Rebecca Kordecki is a personal trainer, model and host with an 18 year career in the industry. She has helped to train some of Hollywood’s fittest celebrities, including Raquel Welch and even Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson and is well known for her ‘Booty Slide’ workout. Rebecca has a wealth of great information to share on the topic of health and fitness and kindle agreed to answer some of our questions regarding her advice for getting into shape, her experiences in the industry and her own approach to training and health. Read on for the full, insightful interview.
Thank you for taking the time to fill out this interview questionnaire. We greatly value the opinions of experts and are glad we have the opportunity to share with our readers what we learn. If you have any queries or comments regarding any of the following questions, do get back to us and we will reply as soon as possible.
Q1. Could you please tell our readers a little about yourself and how you got interested in health and fitness?
My journey into this industry was completely by accident. About 20 years ago I was working as a Sales and Training Rep for a Tech company and one day I came to work and our entire department was “pink slipped” (aka let go). But, during my time at this company, I really started to fall in love with running and lifting weights and had been reading everything I could get my hands on about living a healthy lifestyle. Many of my co-workers frequently came to me for advice as they saw my body change and my energy shift with my new lifestyle. Coaching them gave me joy and really “lit me up”. The day I received my pink slip I received a nice severance package but then found myself with a wide-open schedule and no job. I realized the one thing that felt meaningful to me was inspiring and helping others find their way to a healthy and fit life. I received my first training Certification with ACE and started working as an in house trainer at LA Fitness. This was the perfect place to explore my style, my strengths and
to develop an ability to work with all kinds of clients. I was there for one year and then was lucky enough to go out on my own with referrals from my time in the gym. I started training clients at $20 an hour privately – and then worked my way up to where I am now. I have never looked back; I love this field and feel privileged to inspire and motivate people to live a healthy and fit lifestyle on a daily basis.
Q2. You created your own signature workout ‘Booty Slide’. How is this workout different from others? What does it entail?
Booty Slide is different from any other workout in that it involves using the entire body, using only your own body weight (adding dumbbells or resistance is optional for more intensity) and offers the option of going super slow through some of the moves almost like a Tai chi experiences or much faster which then becomes more like a HIIT workout. It can be aerobic or anaerobic depending on how fast you do some of the standing moves. What I love the most about the workout is that it is very easy to monitor your progress over time. You quickly see an increase in overall strength, balance and cardiovascular fitness. I really wanted to create a workout that people could do with limited equipment, limited space and often, limited time. I didn’t want any of that to take away from the results from the workout.
Q3. You say on your website that your focus is on ‘functional training’. Could you please explain what you mean by that? Is this something that you feel is lacking from other training programs?
To me functional training is training that is transferable to movements in everyday life. It promotes functionality that is useful and doesn’t just create big muscles. The goal of functional training is to create a body that has the agility, strength, flexibility and stamina to lead an active and fit lifestyle. The bonus is – that providing the client is also following a nutritious and wholesome diet, their physique also tends to look lean and toned from this type of training.
In regards to whether this is lacking from other training programs, I believe there has been a shift from the traditional bodybuilding style of training to a more well rounded training style that includes things like TRX, Kettlebells, sports training, core specific training and other cross training modalities. Of course, the popularity of Cross Fit has also created a whole new interest in mixing things up for functionality.
Q4. What have you learned from your experience with massage therapy? Do you see a lot of the same injuries and back issues among clients?
What I’ve learned from massage therapy is that most people neglect their bodies and can absolutely benefit from regular massage therapy. I have seen people’s bodies let go of stress as well as begin to heal nagging, chronic issues over time that otherwise would have left them suffering unnecessarily for too long.
I mostly see tension carried in the neck and shoulders with most of my regular clients. With the athletes I work on the issues with their bodies vary depending on the sport they play.
Q5. How do you recommend protecting yourself against injury during workouts?
The biggest thing I recommend is a proper warm up – which to me should never be shorter than 5 minutes and should be long enough to break a light sweat where you feel your body’s core temperature has risen. A short easy jog or walking on an incline at an easy pace or even a few minutes on the bike should do the trick. Once the body is warm, I think stretching is an individual thing. Some people prefer to stretch after the warm-up, others not until the end of the entire workout. I usually recommend if you know of a particular weak link in your body, it is wise to do a light stretch series prior to beginning the workout. Also, always pay attention to proper form – I use the mantra quality over quantity! Once your form goes on any movement – you’re done! Take the appropriate rest and move on.
Q6. What diet do you follow? How do you feel this is important for general health and fitness?
I tend to call the way I eat simply clean and fresh. I don’t eat anything that is processed and prepare most of my food at home. I eat a variety of fresh vegetables and wild fish, chicken and turkey. I opt for lower glycemic fruits like apples, pears and berries. The most important thing I do to ensure I maintain a healthy diet is to prepare my food for the week in advance! To me this is the best way to set oneself up for success!
Once again, we thank you for your time and for sharing your knowledge and opinion with our readers.
