Lisa Peranzo shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Lisa, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?
I wish I could say the first 90 minutes of my day were super relaxing and that I could ease into my day, but when you have school-age kids, that’s rarely ever the case. The first thing I always do when I get up is rehydrate. Sleep has always been a big focus for me since it’s a huge contributor to recovery, so I know that after being knocked out for so long, my body is dehydrated.
I studied Ayurveda years ago, and rehydrating the body with room-temperature water is a big aspect of that practice, as well as using a Neti Pot and gargling with warm salt water. I aim to have a small snack within 30 minutes of waking up because I know that as I get older, maintaining my hormones is important, and that small snack helps keep my cortisol in check.
After that, I usually do some mobility or a light warm-up before I wake my kiddo up for the day. While she’s getting ready for school, I do a short workout just to get my body moving. By that point, I get her to school, come home, and take our Corgi for a walk before beginning to film content for my YouTube channel, Lisa Peranzo Fitness. Once I’m done filming, I finish my personal workout, have breakfast, and get ready for the rest of my day!
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Lisa Peranzo, and I am the founder and CEO of A Healthful Life. I fell in love with fitness after a serious injury left me unable to walk for the better part of a year, and I had to learn how to move in ways that were safe and effective for me. After finishing my master’s in Human Behavior, I became a certified CrossFit Instructor and got certified in Paleo Nutrition. From there, I became a certified Pilates Instructor and also received certifications in Barre Above and Kettlebell.
The goal at A Healthful Life is to motivate people to move their bodies by finding workouts that are effective for them while sharing all our wellness and nutrition tips and tricks! Recently, A Healthful Life expanded into Lisa Peranzo Fitness on YouTube and Substack as a way to provide free workouts and tips—or even help plan someone’s workout routine for them.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What relationship most shaped how you see yourself?
I know it’s slightly cliché to say, but becoming a parent completely changed how I viewed myself—for the better. When my daughter was little, my movement journey happened predominantly outside of my house, at gyms and the Pilates studio where I trained. But my husband and I decided to outfit our house with a gym right before the pandemic, so all the training I did became extremely visible to my daughter.
Movement after a significant injury like mine was really hard to find. There were a lot of things I wanted to be able to do but couldn’t anymore because of the potential for re-injury, and it was hard not to let those limitations impact how I viewed my strength. I think it’s human nature to be overly self-critical, especially when it comes to things like body image and capabilities, but it’s been really enlightening to see how my daughter views my workouts.
She’ll make comments about how strong I look or how she knows I can finish a workout if I’m in a particularly difficult set. Seeing her observe our healthy habits has encouraged her to find her own healthy habits as well. She loves to move, try different exercises, and knows she needs it as a healthy part of her day. She’s a great little hype woman, and it’s awesome to see her discover her own wellness journey too.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Suffering is an inevitable part of life. It’s definitely not fun, and it’s definitely not avoidable—but like failing, I think if you can approach suffering as lessons, it can help you grow as a person. It might not make the actual suffering any easier, but at least you’re not walking away empty-handed.
The events in my life that have caused moments of suffering—those times that felt like they would never end—taught me that I’m stronger than I think. Even in those tough moments when it feels like there’s never going to be a way out, I know that I’m resilient and capable of handling whatever obstacle gets tossed my way. I remind myself that if I’ve made it through every other tough moment in my life, I can get through this one too. Sometimes, all you need is a little reminder that you can do it.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. Is the public version of you the real you?
When I first started teaching—way before A Healthful Life was even an idea—I stepped into that space being totally, authentically me. There was something about the training space that really enabled me to embrace my personality, and I had this tremendous amount of faith that the people I was meant to work with would end up finding my classes (and they did).
When I transitioned into the online space, I completely lost sight of that person. I’m not sure if it was the pressure of being on camera, on social media, or on YouTube, or if I was comparing myself to other people in my space—but for several years, I didn’t show up authentically online. Instead, I showed up as a more “polished” version of myself. Like I didn’t want someone to see that my house is messy and my Corgi interrupts every video I ever record.
But my business coach encouraged me to let go of that notion that I had to be perfect online and helped me rebuild the confidence I had lost in myself.
Now, I show up completely as myself. The person you see on camera is the same person you’d meet at Target if we ran into each other—and the same person who trains in person too.
Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. Are you tap dancing to work? Have you been that level of excited at any point in your career? If so, please tell us about those days.
I know there’s a statistic out there that says adults will change their career paths like five times in their lives, and I haven’t been immune to that statistic. Right after college, my jobs were so boring it wasn’t even funny. I was a market analyst for a technology company at one point, and I worked in insurance at another point—super boring. Then I got into advocacy work and began working as a Victims Advocate for victims of violence, and I thought I was tap dancing to work. At that point, I felt fulfilled and enjoyed what I was doing. I learned through that work that I liked helping people, and I found a sense of reward when someone found success from something I suggested. But the environment I was working in wasn’t supportive, especially given the gravity of the things we saw, and it was during that time that I decided to stop toe-dipping in the fitness game and dive in headfirst to make it my career.
Now, I am completely tap dancing to work. I tell my clients all the time that I think I have the coolest job in the world because I get paid to wear athleisure clothing and say things like “booty work.” I’m excited to wake up early and train so that I can go train other people. I love that it’s a creative space where I can design workouts that are so different from person to person depending on their goals, and I get to see people becoming stronger as a direct result of what I’m having them do. There’s nothing better than seeing someone walk out of a session feeling empowered and seeing how confident and capable they are because they just proved to themselves that they can do hard things.
Contact Info:
- Website: Https://lisperanzofitness.substack.com
- Instagram: Https://www.instagram.com/lisaperanzo
- Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/lisaperanzo-ahealthfullife
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/lisamperanzo/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@pilateswithlisa
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRjNsd8H/
Image Credits
Britney McCourtney
