Phit for a Queen: A Female Athlete Podcast

Dr. Amy Bender shares “why getting your ZZZsss is key to your success” on PHIT for a Queen podcast:

Dr. Amy Bender shares “why getting your ZZZsss is key to your success” on PHIT for a Queen podcast:

1. “I have always wanted to be an author so it was natural to write about her story”
2. Use perfectionism for good, not destruction!
3. Is on a mission to educate coaches on the forms of eating disorders and bring about awareness.
4. We have to have a behavior approach versus appearance approach.
5. Happiness in my core!
6. By breaking my silence I mustered the courage to recover.

You can follow Dr. Bender at:

@sleepforsport

So you know she is legit:

Dr. Bender received her Ph.D. and Master of Science degrees in Experimental Psychology from Washington State University specializing in sleep EEG. Her current research focuses on the relationship between sleep and recovery on athletic performance. She has developed sleep intervention protocols for numerous Canadian National Teams. Her research interests stem from being an athlete herself; she is a Hall of Fame basketball player, has summitted a handful of volcanoes, completed an Ironman in 2009, and currently runs around chasing her 3 children who are all 5 and under.

Flaunt Performance: THE Podcast for the Voluptuous Runner

 

Descriptor: Aja shares her experience of being stigmatized as a voluptuous runner and why this led her to start a podcast around these topics.

 

Descriptor:                  

• Aja shares how she has experienced weight stigma as a runner and why she decided to speak out about this problem in the running world. She started Flaunt Performance: THE Podcast for THE Voluptuous Runner and athletes.
• We don’t have to lose weight to start a sport. It is the perception that you CAN’T but that is not true. We address those stigmas!
• We live in a society that is very anti-pleasure. Aja shares that she feels that order to accept and love our bodies we have to embrace pleasure.

So you know she’s legit:

 

As the daughter of a marathon runner, Aja began to develop her passion for running at around 8 years old. However, her initial path to running bliss wasn’t filled with much satisfaction. As a fat kid, the overbearing messages of weight loss and body image overshadowed the pleasures that running had to offer. Ironically, running soon became a mental refuge that Aja used to retreat from the constant pressures of bullying and not quite fitting into what was “normal.”

But issues regarding body image persisted throughout her life...until they were no longer bearable.

December 30, 2015, Aja gave birth to her second daughter; Yaminah. Three days later, she and her husband heard the news that no parents ever want to hear. Yaminah was very ill and wouldn’t live very long. Yaminah died in her parent's arms on January 19, 2016.

At that point, everything stopped. Aja realized that she could no longer carry the load of weight loss pressures along with insurmountable grief. Weight loss, along with tons of other issues, seemed so minuscule when compared to losing a child.

So like she had always done when she needed to retreat, Aja ran. In fact, she decided to sign up for her first 1/2 marathon in honor of Yaminah.

Training for that 1/2 marathon wasn’t pretty at all. It wasn’t because Aja wasn’t in shape for running. Her body was used to running. In fact, she ran while pregnant with Yaminah. Training wasn’t pretty because at her highest weight ever, Aja learned what it really means to be fat and athletic. It means being ignored while shopping for running shoes. It means not being able to find running pants that fit over big hips. It means running in nightgowns to hide the fact that her butt hangs out of those too-small running pants!

In May of 2016, race day finally arrived.   Aja looked around at everyone at the starting line and saw people of all shapes and sizes coming together for one common goal. But she knew all of the other round athletes at that starting line had experienced many of the issues she’d experienced during training. Aja decided to do something about it. She wanted the world to at least hear their stories. So Aja launched Flaunt Performance Podcast.

Flaunt Performance Podcast is a podcast for voluptuous runners who just love to run. It’s a no diet-talk, no fat-shaming, no self-shaming zone where pleasure trumps weight loss.

Aja lives with her husband and two living children in Northwest Indiana.   She enjoys gardening, swimming, and retreating on running trails.

 

To Connect with the Flaunt Performance Podcast: THE podcast for the Voluptuous Runner 

https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/flaunt-performance

 Facebook @flauntperformance

Twitter @FlauntPerfor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Changing the Game of Youth Sports with John O’Sullivan

Changing the Game of Youth Sports with John O’Sullivan

 The world of youth sports that is changing drastically leading to high burn out. John joins us and discusses this changing atmosphere and ways parents and coaches can help to keep the Play in Sport!

• Changing the Game has the main goal of keeping the Play in sports. John discusses the changing times of youth sports, and how we have pushed the adult version of sport onto our children.

 

• How can the parent be encouraging but not too pushy with our children when it comes to engagement in sport? Let’s first increase their physical literacy. Second, let’s let them play sports that they really love.

 

• Is there anywhere else where we allow an adult ( a coach) to spend so much time with our children, yet they have no training?? Coaches need further training then they are getting now.

 

• It can be helpful to encourage your kids to have three goals for that sport season: have fun, work hard, fulfill your commitment.                                                                                                                                                                                  

So You Know He is Legit….

John O’Sullivan is an internationally known TEDx Speaker and the founder of the Changing the Game Project, which he started in 2012 in order to better educate parents, coaches and youth sports organizations and put some more “play” in playing sports. John is a former collegiate and professional soccer player and coached for 20 years on the youth, high school, and college level. He has been an advisor and presenter for numerous sporting organizations across the globe, including US Soccer, Football, Lacrosse, Swimming, and Hockey, and he sits on the National Advisory Board for the Positive Coaching Alliance and the National Association for Physical Literacy. John is the author of two #1 bestselling books, and his blog gets nearly 5 million visits a year. His goal today is to start a discussion about changing the environment in youth sports so we can keep more kids active, healthy and involved in physical activity.

To Connect with Changing the Game 

http://changingthegameproject.com/

John’s Ted Talk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXw0XGOVQvw

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Laura Miranda shares how “strategies to align sports performance with capability” on PHIT for a Queen podcast

Dr. Laura Miranda shares how “strategies to align sports performance with capability” on PHIT for a Queen podcast:

1. Was inspired by the women that helped put her back together during her injuries as a young athlete.
2. Align sports performance with capability.
3. Loves to workout outside as it reminds of playing as a child.
4. Injuries can impact an athlete’s identity and being able to say “I am not OK and what can I do?”
5. Empowering positive talk is a must for mental & physical healing- Speak to yourself as if you were a young child.
6. Must adhere to the training program- It works if you work it

You can find Dr. Laura Miranda at:

• http://drlauramiranda.com/
• http://drlauramiranda.com/pursuit/
• Be sure to follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter as @DrLauraMiranda

So you know she is legit:

By trade, Dr. Laura Miranda DPT, MSPT is an NYC based doctor of physical therapy, certified personal trainer, and creator of PURSUIT, the outdoor fitness movement. She is also an author, speaker, and has appeared in and writes for many major publications like Shape, Buzz Feed, Huffington Post, and Girls Gone Strong. By mission, she empowers people on their path toward becoming the best possible version of themselves.