How Body Neutrality and Movement Help You Discover Joy with Andrea Troughton

In this episode of the "Spirit of an Athlete" podcast, host Amanda Smith interviews Andrea Troughton, a holistic health coach and anti-diet personal trainer. Andrea discusses her journey in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, where she holds a purple belt, and her aspirations to achieve a black belt. She shares her holistic approach to health coaching, emphasizing body neutrality and fostering a positive relationship with exercise and nutrition. Andrea's philosophy focuses on well-being over traditional dieting, encouraging clients to enjoy movement and prioritize how they feel rather than their appearance.

In this Episode: 

• [00:02:15] Andrea Troughton's journey in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and her rank as a purple belt.
• [00:05:30] The motivations behind Andrea's interest in combat sports and self-defense.
• [00:09:45] The commitment and dedication required to progress in martial arts.
• [00:14:20] Andrea's holistic health coaching philosophy and its focus on well-being over dieting.
• [00:18:10] The concept of body neutrality and its importance in health coaching.
• [00:22:35] Strategies for building a positive relationship with exercise and nutrition.
• [00:27:50] The significance of joint health and balancing flexibility with strength training.
• [00:32:15] The anti-diet philosophy and its impact on clients' relationships with food and exercise.
• [00:37:00] The demographics of Andrea's clients and their varying health and fitness needs.
• [00:41:25] Resources for connecting with Andrea, including her social media, website, and published book.

Please connect with Andrea here: 

Email: andrea@workofartcoaching.ca

Website: https://www.workofartcoaching.ca/

Instagram: @workofartyeg

Watch Gutsy Chick Podcast on YouTube!

Check out more from Amanda:
Website: Body Whisper Healing
Instagram: @Amanda.G.Smith
Facebook: Body Whisper Healing
Pinterest: AmandaGSmithBWH
LinkedIn: Amanda (Ritchie) Smith

Take the Gutsy Chick Quiz to find out how your athletic mindset might be holding you back from healing your chronic health issue: https://gutsychickquiz.com

Transcript

0:19

Welcome back to another episode of spirit of an athlete. I'm your host, Amanda Smith, and on this episode I interview Andrea Troughton. She is a holistic health coach and an anti diet personal trainer. You're going to learn her experience in Brazilian jiu jitsu and other martial arts, as well as her take on what an anti diet personal trainer does for her clients. I truly hope you enjoy this episode Andrea Troughton. Thank you so much for being on spirit of an athlete and sharing your story with us. I see you for having me. Oh, absolutely. I understand that you are in combat sports. Which combat sport are you in and what level are you at? Um, so I primarily do Brazilian jiu jitsu. Um, I dabbled in a couple other things, a little bit of, um, Muay Thai and a little bit of, uh, MMA, but jiu jitsu is my primary sport. Um, and I've been doing it for about six years. Uh, and I am a purple belt. Okay. What made you say I need to do Brazilian jiu jitsu? Um, it was kind of a few things, like, I, I didn't I always was interested in trying, like, some sort of combat sport. I really didn't know very much about them. Um, any of them really? Uh, my most, like, introduction to jiu jitsu was first when I saw the UFC and I was like, what am I looking at? Like two men rolling around on each other like, I don't know what this is. So I didn't really know much about it, to be honest. But I had always been interested in learning self-defense and learning. I don't know, just to feel like I could take care of myself. Um. And I started working. Um, I'm a personal trainer, and, uh, the gym that I moved my business to in 2018 was also opening up with a Brazilian jiu jitsu studio in it, and I still honestly didn't really know that much about what it was. Even when it opened. I just knew that it was grappling based and it kind of like looked to me a bit like wrestling and but the way it was described on some of the like literature that they had, some of the like signage they had is, is Brazilian jiu jitsu is, um, not about brute strength but about, um, skill. So it's kind of really discussed as a sport. That is, it doesn't necessarily matter if you're the biggest or the strongest, um, but you're still able to master these techniques. And if you can use these techniques, you can't handle opponents who are maybe bigger and stronger than you. And that was really what appealed to me and why I wanted to why I wanted to try it out. It took a while for me to get there, but once I did, it was it was certainly worthwhile. But you're a purple belt now, which means you've been in in a minute. Yes. From what I understand of martial arts, I've never been in martial arts myself. But from what I understand, to get to that level, you have to have a boatload of commitment. Is that right? Yeah, I would say so. Like, um, there are definitely different paces at which people kind of progress through those levels. Um, and I was like, I tend to be somebody who, when I get interested in something I like, it snowballs and I get really into it. So, um, when I was first starting out, I took me a little while to get, like, comfortable. And then I went through a phase where I was training all the time. Training like every day if I could, which I like, ultimately have scaled back now as I realise that that wasn't necessarily sustainable practice for me. But um, but at the time, I just like, I, I threw myself into it and I was really, really interested. And so I, I wouldn't say that I progressed super quickly. I think I progressed at a very normal pace. I think what other people also do in the same amount of time, but um, but it definitely helped me like really get into it and really start like the more the more advanced and the more skill I developed, the more I, the more I even continue to be interested in the sport, which I think is really cool. Yes. No doubt. So are you. Are you planning on becoming a black belt? Um, that's the goal. I mean, I it's not ultimately up to me. I guess I have to see if if they if it's given to me as I continue to advance. But I would love to become a black belt, partly because I think it would be just like a really very cool achievement. Um, especially considering I started training quite a bit later in life. Like a lot of people who a lot of people who get to black belt, some of them are training with their kids. Um, so I would really love that. But, uh, but I also don't think I, I don't feel like there's a rush to get there. I just want to, like, enjoy the process and learn as much as I can and, like, really just love continue to love doing this sport. And if that helps me get my black belt, that'd be amazing. Nice. Okay, so you mentioned that you you are a health coach. Yeah. What does that mean? And how do you use your Brazilian jiu jitsu background in your health coaching? Um, I love that question, actually. So I am a I've been a personal trainer for about ten years, and in that time I've also studied holistic nutrition and, um, kind of crafted my businesses as a very holistic health and fitness coaching business. Um, I really like in my work, I don't really work with athletes in the gym or in my coaching. I work mostly with women who are starting to try and build a better relationship with exercise, build a better relationship with their bodies, and just like feel better in their skin and feel more more at peace with themselves and just like more connected with themselves. And that's really sort of my goal is to try and make people feel more comfortable in their bodies and then and take their bodies out and do more things with them and feel joyful when they move. Um, and so I think when it comes to how Jiu-Jitsu impacts that, it's really it's really I think for me, jiu jitsu was one of the first like times I got into a sport or any type of physical activity since I was a little kid, like since I was a young girl, taking my first dance classes is the first activity that I've really been drawn to that caused me to kind of redefine my own relationship with exercise, where there used to be this whole pressure about exercising because I needed to look a certain way, or I wanted to, I don't know, prove something to myself or prove something to other people, or just it was it wasn't something that I did because I wanted to. It was something that I did because there was like a sense of need or urgency about it. Like I had to be there and like falling in love with jujitsu and finding physical activities that, like, I'm really excited to do. That's really shifted the way I approach exercise and and the way I approach clients, because now it's all about like when I exercise outside of jiu jitsu, it's all about making sure that I can keep doing the thing that I like doing for as long as possible. So it's about making sure that I take care of my joints and and I don't have too much pain and that I'm strengthening my body in ways that's functional for me in my sport, as well as just like so that I have less pain and I feel good and I can keep doing what I like doing. So I think that's really changed the way I approach clients, and really helped me focus on finding things that make them happy and finding things that they can pursue. Uh, as well as making sure that I focus on people working on avoiding or reducing pain and and just feeling the best they can physically in their bodies so that their bodies can do what they want them to do. I love that when you get a client that you start to realize this isn't quite what is lighting you up. Do you suggest other ways to connect with their body and connect with being more physical? Yeah, like, I mean, a lot of the times people come to me and they're like, not they're super uncomfortable in the gym or like, they don't know what they're doing there. And I always try and get people to start with really small things like, okay, let's, let's just like think of the easiest way that you can start moving a little bit more and trying to just place that in their path instead of feeling like they have to do X, Y, and Z. Um, like obviously there's definite benefits to strength training and, and all that sort of thing. And I think that it's valuable for people, but I think that it's like not always a good starting point for people. Sometimes it's just like going for a walk. Sometimes it's like, okay, like, what are you interested in trying or like what? What sounds like a fun thing to you? And how can we kind of like, mimic that or do things here that, you know, that are fun. Mhm. Yeah, I love that. It's, it's noticing like oh this person isn't, they're just going through the motion. Right. And I've seen this in the gym when someone's working with a personal trainer and the person's just going through the motion and I'm like, what really lights them up? What is the thing that's going to make them super excited? Let it be dance or, you know, pickleball. That seems to be all the craze now, but just suggesting to them, you know, maybe try this and strength training, of course, because that that helps everything. It's been interesting on my own journey, seeing how much strength training has been able to allow me to do the other things that I love to do, like pitching as a softball player. If I would have lifted more as a high school player or a college player, I would have been a much better pitcher and I would have had less injury. And I love that your focus with your people is around staying out of pain or being able to to get out of pain, so thank you for that. Yeah. And and for your people. Thank you. Yeah. I think that's like one of the most important things. Um, and I mean, I feel like when you're, when you're younger, especially, like young athletes and stuff where our bodies haven't accumulated as much strength or as as much tension when we're young. So our bodies feel more resilient. But as we get older, like the accumulation of all the stuff that we've been doing, all the activities that we do it, it comes and it starts to catch up on us. And and it's unfortunate that we're not taught when we're younger, like, oh, you need to do these things if you want to, you know, do these other activities because it's going to it's going to prevent you from having more pain when you're older. Um, but yeah, it's like the the activities that we do in the gym, I think are so much more important to use them to make it so everything else in life feels better rather than like, have that be the central focus. I love that. So you've mentioned a couple of times taking care of your joints is something that you focus on. What's some of the stuff that you teach people in order to do that? Um, yeah, that's a great question. Like, I mean, especially with like, jiu jitsu can be really hard on the joints because we're constantly trying to like each other's joints. Yeah. So that's like definitely become a major focus for me as I've gotten into it. But, um, even just in general, like most people as they age or whatever, we get joint pain in various different places. Um, so the biggest thing that I usually work on with people who are trying to prevent or manage or reduce some of that pain, is figuring out where their muscles are tight. Uh, trying to work on actively loosening up those muscles. But what's most important, I think that people often forget about in terms of like, you know, flexibility or mobility training is like we we spend a lot of time focusing on the relaxing, the muscle, the stretching, the foam rolling, and those are great. But we also have to make sure it's combined with like strengthening the other muscles around it. Because when we usually we have one muscle that's tight, there's always like an opposing muscle or a neighboring muscle that's a little weak or is having trouble firing up. So really the thing for me is creating balance between those two sides of things, making sure we spend enough time stretching and lengthening our muscles, and another an equal amount of time strengthening and activating them. So that way those two combinations are really what helps the joint stay the healthiest. I love that, as you were saying that, I was literally going, oh, I'm I'm being tense in my glutes right now as I'm standing here talking to you and I'm like, oh, I need to relax that. So I'm inviting the audience right now to tense something up and then relax it and see how that feels, because, yeah, it creates it creates more access. And that mind muscle connection, that's powerful. Always. It totally. Is. Absolutely right. So yay saving people's joints, especially as we get older. Holy cow. Yeah. Okay. The other thing that I think I heard, and I know we talked about this in the pre-interview, is your idea and perspective around anti dieting. Yeah. What does that mean. Um, so I consider myself an anti diet coach or an anti diet personal trainer. So to me what that means is I really focus on being body neutral. Um, so you know, I work with a vast group of clients and I think it's really important to approach health, exercise, food, all of these things from a place of like neutrality, where we're not necessarily focusing on trying to lose weight. We're not necessarily focusing on trying to change our body. We're not trying to focus on like, restricting or cutting back on things, but we're more focusing on approaching things from a really, um, balanced viewpoint and building a healthy relationship with the food, with movement, with our bodies. So I really I, I don't weigh my clients unless like if they choose to do those things that's, you know, people are absolutely welcome to do what feels best for them. But I, I don't ask my clients to, you know, weigh in or measure or take progress pictures. I just focus primarily on like, how do you feel if your body is feeling physically good, if you're feeling like you have good energy or feeling capable? Those are the things that I really care about. And you know, what happens to how your body changes is, you know, it might change, it might not. And that I try to really minimize focusing on that because I feel, um, for my personal experience, um, in my life and also with my experience working with clients, um, when we focus too much on our body shape and size, it really takes away from the relationship we have with it and it, and it really puts all this pressure on food and exercise, and it really takes the joy out of a lot of it. And I'm all about like finding joy in those things. So anti dieting for me is about really focusing on how we feel and not on how we look. Um, and also especially in sports, um, weight class sports, I really notice that like jujitsu and other sports where people have to weigh in. But just like for women in general, there's so much pressure on us, on our bodies and on how we look. And there's such a high risk for disordered eating in those realms. So the more I can deemphasize restricting and and control and feeling like you have to do certain things a certain way, um, the more I feel like I can help people also heal and prevent those like risks of disordered eating and body dysmorphia and all those things that come along with that really kind of precarious package that we get time. Yeah, I love that you brought up that that BJJ and other martial arts and for me, powerlifting or wrestling or any of these sports where we have to weigh in and, and meet a certain weight class or how it really does wreak havoc on the joy of the sport. And, you know, when I'm thinking about as a power lifter, I've got to get into a singlet as someone in in martial arts, you're in a guy usually, and it's easier to hide your body and have less body dysmorphia. But for someone like a cheerleader or a dancer, we have to get into certain costumes to participate in the sport. And there's definitely this this pull to look a certain way because we are athletes, right? We identify as athletes. So thank you for bringing that to light. And thank you for being the Anti. What is it anti diet coach I love that. What's the age range that you generally. Yeah absolutely. What's the age range that you generally work with. Um it varies quite a bit. But I find most commonly the clients that are coming to me are between, I want to say 29 and 58. So it's a pretty big range. I do find I I'm lately I don't know if it's just because of where I am in, in life, but I do find I'm, um, connecting with a lot of women and they're like mid to late 30s, which is, um, I don't know, like a track like I guess, though I have been working with a lot of clients in that range. But but generally speaking, I find that sort of like, you know, late 20s to late 50s. There's that's a lot of the clients that I've worked with. That's interesting to think about it from a generational perspective. Those who are in their 50s, they're dealing with menopause. They've got that hormone side of the house as women, uh, women in their 30s, that's not even on their radar. Uh, and and truly, they're I love that you're working with women who are getting back into recognizing their body and and wanting to take better care of themselves. That's beautiful. That's you hope that you would see more clients in their 20s and 30s than in their 50s getting to that point in life. But that, unfortunately, is the reality of of our world. So are are being healthy is really that's the key. And Andrea, thank you for really shedding light on that. Where can people find you? Um, they can find me in a few places. Um, they can always find me on Instagram. I would say that's where I'm like the most active. Um, and on Instagram, I am work of Art League. Um, yeah. The city that I'm in. Um, so it's all one word. Uh. Or they can probably search up Andrea, the antibiotic motion picture as well, but, uh, the they can also find me. My website is, uh, work of art coaching. Okay. Um, and, uh, the other place they can find me now is on Amazon. Um, I have a book that I recently published. Um, I do actually touch a little bit on jiu jitsu and combat sports in there, but more or less that they, uh, memoir, um, mixed with self-help, where I kind of share my own journey through my relationship with my body and, um, just, you know, my experience in life kind of managing my own self-worth and how I learned to adopt all of the habits that I now teach other women. And and so I share a lot of that wisdom as well as my life in the book. So you can find me on Amazon if they search up my name or search up. Choose your discomfort. Beautiful. You guys go check out her book. That is an opportunity to to really dive deep into what what has brought you to anti diets. Andrea, thank you so much for being on spirit of an athlete and sharing with us. Thank you very much for having me. Absolutely. Thanks for listening to spirit of an athlete podcast. If you're struggling with your own gut issues and want more direction, you can get an initial body scan from Amanda at Body Whisper Healing Comm. In 20 minutes, you can find out what's wrong. You get clarity, map the path forward. You get on track to get back in your game. If this episode hits the spot, please let us know by rating, reviewing, and sharing it with a friend. Subscribe now to hear more inspiring stories from other female college athletes who overcame their health issues. Want more Amanda? Get inspired by finding more at Body Whisper healing.com.