When you think about it, as many people as there are on the planet, the world is very small and here in NYC with so many different people, there aren't that many degrees of separation between you and someone else - even if they are on a completely different coast or continent.
We respected Celebrity Fitness Trainer Lacey Stone's craft, hustle and approach to fitness and seeing her on E! Revenge Body with Khloe Kardashian. Since have her in our feature, NEW YEAR, N3W YOU, our worlds collided again right before the holiday season to talk about her partnership with Core Power Protein Shakes by Fairlife, her approach to training her clients, the miracle that is the human body, owning our super hero and her new partnership with The Wall, which avid readers of Athleisure Mag will remember from our Athleisure List feature from a few years ago. For our Athleisure Studio podcast listeners, there are portions of this interview that were included in Lacey Stone's episode of #TRIBEGOALS, which was released earlier this month and there are conversations in this issue that were not part of the podcast as well.
As the Jan issue is focused on New You, we knew that we wanted to bring the necessary tools and resources to kick your year off right. As we analyze how we will be adding new things into our workout and areas we want to target for our physical goals, we also need to be aware that we have to replenish our bodies, which is where Core Power Protein Shakes by Fairlife comes into play. Recovery is an important tool to bring back nutrients and nourishments into your body so that you can optimize all of your efforts, the brand's release of this new product is available now with flavors that include Banana, Chocolate, Strawberry and Vanilla. It is lactose free and has 26 grams of protein! With the first ingredient being filtered milk - there are no powders, artificial flavors or additives in it so you can enjoy a silky, smooth, and creamy taste while enjoying dairy protein with natural casein and whey, which is an essential to recover after a workout.
ATHLEISURE MAG: We have interviewed a number of Olympians, celeb fitness trainers, athletes etc and we just launched one of our new podcasts, The Road to Tokyo 2020 where we talk to athletes that are working on their Olympic run from their training as well as recovery and other events taking place in their lives. We also have #TRIBEGOALS, which is all about changemakers sharing about their tribes and those that they are involved in, how they started and lead a variety of fields.
We find that in speaking to athletes and those who enjoy working out, our conversations tend to go into not only the work- out, but the pillars of recovery from those that are physical like foam rollers and pain management tools, to those that are consumables, so this is definitely a great topic to cover for our readers of Athleisure Mag, as well as those listeners who listen to our shows on our multimedia podcast network, Athleisure Studio! As we get older, you need to start implementing to replenish your system as your body will continue to do what you want it to do, but you also need to make sure you are giving it the proper nutrients as well. You feel the difference when you’re not properly nourished. When did you know that you wanted to be in the fitness industry?
LACEY STONE: I was an athlete my whole life and it was so organic to me. There is a basketball court near my hotel and I can’t even... I’ve been in NYC for three days on this tour and when I have downtime, I love going to some shoots. I can’t believe that all my shots were going in and I still had it! So I always played sports and then I moved to New York when I was a kid and I tried to work at MTV and I just kind of saw what it was like to not be able to wear sneakers anymore. As a production assistant, I saw how unhealthy people were so I got a side job to work as a trainer at Equinox and I saw what you could be in the fitness industry before it was anything. It was right at the beginning when they were starting to sponsor us as Nike athletes and I thought, this is it. I knew I could make an impact in this industry because it was so organic. A lot of what I saw at the time – there were no HIIT interval classes. I was one of the first HIIT interval classes. I couldn’t really go to the beat and everything was dance.
Coming out of dance, they were taught to look the part and I was never trained to look the part. I was taught to be the athlete so my body had to be a weapon, not pretty. I was like, the women in this industry need to understand that it’s not about how you look, but it’s about how you feel and how strong you are. That’s what I have stood by the whole time and that’s why this is so organic because women don’t realize how strong they are. So when I kick their butt and compliment them, they’re like, “am I?” And I’m like, girl, you’re waking up at 5am, putting on your superhero leggings, coming to me to let me kick your butt in a way that you didn’t even know that I would, and then you’re kicking butt in the office – especially here in New York or in Chicago, and then you’re going home and cooking dinner and making sure the family is taken care of, the husband – whatever and there’s kids as well. So you guys have to take care of yourself, you have to eat – women forget to take care of themselves. Not only with the food, but their heart.
AM: We loved seeing you on E! for Revenge Body with Khloe Kardashian – you have a whole psychology element to how you train your clients. Do you find that draining as a trainer because you're fixing the body and then you're getting into the mind with that inter- play?
LS: Sometimes it can get really emotional and people have different issues. But it is really rewarding to watch someone’s eyes go from “I can’t” to “I can”. Not only in the gym, but outside of the gym, because I am trying to create superheroes. I am – in the sense of knowing how powerful you are. A lot of times when people are blocked in how hard they can run on the treadmill or how much they can lift weights because they don’t think that they are strong enough, I go back to what happened to you – who told you this? It doesn’t happen as much with men as they are like, “I used to be like this and I am going to go back to this” and when my clients cry – everyone cries who works out with me – everyone does. I have been through a lot and I can look at someone’s eyes and see that there is something there. So I will ask them what is going on to find that motivation that will help them through the rest of their life and finding that thing that is making you not believe in yourself.
It’s the moment that I feel like I have changed them when I can get to that point. Yes there is a lot of stuff that goes on with someone when you get there and there is a lot that happens after that point as well. Right now, I am dealing with someone that she is so scared of the release that she is having that it’s making her want to hide again with the pain that she has had. The more that you repeat a negative pattern, the more that it becomes a reality and you get addicted to the chaos and you don’t even know how to live without it. I majored in psychology in college and I believe that fitness starts in the mind before the gym. So the answer is, it is draining at times but there is draining in any job and I feel that my skill set is different than other trainers that I have been able to help people change their body and I have been fortunate to help people get through divorces, deaths, quitting jobs and making companies. We're finding that now in launching my virtual training platform that it is a competitive market. Everyone is launching one and if you want to write what’s the future of fitness? Virtual – beyond – beyond. People are coming up to me saying, "can we use your body and the way you speak and put it in AI and make you show up and walk around?”
