Jaclyn Mora

This is me in January, 2012 right before I started working with Debbie Portell and Roger Semsch at Powerhouse Gym.

 I am 5’3” and I weighed my all time high of 152 lbs. I have always been very active and competed in sports throughout my life, but I have always struggled with my nutrition. After graduating from college in May 2011, and starting a fulltime career, my health began to take a backseat to everything else. The further off track I got, the harder it was to motivate myself to live a healthy, active lifestyle. 


After meeting with Debbie and Roger, I was excited to finally have a game plan for getting back into shape, and changing my overall health and fitness. 

(click images to enlarge)

They showed me exactly how we would reach my goals together. Since starting, I have loved every minute of the process. Debbie has trained me how to correctly perform resistance training, and what exercises are best for my build. Debbie not only has taught me how to make my workouts more effective, she has also helped me with my negative thought patterns. 


Roger has taught me how to eat healthy and make this a life style, not just another diet. I have already lost 23 lbs since starting in January 2012, and I am still going. I am training for my first Figure Competition with Roger and Debbie right by my side every step of the way. They have helped my become both mentally and physically healthy. Roger and Debbie don’t just try and get you to look good, they want to help change you lifestyle and unhealthy habits. I am so thankful for all of their support and encouragement throughout this process. I can’t wait to see what comes next.

-Jaclyn Phillips

Sara Brown

Before

I became Debbie’s client when I started training to compete in figure at Gateway Naturals in 2011. 

I was developing some muscle mass but I knew my upper body needed to increase in strength and size.  


Debbie pointed out my rounded shoulder orientation...


and explained that my back muscles were lagging behind progress in other areas of my body due to the fact that I didn’t have full range of motion through my back exercises.  Both my neck and traps were getting a better workout than my back.  I could live with the discomfort of neck and upper back soreness, but not seeing my back and shoulders grow was unacceptable to me.  I wanted to receive maximum benefit from my hard workouts.  We worked together to develop a plan to improve this not only for proper posing but for muscular development and my overall posture.   

We only had a few weeks before Gateway Naturals.  
At the show, I received many compliments but more than once the judges commented that my shoulders needed to be brought into correct alignment and I needed to develop width in my back.  Getting these comments from the judges was influential in my decision to continue training with Debbie. 


 I didn't want a single thing to slow my progress in muscle growth.

After

So I started to stretch out my chest and shoulders between exercises, rotating with a stick and performing a doorway stretch.  I also foam rolled my lats and mid to upper back and did wall slides daily. As I continued doing this on a consistent basis, my back muscles began to activate and grow.  I could feel them contracting with the movement and I could began to tell which muscles were working on each exercise.  My shoulders also became stronger.  This has been most evident on overhead press. 


It is a work in progress and as I increase flexibility through my shoulders and chest, my upper body has grown noticeably, neck tension has decreased, and I feel better overall.

Diana Pitts

Before

I first met Debbie in 2011 at a figure bodybuilding show that I competed in. I then attended a few other bodybuilding shows as a spectator and noticed that routinely Debbie’s girls were winning first place. At that time I was placing second and third in the shows I  competed in and started to consider asking her for help. I was very proud of what I had accomplished training on my own over the last twenty years and wasn't sure a trainer would be able to help me. After some consideration I contacted Debbie and asked her if she would take me on as a client.



My first session with Debbie, we didn't even lift a pound. 

She did what she called an “orientation”. She evaluated my posture, alignment and flexibility. She educated me on the areas I needed improvement on and why. She then showed me what my correct posture should be and how to correct it. She demonstrated foam rolling and stretching exercises and I was instructed to do these exercises daily.

After

I left that session a little perplexed. I wasn’t too sure about all this body alignment stuff. It seemed a little bogus to me if you really want to know the truth. A bit reluctant, I went ahead and followed the instructions given. Soon after our first couple of sessions, Debbie and I started posing practice sessions (posing for figure bodybuilding competitions). I was really excited about the posing practice, because that was what I felt I needed so much help with.


A couple of weeks went by, my workout sessions with Debbie were great, but I was still struggling with my posing. I just couldn't seem to get my back pose the way it needed to be. I started to wonder if I was ever going to get it right. Debbie took pictures of me at every posing practice. I wasn't too excited about this, but I knew it was her way to show my progress.


Then, one day, it seemed to click, my back pose came in. I couldn't believe it.

I was so excited to see her progress pics and compare my beginning pics to the current ones. I could really tell the difference in the pictures. It was like all of a sudden everything she told me and made me do made perfect sense. Ever since then, I really started to value the importance of posture and alignment. I began looking at every day people differently. I started to notice the areas they needed improvement in their posture.

Since my posture has been corrected my muscle presentation has improved greatly and my posing is now spot on. Not only did my upper body improve, but my lower body as well. From the end of November to the middle of March, I improved enough to take first place figure masters over all at the St Louis NPC show. I then competed on April 20th in the NANBF pro qualifier show, taking Figure Masters and Figure open overall winning not one, but two IFPA pro cards.