it's all fake okay and what I mean by that is this
notion that well if I I wait and then I can do this if I do this the right time is this you know
that's all that's all it's all fake right welcome to the success Fitness podcast I am your host
Christian Evans this podcast is about improving our relationship with nutrition and exercise
to achieve success in our fitness journey and our special guest today Tiffany Clark owner of
T Nicole Fitness will help us do just that by sharing her story o
f why she started her fitness
journey and how it led to her starting Pinnacle Fitness balancing family life and professional
life and why you should never regret prioritizing your health without further Ado success Fitness
family please welcome Tiffany Clark to the podcast how you doing today I'm good how are you I'm good
I'm good I am good I am good I'm good great to have you on the show we've been uh kind of playing
message tag because we are both both Busy Bodies but before we go into th
at tell everybody where
you are from and where you are at and last but not least how's the weather where you are okay okay
I'm originally from Illinois I am currently living in Texas in Killeen Texas um and our weather is
very much back and forth right now it's a warm day I think we were sitting like in the 70s today
so we're good okay that's good it could be a polar like a Polar Express tomorrow so you don't know
you just dress in layers and hope for the best I got you I got you now when y
ou say polar opposite
now you're you're from Illinois so have you been down to Texas too long have you forgotten how it
is up here I have it was about 30 degrees a couple weeks ago and I was like I I can't do this I can't
30 degrees wearing shorts 38 degrees and shorts we're in shorts around here I think it was about
45 today I think it was about 45 today it's been um it's been a blessing since we haven't been
in snow because usually you know around this time we're we're in we're in snow we
're in snow
but a little bit of background fires For Me and Tiffany's uh just brief history or crossing
paths is that I remember seeing Tiffany years ago at Gold's Gym and she was preparing for a
bodybuilding show and I think that is actually my first time seeing a black woman prepare for
a show and it just like my mind was kind of just blown I'm like okay um and we chatted from
there and we kept in touch throughout the years and I've always supported her in her journey and
everything that
she does so let everybody know um what motivated you to start your fitness journey
and how did it lead to starting T Nicole Fitness one thing that um I'm sure a few people can
relate to what started my fitness journey actually was I was just looking to lose
a few pounds I had um children and I was just kind of made them a priority and I took
the back seat and then I started realizing like no I need to prioritize my health so
I decided I was going to start working out um and I started um go
ing to a gym in Illinois
g-fit and I was like I just want to lose about 10 pounds and then that 10 pounds led to
oh you should compete and like you said I never knew anyone in that industry whatsoever
like like no thank you it's not for me I just want to lose a few pounds and I rejected that
for so long and then finally after doing some research I was like you know what this might be
something that could be interesting so I decided to say yes to that and I started prepping for my
first sho
w and that first show was in 2000 and 14 or 15 something wow wow it has been that long
it seems like yesterday yep so I did that show and then after that I was just I was just Addicted to
Fitness like I fell in love with watching my body change trying to figure out like what's working
what's not working right and it just became a just a passion of mine so from there it just kind of
grew over the years I got you I got you so what was one of the the toughest Parts about diving
into that new w
orld of of bodybuilding what was one of the kind of like toughest things that stuck
out to you I there was no room to make excuses gotcha as you're either going to show up or you're
not you're either well or you're not so there was no room to room to say oh well I'll put it off
till tomorrow because every day mattered yeah the competition day and so that was the hardest part
because before it was just like I can have that you know cheat or I can have that um you know
I can skip my workout o
r I don't need to do my cardio today I'm too tired you find excuses right
but I have to put on the suit I have to stand in front of these people and I want to place well so
I had to get rid of all the excuses I got you now if you don't mind me asking where or how did you
place in those in that bodybuilding competition so that uh that particular competition I did get
first place congratulations thank you I got first place and I got my Pro card on the NGA level wow
okay natural um bodybuildin
g level and then um I competed the following year and I got second at
that competition and then I took a little Hiatus and move okay okay okay awesome awesome now during
that time did you have a nutritionist a personal trainer and how did they help you reach your goals
yeah so those first two competitions that I did um I was under Steve Stark and
Robert Greene for the second one um I was working at a g fit and then um uh Rob
helped me at his gym get prepared for my second competition though
they both were instrumental in
introducing me to new ways of exercising letting me know like some of the things that I was doing
was not working and to try this so that was who guided me at that stage in my life okay okay
I've yet to meet Mr Stark I've heard uh nothing but great things about him and g-fit here in
Peoria um I have met Robert and uh I haven't contacted him in a while that's on me that's on
me that's on me I'm more of a kind of person to wear it's like I'm gonna take accounta
bility me
and Robert used to always kind of chat and he was really one of the first ones to kind of tell me
about just personal training just in general um because at that time with 2014 2015 I was getting
interested in personal training and he just pretty much put me on game a lot of times so shout out
to Robert shout out to Robert yeah yeah and so um you got into this game about uh first like
losing weight wanting to lose weight and then you end up magically winning in first place not
ma
gically through hard work people through hard work never diminished never diminished through
hard work and dedication when your first body building a competition now how did this
lead you to starting T Nicole Fitness um started a new position and it was just time
to leave Illinois I was ready then I of course I'd already been working out I was it was I
was it was I was addicted at this point so it was like I got you a routine I needed
to find a gym so I get here to Texas and I get settled a
nd the first thing I want
to do is like I'm going to find a gym and it took a while so T Nicole Fitness um I had
already knew like for a while that I wanted to do something in personal training whatever that looks
like okay camp or one-on-one but I was always afraid to make that jump so I set on ideas I let
ideas pass for you I gotcha I got you I gotcha of two amazing people down here Brittany um they
were instrumental in just like just jump just do it okay so one of the things I was lookin
g for
was a high energy workout where it felt like a party it felt like a it was just a good vibe
it wasn't sure go in a circuit and do that type of thing so I was like well if it's not here I'll
just build it and that's what I did and T Nicole Fitness was born ah awesome awesome awesome so
just a little bit more about t Nicole Fitness now um well let me back that up before we get into
technical Fitness when you decided to become a personal trainer finally decide to just go
go all in what
was that fear what made you nervous or what made you hesitant about personal
training I was just scared because when I held my first boot camp class I was like well what if no
one shows up yeah right right right right right right like what if people don't they just don't
care and yeah they don't show up yeah so that I was extremely afraid of and so I had put out all
this stuff on Instagram and you know Instagram is very hit or miss one moment yes people are like oh
like you're you feel like
you're killing it like oh people are responding to you and the next thing
exactly exactly right right like what I was saying like right right right um so that was what that
was my fear [Music] I was gonna show up I gotcha my friend asked the very in this question she
asked a very good question she said define success and so the answer to my version of success was me
just doing the work if I do the work I set it up and I show up that's success to me because all
these years I've put it off r
ight and I did it and it was successful um people showed up and
we had a great time good good good how did you feel after that first session oh May amazing
I was like let's do it again like I was like yeah yeah yeah yeah you got all those Good Vibes
and everybody smiling and you know you're kind of nervous it's like okay are they going to pay
attention am I articulating myself the right way and then you start to realize by the time
everything is over it's like I'm in my head and so much you
know and these people are here to
obviously get a workout but above all it's you know to have a good time you know and hopefully
that you know you provided that and buy your um by your story I think you did I think
you did now who is T Nicole Fitness for so technical Fitness is for anybody literally
it is a high energy is hit workout it's for anybody who is looking to either add to
their routine that they're already doing um sometimes you know when you're in this limbo
and we're not you k
now it's just that little push that will get you out of your comfort zone very
high energy um and it's really for anybody if you there's modifications if you can't do some of
the moves so if you're a lot of we do a lot of Jackson like just a lot of high energy things but
there's also modification so it's literally for any Fitness level I've had kids there awesome I
think I've the oldest person I've had participate was six in their 60 plus and did just fine so
that's awesome that's awesome t
hat's awesome um one thing that I did notice
about just like Instagram um just looking at analytics is that there are
a lot of people that either follow me or just accounts that I see that's in Texas so Texas is a
hot spot for for fitness and personal training so you being nervous about becoming a personal
trainer you was like right there in the hot bed of it all of it all in that uh that's good to
hear that's honestly like really good to hear that uh you went down there on faith and uh sta
rted tea
Nicole Fitness now do you have a um I guess a spot a physical spot or do you kind of just meet people
mainly kind of outside do outside group workouts or yeah so this past summer we did everything
in the park so okay come to the park okay water we did our workout and then we left well it
started getting colder so now I'm operating um out of all female owned gym black owned gym
called awesome yes awesome excited about that awesome yes so um that is where I hope of my
classes at and
it kind of varies but it's okay I got you now how long are your sessions so
my Saturday sessions are 45 minutes okay okay on Saturdays from 9 to 9 45 and then I do 5 30
a.m sessions as well but those are 30 minutes so we get to it we're out the gate okay okay
about 30 minutes all right go let's burn these calories so we can start our day I got you
I got you now you mentioned uh hit workouts um can you break that down for those who may not
understand or want a deeper understanding or your v
ersion of what a high intensity interval training
workout is absolutely so for um when I describe hit workout it is me taking your heart rate up and
then bringing it back down and taking it up again so we might start out with just a lightweight
jumping jacks you know body weight squats things like that and then just kind of get you warmed up
but then when it's time to take that heart rate up you think Burpee is running in plays like all
the things that's gonna get you your heart rate elevat
ed and then we'll bring it back down so it's
just intervals of high intensity um where that heart rate is really elevated and then recovery I
got you I got you guys and the reason why I'm yeah yeah and the reason why I ask you that is because
I designed majority of my workouts for my clients um with that same format because you can get so
many in we do 30 seconds on 10 seconds off and it's funny you just mentioned Murphy's I have one
client and he likes to just he wants me to push him and s
ometimes I'm kind of nervous because I'm
like I don't want this guy to pass out but some people like going there and so we do 30 seconds
on 10 seconds off so today's uh circuit was did burpees and then right after burpees he did
Legolas and probably like that second rep he was like but that's what he likes but he goes for that
and which is fun because you can design and put in various various different combinations that you're
kind of just trying out you know what I mean um and it depends o
n your clients your clientele
level like you said you know if somebody needs modification but it keeps it keeps everything
fun it keeps everything fun now you mentioned starting class at 5 30 in the morning you
must you must just don't sleep he must just don't sleep at all so how do you fit how do you
fit working out um into your schedule of family life and personal life and professional life I'm
sorry yeah so so I think it's just one of those things you have to treat it like any other part
of your day right so if I I schedule it the way I would schedule anything else and I have to make
my health a priority so there's no room for me to put anything before that so if I can give my
job my time or I can give other people my time why can't I get myself my own time you know like
yeah yeah it's mindset to stop making excuses and putting ourselves on the back burner so for me
it's it's very easy now um the things that I had to learn and as I've grown as a person and in my
fitness j
ourney that has become a non-negotiable at this point so 5 30 it's like I'm in there I'm
like y'all ready right it does but it's like I've literally fell in love with the process of
loving myself and loving myself what it can do exactly so yeah now is that now is there any
um and I hate to word it like this but is there like any pre-workout that you that you take
prior to to working out and I want to be clear um pre-workout does not have to be in
the box of what we see in these shakers um i
f that's what you do that's what you do um and
for context mine is coffee you know what I mean um but do you like eat a meal beforehand what
gets you what's your pre-workout out I guess of what I'm trying to say so I actually don't take
anything so my 5 30 workouts I work I I get up and I like to take my time when I wake up so I'm
not rushed but I don't take any anything prior to my phone okay workouts okay get up I'll have what
time does that alarm go off like 4 30. yeah okay okay that's n
ot bad so that's not bad not bad
it doesn't take me long to get to the gym but um get up do you know get dressed um and I usually
just have water beforehand okay that works for me gotcha I've noticed that like if I do try to eat
something um or drink something like coffee or anything like that I don't I'm not optimal then
you guys it came from learning myself that came from like this is working this is not now
coffee afterwards absolutely but prior to it's literally just off of my energy I
got
you just a naturally hyper person then huh It's like because this is me
this is me I think I take so take stuff okay on the day so I might have coffee
or tea or something like that but most of my meals don't happen until the afternoon okay okay
and another reason why I'm asking that is because of course we're all on social media a
lot of times um and everything that we see at least virus for me let me speak for myself is
that let's say when I'm watching videos right one of the first th
ings that everybody always do
they're dry scooping right they're dry scooping or um putting something in their Shaker or
whatever and my thing is if that's what you want to do that's what you want to do
I'm not knocking it but it almost seems like this notion that you need something to transform
yourself all the time now if I'm saying I drink coffee beforehand it's it is optional this is not
so much like oh I can't I can't do this there's been plenty of times where I get up go downstairs
t
urn on the treadmill 5.0 incline 3.0 after maybe maybe two sips of water it's just more you
understand what I'm saying versus like this notion that you've got to take something you got to take
something you got to take something and I'm glad that you said it's like no this is this is me
baby you know what I mean this is just naturally I'm naturally hyper I'm now I naturally got energy
and on top of this is what I want to do you know what I mean this is this is this is what I want
to do so I
appreciate the transparency in that um and it's not again it's not to say
that or or to shame anybody who takes pre-workout I've tried it I've tried
to see what the hype is about I'm like maybe I'm missing out on something
right all I did is make my skin itch I think like you said um everybody feels
like there's this magic that's gonna happen like if I take this it's gonna make me do
this or make me feel and I have really no secret there's no right right there's nothing
it's literally if
you don't take that verse if you do take that what's gonna happen
right I feel that way because you have an addiction to something because you think
it's working right honesty like yeah yeah so it's it's not a thing that well well I have
to have this in order to work no you're choosing to have that because once you start to learn your
body and you like our bodies are just their their machines essentially right right tune in and you
start to realize like certain things are going to work rega
rdless of what you like it's always put
in it and sometimes moving stuff you're going to end up feeling a lot better exactly doing to
add stuff to the to the question yeah exactly exactly and I'm glad you you hit on that and for
those who I don't want to say that anybody should doubt you by now because you've pretty much given
a whole array of what your certifications are your qualifications are but your I know what your
professional job is but this is just going to add extra icing on the c
ake versus somebody just
thinking oh she's just a fitness geek and you know whatever tell everybody what your professional
job is and this way it definitely covers uh what you just got through talking about yeah so I am a
critical care registered nurse um with a specialty in Cardiac Care right right so what she's saying
she knows exactly what she's talking about and it covers a multitude of sin you know what I mean
so um plus because like we live in this day and age to work yes it's cool to
uh I guess you know
I'm saying verify or double check who it is that you're talking to and what it is right but it's
like okay when somebody does have the credentials pay attention you know now you don't really
like you just said there's no excuses you know um I'm a certified personal trainer I placed
on a place first and I'm I'm a champion I'm a champion I'm a champion I'm a champion um and
I'm a nurse so you know don't negate what I say sometimes you just have to take it back to
the bas
ics and it doesn't require a whole lot it it really doesn't so I think people you
know the more they realize that the better right right now what's your favorite and
least favorite muscle groups to train my favorite muscle group to train are legs and
back okay least favorite are shoulders shoulders okay oh my gosh they kill me okay I do not like
shoulders but I got you now when you mention legs and back being uh your favorite uh muscle groups
to work on why is that I'm curious just curious
um I think it's just one of those things
when you're good at it you want to do it more easy for me to walk in the gym and put
put my workout together and just like I can do this this and this yeah not so much and
I got you I have to think a little bit more I have to yeah up a little bit harder because
that's my weakest muscle D like it's it's it's it's just one of those things I just don't I
don't yeah I got you I got you I got you I have go ahead go ahead go ahead I just like the
reason t
hose are my favorite is because I can push myself even I I can force out
that last rep with shoulders is like man like it burns ready to go everybody there
to spot me it's like yeah but we're done so you do like a shoulder press I'm like all
right that's enough that's enough for today now is there any particular back uh in leg let's
say exercise that is like this is my my favorite this is my number one I love squats really okay I
like different variations of squats no I got you loading the
bar like I like to do sumos I like
variations of squatting my least favorite is the leg extension can't I gotcha not like that my back
that's just I just like how my back looks when it's like toned and everything I know that's like
really weird but I gotcha they like doing like um okay I've been uh one I have a love-hate
relationship with legs and oddly enough uh I saw my cousin at the gym today and we were
um I jumped in with them after I finished my client session and we did we did chest
and some
some traps we did chest and and traps right and then my cousin was there I'm like I'll jump in
with legs which you just whatever so we did some some Smith machine squats and I told him I'm
like I have a love-hate relationship but like by that third set I'm like I'm in it you know
that's my love hate thing like that first two sets I'm like I don't feel like doing this my
legs are out of place I'm pressing too much from one leg whatever I can't get my coordination
together but after
that third set I'm like okay I can be here all day you know that's that's what
it is um Fires for back I've been loving um why grip pulled Downs lately wide grip pull downs and
um barbell rows that's a good one those are yeah yeah Smith machine barbell rolls and uh shoulders
shoulders um it's okay with me I think what I'm trying trying to work on his lateral dumbbell
raises work on the ladder that's that's kind of challenging because the male ego kicks in or
just ego just period it's like
well I want to go heavier you know I want to go heavy on and it's
like that's really not how you really sculpt those there's one thing to control the weight yes yes
attention yeah that's far for some people to to grasp it's like yeah lighter weight and you
hold that bad boy and you'll get a good word yeah yeah yeah yeah yep yep lateral the the lateral
raises and and rear delt rear delt flies and rear delt roads those have become like my two that
I mainly try to make sure I focus on when I d
o um when I work out cars with the shoulders um
now during your your your your your prep time um or even right now what are some of
the like um what are some of the foods that you ate like how did you prep your
your food is there like a staple that you um stuck with or did you try to just switch
it up as much as possible yeah so one thing I've learned from prepping and my my meals
have looked different over the years when I was doing it was more like okay you have
six meals a day you have
to get them in you know I don't know I don't live by that
theory anymore I'm pretty much now more into thinking about Wellness in a different way if
my body needs all of that do I need exactly okay I probably don't exactly you know
to cut because you have to think like digestive health is one of the main things
that leads to illness too so if I'm putting all of this in my body and I'm not digesting
it properly I'm setting myself up for failure since actually and that's a whole nother
thing
we can go down I got you I got you think about these you know embody building people
feel like you have to put all of this food in your body right because right right sometimes you
do but for me it wasn't so now I think about my food as how I'm gonna use it so I don't have
necessarily routine it's like okay if I'm going to lift then I know I'm going to have a carb
meal I don't need it because I'm not going to use it and so I think that's how I break my food
down so if that answers your que
stion yeah yeah we got a lot of fish is that your well so what's
your favorite meal out of all of those what's your favorite um I guess uh let's be more specific
your favorite protein yeah so I love uh I love salmon that's probably gotcha I eat a lot
of fish um okay my goal eventually is to be completely plant-based okay I've been struggling
with trying to figure out how to that's all you know my body reacts very quickly to carbs so I
have to be mindful of that but I got you that's my goal
eventually but I eat a lot of fish as my
protein and I eat a lot of veggies okay I'm on to this I'm juicing now and I fell in okay so okay
awesome stuff like that so that's where I get a lot of my vegetables from okay and for sure
I got you I got you now um not you mentioned juicing one what type of juicer do you have I
have a normal well juice okay okay I love it it's great okay okay what's your favorite juice
combination that you've made so far that's a hard times I mean just plain waterm
elon juice when
it's in season this summer I experimented with with dragon fruit and pineapple right now though
I'm using making a green juice so I have I use celery kale cucumber and a green apple okay done
that one before yeah you have done done that one before yep I got to send you some of my juicing
recipes yeah yeah I have a still have a Jacqueline uh juicer when I was going through my my juicing
phase I was just telling my friend about this is that uh because I gave them one of mine I
had
two actually I had two is because I had to have a backup it's because I juice them both and I'm like
literally like pressing down like all triceps oh you know what I mean shoulders and I burned the
motor out easily oh burn the motor out these I always break stuff like a bam bam around here I
always break stuff so I'll just kept it back up yeah it's minimal you just chop it and throw it
in there and let it do its thing yeah yeah and I'm ready to get it over with so I'm just pushing
stu
ff down the highway but yeah that's interesting that's interesting yeah watermelon juice is one of
my uh uh favorite favorite juices and oddly enough you know what I was just at Sam's earlier today
and not seen they had watermelons there now they may not be defeated but yeah it's kind of got
you gotta you got to take what you can nowadays don't put me in like seriously and seriously
now what lesson did you learn about yourself when you reached your goal that you can give
those who may be on
the fence about starting their fitness journey oh what advice just go
for it like go for it go for it what are you like there's literally what are you waiting for
um that's what and that's one of the themes that um I think it's the it's it's all fake okay and
what I mean by that is this notion that well if I I wait and then I can do this if I do this the
right time is this you know that's all that's all it's all fake right right right so let's do it
um I wear this little bracelet and it sa
ys do it anyway so anytime I feel fear it's like do it
anyway you know because why not why not because the time is going to pass anyway true what am
I going to do with this time I can either be in the same spot or I can make a decision to stop
repeating my same habits and see what I can do right that's just kind of where I'm at I my whole
mindset has changed tremendously throughout this fitness journey for me but for me prior like
when I was in when we would see each other at goals and stuf
f like that it was just like
okay yeah I'm here you know but I would if I found an excuse not to be there I wasn't there
you know exactly court system that was there so I was there but now it's like if my support
doesn't show up do I not show up right I still show up I do it you know anyway you're right
kind of how you wonderfully said wonderfully said tell everybody where they can contact you
website IG if they want to go ahead and sign up for those 5 30 a.m classes that you're going
to b
e super Super Hyper about going off of just a little bit of water tell everybody what they
can reach you that website and everything yeah yeah page and then um yeah that's that's all I
have is I have a Facebook page as well that's Tiff's boot campus I got you I got you and
I will have all of that information listed in the show notes and this brings us to
the end of another episode of the success Fitness podcast and if you found inspiration
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Comments
Great job BFF!!!
What an inspiring conversion! Hope it reaches more people though. 👍 from my side :)