Kim Musikant

Twelve years ago my world came crashing down on me.  All of my hopes and dreams for the life I had planned were shattered.  My marriage was over, and I had become a depressed, angry, exhausted mother of three children under the age of seven.  My self-esteem was at an all-time low, and I knew I needed to make some changes. Although I was always physically active, I preferred running outside and exercising in my living room.  I needed a change and some adult interaction, so I joined the Westfield area Y. I took a lot of classes and continued to run, but it wasn't until I hired a fitness coach, who gave me guidance and motivation and started me on a resistance training program, that my fitness began to soar! As my body became stronger, so did my mind.  As a result, my confidence rose, my outlook on life became more positive, and my future seemed more hopeful. My passion for this new found “strong body strong mind” connection was thrilling and I wanted to s...

I love dreaming about possibilities for the future and goal setting. I don't believe in New Year's Resolutions because it means that something I like to do only happens once per year. We all have the power to make choices every single day to start a new plan, so why limit that to once per year? For most people, these resolutions have to do with fitness and nutrition. To me, it is similar to the "I'll start my diet on Monday" way of thinking. Waiting for a New Year or waiting for a Monday does not allow you to start now. So I say, start now, but this time, don't stop. If we hadn't stopped in the first place, we wouldn't have to start again! For most people, starting is the hardest part. I have spoken with many people about their diet struggles, and one of the main reasons they stop is because of setbacks. Setbacks for most people equate to failure but, let me assure you it's not. It's called being human and living our lives. I usually te...

I was out on one of my thinking walks the other day and was reminiscing about a workshop I had attended the weekend before. At this fitness conference, one of the speakers, Martin Rooney  asked us to do what I thought was a ridiculous activity. He wanted this room full of fitness professionals to stand up, jog in place with our hands in the air and sing the theme song from Rocky. I was remembering how annoyed I was when he asked us to do this. After getting up much earlier than I usually do on a Saturday, driving for about an hour in the cold rain, running through the parking lot dodging big puddles of water, and making my way through the crowd to find a seat, I was looking forward to sitting with my coffee in hand and listening to the presentations all day. I had ZERO interest in participating in this foolish activity. I started looking around the room to see if anyone began to follow his instructions and saw a few who were starting to stand up. I thought to myself, “I am getti...