My passion for moving pain free and finding the balance for all that life has to throw at us is the driving force behind my training philosophies. 

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"Train with a Purpose" -Every movement you choose through out the day and the way you choose to do it can either compliment your training goals, or permanently hinder your future.  Is it good enough to just go and work out? Quite honestly, it only takes a bit of education to understand the basic movements to ensure you are going to move well and more importantly feel great into the senior years.  The training you do today will directly affect how you feel 20 years from now. 

 

"Train the Weak Links" - Simply by identifying and then correcting the weak link, amazing things will happen with your results.  Whether your goal is to relieve pain, jump higher or lose weight, incorporating the right exercises into your daily routine that target the weak link will have dramatic measurable outcomes for you. 

 

"Exercise Selection Matters" -   What should your volume of push vs pull exercises be?  What exercises should be done as a priority?  What are the movements I should complete for warm up and cool down?  What are the best exercise pairings?  These are all answered purely on an individual basis.  The order and selection of exercises in a training program are vital to success for both injury prevention and performance.

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"Train Quality vs Quantity"-Never sacrifice movement quality to get the extra repetitions.  The repetitions should look the same from start to finish or rep 1 to rep 8. Every repetition is training a pattern.  Train the right pattern....... 

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 "The Body is YOUR Lifeline" -  You get one.  How are you going to treat it? The reality is most of the fitness industry is a competition of who looks great in a 2 piece, with their shirt off or who has the most likes and quit honestly pull at the vulnerability of on lookers who aspire to make a change and don't know where to start.   Unfortunately, anyone can be a "personal trainer" and quite honestly my 8 year old nephew can make you sweat.  But...is it good for you?  There is a reason why doctors and dentists go to school for years...and then do multiple rotations to get experience before making decisions for patients which will ultimately effect their health and wellness.  The body is an amazingly complex moving puzzle that deserves more thought than what a one weekender course gives.  If the workouts you are doing are sending you to the physio or chiropractor...not cool.  For the general population, we train to keep our bodies healthy so we don't have to see a clinician.  Taking ownership and having a basic understanding of exercise is important. When I work with someone, education is crucial. Learn from it and then most importantly apply it to daily training.  That's what makes the difference. 

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 Kara

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Experience

• Educating

  • ​Physical Educator - Royal Military College of Canada - 2006 - present

  • Instructor - St. Lawrence College - Fitness and Health Promotion Program 

• Strength and Conditioning

  • International Experience

    • Leonora MackInnon - Canadian Women's Epee Team - Rio Olympics 2016

    • Canadian Forces Women's Volleyball Program- World Military Games - South Korea 2015, World Military Games - Brazil 2011, World Volleyball Championships - Germany 2008, Brazil 2009, USA- Cherry Point 2010, Amsterdam 2012.

  • Ontario University Athletics 

    • Royal Military College of Canada Women's Volleyball​ - Strength and Conditioning 2005-present

    • Royal Military College of Canada Men's Rugby - Strength and Conditioning 2013 - present

• Health Promotion

  • Facilitator - Strengthening the Forces - Injury Reduction Strategies​

  • Facilitator - Strengthening the Forces - Weight Wellness Lifestyle Program

• Assessments/Screens/Physical Fitness Evaluations

  • Movement Specialist - Stone City Strength and Wellness

  • Royal Military College of Canada - Physical Performance Test

  • Canadian Armed Forces - Search and Rescue, Firefighters, Special Forces. 

• Group Fitness

  • APEX Indoor Cycling 

  • Fitness Instructor - Canadian Armed Forces - 2002-2006

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Other fun facts:

• Down time is spent hanging with my friends, playing guitar and enjoying a nice glass of wine or craft beer!

• I love, love live music and being exposed to the many talented and gifted artists out there!

• I've paddled down the Rideau Canal 5 times from Smith Falls to RMC with the Aboriginal Leadership Opportunity Year students as a member of the safety staff.  Yup, that's about 104km sitting in a paddling canoe.  It's nice to disconnect and enjoy some time outdoors. 

• Level 3 Commando Krav Maga Instructor..reality based self-defense system. 

• Ruptured my right achilles tendon in 2012...no better way to understand coming back from an injury then personally going through it to experience the roller coaster of recovery.