Last week we featured London?s?Rita Catolino, and during her interview, she made strong mention of her coach Renee Primeau stating ?She?played a HUGE role in setting me up for success in that show, and the ones that have followed. I couldn?t have done it without her.?
Like any good website would, we wanted to know more about the woman whom Rita credited for helping transform her physique into what you saw last week. What we found is the credit Rita was giving her coach Renee was extremely warranted, as Primeau not only coaches Catolino, but many other big names in the fitness world, and is also a Personal Trainer & Holistic Lifestyle Coach.
It?s no secret we take pride in featuring some of the best that London, Ontario has to offer. While most students at Western U (Downtown London) may not be familiar with Fitness Forum (Southwest London), if any of them, or anyone else in London and surrounding areas, are taking the next step into the world of fitness, it?d be highly recommended they check it out.
Renee?works out of Fitness Forum a few days a week, with in-person clientele. The rest of the week, she works from home with distance based and local clientele. Anyone interested can reach her by emailing?renee@reneeprimeau.com.?Having?coached numerous high level physique competitors and fitness models (including regular Oxygen Magazine featured models, Regional, Provincial and Nationally level ranked competitors) you know you?ll be getting?great quality coaching.
Renee is also a fitness model herself doing print work for physique competitor geared training wear; workout shoots that have been featured in various online articles; ads and promotions for fitness related companies; and modeling for fine art and art gallery projects for gallery pieces.
We took the time to speak with Renee and asked her everything from what led her stay in London, to why she took a step back from competing in order to coach high some level of competitors, whom she was competing with. We asked about her diet, what being a holistic lifestyle coach means to her, and just about everything else we could think of.
Check it out below. It?s a must read for anyone in the fitness world.
Check out more Renee and Team Primeau at her:
Blog, Team?s Primeau FanPage, Facebook?and Twitter?
2nd Place Finish at OPA London, Ontario Provincial Qualifiers 2010
Interview with Renee
Who are you?
My name is Renee Primeau. I was raised in Glencoe, Ontario. We also lived in a couple surrounding areas- our farm in Appin and a house in Wardsville. These are small towns that contain between 400 and just over 2000 people.
I have now lived in London, Ontario around 10 years.
I am a Personal Trainer, Holistic Lifestyle Coach (both online and in person) and have taken part in Physique Competitions and Physique Photoshoots since October of 2007.
What five words best describe you?
Curious, independent, determined, passionate, sensitive.
What has made you want to stay in London?
I haven?t really thought about it before now, to be honest. My family lives close to here (about 30 minutes away), I went to high school here and moved here for college around the time I turned 18. In that time I?ve met a lot of people who are important to me, have become comfortable, and work has begun to expand here (Many clients are local).
We?ll see what the future holds but, as of now, I guess you could say everything I need is right here.
At what point in your life did you make fitness a lifestyle? What steps did you take to achieve this and what made you decide to make this change?
Over a couple years, I had begun making some pretty poor lifestyle choices, and decisions in many areas. These decisions had turned into some very unhealthy habits. I wasn?t happy with myself and what these habits were leading me to so I started to think about what I wanted to do about that. One of the things I came up with was to get a gym membership.
On February 25th, 2007 (I still have the old training journal I started on that day!) I signed up at Fitness Forum; it was right down the road from my new apartment at that time. A personal trainer weighed me, took measurements and checked body fat percentage. I made a promise to myself and to him that I would get my butt in there 6 days a week, follow a regime I had put together from some pieces of info gathered from the past, and leave behind any excuses. We then booked a 6-week assessment where numbers would be re-checked and compared to the start.
Over this 6-week period, it didn?t take long to fall in love with resistance training. I loved feeling strong and connected to my body.
I was also a smoker then, had started cutting down on smoking at that time, and eventually quit.
When it was time for my 6-week assessment, according to the methods used, my bodyfat percentage had not budged! AND my weight was still the same. I left the gym feeling very frustrated. But then, once admitting there were other areas of life that needed some changing if I really wanted to see and feel results, I began replacing some other unhealthy habits with healthier choices. The ?normal? staples I had adopted of Pizza, McDonald?s and nights filled with Vodka/Cranberries and partying were replaced with healthy whole foods, and doing a lot more of the things that actually mattered. I began spending more quality time with myself, my family and the other important and supportive people I was forming closer bonds with.
I would still have the ?cheats? but not more than a couple times per week, and times including alcohol were saved for special occasions/planned events.
This quickly became a lifestyle when I experienced how awesome I could feel, how much stronger I had become, and my body composition shifted like crazy! In just over a couple months after that 6-week check in, my body fat percentage had folded in half and it felt like my mind and body had awoken, and changed so much. It felt really amazing.
Who was, or is your mentor in the fitness industry?
I have had guidance and help from many really amazing people but my two main mentors/influences in the fitness industry are IFBB Pro Stephanie Worsfold and Carter Schoffer of Precision Nutrition and Body Transformation.
What was it like competing in your first show in 2007? What aspect made you fall in love with competitions?
I loved my first show. It was a fitness model competition in Windsor, Ontario and the whole time leading up to that day was fun. I was already quite lean before deciding on it, which helped make the prep relaxing, not too far off from my ?new-found normal? and just an all around awesome experience.
My Mom, Dad, Brother, Sister-In-Law, Coach at the time/great friend Stephanie Worsfold and a couple other friends came up to watch. It was awesome sharing that experience with them.
I fell in love with the learning behind each prep and the challenge. You become sort of a science experiment when it comes to training and nutrition changes, and especially with the final water and carb manipulations during the final week of prep. I always get so excited when trying out something new and watching my body?s reaction to it.
What is the most challenging part about prepping for a competition?
It can be time and energy consuming depending on the prep and the person. I found a few preps to be more energy and time consuming than others (especially the last two). This was probably the most challenging part, figuring out ways to manage time and energy so that a fair as possible balance with ?real life? and prep could be made. Like many other competitors, I still work, have other responsibilities and life doesn?t stop because a person decides to prep for a show.
Cardio is also not always a favourite, and this is often increased for me as the show date comes closer (as it is for many others as well). I would do the amount required, but it was a challenge some days, for sure.
Besides the challenges, what is the most rewarding part?
Getting through challenges is definitely rewarding.
It?s pretty cool how much getting through challenges in one area can have a positive impact on other areas, as well. I feel that I?ve gained a renewed sense of confidence from facing challenges and started to see that I really can accomplish anything I set my mind to.
There are still times where doubts creep up but, I believe, through a lot of these challenges faced, I?ve become a lot better equipped to recognize these doubts and push myself past them.
At what point did you realize you wanted to coach other competitors, and help assist them through their transformations?
A few years ago, my soon-to-be first coaching client, Meaghan Terzis was speaking with one of the trainers at Fitness Forum about looking into help for an upcoming shoot and possibly a show. He referred her to me, and Meaghan and I met up to go over her goals. I had never worked with a competitor before and hadn?t really assisted many people at all in a structured way at that point, so this was an exciting and new experience for me.
Meaghan has a beautiful and ideal fitness model physique, she is very dedicated and she has the determination/mind set to follow a structured plan to a T. This helped both of us learn so much from how her body reacted, what things seemed to work well, what didn?t and what to do better for next time. On show day, I loved helping her and the other girls backstage, seeing her on stage and sharing that excitement. It was so much fun to me!
More and more girls began contacting me and it has just kept growing from there.?
You?ve actually decided to take the step away from competing and focus soley on helping your clients? What was your reasoning behind that decision?
I don?t know if I?ll never compete again, but it didn?t feel like the healthiest decision or the most conducive to my goals and priorities anymore. I mean, I encourage the girls to find a healthy balance with training and nutrition, and a love/appreciation for themselves before starting the preps, or deciding to compete. One of the reasons being that, for the majority, stage shape is not realistic for an extended period of time, and you very likely won?t look like that all year. If you don?t appreciate who you are and how you look before getting into that sort of shape, the outcome may not be great after the shows/shoots are finished.
When I sat back and thought about it, I wondered if I had ever really given myself the chance to do that- to appreciate who I was without the idea of having a show or shoot on the horizon. Or, if I did have that healthy mindset at one point, I wanted to be sure that I still had it. I think it was a good decision to step back.
I also tend to go ?all or nothing? into shows. My focus is lasered in on that goal and, although I can juggle work and other things, I don?t give the focus to some of those important things that I started to think more about. I wanted to excel on a personal and professional level, and I realized to do that I needed to narrow my focus, and taking a break from the shows would likely be very helpful there.
How would you explain the title ?Holistic Lifestyle Coach.??
The word ?Holistic? can mean different things to different people so the title Holistic Lifestyle Coach may as well. To me, this means keeping site of the whole picture when it comes to assisting clients with healthy lifestyle changes and goals. Overall health/well-being, performance and body composition should all be seen as important.
Physique Competition preps are different in many ways than healthy lifestyle goals. During competition preps, there are some extreme aspects regardless of how you look at it. Water manipulation and getting down to unnaturally low body fat percentages are not healthy practices, and most people are not going to feel amazing throughout the entire show prep. But I feel a coach who keeps site of the whole picture (or views things holistically) aims to use the safest practices possible, is careful to think of the client?s health and well-being for the long-run (not just how great they look on stage) and maintains watchful concern for the client?s overall health and well-being throughout the entire show prep.
We came across you after featuring one of your clients, Rita Catolino. Who else are you currently, or have you helped make a name for themselves in the fitness world?
I have really been fortunate with the roster of girls I have worked with, and am working with now. There are numerous girls that are doing really well in the fitness world in their own way. A few have had great success in fitness magazines, more with the shows and in personal areas of life.
Some of the girls who have been successful in a public sense are Rita Catolino, Meaghan Terzis and Midori Rutledge. Rita and I have both worked with Midori. Rita, Meaghan and Midori are all regular features in Oxygen Magazine. Others have also been successful with shows, which is really awesome, but I don?t want to take away from the girls setting and reaching other great personal goals. These goals may not be as publicly seen, but they are just as important and it?s pretty incredible to watch these progressions and to be a part of them.
I think another important thing to note is that we all work as a team. Everyone plays a role in the support and success of the girls, and it?s pretty amazing. We all connect online, meet up for different workshops/seminars, workouts, yoga, etc., and I believe that the team atmosphere and support is so important for the success of many.
I love what we have built, and have a great feeling about where things are headed.
Some of your current clients have shows and shoots coming up. When and where are they, and how can we follow who?s competing?
Yes they do! Many of the girls are doing shows and shoots this season. The shows they will be taking part in are:
OPA Festival City Stratford Championships on April 14th
The Stephanie Worsfold Classic here in London on May 5th
The GNC Sudbury Championships on May 12th
The Ontario?s on June 2nd in Toronto as a part of the Toronto Pro Super Show
The OPA Nationals in August
The IFBB North American?s (dates and locations for Nationals and North American?s TBA)
There are quite a few exciting shoots, too and info on those will be posted as they happen.
If you would like to keep updated on shoot info, who is competing and how the preps are going you can check out my blog: ReneePrimeau.Wordpress.com, our team Facebook page: Team Primeau, my facebook page: Renee Primeau, or Twitter: @ReneePrimeau
If someone is looking to contact you for your services, whether it be training, prep or holistic lifestyle coaching, how can they contact you?
E-mail is best and renee@reneeprimeau.com is my address.
How many times a week do you go to the gym? What is your ?weekly routine? like?
It really depends on the goal and the program being followed at that time. Usually I am in the gym anywhere from 4-6 days a week, the programs change every 4-weeks, and I really enjoy being challenged and learning from many different types of training.
Right now I am completing mainly full-body workouts of both metabolic, or athletically oriented efforts, and ?real? strength training movements as a 4-day routine. These workouts are performed every other day and cardio is performed on 1-2 of the days in between. With this awesome weather I am really loving getting outdoors for some of that!
In a couple weeks I am beginning a new training block with Carter, and I am pretty excited to see what that looks like.
We see you?re now also an employee at Fitness Forum, which has been doing well since its opening in 1985. What makes it so successful?
Yep : ) I have worked out of Fitness Forum for about 4 years now.
Fitness forum is a different kind of gym. It is family owned and operated, the atmosphere is super friendly and so are the staff. We have members that have been there since Fitness Forum first opened (27 years ago!), and we all know each other.
It?s not just a fitness facility but a community, and I think this is what sets it apart, and makes it so special. Members range from young competitive athletes, to all ages of regular gym goers, to the elderly. Comments are frequently made from members about how welcome, comfortable and free they feel to do their ?own thing.? It?s a pretty cool place.
What is you diet plan like? What are your reasons for eating this way?
I am not really following a ?structured plan? right now. This is a weird experience for me after being structured for so long *laughs*. I just wanted to see if I could do that- maintain a healthy approach to food without being so ?food focused.?
I don?t think there is anything wrong with a structured plan, and think it may be a healthy approach for many and a great way to build new healthy habits, I just know that I?ve been food focused for a long time. It was like ?When am I going to get a chance to eat?? ?Where am I gonna be for my next meal?? ?If I don?t eat every 2 hours my muscle is gonna fall off and I?m gonna starve to death.? *laughs* Okay, that may have been a bit of an exaggeration but I definitely centered a lot of my days and activities around eating and wanted to change this.
I think we should plan to have good food choices on hand and to be sure we get the nutrients we need but my hardwired ?I NEED food at this specific time? mindset wasn?t really making sense to me, anymore.
Instead I am just following habits. Approximately 1 day a week, on a non-training day, I will complete a partial fast (anywhere from 4-8 hours after the time of waking) but, most days, my meals are spaced apart every few hours and amount to about 5 a day. I have a lean protein source with each meal, veggies (green and coloured) with at least 3 of the meals, healthy fat sources with 2-3 of the meals (olive oil and flax meal are used most frequently), clean carb sources (usually fresh fruit) timed earlier on in the day, and around my workouts. I don?t really think about specific counts of macronutrients, calories or anything else and, after a bit of an uncomfortable phase, I really enjoy living like this now.
?Cheats? are taken 1-2 times a week and usually include a desert, or a glass of wine with dinner, or a muffin during a coffee out with a friend. If I know there is a special event coming up, a friend or family member?s birthday, a special holiday, etc., I will save the cheats until then.
Maybe if I ever do decide to take body composition to another level again, or feel the need for more structure for some reason, this could change but, right now, this way feels awesome to me.
What are you plans looking forward?
There are a lot of exciting things in the works.
When it comes to work related plans, right now I am completing courses and taking part in various workshops/seminars (also career and future plan oriented).
I always want to keep learning, growing and improving. That will always be a part of my plans.
Do you have any final words for your fans, clients and the readers of Lions Den U?
Do what makes you happy, whatever that happens to be. Set your goals based on what you want for yourself and know that you can reach these goals.
Don?t limit yourself. Don?t base your beliefs on other people?s opinions, achievements or abilities. You have your own unique greatness to offer.
It really makes no difference what you?ve done, who you?ve been or where you are- You can make better decisions, and you can choose your way to the life you deserve at any time. We all deserve to know and experience that.
Thanks Renee!
Photos Courtesy: Renee Primeau,?Ric from Alienize Photography, Fred Boylan,
Grant Jones of Digiography,?Jennifer Wilson, Bill Cresswell, Judi Stone Douglas,
Sarah Dick, Jeremy J Shortt, Glen E. Grant,?Gerald Blanchard, Grzegorz Kiezkowski,
Digital Art by Chasity E. Ijames (Child of Light Designs- Venice, Florida)
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