Ashley Borden Interview | The Loop With Donna Ruko

Hi, and thank you for watching The Loop right here on Livestrong Woman. I'm Donna Ruko and
this week we're going behind the scenes of Perfect Form with Ashley Borden. Tell us a
little bit about how it all began, how it started for you. Yeah. Well, it's so funny.
To me, successful is so like, depends on, I guess, peoples' perception of what success
is. You know what I mean? Success for me feels like that I can help as many people as possible.
And that has always been my #1 drive since I first started training. I have 22 years
recovery now from anorexia, bulimia, compulsive overeating, compulsive exercise. So, I had
gone through treatment in 1990 and came out, and I was like oh my gosh, I can actually
help other people find a like a balance between training and food and not feel like it's,
you know, such a psychotic, unattainable thing. And my goal was when I started getting in
this recovery: I can actually make a difference with people. And I can actually help them
and give them information. And from my experience, that I was able to find that balance. And
I think we were talking about before how people have these, especially with fitness people,
they have like these preconceived notions that they are a certain way or that nobody
struggles or they just wake up and, you know, they look great. You're born with this muscle
tone. Yeah, I mean, but know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. And it's the same -- I always
try and be real honest with all of my clients and Twitter and all of that, so people really
know what really goes into maintaining like a lean livable lifestyle, but also maintaining
your sanity through the whole thing. That's great -- it makes you relatable. Because at
the end of the day, you know, it's to show and share your challenges, things that you've
experienced, it makes people like, "Oh, okay, I can relate to that." You know, my focus
for myself is improving, even now, is just improving my performance, getting stronger,
getting faster, and going through my workouts more efficiently with even better movement
patterns. So, because my focus is more on that and not the way I look, it's like the
secondary outcome of that is that you end up looking great. Yes, yeah. So the focus
isn't just like -- I'm not in the mirror, like, "Oh my god, I don't like my arms." I
just -- my focus is, you know: How can I makes this pull-up better? How do I go through my
push-ups better? How do I, you know, run faster with better form? So when you're focus, I
think, is on becoming better and stronger with better form, you take the focus off of
what you look like and it's more on what your body's doing. You know, I've always practiced
what I've preached. My book, "You're Perfect Fit" was really, I wrote it so it really highlighted
my SOS food plan, which is a food plan, not a diet. Because people ask me a lot: "Well,
you know, how do you eat?" and "Do you just not eat?" And I'm like, oh my gosh, no. Are
you kidding me? You have to eat. Be healthy. Eat healthy. Yeah. And nutrition. And especially
when your focus is on being stronger, you eat more. Yes. You have to feed your body.
And the muscle you have the leaner your body is the more your metabolism is higher. And
I know everybody says that, but I think there's a big fear about women lifting heavier weights.
And it's such a shame that that's ever -- that's ever -- that information's ever been out there
that people shouldn't. So we've spoken about strength: I have a tip for you, Ashley. Oh,
tell me the tip. About toning. Oh, yes. In our abdominal region. Tell me the tip. The
tip is -- because I know you've shared some great tips on how to tighten the abs and your
core. Well, my tip is: Any belly fat, tuck it underneath the rim of your pants. That's
it. That's my tip. You're insane. Tuck it under the rim of the pants. Or you just do
the pull up over when you sit down. You just wanna kinda hide the muffin top underneath
it. Hide the muffin top. Oh, that's such a good tip. But do you workout? You train. Sometimes.
Here and there. I, actually -- the one thing I do do is Krav Maga. That's amazing. I do
Krav Maga. That's a good workout. I do Jiu Jitsu. I do Jiu Jitsu. You do? I forget, yeah.
I do Jiu Jitsu. Let's have fight. Oh my god, let's do it right now. You could disarm me.
I'm on the ground. I go right to the ground. You're standing. I can do everything from
my back. Really, you do Krav Maga? That's… Yes, I've been doing it for about 3 1/2, 4
years. And doesn't that make you feel so much more empowered as a female, especially? It
does. It really does. It really helps with the mindset. It just makes you aware of -- it
changes the way you think. Yes, it makes you -- yes, absolutely. And not in like a paranoid
way where you're always like: Is someone out to -- is someone around the corner out to
get me? It just makes you feel a lot more self confident. Empowered, confident. Yes,
that's what I feel about Jiu Jitsu. I would recommend anybody -- every woman and child,
I would say, should start up. What's a quick tip, would you say, for -- let's give a food
tip and then an exercise tip. One quick thing that someone could do who's got a very busy
lifestyle like myself. Food tip, here's a good food tip, especially for people who have
no idea about portion sizes. Because, p.s., even if you're eating horrible food, but your
portion sizes are even more controlled, that will help you with weight loss. So here's
a quick tip: If you're choosing any protein, right? So any white protein. I would say you
wanna go from your wrist to your finger in this thickness. So this is your chicken breast,
this is your big piece of fish, this is your turkey breast. And if you're doing red meant,
you wanna do the palm size of your hand and this is the thickness, okay? Right. And this
is good: If you wanna do a salad, double fist size of salad. And then any steamed vegetable:
hand fist size also, and then fist size of carbohydrates. Okay. So that way you just…
Oh, I've just realized I'm definitely overeating. Well, I mean, and, you know, you're eating
every 2 to 3 hours. But that will at least -- because I'm not taking out a scale at restaurant
and like putting my food on it. So just hand and fist size you can eyeball helps to give
you a general concept of how much you're eating. The portions are huge here in America. Yeah,
aren't they? Have you been to Cheesecake Factory? Oh my god, yes. I love it. Frightening. That
could feed a family of 10. It can. One thing: But, you know, I think when you're also doing
portion sizes for somebody who is not even like dieting or they're trying to find a balance
of like, "How do I eat?" -- when you're doing portion sizes in the beginning that will help
you just give you a ballpark of what -- and it's your hand size. Not my hand size. Not
Shaquille O'Neal's hand size. Luckily I've got big hands. Yeah, exactly, yeah. For a
woman, I've got huge hands, seriously. Let me see. I do. Oh my gosh, you have bigger
hands than me. I can eat more. You can eat more. Okay, and another tip -- another tip
for training. Yeah. I would say that: Do something that scares you. So if you're -- let's say
you've always wanted to take a hip hop class, but you're kinda scared, do it. Okay. Let's
say you've always wanted to ask somebody to be your workout partner, but you were like,
"Oh, I suck." Do it. Anything. Like, I was scared to start doing Jiu Jitsu and I was
like, "F it, I'm going do it anyway. I wanna learn." And you love it. And I love it. So
do something you're afraid of, but, you know, do some research to make sure you're seeking
out either the right class or the right trainer. Or you can always do research to find that
you're on the right track with what you're doing. Yeah. And most importantly: Enjoy what
you're doing. Because if you don't like what you're doing, it's a terrible association
when you're like… You want to be motivated to do it. Yeah, totally. So I liked what you
said -- it's almost like that saying: Face the fear and do it anyway. Yes, yes. And on
that note: Thank you, Ashley. Oh, it's my pleasure. Oh, it's been so much fun. So you
can catch Ashley right here on Livestrong Woman every Wednesday with Perfect Form. And
you have a website. I have a website. It's my name: Ashleyborden.com. And you can also
follow me on Twitter, it's @ashleyborden. Or on Facebook: is ashleybordenfitness. There's
so many things. I mean, there's Pinterest. It's just never ending. She's everywhere.
Everywhere. Yes. See you all next week. Bye-bye.