Krista Henderson

Meet Krista. I found her website www.plusperformancefitness.com while surfing the internet.

She is impressive and I must admit that I feel a little jealous. Krista is a Personal Trainer & Online Fitness Coach from Toronto.

She is a plus size full of energy and truly passionate about fitness.

Her philosophy is simple:

She believes anyone can start being fit and active right away, that you don’t have to wait until you’ve lost 15 lbs!

While going through her website, it reminded me that I have so much my priorities in the wrong place.

When I had planned to do my 10 minutes on the treadmill, I thought: Oh, I need to finish to wash dishes before I go, let me clean the table, it will just take a few minutes. Yes, I KNOW you understand what I mean.

Comfort me and tell me I am not alone. Why do we put everything before ourselves?

I have asked Krista a few questions and here are her inspiring answers:

1. When you are exercising around smaller people, how do you live through the way they look at you? I know that a few of my friends would not join a gym because they are scared of the looks they would get, or wear a bathing suit.

I wrote an article on this topic called “Surviving the Gym as a Plus Size Woman”, in which I identified 3 tips: Setting Goals, Find a Fitness Mentor and Dress the Part.

You can view the article here:

www.plusperformancefitness.com/Articles____Books.html

I wrote the article over a year ago, and after re-reading it, I still believe in my approach. I don’t believe that gym members really are “judging/looking at you”, if they are, it’s because they are drawing motivation and inspiration from you. Most people are focused on their own workout. On the off chance, someone is judging you, take comfort in knowing that they are ignorant and misguided, and you are not like them.

I strongly encourage everyone to have a Fitness Mentor when starting out – someone to guide you, ask questions, help you through plateaus etc.

2. How do you keep going everyday? when most of us give up and regularly have to start all over again.


I am a big believer in setting activity goals i.e. walking your first 5km, to keep you motivated. If you don’t put the time in, you may not be able to successfully complete your activity goal, and that would be a huge disappointment.

It’s best to be self-motivated, but sometimes we need a kickstart and that’s where a little external motivation is helpful. Signing up for a charity 5km, bike ride etc. where you fundraise and keep people updated on your training progress gives you some accountability and the desire to follow through because people have sponsored you.

By the time you have completed your fundraising activity, you’ll feel so amazing, physically, mentally & spiritually, you’ll have developed your inner self confidence to want to maintain a daily fitness routine, and even take on other bigger challenges.

On days when life is a bit stressful my inner voice starts chatting away and I could easily talk myself out of not going to the gym. In those instances, I remind myself that when I workout, I physically feel better, and it’s time to start breaking the workout into small little steps, and only focus on one step at a time.

Step 1: get to the gym
Step 2: get changed
Step 3: do the warm up
Step 4: do the first 5 minutes of the main set of the workout

By the end of step 4, I’m usually fully focused on my workout. If not, I just break it down into 5-10 minute intervals. It’s easy to create a lot of unnecessary stress when we start thinking ahead of what needs to be done, rather than being present in our workout.

3. What are your favorite equipment for cycling or running (and to prevent injuries)?


I have 3 key pieces of equipment for all my workouts:
- Polar Heart Rate Monitor – I workout smarter when I use heart rate training, instead of perceived exertion. Heart Rate monitors come in all models and prices, but you can find a good basic one for under $100.


- Enell Sports Bra – the best bra around, no chafing and it works well in the water when I’m swimming in triathlon races


- DeSoto Power Shorts - they are available up to size XXL, which fits size 24. They are compression shorts that are used to support groin and hamstring muscles (yes women have a groin muscle). They also provide warmth to the muscle which makes them less prone to strains and pulls, protection against chafing and rashes on your inner thigh, and helps keep the sweat away from your body.