👋 Hi! Tell us about yourself and your training
Hello, my name is Bridget Therese, I am the founder of Empowering Women Through Fitness, a talk show and an online support group of women. I use this platform to not only teach other women’s health and fitness, but how to have a mindset for success in both health and life.
I also do a lot of writing and speaking where I share my story of losing my daughter to stillbirth, the hardship of divorce and toxic relationships, and how fitness pulled me out.
My mission is to empower women to share their stories, gain confidence, and use their challenges as fuel to pursue their dreams.
This past fall I wrote the book entitled, Strong Mind, Strong Body. The book focuses on having a mindset transformation not just a body transformation. My emphasis on mind before body as well as my ability to relate to women in all walks of life make me unique and a stand out from the very crowded fitness industry.
I have been in the fitness industry for over 11 years. A few of my highlights: Founding Empowering Women Through Fitness in 2017. And a few of my titles including 2017 Mexico Fitness Model Champion, 2014 Great North Fitness Model Champion, Internationally recognized fitness competitor, model and speaker.
My pride and joy is my 9-year-old son Christian and my partner in crime, Luis. We live in the great state of Texas.
⏱ Describe a typical day of training
I generally workout in the evenings after work but before dinner time.
A typical day of training for me begins with cardio – I run intervals to get my heartbeat up and the energy flowing.
I don’t do long distance runs (although I do love them to clear the mind once in awhile) I do 1 minute runnig fast, 1 minute walking repeat this for 10 times and you have a 20 minute cardio run.
After cardio I will do my weights – I alternate arms/upper body with legs/lower body. I will do weights three to fouor times a week.
I generally workout in the evenings after work but before dinner time.
👊 How do you keep going and push harder?
Some of my favorite gym hacks, these may seem stupid simple, but hey it works for me!
- If I know I want to or need to work out that day, I’ll either put my workout clothes on in the morning (if my schedule permits and I’m home or just running errands);
- I pack my workout clothes so that I can eliminate the excuses of not being prepared and if going to the gym I’m ready, if running cardio outdoors I am ready too;
- I will have a goal that I’m working towards and really remind myself of why it’s important and why I need to get to the gym;
- I literally have to give myself pep talks and crank up some music to get me revved up for a workout, I know by now that I’ll feel so good afterwards that I remind myself of that feeling and it usually gets me out the door.
🏆 How are you doing today and what does the future look like?
My fitness routine has really come full circle for me. I never grew up working out. In fact, I didn’t even begin to exercise until my mid 20s.
I went from as basic as it gets to the extreme world of fitness competitions. I competed multiple times, won shows and then got burned out of the lifestyle.
I dropped my gym membership and built a simple but effective gym in my garage that I just love!
I can honestly say I’m happier with my body now than I was all those years of chasing the gainz.
As far as the future goes, I may get a gym membership again someday, but for now I’m redeveloping a healthy relationship with fitness and also creating a very relatable and realistic lifestyle for busy working moms.
🤕 How do you recover, rest and handle injuries?
The most I will work out is about five days a week.
When you have been working out for some time you learn more about your body and how it works. In time, I’ve learned to listen to my body and discern between my body needing a rest or my just being lazy and not wanting to workout.
The most I will work out is about five days a week. If I do anything on the other day,s it will most likely be some fun type of cardio, like biking, walking, playing outdoor sports or chasing my nieces and nephews around the park.
There are so many ways to incorporate fitness into our everyday lives, I learned to look for those opportunities and take them.
To prevent injuries, I will be very careful when doing a new exercise. I make sure to learn the proper form and I always start with a light weight.
Once I’ve learned the proper way to perform the exercise (I’ll ask for help if I need it), then I will gradually move my weights up.
If my form ever suffers during a workout, that’s my cue to lighten the weight or I’ve burned out those muscles.
🍎 How is your diet and what supplements do you use?
I eat 80% clean and allow myself to enjoy sweets or treats as I go.
At this stage in my fitness journey, (I call it a journey because you can always learn, grow, modify and try different things), I am mainly intuitive eating – so what does that mean? I eat based on what I feel my body craves or wants. I learned to do this after years of measuring, calculating and eating perfectly for competitions.
Now, I don’t measure or count my macros in great detail unless I have a shoot or event coming up that requires me to. For now, I’m at a comfortable weight that I like how my body looks and feels and I eat to maintain that.
I eat 80% clean and allow myself to enjoy sweets or treats as I go. I don’t stress out if I have a few bonus meals in a week, but usually I don’t like how my body feels so it’s easy for me to go back to eating mainly clean.
For supplements, I take vitamins but not big into protein shakes, bars or a lot of add ins. I teach and live by eating healthy first and then adding additional supplements for training and more athletic builds or that meal replacement in a pinch.
My vitamins are Vitafusion multivitamin and Havasu biotin vitamin.
👍 What has inspired and motivated you?
Eight years ago, I went through a devastating loss, losing my daughter Claire at her birth. It was such a difficult time for me, I suffered from depression and lost a lot of weight.
At my lowest point, I was sitting on the couch when my two-year-old son came up to me, I knew he needed his mom.
I got up off the couch both literally and figuratively that day and choose to do a fitness competition. 1) it would give me something to focus on, think about and work for 2) I knew it would force me to eat and workout again 3) I had nothing left to loose.
After I did my first competition, it changed my life for the better and I learned how to use fitness as a tool to motivate me and push me through challenges instead of allowing challenges to pull me down and keep me down.
✏️ Advice for other people who want to improve themselves?
I truly believe that health first starts on the inside. What I mean by that is if you have a healthy mindset, you will be successful with the changes you want to make to your outer appearance, your body.
I always suggest people focus on personal development, read books, listen to podcasts that build you up, challenge you and push you to grow.
🤝 Are you taking on clients right now?
Yes, but I am very, very selective in who I will work with. It has to be a magical fit and the person has to be ready to make changes and be willing and hungry to learn a lifestyle.
Although that sounds hard, my approach is actually simple and designed for long term results. It is for beginners or for those who don’t know where to start with making health changes.
📝 Where can we learn more about you?
Website: bridgettherese.com
Instagram: @bridgetthereseofficial
Facebook: BridgetThereseOfficial
YouTube BridgetTherese
