Coaching With Heart has an authentic and inspiring history, rooted in personal challenges, transformation and the will to help others. The company was started by Paula in 2012, after she was already working in the fitness branch for over 10 years. From her rich volleyball history at a high level, where injuries can quickly occur, Paula knew better than anyone what the importance of strength training is when it comes to recovery, stability and a strong physical basis. This principle gave rise to her passion for rehabilitation and prevention and the added value of offering this to others.
Martijn, Paula's other half and current co-owner, has first-hand experience of the powerful impact of training, nutrition and mindset on a healthy life. Struggling with depression and working in IT, he came across these life-changing factors that ultimately helped him climb out of his undesirable state.
Inspired by his own metamorphosis, Martijn decided to also make the step to change his work career so he would be able to help others. After a few intensive years of studying and getting work experience he decided to make the full switch to personal training and coaching in 2016.
In March 2023 they officially joined there forces together so that they could offer each person the complete package of the 3 basic pillars to a healthier lifestyle, training / nutrition / mindset.
With over 25 years of combined experience in training, rehabilitation and prevention, Paula and Martijn started a thorough research to identify the ideal target group. And it became clear what they really wanted: people who are searching for self-reliance, a new lifestyle, independence in training and a healthy diet.
Learn through Martijn his raw and honest life story why your MINDSET is such an important part of your ability to reach your goals.
“What motivates me enormously to keep going and to keep pushing the long road to a certain physique and my competitions, is the pride of the people around me, friends, and family, but also the clients I coach. Knowing that I also motivate them because they see what is possible when you really commit to something you really want. I think I can also say, as one of the few people, that I really love my job. I really enjoy training and coaching people, from my heart and my own experience.
Giving training is one thing, coaching someone in all areas is something else. In my life I have had many coaches and conversations with psychologists, this has given me a certain perspective and knowledge to let people find their own insights and work from their own motivation. For this, the mental aspects often must be looked at and worked on. There is nothing purer then when someone dares to look at his/her own behavior. And realises that they are responsible for how they live, and then also learn, step by step, to adjust and change this.
This is the most valuable thing I can teach someone. I have experienced this myself, struggled with it and dealt with it, to eventually become the person I am today. I had to change a lot on a mental level and take responsibility for my own behaviour. It wasn't until I dared to do that and meet my emotions and do something with them, that my whole life literally turned 360 degrees, and another Martijn came to the forefront. No longer the insecure me, the person who doubted everything inside, didn't think he was good enough and couldn't do anything, always failed, and put his emotions away and muffled them. This Martijn is no longer with us, as I write this sentence, I feel tears running down my cheeks.
I really realise it now and it really hits me. I am now writing down what I already knew and had mentioned during a previous conversation with my psychologist, but I only now really feel this, raw and with all emotions. It wasn’t until I became a Dutch bodybuilding champion -80kg, that I realised this all. All 3 of my competitions have given me many different insights about myself. For me, doing a competition is not an end goal, but a means to achieve my true goal. Because my goal is to keep improving myself, both mentally and physically, this has made me a better and prouder person. This feels very intense, but also like a few pounds have fallen off me and I have become the person I wanted to be. I am my own terminator: Martijn Jansen! Remember this name ;)
How my own obstacles gave me the passion to help others, Paula's story.
"For over 20 years now I’ve been helping people with their quest for a healthy and strong life. Being active my whole life has brought me so much. It has given me good health, great friendships and travels I’ll treasure for life.
But...... My life of sport has also given me challenges. Like how to prepare my body for a competition, how to recover afterwards and also how to deal with injury at a physical and an emotional level. Because getting injured is confronting. I certainly found it hard when I was restricted to what I “could do”, rather than what I wanted to do. Instead of accepting that I shouldn't do something I decided to do everything in my power to figure out where my weaknesses were coming from and how I could improve them.
So this is where my personal training journey really began. Together with my formal qualifications, I used my own experience to learn exactly what others might need, and then I’d pass the benefit of those insights onto my personal training clients. I got so much from seeing my clients get results and leave my sessions with a smile. But I still felt like a part of the puzzle was missing, I wasn’t getting to the bottom of things.
While CrossFit® gave me so much more knowledge about the technical side of movements, it was only when I got connected with StrongFit® I found a way of training and mindset that felt like the missing piece, everything came together.
I have a new sense of security in my training and I experienced that there is so much more we can do for ourselves than we know. I am so grateful I didn’t give up the search. I’m now aware of how I can coach you to find the imbalances and we will be able to address and improve them. So I can’t wait to help you get to the bottom of whatever is causing your challenges in life or in training."
