Here’s what some of my past & current clients have to say.
Olivia (1:1 DEKA Coaching)
- 🥇 2024 DEKA STRONG, 18-24 Age Group, World Champion
- 🥉 2024 DEKA STRONG Elite Female Teams, 3rd Place
Kayla’s success in DEKA and record as an athlete speaks for itself. She is one of the best, which reflects the passion and dedication to her goals. I look for credibility in a trainer, and she is someone who has done the work and has taught me so much from her experience alone.
I greatly admire her ability to personalize programming to meet the needs of her clients at a variety of levels, ages, etc. all while helping people reach their individual goals. I was looking for someone who would recognize where I was at and be able to help me get to the next level, and she’s gone above and beyond in doing so. She’s clear in what the focus is for each training session, why it’s important and has a purpose with each thing she has you complete.
I also appreciate how she understands and believes in the power of mental strength just as much as physical strength. Whether it’s preparing for a competition or just believing that I can get through a killer workout, her mindset advice has helped tremendously and inspired me to take care of my mental health just as much.
Kayla brings such a positive energy to training, and if you ever get a chance to work with her in person, you’ll get to experience her light and joy. Even if we are dying at 5:30am Monday morning in strength class with jello legs, she has a smile on your face and laughing.
Trish (1:1 DEKA Coaching)
- 1x DEKA World Championships qualifier
This year, I set the goal of being able to compete at DEKA World Championships in my age group. I saw Kayla’s journey from an over 20-minute STRONG time to her Elite 15 qualifying time this season, and it got my attention.
Before we started working together, Kayla was kind enough to run me through a race simulation and gave me a couple things to focus on to use at the competition that upcoming weekend. Until that point I had been struggling to break my time of 20:24, and her coaching tips helped me walk away with a new PR in the 18-minute range.
I about balled my eyes out with excitement and was sold on giving her training program a shot. Since then, not only have I continued to shave off time to my new PR of 16:58, but I also came to realize Kayla is the whole athletic coach package. She provided what my other trainers have done for me in the past in addition to the things that they lacked. She genuinely listens to me, care’s about my progress, and provides excellent mindset advice.
Her programming is methodical in its approach and never have I felt like I was overtraining. When I had an MCL injury, she was able to pivot my programming to keep me going and helped me heal to a point where I came back stronger than ever.
All this to say that Kayla is an amazing coach with a knack for individualizing DEKA training to bring athletes like me to their potential.
Linda (1:1 DEKA Coaching)
- 🥉 2024 DEKA MILE, 55-59 Age Group, 3rd Place
- 🥈 2024 DEKA STRONG, 55-59 Age Group, 2nd Place
I greatly appreciated the coaching and programming that focused on my weaknesses and strengthened my strengths. I enjoyed being able to break down the zones to focus on efficiency while building confidence through mindset work, repetitions and simulations.
I always felt very cared for, my body felt good after trainings and the feedback given was super helpful. The program had purpose, I made the decision to trust it and the rest took care of itself. CONFIDENCE AND PODIUMS ALL DAY!
DEKA FIT: By 2 minutes in, I didn’t walk, I didn’t want to die or quit and I finished strong. This was the first time I was able to complete the whole event running and felt a notable difference during my zone work. Now I am looking forward to doing more FIT’s!
DEKA MILE: I improved my race mentally by running my own race and performing well enough to earn a 3rd place podium finish.
DEKA STRONG: I had a 52 sec PR from my best time this year, finally broke the 16 minute barrier and saw a 2 minute improvement from last year’s World Championship race. Placed 2nd!
Sam (1:1 DEKA Coaching)
- DEKA STRONG: 16:42 → 15:14
- DEKA MILE: 25:41 → 25:10
- 2x DEKA World Championships qualifier
6 months ago, I had never done DEKA nor had I trained for it. A couple of friends and I signed up for DEKA FIT Midwest in July 2024 on a whim and the rest is history.
Flash forward to 2024 DEKA Worlds and I not only had the opportunity to compete but also PR both my DEKA MILE (by 30 seconds) and DEKA STRONG (by ~90 seconds). These PRs were with the help of Kayla Cittadino and her joyful, positive attitude as well as her thorough programming that pushed me to do things I did not think were possible.
I enjoyed having workouts that I went back to and could say, “hey, I just PR’d a lift or time trial!” Not only is she my coach but someone I can lean on for support and a smile or to remind me to smile mid-race 😊.
She allowed me to find confidence in myself that I never knew existed and I never felt more confident than at DEKA Worlds after the trust I had from my coach and my training. She helped me train the mental component of racing I had struggled with in the past and allowed me to carry myself with power and self respect. I look forward to many more races with Kayla as my coach and supporter!