Tiana Nichole Coaching

Figured I’d use a photo dump from our recent travels as a chance to reintroduce myself (and share some run/ random facts) ⬇️

1. I’ve been coaching for 7 years. I have a MA in clinical health psychology and a doctorate in physical therapy. I gave up my physical therapy license after 1 year of practice to coach full time.
2. You will never see my other half on here! He likes his privacy and I like to honor that. But know that I have an amazing, supportive partner that exists behind the scenes!
3. We love to eat at restaurants so eating meals out is a regular part of my life. And no I don’t think it makes me less “healthy.”
4. I love to go to bed early and get up early. I don’t drink alcohol (and haven’t in over 8 years).
5. I have called myself a nutrition coach since I started coaching but it’s never felt “right.” I feel more like a nutrition psychologist- no idea if that’s an actual thing- but it feels like a much more accurate description of the core of my work with clients.
6. I think critical thinking is a lost art. I am forever grateful for my graduate studies as it gave me the tools to be a critical consumer of information which has been invaluable to me individually and as a coach
7. I like to “work backwards” with clients— that is I like to collect some data to understand what the landscape actually looks like before we go in and start making changes
8. Clients might think they’re hiring me for accountability but I see myself as a guide to help them become their own best advocate for making meaningful changes. People change when they are ready and when they can make compelling arguments about why it’s meaningful to them.
9. I don’t see myself as a science communicator. I follow lots of science communicators and stay up to date on the latest research. I see myself as a translator- that is I work to translate the science into bite size pieces that are meaningful for clients at different parts of their journey. I also take client preferences and coaching experiences into account- which does put me in the category of “evidence based practice.”
10. I love birds! Seeing new birds is a highlight when we travel (pic is red created pochard & eurasian coot)

Swipe to see what clients have to say about working with me! Check out my website for more reviews! Link in bio 🔗

Swipe for more info✨

Hi there! Grateful you’re here in this corner of the internet!

I wanted to share a little bit about myself and how I think about coaching 🧠

For me nutrition coaching has never been just about prescribing macros.

I entered nutrition coaching with a background in clinical health psychology where the core components of the curriculum were communication and behavior change.

This background set me up to be the type of coach who (1) wanted to establish longer term relationships with clients and (2) wanted to help clients make sustainable changes in their approach to nutrition and how they relate to their bodies.

I came into this space with excellent “soft” skills and went hard on learning the nuts and bolts of nutrition science early on in my career. And had a rockstar mentor who helped me get started 🥹

And while I learned a lot in Physical Therapy school about anatomy and physiology, the Doctorate in Physical Therapy (DPT) is an entry level degree— meaning I had some BIG gaps in my knowledge base around writing programs for hypertrophy training (particularly outside of the realm of rehab)… Studying with .education was instrumental in filling in those gaps.

So at this point, between my education background and practical experience working with 450+ clients, I have developed a way of coaching people that is unique to me. It sure as hell isn’t flashy. And I don’t promise insane 6 weeks transformations.

I do promise that as we work together, that I will get better at helping you identify and navigate the specific series of things that has been keeping you “stuck.”

And I do promise that you can learn to interact with your body (and yourself) in a new way!

Grateful you’re here and I look forward to being on your team!

xo
Coach T

Yesterday I was beating myself up… it’s easy when you don’t feel well.

Today I’m giving myself some grace… I’m human and I haven’t done this life thing before.

I am always doing the best I can with the knowledge, wisdom, and experience I have. And sometimes it’s hard to see your own blind spots 😬

Well you guys, the journey of Tiana learning (in her own special way) continues.

I’m writing this optimistically as I hope the realizations I’ve had over the last 48 hours will help me piece together a body that feels good again🥰

Clif notes:
2021-2023 Severely distressing relationship
2024 Food poisoning, contest prep, and multiple rounds of antibiotics for recurrent infections
2025 Continued rounds of antibiotics for recurrent infections (which has lead to altered s*x life which is depressing/ distressing/ not fun)… leaning hard on caffeine (which absolutely has been contributing to poor sleep)… consuming a lot of artificial sweeteners (upwards of 800+ mg/ day 🙈)… high high protein diet (1.5g/ lb plus as I was trying to keep carbs lower to manage bloating from antibiotic cycles (which was probably also making me crave sugar like crazy because i probably haven’t been getting enough carbs for my body)… and then making a classic mistake… trying to help myself by doing MORE(red light, sauna, cryo, PEMF, etc)- so basically stimulating an overstimulated nervous system🙈

TLDR my little body has been trying to tell me that things are actually a dumpster fire meanwhile I have continued pouring gasoline on the fire 🔥🔥🔥

And the irony of all this is that I’ve still been training hardAF with the intention of building muscle. LOLOLS AT MYSELF

I can guarantee you my body has been far from the optimal state to accumulate metabolically expensive tissue (muscle) while it’s just trying to keep itself healthy…

Continued in comments ⬇️

Putting in reps…

I started tracking macros in 2015 because I wanted to understand how to fuel my body. I was struggling with overtraining and binge eating. At the time I was doing my intern year of my Doctorate in Physical Therapy and I was training for trail 50k races. I think I ran 5 50k races in 2015…

Over the last 10 years I transitioned from trail running to CrossFit to Olympic weightlifting to body building.

My bw has been as high as 170 and as low as 135.

I have spent long periods of time at maintenance at different body weights and have done several fat loss and massing diets. I have gained more body fat than I preferred a handful of times- a few times actually on purpose and a few times I convinced myself it was on purpose.

I have had periods of time where I meticulously planned and prepared all of my meals ahead of time (and refused to eat at restaurants).

Currently, I estimate meals frequently and eat at restaurants very often (and ate at restaurants frequently during prep in 2024).

I have had periods of time where I allowed monitoring my food intake to isolate me.

Currently, I have a really awesome balance (for me) that allows me to feed myself the way I want to WHILE enjoying all foods and frequently eating at restaurants.

Currently, I’m in a phase of life where I am doing “the least” with planning meals and “the most” with just living life.

But this degree of flexibility would not be possible without the many years of planning/ preparing meals and weighing/ measuring food 99% of the time- and doing fat loss/ massing/ maintenance diets at different body weights.

Just like with training, we acquire skills by putting in reps- day in and day out.

As always, the short cut is actually taking the long road (and not trying to take any short cuts).

Take the time to learn how to fuel yourself… take the time to learn about how (little) activity influences daily energy expenditure… and put in the reps tracking foods. The time and effort up front will pay dividends down the line.

Swipe for some pics over the last 10 years— including the painful pic of first time getting on stage 🙈😂

There will always be some one who is…
Leaner
Stronger
More aesthetic
**insert your version of more ideal physique here**

There will always be someone who can…
Eat more food than you
Maintain their weight with less effort
Tolerate what appears to be an insane amount of stress

If you’re using someone else’s apparent situation** as your barometer for success, you’ll find yourself feeling frustrated, discontent, and like you’re “not doing enough” — or maybe even like there is something wrong with you.
**PSA: things are often not what they appear

At the end of the day, the only game worth playing is being a better version of the person staring back at you in the mirror.

You vs you…
In the gym
In your relationships (including relationship with your self)
In regards to how you create space for/ balance your priorities
In regards to how you stretch yourself/ push your boundaries

This is what I love about coaching.

I love helping people identify and navigate what actually needs navigating ⛵️🌊✨

Our bodies are really good at giving us clues re: where to look if we are willing to listen 🕵️

xo
Coach T

First iteration of Posterior A session as I rethink/ rebuild my training

1️⃣ Toe point drills- this is from .brier.contortion - I like this to train my calves in very short position while getting some good hip flexion practice
2️⃣ Calf raise on leg press- not shown in this video is the first part of the set where it drive as far into short position as possible- shown here are the 3 lengthened biased rest pause sets I do immediately after- using contraction of tib anterior to get myself into as stretched a calf position as possible
3️⃣ Tib anterior raise (done as SS/ with calf raises)- basically just do these until I can barely lift my toes- 30-50 reps *my work around for not having a good tib anterior machine option
4️⃣ Adduction- using this as a way to train abductors (outer glutes) in their end range to mirror their action in middle splits
5️⃣ Abduction (done as SS/ with adduction)
6️⃣ Glute bridge plus thrust- basically short/ mid range superset
7️⃣ Hinge on pit shark (video from different day)- i like this for training hip flexion with neutral spine and getting a little more lengthened glute
8️⃣ Glute biased bulgarians- the spot I wanted to use was taken so went for this set up on a decline bench- lengthened biased glute here- you could argue it’s redundant after the hinge but I like the single leg version after the double leg version

Like how this session went today! We’ll see how it shape shifts over the next few weeks 🍑

First of many photo dumps from Italy 🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹
Pic 1: leaving from KW ☀️
Pic 2: favorite coffee place in Torino ☕️
Pic 3: exploring Torino
Pic 4: veggies from market place that was set up right outside our hotel in Torino- where I had my daily asparagus while there 🌱🌱🌱
Pic 5: one of my favorite parts of the Egyptian museum- this image depicts the process of weighing the heart after death to see if you get into afterlife or not ✨
Pic 6: dinner with our dear friend Davide who lives in Torino! We met him last year when he was in Miami so it was super fun to be able to connect with him in his home town 🥰
Pic 7: all the girls from the .brier.contortion shrimp workshop! so grateful I was able to participate and that this workshop brought us to Torino!
Pic 8: best pistachio gelato/ lemon sorbetto of the trip from a little shop in Genoa
Pic 9: the most you’ll ever see of my mystery man 🤣
Pic 10: lobby of our v aesthetic hotel in Firenze 💚💚💚

More to come 🥰

Just some shrimp training clips from yesterday. Right now bodybuilding for me is all about building a body that (1) I being in (in terms of what it can do) and (2) that I enjoy the aesthetics of.

Currently training 4-5 days/ week and walking 15-20k steps every day.

Split might look something like (really flexible with where rest days go based on how life is flowing 🌊)
Glutes/ calves/ side delts
Backbends
Rest
Glutes/ calves/ side delts
Backbends
Rest
Side/ rear delts
Rest

HOWEVER I did not build the physique I have with a split like this. I think this is often a missed point when talking about the difference between building muscle and maintaining muscle.

I have done the work over years and years and years to build a really solid muscle foundation which now gives me the flexibility (pun intended) to train with a volume that is more appropriate for maintenance for most muscle groups.

I am only trying to improve glute size, calve size and side delt size. Everything else is on maintenance volume (or slightly below). At this point I’m okay with losing some quad size and haven’t been directly training them over the last few months

All of this to say- training age and goals will have a huge impact on how you structure your training!

If someone is demonstrating their ability to maintain or not lose muscle with a given training plan- that does not mean that it would be appropriate for you if your goals are growth oriented.

xo
Tiana