Kat Merchant

“Too masculine” “Not feminine” “Roids”

Really?

Or do I just look like a strong woman?

Because that’s what I am.

For anyone who needs reminding:

Women can be strong
We can lift heavy weight
We can have muscular physiques
We can be confident in ourselves
We can prioritise strength over skinny

And we can and should do it all unapologetically

Being told otherwise is getting boring

Women, don’t ever let others insecurities put you off showing yourself what you’re capable of.

Men, same goes for you! Anyone making stupid comments says more about them than you!

“What brought you to me specifically?” Because you’re normal…

It’s a question I always ask on any consultation call.
Why? There are hundreds and thousands of online coaches out there to pick from-
why me and my team?

My most recent call, the woman replied ‘because you’re normal, and I mean that in the best possible way’.

She went on to explain that with so many fitness influencers out there promising a magic solution to solve all your problems instantly, or AI profiles pretending to be a real person, it was nice to follow someone with realistic, solid advice.

She liked that I understood balancing fitness with real life, careers, family and enjoying life to!

I’ll take that.

I believe when someone chooses me and our team to work with it’s because they trust us.
Trust our expertise, trust our message and trust our process for delivery.
Of course they’ll see our awesome client results too.
But I’m always proud that someone choses us.

I’ll admit I also get answers like ‘you are in great shape but also like wine- my old coach wanted to make me go 3 months T total’

Another reason I ask the question, because the ‘perfect programme’ doesn’t exist other than one that the person enjoys alongside getting results.

So that’s my insight of the day- I’m ‘normal’.

One thing I’ll always stand by is that getting your fitness goals should not be making you miserable
Myself, my husband and my friend Liz proved this, this month!
Mike and I have been in Orlando for the last month and we've navigated getting that balance.
We were able to progress with fitness goals whilst living in hotels, going to different gyms, visiting different parks and eating fun food.
Our friend Liz joined us for a week and we went BIG on socialising, but we also trained regularly- she returned home and hit a PB on her bench press the next day!
I don’t know why there’s this misconception that getting fit needs to feel painfully difficult and require silly amounts of discipline.
It doesn’t. You can get fit and enjoy it.
That means:
- Not heavily restricting
- Not sacrificing your life
- Not feeling guilty for living
On top of those not being healthy, they make it miserable.
And you won’t stick to things that are miserable
I still go to social events, eat out and have a drink every now and again (more so over the last 4 weeks...)
I train 4 x a week and my gym sessions usually last an hour because I'm busy with work, dogs and life so don't want to spend longer in the gym.
I don’t just help people to “get their fitness goals”
I help them get them whilst enjoying the process, still having a life, and feeling good I’m themselves whilst doing it
If that’s what you’re looking for, it’s exactly what I post about so follow me!

One of the best things I've ever done is getting comfortable with not matching societies standards for a woman
It's no secret that social media and the fitness industry glamourises the "skinny look"
And I tried it.
Thread-

Work/ life balance in full swing.
In Florida for a month working remotely whilst also enjoying ourselves