The Monika A. Mazur Podcast

Jaimie teaches yoga and Pilates and has competed in bodybuilding. She knows fitness. She knows what she should be doing.And for almost a year, she wasn’t doing it.After her competition, she stopped training consistently, stopped feeling connected to her body, and started feeling like a fraud while teaching other people to take care of theirs.She spent months watching BBM before finally reaching out.Two months later, she feels like herself again.We talk about what happens when you know exactly what to do but still can’t get yourself to do it, why knowledge doesn’t make you immune to struggling, what changes when you stop waiting to “get yourself together” first, and why sometimes getting your body back is really about getting yourself back.If you’ve been watching, thinking about starting, or telling yourself you should be able to figure it out on your own, listen to this one.DM me if this resonates or book your complimentary Coffee & Goals consultation here:📍monikaamazur.as.me/CoffeeandGoals

Jordana loved CrossFit. She loved the community, she was active, and she liked training hard. But her shoulders kept getting injured.When she moved from Boston to Charlotte, she knew she needed to change the way she trained. She was very right-side dominant, the fast pace and barbell-heavy training wasn’t helping, and she wanted to get stronger without constantly dealing with another setback.A friend introduced her to me, and 3.5 years later, she is still training with BBM.In this episode, Jordana and I talk about what changed when she moved from CrossFit to slower, controlled strength training, why single-arm exercises were so important for correcting the imbalance between her right and left sides, and why strength- rather than weight loss or changing how she looked- was always the goal that kept her interested in training.We also talk about consistency.During the last 3.5 years, Jordana has moved, changed careers, gone from the flexibility of academia back into corporate, and had to adjust when and how she trains. Today, she works out at home before work because that is what fits her life now. The details changed. Training stayed.We talk about:•⁠ ⁠Why she decided CrossFit was no longer the right way for her to train•⁠ ⁠The recurring shoulder problems she was dealing with when she joined BBM•⁠ ⁠How single-arm and -leg training helped address years of right-side dominance•⁠ ⁠Why slower, controlled lifting made such a difference for her•⁠ ⁠How she trains consistently now that she is back in corporate•⁠ ⁠Why getting stronger has always mattered more to her than training for aesthetics•⁠ ⁠What 3.5 years of consistent strength training looks like when your work, schedule and life continue to changeIf you keep getting hurt every time you try to get stronger, or your training disappears every time your schedule changes, listen to this episode.And if you want help figuring out what kind of training would work for your body and your life, book a complimentary Coffee & Goals consultation:📍monikaamazur.as.me/CoffeeandGoals

Clara first came to me for fitness coaching in 2023. Almost immediately, our work expanded into performance coaching and business mentorship. What started with training quickly became about much more than fitness.For the next two years, I had the privilege of supporting her through one of the biggest transitions of her life.When we first started working together, Clara knew something in her life wasn’t right, but she couldn’t put it into words. She had spent six years living and working on a boat in the Netherlands with the same partner she’d been with for 20 years. From the outside, she had built a beautiful life. On the inside, she knew she had outgrown it.Over the next two years, she made one difficult decision after another. At 41, she left the relationship, walked away from the business, moved into the first apartment ever in her own name, and started building a life that reflected who she had become. Today, she’s also building T-Circles, a community centered around tea, meditation, and meaningful connection.In this episode, we talk about:•⁠ ⁠Leaving a 20-year relationship without turning the other person into the villain•⁠ ⁠What performance coaching and business mentorship looked like during one of the biggest transitions of her life•⁠ ⁠Staying consistent with your health while your life is changing•⁠ ⁠Building a business that’s aligned with who you are today•⁠ ⁠Finding your voice after years of putting yourself second•⁠ ⁠Why starting over at 41 became the best decision she ever madeThis episode is about more than leaving a relationship. It’s about having the courage to stop living a life that no longer fits and creating one that does.If you’ve been feeling like something in your life is off, but you can’t quite explain it, I think you’ll see yourself in Clara’s story.Book your complimentary Coffee & Goals consultation here:📍monikaamazur.as.me/CoffeeandGoals

Basema is about to turn 43. She’s a mom of two young daughters. When she reached out to me in 2023, she wasn’t in a place where another workout plan was going to change her life.She was overwhelmed, isolated, depressed after having her girls, recovering from COVID isolation, the most overweighted she’s ever been, and trying to hold everything together without family nearby.So we didn’t start with training.For 6 months we worked only on life coaching. We focused on small steps, decision-making, execution, and habits a life she could consistently keep. Once that foundation was in place, we added training.Two years later, she’s dropped more than 50 pounds, reversed her pre-diabetes, plays tennis, lifts several times a week, built a home gym, and completes 90-minute workouts even when she has to use the recordings instead of joining live.What makes her story remarkable isn’t just the physical transformation.For more than two years she’s continued to invest her time, attention, energy, and money into working with me closely. She didn’t chase shortcuts. She kept showing up.When I asked her what she gained from all of this, she didn’t say weight loss, muscle, or confidence.She said: “Sanity.”In this episode we talk about:•⁠ ⁠Why life coaching came before fitness training.•⁠ ⁠What changed during those first six months.•⁠ ⁠How she lost 50+ pounds without relying on motivation.•⁠ ⁠Learning to budget her energy instead of burning herself out.•⁠ ⁠Doing what she said she would do whether she felt like it or not.•⁠ ⁠Completing 90-minute workouts even when life got busy.•⁠ ⁠How accountability and long-term coaching changed her life.If you’ve been telling yourself you just need more discipline, listen to this episode.Sometimes the first step isn’t another workout.It’s learning how to run your life.If you’re ready for that kind of transformation, book a complimentary Coffee & Goals consultation:📍monikaamazur.as.me/CoffeeandGoals

In this episode, I sit down with Kate, a certified hand specialist, private practice owner, and single mother of two daughters, to discuss the journey we have been on together through fitness coaching, performance coaching, and business mentorship.When Kate first came to me, she had the clinical expertise and work ethic to build something of her own, but like many professionals, she was spending too much time thinking about the next step instead of taking it. One of the biggest hurdles was simply making the decision to move forward. At one point, she was afraid to rent a space for her practice. Today, she owns a thriving private practice in California.Over the years, our conversations evolved from fitness and strength training into business growth, decision-making, leadership, visibility, pricing, confidence, and the realities of building a business while raising two daughters.This episode is not about overnight success. It is about what happens when someone continues to show up, implement feedback, make decisions, and keep moving forward year after year.We talk about:Building a private practice from the ground up while raising two daughters.Moving from overthinking to execution when making business decisions.The fear that comes with investing in yourself and taking the next step before you feel ready.Creating content consistently to stay visible and attract the right clients.Pricing services with confidence and communicating the value of specialized expertise.Why surrounding yourself with the right people matters when you’re building something of your own.Using strength training, discipline, and personal standards to lead by example at home and in business.How fitness coaching, performance coaching, and business mentorship often overlap more than people realize.What I admire most about Kate is her willingness to implement. She asks for help when she needs it, takes feedback seriously, and continues to take action even when the next step feels uncomfortable. Those qualities helped her build a successful practice, create greater financial independence, and become an example for her daughters of what is possible through consistent action over time.If you’re building a business, considering a side hustle, growing a professional practice, or looking for guidance on closing the gap between knowing and doing, this conversation is for you.If you’d like to pick my brain and ask anything business related- book one time business sessionhttps://monikaamazur.as.me/BusinessConsultation

In this episode, my client Leonor shares how she quadrupled her daily steps and built a consistent lifting routine using a focused, short-term challenge. By moving away from an all-or-nothing approach and staying committed through a demanding season of work travel, she broke through a long-term slump.As a busy human resources executive navigating perimenopause and an intense travel schedule, finding time for fitness was a major challenge. Leonor explains how she stopped avoiding the scale, started tracking her protein, and began banking her steps before 10 a.m. to gain more control over unpredictable days.We talk about:* Bank steps early by hitting 7,500 steps before 10 a.m. to create a buffer against travel disruptions.* Track daily numbers to build honest self-awareness through food logging, scale weight, and protein intake.* Use short-term targets to stay engaged and committed when long-term goals feel overwhelming.* Prioritize protein by making simple changes, such as adding protein powder to morning coffee.* Focus on small daily wins, including 15 to 30 minutes of lifting, to build strength and support activities like pickleball.CloseIf this hits where you are, take the next clear step.DM me if this resonates or book your complimentary Coffee & Goals consultation here:📍monikaamazur.as.me/CoffeeandGoals

What makes someone leave a perfectly good life and start over?When Tim invited me onto his podcast to talk about personal branding, the conversation quickly turned into something much bigger. We spent 90 minutes talking about the decisions behind the life I’ve built, the risks I was willing to take, and why I often chose a path that made very little sense to the people around me.We talked about solo immigration, bodybuilding, entrepreneurship, growing up with post-communist money beliefs, building a business from scratch, and creating a life based on what I wanted rather than what was expected of me.We also spent a lot of time discussing personal branding and how I’ve used content and social media for years to create opportunities, attract clients, and stand out online without relying on viral posts.If you enjoy conversations about business, independence, entrepreneurship, and creating opportunities for yourself, I think you’ll enjoy this episode.And if you’re building a business, navigating a major transition, or looking at a goal that feels bigger than your current reality, this is the same work I help my clients do every day. My coaching is about turning ideas into action, making decisions fast, and creating momentum in the areas of life and business that matter most.Let’s work on it: https://monikaamazur.as.me/PerformanceCoachingMonikaConnect with Tim:Instagram: @timdrummond_comPodcast: Behaviour Change CoachLinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/timdrummondcom

In this interview for an upcoming book, Monika shares the side of her life people rarely see online.The conversation covers the private and rarely discussed parts behind building confidence, discipline, independence, and success: growing up in Poland, family dynamics, especially with her parents, moving to the United States alone at 21, navigating immigration, financial issues, bodybuilding, relationships, business ownership, reinvention, and the reality of evolving beyond previous environments, expectations, and versions of yourself.Monika also explains the mindset, standards, and thought patterns that shaped the way she handles pressure, makes decisions, leaves relationships that no longer work, rebuilds after major changes, and continuously evolves her identity, standards, business, and lifestyle.This conversation gives a much deeper understanding of Monika beyond fitness content or social media clips. It explains the experiences, decisions, and years of self-development that shaped her approach to business, discipline, relationships, freedom, and high performance.If you are aware that there are things in your life that needed to be changed yesterday, and you know you are not living the kind of life you thought you would or deserve, you need Monika in your life.Book a one-off performance coaching session:https://monikaamazur.as.me/PerformanceCoaching