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Unstoppable Woman: Lacey Stone

As a fitness expert who is often sought after for advice on health, nutrition and wellness, Lacey Stone is passionate about her lifestyle. Being physically and mentally fit are part of her every day personal and professional lives, as she trains clients, hosts boot camps, leads spin classes and makes regular appearances on television shows like The Today Show, Dr. Oz and Good Morning America.

photos by Alex Schmeider

Lacey’s optimistic, up-and-at-em personality is infectious, and she’s worked with celebrity clients and brands like Nike, Reebok and Gatorade that want to benefit from her motivational aesthetic.

We spoke with Lacey about the importance of hard work and why women understand other women best.

Typical schedule: “It’s typically untypical, that’s my schedule. I pretty much always wake up before the sun comes up-like a five in the morning wake-up call or a six-ish. Because I transitioned from New York to LA and I really want to be a dominant trainer in Los Angeles, I haven’t taken a day off in three years. So that’s seven days a week of that. Very early waking up and I teach eight classes per week-cardio classes and Flywheel sports. I created my boot camp that’ doing really well, called 8 Weeks to Change. I also just signed with Whistle Sports to host my own channel.”

On being known as a celebrity trainer: “I guess it adds a little clout to your career. I don’t like to focus so much on so that being that important but it happens to be quite important. Because a celebrity’s not going to train with you unless you’re super established. So having the name of Amanda Seyfried or Kelly Osbourne or Mary Louise Parker-that might say they approve so that must mean I’m a good trainer. It is really important, but it doesn’t make you a good trainer, necessarily.”

On setting goals: “I think it’s really important that you set goals, and that every day you just work towards those goals. And you don’t focus on, ‘How can I do all of this?’ You focus on, ‘What can I accomplish today?’ Because if you get caught up in everything you have to do, you have a panic attack. So I really just try to focus on what I want in my future and what I can do today to get there. And then let it go, rather than worry about whether it’s going to happen or not.”

On work/life balance: “I make a point of my brand is actually me. I’m not putting something on. If I were, it’d be so exhausting. In the past, I was trying to be more than I am-like a superhero human being. I don’t do that anymore. I do the best that I can do every day and I hope that that’s enough.”

Her advice to aspiring fitness professionals: “I think really good advice for someone is get the education to back you, first and foremost, because fitness is becoming such a career that there’s a lot of people trying to be at a high level now. There wasn’t as much when I started. So education is key. If you really want to have a career as a trainer, I’d recommend you major in it in college, kinesiology. Then certifications are super easy to get because you’ve gone to college for it. I went to college for psychology and I had to study my butt off because these [fitness certification] tests are quite challenging. It’s like you’re a doctor. You can make a very good living as a trainer if you become top level. You’ll make the money back.

A mentor is really important-I had a great mentor coming up. Her name is Patricia Moreno and she was a fantastic teacher and I just learned a lot from her. Intern with a great trainer, like I’m looking for an intern in LA. Start out at a studio that’s well known and build up your reputation there, like a Flywheel, Soul Cycle or an Equinox or Barry’s Bootcamp.

On women she looks up to: “I’m always inspired by successful women. I love Gwen Stefani because I feel like she’s super strong but super sexy. That nice blurred lines type of deal. I’ve always respected her for what she does. I love Oprah. Who doesn’t? I also like Sheryl Sandberg because I think she’s a powerful woman in business.”

On finding downtime: “I’m really into vacations or staying in hotels-staycations. I’ll book a weekend at the SLS Hotel if I can’t get away. I always plan a week to two weeks away in Europe every year. I can look forward to that. I have really good friends and I love food so I’m a big foodie. I’ll go plan a dinner with some of my best friends and have a great night with them at the new hot spot restaurant or The Ivy, which I love.”

On working hard to get where she is now: “I was overweight, I’ve been overweight and this body I have is a real struggle and sometimes people see the finished product and think ‘Oh, it must be so easy for her.’ And for me, to get where I am with my body and my career, it was hard work every damn day, all day. Facing adversity-instead of letting it stop me, I turned my pain to strength and used it as motivation. So if I can do it, if I can get through it, you can, too.”

On being a gay woman in fitness: “I try not to focus on being gay, necessarily. I love women-my classes are filled with women. They can tell that I love them and I love them in a way that men don’t because I know how hard it is to be a woman. I’m like ‘Girl, look at you! I see you-I know how hard you have rush to blow that hair out. I know those heels hurt your feet! I know you got those kids, and that sexy body after the kids.’ Like I have so much respect for women and that works in my favor.”

On women training women: “I think it’s smart for women to have a female trainer because we understand the emotional side and the mental side of what you’re going through. A lot of times male trainers don’t even get in touch with the emotions and metal side of it. They just work you out and say ‘Eat right and work out.’ They don’t realize that part of the reason some women don’t eat right is because something in their life is out of whack. Maybe their career, boyfriend, girlfriend, family life-and until they learn to manage what’s going on emotionally, they’re never going to eat well because, for a lot of women, it’s emotional eating. Something stressful happens, and they reach for french fries. I think that’s why it’s good to have a female trainer.”

On finding strength: “It’s very competitive and it’s a hard job, being a trainer. I wake up early, I use my body, it’s every physical. And you have to be a strong woman to be a successful trainer, you can’t be weak. Even the girls that teach the classes that appear to be dancey-those are strong women. I respect every woman that is successful in the fitness industry because to do that, you are fighting against stereotypes of women not being strong every single day. We have to preach to women to be not a woman, but be a strong person. That’s why I just love fitness so much. It’s about being strong in yourself.”

On making relationships work, even with busy schedules: “I want other young lesbians-if they meet the girl of their dreams and it doesn’t work out, you can keep going and you can meet someone else. It’s just about communication and it’s about being with someone that has the same goals and understands your lifestyle and really communicating with them when you’re tired. When you need your needs and your wants, not going for periods of time not talking about it. Your’e gotta talk about it in a loving way. And then I think, what I’ve learned from my past, you’ve really gotta get that stuff out in the beginning so that if it’s not meant to be, end it quicker than pretending that it’s working and it’s not. I think it’s really important to know what you need so you can communicate that. A lot of people-girls, women, anyone-they don’t know what they need and they’re going blindly into this thing and they don’t know why. Know what you need to make you happy so you can communicate to the other person. And if they seem unhappy, try to work together to make them happy and they need to figure out what they need. Maybe you’re not making them happy and maybe you’re not meant to be together then, and that’s okay.

It’s not quantity, it’s quality. It’s hard sometimes. But you gotta remember and you gotta constantly do kind things and don’t take each other for granted.”

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