful with managing my bodyweight, I would have never had the confidence to start a (successful) business during Covid. Mindset is everything.”

In this episode, we discussed:

• Navigating the dark and loneliness aspect of postpartum depression, motherhood & her body changes
  
• The power of small habits and consistent routine on her resiliency
  
• How her fitness and bodyweight struggles built toughness to start a business
  
• Be more selfish and less self-less to your health to lead at home and in your business
  
• Kelly shares her simple morning routine & mindset mantra that helps her remain consistent with her healthy routine
  

Kelli Hayes Smith is a productivity specialist and foundational business coach.

She can be found at www.kellihayessmith.com

Paul Currie is a business owner of a 40 yr old family business.  The combination of Covid hitting and unwanted changes to his body, Paul decided to shift his mind on HOW he needed to upgrade his fitness routine and his overall healthy lifestyle - and he levelled up!

In this episode, we discussed:

• How the impact of the Covid lockdown in 2020 impacted not only on his business but his mental and physical health
• How his innate competitiveness fostered the drive to make a health shift that has paid huge dividends  
• Why he has incorporated the entire family into his health journey and its impact on his mindset
• The role of having real accountability in staying the course

"Living fit is just who I am. I think differently therefore, I behave differently."  Business owner and true fit leader Gila Kurtz shares her story of fitness and how her life (being a ripe age of 60yrs) and company values prioritize health and wellness at their core.  

Gila is the owner of Dog is Good, a lifestyle brand for dog lovers based in California.

• 5:12 - How being decisive and leveraging physical movement has helped her combat stressful events/situations
• 7:14 - How her mantra "if it's worth doing, it's worth over doing" has helped her navigate her fitness and business aspirations
• 10:24 - To master discipline, you must first know exactly what you want and your actions must align with your vision
• 12:09 - Owning your fit identity and the fitness thermostat concept
• 14:42 - You can't fake your (personal) fitness leadership
• 16:18 - Syncing leadership between your health and your business
• 18:00 - Why brain health and optimizing her aging process is her top fitness priority
• 21:45 - Why she prizes her pull up bar (& can prob do more pull-ups than you can do at age 60!)

Gila Kurtz IG handle is @thegilakurtz & her company is Dog is Good.

I get the pleasure to speak with entrepreneur and founder of Dempster Wellness, Pamela Dempster. Pamela embodies the fit leader lifestyle and mentality and she explains where her passion for fitness developed and why maintaining a strong body fosters a resilient mind in life and within her business.

In this episode, we discuss about:

• 3:26: her roots of fitness and challenging herself through activity started in her childhood/adolescent years

• 6:58: the mental and physical struggle of her post university years trying to juggle motherhood and her budding career 

• 8:30: how her love of movement enabled her to shift her mindset and gradually being back various forms of activity into her life

• 11:14: how her career in long-term care homes & her mother's cardiac event cemented her purpose for healthy living and aging 

• 13:37: why she now focuses on building and maintaining a strong body and how it directly relates to running a resilient business

• 18:46: how she feels when she cannot fit exercise in & how she adapted during a lockdown in the pandemic

• 21:09: her #1 non-negotiable that keeps her accountable to her fitness routine

**Dempster Wellness is an ergonomic and corporate wellness company located in Nova Scotia Canada.