‘Very honoured’: Sault personal trainer wins major fitness award

Fitness is life for the Sault’s Kyla Faganely.

The Fit Bodies Fit Minds owner/operator and personal trainer was recently named the canfitpro 2024 Personal Training Specialist of the Year.

Canadian Fitness Professionals (canfitpro) is a major player in the Canadian fitness industry. Established in 1993, canfitpro’s membership includes thousands of  fitness professionals, health club operators, industry suppliers and consumers.

“I was very emotional and very honoured,” Faganely told SooToday in reaction to receiving the award.

She is not only a personal trainer with clients — some of them professional athletes — but also teaches others to be personal trainers.

“I liked all athletics,” Faganely said, reflecting on her life.

“I played basketball. I was a big runner and I was a swimmer. Swimming was the big main sport that I loved,” said the St. Mary’s College graduate.

After high school, Faganely earned an undergraduate degree in kinesiology from Brock University, then a Master's and a Bachelor of Education degree from The University of Newcastle in Australia.

Returning to the Sault in 2004, she established Fit Bodies Fit Minds and worked as a physical education teacher for the Algoma District School Board. She recently left the ADSB to devote herself fully to Fit Bodies Fit Minds, her clients and staff.

As the name of her business indicates, Faganely believes in helping her clients reach a better level of physical and mental health.

“When they come to see us they’re doing way more than just movement. Of course they're working out, but there’s also a mental, nutritional and wellness piece to it. We look at their sleep patterns, for example, to help them thrive in their lives.”

Fit Bodies Fit Minds is not your usual gym.

“I’m not a big fan of machines,” Faganely said.

“The only machine I really believe in is the Pilates reformer (a padded table with springs, ropes, pulleys and a sliding carriage). It started in the rehabilitation world but now it’s huge in the industry for building strength and corrective movement. I’m more of a firm believer in using dumbbells, kettlebells and barbells than using machines.”

The training Faganely provides to clients is not so much about bodybuilding but instead involves rehabilitation after physical injury, preventive training and perfecting basic body movements for every day parental tasks like carrying children or working in the garden.

“When you squat without even lifting weights, you’re working over 200 muscles. It just makes sense that people need to train more functionally,” Faganely said, adding she wants to see her clients well enough to perform tasks, such as working in the garden, well into their senior years.

Her clients are assessed before their first appointment and are asked questions about their lifestyle, favourite sports, hobbies, occupation, pain level if any and how often they are willing to work out.

Then and only then do they start physical training with Faganely and her staff.

She designs physical, mental and nutritional plans for her clients to live by on a daily basis, wanting her clients to be ready for a workout when they come for their Fit Bodies Fit Minds appointments.

“You can’t just come to me once a week and think you’re going to be Arnold Schwarzenegger,” she laughed.

How does Faganley help her clients have fit minds?

“We give them healthy habits homework. It could be keeping a daily gratitude journal. We talk about getting into nature and meditation to help the brain. We give them habits based on what we think they need to do to help their minds.”

Faganley is a firm believer in preventive fitness that will keep clients from getting physically and mentally stiff in later life.

Her client base encompasses all age groups, from children to seniors, professional athletes and business owners.

Clients stay with Faganely and her team for as many workouts as needed. Others keep coming because they enjoy the motivation they receive from Faganely and her staff.

As for her own physical activity?

“I get up in the morning and I start my day in the cold plunge tub outside. I meditate while I’m in there, and it’s outside so I’m enjoying nature. I believe that nature is something people need to be a part of and we’re so lucky in the Sault to have that.”

That’s followed by a morning workout with a lot of mobility, breathing exercises and yoga. She also, of course, loves to lift weights such as dumbbells as demonstrated to SooToday.

“I was a very competitive athlete. When I was younger I thought I might be a doctor, I thought I might be a physiotherapist. I didn’t know what I was going to do in health but I knew I was going to be in the health field.”

The main Fit Bodies Fit Minds location is at 491 Queen St. E. in the Sault’s downtown core.

Faganely has another wellness centre located within the Delta Hotel that utilizes the hotel’s gym and swimming pool.

A third Faganely-owned wellness centre will soon open on the North Shore near St. Joseph Island. 

She employs a staff of professionals trained in psychology, kinesiology, nutrition and other health professions.

“It’s the team that makes me look so good, I think,” Faganely smiled.

“I have always worked in fitness in some capacity or another but I feel like I’ve never worked a day in my life. It is the most inspiring industry. I want to feel good going to work every day and I like to educate others about health. It’s my life.”