👋 Hi! Tell us about yourself and your training
Does anyone else ever feel like starting their introduction with, “Hi, my name is ___” is so cliché?! I do, too. So, I’m going to say differently! I’m not sure how you stumbled across this article, but I’d like to start by saying my name is Bekah (yes, with a “kah” not a “cca”!) and I hope this article sparks a passion within your soul for all things WELLNESS.
I am a 26 year old Scranton native (yes, like The Office), but currently reside in Philadelphia, PA. I am the founder & owner of Body By Bex, LLC, a nutrition company that works 1 on 1 with clients to allow them to reach their health goals, whether that be weight loss, muscle gain, or body recomposition.
Ward is the handsome dude I get to call mine. He honestly is the reason I have come as far as I have (physically, emotionally, spiritually – read on!). It’s also no surprise we met in the gym (LOL). Together, we like to hike, run, and take road trips (I mean… like straight up boondocking style… think: no showering, food over a fire, the trunk of a 4runner as a bed, etc!) and so much more. He is 110% the happiest part of my life.
So, I would say I’ve always been “active”, but I haven’t always known how to properly train. I grew up playing basketball and continued my career throughout college. It wasn’t until after college that I began to get incredibly serious about my nutrition and training. I started lifting seriously about four years ago, which actually led me to lose 50 pounds in my first year of training!
⏱ Describe a typical day of training
I love waking up before the sun and putting in a full day of work before most people are even awake.
Because I think “training” is all encompassing, I’m going to just take you through a typical day in my life. I’m always “training” by making sure my nutrition is in check (i.e. I’m eating to fuel my body, sustain my hormones, etc), staying active throughout my work day, participating in positive conversations, ensuring my thoughts are pure and healthy, and more.
Since Covid-19 has hit, my schedule has been slightly different than usual. Typically, my wake time is 3:30AM. I love waking up before the sun and putting in a full day of work before most people are even awake. Now that I’m home while everything is going on, I typically wake up around 5AM. I have a fairly strict morning routine, so the first thing I do when my alarm goes off is walk downstairs and drink 16oz of water.
After that, I grab a cup of coffee and sit down to read my Bible. I like to have my quiet time with my Savior in the morning before the hustle and bustle of the day begins. After I read, I journal for 10 minutes. This ensures I have a grateful attitude for my day and allows me to reminisce on how far I’ve come.
After journaling, I stretch for 10 minutes. I usually use this as a pre-workout routine as I workout immediately after I stretch. By the time I’m in my garage gym, it’s usually about 6AM. I workout for about 1 -1.5 hours. Ward painted me a chalkboard wall in the garage so I am able to write all of my workouts from Monday- Sunday on the board.
On Sunday, I’ll prepare for the week by programming my own workouts (yes, I program all of my own training – thanks NASM!), which range from strictly strength to HIIT to EMOMs and AMRAPs.
I’m currently training legs 3x/week, so… MWF I train legs through squats, goblet squats, lunges, deadlifts, etc. I like to spice things up by adding a booty band wherever I can. Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, I will do upper body lifts, but I also do more cardio based workouts on those days, too.
I will lift just shoulders one day, just back one day, and the last day I will do a full upper body. I always superset a strength with a cardio piece – kinda crossfit style. For example, I may do Arnold press for an exercise, immediately followed by running 200 meters. This type of training ensures that my cardiovascular system stays up to par with my strength training.
After I train, I immediately have a post-workout shake. The post-workout protein is Phormula-1 mixed with ½ scoop of Ignition. Both products are from the greatest supplement company in the world, 1st Phorm. (I have linked my code for free shipping in my Instagram Bio!!!
Additionally, anyone who orders 1st Phorm for the first time, uses my code, and sends me the confirmation receipt – [email protected] – will get 4 free weeks of coaching through Body By Bex!)
When I’m done with that, I will typically rinse off in the shower then start my day. I work from about 8AM-4PM getting back to clients and building my brand/business. During this time, I am producing content, answering emails, collaborating, and researching so I can provide valuable information to those that follow me.
After work, I start to prep dinner – then, when Ward is done working, we go for a long walk to debrief from the day. Once we are back, we eat, watch 1-2 episodes of our favorite Netflix series (New Girl currently!)
Before I sleep, I always try and read, prep for the following day, and stretch/do yoga for 10 minutes. It puts me in a calm, grateful mindset.
To note: I never walk LESS than 10k steps/day. Even on my rest days (Sunday), I’m ALWAYS hitting over 10k steps. In fact, typically, I average around 20-22k steps/day.
At the top of every hour, I try to walk for 10 minutes. This allows me to break up my computer time and get some movement in. On the weekends, we love to hike. So, in addition to my workouts, I’m always getting some extra movement in.
👊 How do you keep going and push harder?
I get this question often and there really is only one answer I always give. For me, there is no other option but to show up day in and day out.
SO, what does “show up” even mean? When I say, there is no other option than to just SHOW UP, I do NOT by any means mean I give myself no option to fail… because, to be fair, EVERYONE WILL FAIL; however, showing up does not mean perfection.
Showing up means every single day I give 110% effort through waking up early, stretching, pushing myself in the garage or in the gym, pushing myself on the pavement to run faster than the day before, eating clean, creating happiness, and surrounding myself with positivity.
Does this always happen? Nope. I’ve slept in two hours past my alarm, I’ve missed several days of stretching, I’ve skipped a workout, I’ve blown my diet, I’ve been negative. I am human. But, what differentiates me from you is that the next day, I don’t throw in the towel. I start over as if my failure was never committed. Beating my failures from the days (and even moments) prior is what pushes me.
There are other practical things I do that help me stay motivated. Like I said earlier, I’ve lost 50 pounds over the course of my health journey. I’ve competed in bikini competitions. I’ve gained 25 pounds back due to health issues.
My journey has been far from linear, but I push myself everyday to be where I want to be. I do this through journaling, this way, I’m able to look back at my different experiences and see how far I’ve come from that time in my life (mentally, especially!).
I also love podcasts and tangible books. Some of my favorite authors are Simon Sinek, Jocko Willink, and Malcolm Gladwell. I love listening to podcasts that educate me on how to be better, think better, eat better, etc., like Ed Mylett, The Shawn Model Health Show, Ben Greenfield Fitness, Jocko Willink, and Steve Weatherford.
I typically will not even listen to music while I lift because I’d rather devote my time to being educated on all things pertaining to my physical and mental state.
Additionally, something that helps with my motivation is hanging up some of my favorite quotes around the places I see most (i.e. my phone background, my bathroom mirror, my car sun visor). This reminds me to re-center my focus during those times that I’m tempted to let my mind slip.
One of my favorite quotes that I think of often in those moments is “Nobody cares. Work harder.” I love this quote because it basically forces me to quiet my ego and move forward. Who cares if I just ran 10 miles? Who cares if I just squatted 275? This shouldn’t be the focus of our mindset. Rather, we should be focusing on providing value and talking about things that help others push past their limits.
During my journey with Hypothalamic Amenorrhea (a missing menstrual cycle for 3+ months – if you didn’t know, not having a normal menstrual cycle could be evidence of possible problems in the future like not being able to have kids, ovarian cancer, etc. and it is typically due to over-exercising, under-eating, having too low body fat.).
I was left with two options: 1. I could either stay at the weight/body fat percentage I was and take medication to help regulate my hormones or 2: I could gain weight (and body fat) and hopefully be able to regulate my hormones without medication.
Because I wanted to give my body the chance to produce a menstrual cycle naturally, I decided to go with option two. This meant that I stopped exercising completely (besides walking), ate without limits, and gained fat.
Over the course of two months, I gained about 25 pounds, but was able to gain my period back NATURALLY. I am now on month eight of having it consistently!!!!! The point in this story is that it was NOT easy to gain that weight. I had to overcome a lot of mental barriers to be successful.
I loved lifting, and I had to completely stop. I tracked my food on an app every day for three years, and had to stop. I gained weight and had a lot of comments mentioned to me like, “It looks like you’ve gained weight!” or “Did your boobs get bigger?” (LOL). Talk about emotional trauma for me.
Something that helped me stay motivated during this journey and to continue on with getting my hormones back was remembering my WHY. Ward was a HUGE support with this. He would constantly remind me to remember WHY I started in the first place… because there were several times when I wanted to “cut” or “lean out” because I was uncomfortable with my body.
None of my clothes fit. I hated the size of my boobs. BUT, if I could take myself out of the equation and remind myself that it was for the sake of having a family someday, having a healthy body, and enjoying my life by not constantly worrying about food or fitness, then it became a lot easier for me to stay on track with my journey with HA.
Skip ahead eight months and now I’m on a journey to lean out BUT also keep my menstrual cycle consistent. I have to remind myself that change takes time and I must stay the path if I want to get to where I want to be.
🏆 How are you doing today and what does the future look like?
The last few months have been unlike I thought they would be. People in the fitness industry don’t usually anticipate having to gain weight. In fact, the fitness industry is typically filled with a focus on physique, appearance towards others, and other external qualities.
So, my journey of gaining weight is quite contrary to what a “normal fitness presence” looks like. I’m so proud of myself for sticking with the process and getting some normalcy back to my body. The point with all of this is that a year ago, I never saw myself back on the journey of having to “get comfortable” with my physique.
All of that to say, I have been learning over the last few months that I don’t have to be perfect with my gym routine or eating. I can enjoy movement and fueling my body, but also mesh that with memories and living my life.
The next few years are going to be massive for my business. I have so many incredible opportunities that I will be presenting to the people that want to be a part of Body By Bex.
I foresee Body By Bex growing exponentially and connecting with so many wonderful people in the near future. My goal with my business and following is to provide so much education around why we should eat well, move often, and balance that with life.
🤕 How do you recover, rest and handle injuries?
The BIGGEST aspect of my recovery is by far supplements
Man, this is a massive weakness of mine – just being honest. I think everyone probably struggles with recovering and stretching to some extent. If you’re anything like me, the concept of “resting” can seem difficult. Our bodies NEED rest, yet for some reason, we feel like if we don’t “lift” or “run”, we our inhibiting our progress. This could not be farther from the truth. Our muscles recover properly when we rest!
The BIGGEST aspect of my recovery is by far supplements. Let me say it again for the person in the back: SUPPLEMENTS ARE SO IMPORTANT IN YOUR JOURNEY. Here’s why: I’m not saying you HAVE to have a protein powder, or a sleeping pill. I’m saying, you NEED to fill in the missing gaps in your nutrition by supplement with multivitamins, probiotics, greens, fish oil, and so much more!
I have taken 1st Phorm products for years now and I can promise you that until I took their supplements, my physique was at a halt. Here’s the supplements I would prioritize:
- Opti-greens and Opti-reds
- Microfactor
- Phorumla-1 and Ignition (for post workout)
- Level-1 for protein coffee, mug cakes, etc.
All of these supplements and how I use them are highlighted on my Instagram. You can find me @rebekahmisiura. I am constantly answering questions about supplements, and that is the place you can find the majority of your answers!
In addition, you can get free shipping by using my link which is found in my Instagram bio. AND, if you send me your confirmation of items bought, you get 4 free weeks of coaching from me! All of the information can be found at bodybybexllc.com!!
Aside from supplements, here are some other tools I strive to use for recovery:
- yoga/stretching – every morning, I strive to stretch for 10 minutes.
- water – our bodies are THIRSTY. I am to get about 1.5-2 gallons of water daily.
- Walking – like I said earlier, I aim for 10k steps/day… no less! This ensures my muscles are staying loose.
- Heat – I love putting a heating pad on my back or legs to loosen up my tight muscles. I have an electric heating pad I can just plug in and lay on my body while I’m working.
- Cupping – when I studied physical therapy in college, we learned several different recovery modalities. Cupping is one of them! I bought a cupping set off of amazon – best investment!
🍎 How is your diet and what supplements do you use?
For three years straight, I followed a lifestyle method called If It Fits Your Macros (IIFYM!). This is a TOOL someone can use in order to reach their physique goals, but it is NOT the end all be all. During my fitness journey and body building competitions, I tracked everything I ate to a T.
However, as I journeyed through getting my period back with HA, I had to learn to let go of tracking everything I ate. After gaining my period back, I transitioned back into tracking, which then became loose tracking because I did not want to cut too quickly!
I am currently following a method I coach through called the “Balance My Plate” method. I still keep track of what I eat, but I am not weighing and measuring everything.
I love my beer, so I make room for that on the weekends. I also have a massive sweet tooth, BUT it’s usually fulfilled when I have my protein mug cake. Here’s the recipe to make Level-1 Protein Mug Cake (also found on my Instagram!):
- 1 scoop Level-1
- ¼ C almond milk
- 1 tsp baking powder
Mix & microwave for 30 seconds, add one tablespoon of almond butter when it’s hot!
It is so simple, and so good for you!
If I had to put percentages to it, I would say I eat about 95% whole foods and 5% non-nutrient dense foods. Even on the weekends, Ward and I stay on track by cooking home cooked meals filled with protein.
We do like to travel, but when we do, I usually pack our breakfasts in the yeti, we eat some trail mix or a protein bar for lunch, and then for dinner we will eat out.
We love Mexican food, but even when we order that, it is typically pretty clean (i.e. chicken and veggie fajitas). We can’t skip out on the chips and guac though 😉
Like I mentioned earlier, the supplements I take have been crucial to my internal health and my physique changes. A list of all of the supplements I take are on my Instagram!
👍 What has inspired and motivated you?
The best answer I can share here is what Ward constantly reminds me of. “You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.” I can not emphasize this enough. The people you spend your time around are the people that will inspire you. This goes for books, podcasts, music, etc, too!
If you constantly listen to Blink 182, you might be inspired to create music like the style of Blink 182. If you follow elite crossfitters on Instagram, you will be inspired to train like they do, eat like they do, and socialize like they do. It is the same concept for the people you spend time with.
This is why I have no problem distancing myself from those who are not aligned to my goals. Now, please do not think, “Wow, so she literally can’t be friends with anyone that doesn’t do exactly what she does.”
WRONG.
I have so many friends who live a different lifestyle than I do, but the people I keep close, are the people that want to be successful and positive in life.
It can mean success in the gym, or it can mean success in their career, or success with their family. The bottom line is, they have a winner’s mentality instead of a victim mentality. This is crucial to being inspired and staying motivated.
Surround yourself with those that lift you up.
✏️ Advice for other people who want to improve themselves?
The biggest piece of advice I can give you is to EMBRACE THE JOURNEY. I truly mean this. The biggest regret I have during my weight loss journey is thinking about all of the time I wasted rushing the process instead of embracing what I could learn.
I would wake up and constantly think to myself, “Man, I wish RIGHT NOW I could be at the weight I want to be at.” Or “I wish RIGHT NOW I could have those abs I’ve wanted.” The problem with this is that I missed what I should have been learning during this time. I then looked back and realized how fast the time flew and I actually regretted wasting my thoughts on such insignificant ones.
I would challenge you to keep reaching towards your goals even if that means it’ll take 2 years or 5 years or 10 years. If you don’t stop, you will be successful. If you compare yourself, you will suffer. Keep moving. Keep growing. Your day 1 is not to be compared to someone’s day 300.
If there’s anything I’ve learned over the last few years of this journey, it’s that nothing takes precedence over your mindset. If the mind is preoccupied with self-pity, doubt, victimization, judgement, comparison, or any other evil, you will be unsuccessful. It is said that the average distance from ear to ear is six inches.
The most important part of your journey is the transformation that will happen in those six inches. This is exactly why Body by Bex operates by The Six Inch Rule:
“I commit daily to prioritize the thoughts in my mind to be uplifting, supportive, and loving towards my body & those around me. I will not succumb to being a victim of the “I can’ts”, and if I do, I am taking full responsibility that this is a losing mindset. I am promoting happy dialogue between my ears, knowing that the only time I will be successful in reaching my goals is when the above is fulfilled.”
I know at first it can all seem so intimidating. This is why I love coaching. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me at [email protected]. I truly do make it SIMPLE for you, and I am here 100% of the time FOR YOU. This is why I do what I do – to help you change your body & mind!
🤝 Are you taking on clients right now?
Body By Bex, LLC offers 8, 12, and 16 week programs. I cap my programs because I want to make sure that I am able to truly get to know each and every person. Because of this, sometimes I may not have open coaching spots, but currently, I DO!
I finish my Master’s in Public Health with a specialization in Nutrition in a few short weeks!!! This means, my passion is Nutrition! I offer several different coaching methods so that way every person can fit in with my programs. I specialize and customize these programs specifically to you through a detailed questionnaire.
The biggest thing I try to do as a coach is EDUCATE. This way, after finishing a program with me, you have the tools you need to keep going without me.
Of course, I love being a part of your journey, so once you sign up for my coaching, you will have first dibs to a program whenever yours end (i.e. you can continue to purchase programs and are always guaranteed a coaching spot until you decide to no longer work with Body By Bex).
Additionally, I offer virtual training! I have one on one coaching spots for nutrition and virtual training. The virtual training is all done through zoom or facetime. You do not even need equipment for the virtual training! I work with people who have squat racks and dumbbells to others who just have resistance bands to others who have just their body. Like I said, I make it work for you!
📝 Where can we learn more about you?
The best way to find out all of what I offer through Body By Bex, LLC is on my website at bodybybexllc.com. I post weekly blogs with amazing, healthy recipes, giveaways, challenges, and so much more. You can subscribe to be the first to hear about giveaways, discounts, and healthy recipes!
To keep in touch and see what I do day in and day out, please follow me over on Instagram @rebekahmisiura. I post my workouts, morning routines, evening routines, and meal options. I also have my 1st Phorm codes on my Instagram!
