- Sierra Rathbun
Embrace Fitness as a Lifestyle: Edition 1
Updated: Jul 1, 2022
Welcome to our first edition of the Embrace Fitness as a Lifestyle blog! In this edition, we will be covering:
Investing in Yourself
Frank's Story
Sample Workout
Sierra Whiskey Fitness News
Investing in Yourself
Investing in yourself is one of the scariest but most empowering/rewarding things you can do for yourself. This past year has been the most I've ever invested in myself personally and professionally. Launching Sierra Whiskey Fitness involved a lot of work on educating myself on how to properly run a business and also balance my other life endeavors and responsibilities.
In 2020, I had this vision of starting my own fitness business. However, I had no idea where to start and how to do it. After research, I landed on obtaining my Certified Personal Trainer credential from NASM. However, that was not enough to make me feel confident enough to launch the business. Eventually my fiancée Rhyan said "What's stopping you from starting the business?". Her and I talked more and came up with a game plan for starting Sierra Whiskey Fitness.
One night in October I said "I'm ready" and made a post on my personal facebook page stating that I was going to start training clients out of my garage gym. A bunch of people supported the idea and shared the post. Next thing you know, I was receiving inquiries from potential clients looking to train with us.
Now here's where investing in myself became important. Despite studying business and entrepreneurship, it isn't the same as having the experience running and launching a business. I started to search for fitness business coaches and was discouraged to find many that didn't pass the vibe check. Finally, I came across The Fitness Business Movement owned and operated by Billy Polson. He had been in the field since the late 90's and runs a successful gym in San Fransisco. I took the leap and invested in myself to seek out a mentor to help me grow my vision.
The next thing I did was invested in working with a Strength Coach in March. I was in such a plateau not progressing despite working out. I was doing random workouts because i was so burnt out from writing the custom plans for others that I neglected my own progression. Not only has my strength returned to pre-covid levels, I also have learned so much when it comes to programming. I've learned that every Fitness Coach should have a Coach or mentor as well. It's always important to work with others who have experience in what you are trying to do. They've been there and done that already.
Now with all that being said, investing in yourself doesn't necessarily mean investing money in Coaches or fitness programs. In my case as a business owner and Coach, it was important for my own personal and professional growth. I think I would eventually figure things out but it would take longer.
My personal definition of investing in yourself is allocating your time towards things that help you grow and be 1% better each day. For example, it could be taking a 20 minute walk because you've been at your desk all day. Investing in yourself could be reading 10 pages of the book that you've been so excited to read but now has dust on it. Perhaps it's learning a new skill or researching how to start a business.
If you want to grow, focus on allocating small bits of your time towards things that will make you better. Small actions contribute to the bigger picture and will pay dividends.
Stay safe, stay awesome,
Coach Sierra
Blog Feature: Frank's Story:
I connected with Frank recently and we had a good conversation on how he embraces fitness as a lifestyle. Check out his interview:
About you:
What is your name and what do you do for a career?
My name is Frank, and my career is a Correctional officer. Been a CO for almost 10 years now What are your hobbies?
One of my favorite hobbies is lifting, reading comics, and reading up urban legends and ghost stories.
What is your favorite food?
it’s either menudo or pizza depending on my mood.
What is your favorite life quote?
"There is a thin line being a hero and being a memory."
Embracing Fitness as a Lifestyle: What is your program or training style of choice that keeps you active?
I've been doing powerlifting for almost 8 years. I’ve been told by a lot of people it’s boring. I guess in a way there are right but those three simple lifts are so much. There is such a rewarding feeling to know you can lift weights that most people probably cannot. Makes me admire and appreciate strength so much.
What is your strategy to incorporate balanced nutrition into your day to day life?
it can be hard at times to maintain a balanced diet especially when working in a job in a prison. Every co worker if not all eats very unhealthy and turns to alcohol as well. I’ve really turn to just counting my Macros as best as possible and eating healthy in work days and maybe eating a cheat meal on my days off. But protein and breakfast in the morning is always a must. Most important meal is the first one of the day.
How do you stay motivated to continuously embrace fitness as a lifestyle?
I try and do my best to keep my motivation going as best as possible, one way is a quote and a Picture from California Department of Corrections showing several inmates working out. The quote says “they worked out today…..did you?"
That pushes me to get in my gym and push myself. I like to think while they sleep, I train. My fitness and active life style has help me and my fellow brother in grey from severely getting hurt or injured on the job. I found out 2 years in my career I was assaulted and I was out shape back then. Since then I never wanted to feel weak or put myself in danger struggling to catch my breath during that assault. Thank god I pushed myself to hold on long enough till help arrived. Ever since that incident I chose to an active lifestyle to prevent that from ever happening to me again. That incident since then has continuously motivating me to always train. Cause they way I see it is if I don’t train, then I don’t come home back to my family.
Do you have any tips for busy professionals struggling?
Make anytime you have to workout. Since having a baby again my time and schedule for training has been delayed or setback. But if I have to wake up early I do so. If I got 20 mins to do some lifting from a 30 min nap for the baby, that’s something. I do realize not everyone has the luxury of having a home gym, but it should be no excuse for you to fall in a lazy routine. I still do push-ups ,sit ups, find any minute I could fit to just get some sort of workout in. Is there anything else you would like to share?
One thing I like to share is my daughter has autism. She struggles every day trying to regulate her emotions and try and put sentences together. But the work that she is putting for everyday with her therapies and in school as always motivated me to keep pushing myself for her. If she can do it, there is no excuse as to why I can’t doing anything if i don’t try. Being her father is the biggest blessing I have ever received. I literally have the strongest kid in the world, so I’m trying to be the strongest person for her.
Sample Workout:
Note: Repetitions, sets, and weight will depend on your goals and training objectives.
Sierra Whiskey Fitness News:
We have lots of exciting new things going on here! Some of the big things I am focusing on is building a 30 day fitness plan on Thinkific and the launching of our blog.
What are the details for the fitness course being launched?
I am continuing to expand our program options for our clients outside of just private fitness coaching. My goal has always been to make fitness accessible because personal training is not a budget friendly option for everyone. This program is meant for the general health enthusiast who focuses on overall health and wellness.
I am estimating that this will take about 30 days to launch as I work on building the program. The focus will be on functional fitness with movement patterns like squat, hip hinge, press, push, etc. Included in this is 4 weeks of workouts with 3 workouts a week. Equipment needed are dumbbells and access to cable machines.
What are the details for this new blog? I will be including sample workouts, home gym content, and also interviews with busy professionals who are working hard on themselves everyday. With that being said, if you are interested in being interviewed for the blog, I’d love to include you in a future article. Shoot me a message or email if this interests you.
Are you interested in working with us? Apply at the link below!