Ashley Eaton, CPT, Maine Woman Entrepreneur Highlight
Speaking of strong, amazing women – allow us to introduce you to Ashley Eaton, Certified Personal Trainer, and as far as our team is concerned, Certified Boss Babe!
It did not take long when speaking with Ashley to see that one clear theme in her mission is to empower women. Ashley did not always have such a clear vision, but while working in retail she discovered a knack for making women feel good about their purchases and themselves and this grew into a focused passion. She shared with us, “this passion of empowering women carried over when I became a personal trainer, and it has stuck with me ever since. I want women to be okay with their bodies and to love how strong they are. Growing up I didn’t have support, so I hope to be a type of support for women who I train.”
We all have days where everything that can go wrong, does. You treat yourself unkindly and can't shake the storm cloud above your head. Ashley’s answer on those days? A good workout! Sweat the stress away! Build your strength – physically and mentally! She gets to the gym early every morning, and as so many find, a good workout to start the day makes those bad days few and far between. Ashley’s favorite types of exercises are heavy lifting, sled pushes, and running outside. While we think she is so amazing, she must be superhuman, Ashley assures us that she is human after all, and she hit ruts in her journey just like us. “Oh yes! I will also have bad workout days too. Working out has become therapeutic to me over the years. If I am not getting into my workout program, I sometimes will take a break for a week, and go back to it. That usually helps me.”
Developing a healthy lifestyle is so important. There is a balance to it all, especially when you are working towards change and visible results. During Ashley’s journey she noticed that even after developing a good relationship with working out and faithfully going to the gym, she still was not seeing the results she wanted. She made the tough, but honest realization that she was still not fully investing herself. “I started to change my mindset, journaling more, and changing my lifestyle slowly but still treating myself when I wanted to. Once my food habits started to become a part of my lifestyle, that is when I really started to notice a change in what my appearance looked like.” A healthy lifestyle takes strength and honesty with yourself. Developing these habits only makes you stronger physically and mentally.
While she is not a nutritionist, Ashley can and does give her clients advice on what to eat before and after working out. She recommends a macro calculator to help track your carbs, proteins, and fats. This can be an important tool in a health and fitness journey because your body needs to be fueled correctly to work at its optimal level. We so often forget that strength and health is the goal, and in this calorie focused world, we accidentally deprive ourselves and hurt our progress.
We asked Ashley to tell us a little bit about why she decided to pursue a career in personal training. Her answer was as inspiring and empowering as she is! Ashley shared, “I grew up in an environment where women weren’t physically strong. Everyone was skinny, and my body didn’t look like the girls I was around. When I was twenty-seven, I hired a personal trainer. I noticed a difference in my body, the way it looked, and the way I felt overall. I was putting myself first and being healthy. I loved seeing this new version of myself. One day I had told my trainer that I wanted to be a personal trainer myself, and I could see myself being one. This conversation sparked what is now my career! It took a few years, but I am so glad I put the work in.”
Ashley is always striving to improve, not just on her own personal health journey, but also in how she can help her clients. She is inspired to bring the best to her clients and their health journey’s and takes different classes to constantly continue her education and stay on top of ever changing trends. The best part of a routine in exercise? That those routines constantly change and stay fresh! There can be some misconceptions in the health and fitness industry surrounding personal training, one being that it is “easy”. Having to create personalized workouts and routines for specific people can come with its challenges.
Ashley is already helping and empowering so many women. We are in awe of her and so proud to share all we learned about her. And that passion we keep mentioning? It shows no sign of slowing down. Ashley has big dreams and goals ahead. One particular focus she shared with us tugged at our Mama hearts. A future goal she shared is “I also want to start working with young girls because when I was younger, I didn’t have support in regards to having someone help me understand my body and the changes that come with it.” Our children are our future, and helping the world’s future strong women develop a healthier body image sounds pretty freaking perfect to us!
