Why I'm Becoming A Personal Trainer In My Late 20s

Not gonna lie. This title about me becoming a personal trainer is a bit misleading because I became one in 2021. But this time in my late 20s, I’m becoming a personal trainer in a different way. Let me explain

How and When Did I Become Certified?

At the beginning of 2021, I studied for the NASM CPT and took the exam to get officially certified. But beside helping out my roommate a little bit, life got in the way from me really investing in the craft. But then in 2023, I worked at YMCA in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A few months into working there, they stopped offering personal training services due to budget cuts so I unfortunately lost my job. Then last year, I tried to do a few classes with some friends but once again life got in the way and I dropped the ball in consistency.

So essentially I do feel like I am becoming a personal trainer in my late 20s but for real this time. Because instead of being under the YMCA or not having any structure, I’m doing it by doing my personal training services and announcing it officially and more publicly.

What Inspired Me To Get NASM CPT Certified?

So, I have always been an athlete. I played basketball and tennis in high school and soccer as a kid. In college, I ran my first half marathon and was an early bird gym goer – waking up at 5:00 am to go to the gym by 6:00 am. Fitness always gave me release and joy. In college, I had the opportunity to get certified and I remember feeling an urge in my soul to do it but I didn’t because of fear.

Then in 2020, I went through a whole journey of processing my toxic disordered eating tendencies and had to de-learn A LOT of things I knew about health and wellness. I share more about that journey here. The more I learned, the more I was upset about the harmful narratives being spread online and the more I realized that health and wellness is a lot more nuanced than I thought. Simultaneously, I reflected on the times I wanted to get a personal trainer but they all seemed so expensive.

So I decided you know what? Let me become one myself so I can train myself and others and spread a different narrative around training women’s bodies

My Personal Training Services Goals

For many years I focused on being as small as possible because I thought the smaller I was, the more I would like my body. But no matter how small I was, I was never satisfied. So I am calling my personal training services “Bloom” because I want to help women focus on blooming in strength instead of shrinking in size.

Now I want to put a disclaimer that I don’t think it’s inherently wrong to desire weight loss but I do have problems when society preaches messages that center around weight loss being the focus and promoting detrimental habits like restrictive eating and dietary practices. I recognize that there is nuance to this conversation around weight loss but I strongly believe in weight-inclusive healthcare and fighting against weight bias.

At the end of the day though, I want bloom to help women fall more in love with movement through recognizing strengths of their body instead of solely aesthetics. Once again I am not saying it’s bad to think about aesthetics because I believe in body autonomy. But I also want to promote sustainable and helpful lifestyle changes that can help women move more freely in their body not just for now but in the future as we get older.

So the mission of my Bloom fitness services is to help women have better relationships with their bodies and fitness through building strength and confidence in the gym.

How to Sign Up For Bloom Training

In my instagram bio here, you can see the link tree which has the google form to sign up for either one on one personal training or the group fitness class. At the moment, one on one training will be $30 for 30 minutes and $60 for 1 hour and is open to any women. The group fitness class, “Black queens lift” is a dedicated weightlifting class for Black women The first class is next Saturday for $15 and the goal is to do at least one class a month. Details regarding location will be sent after filling out the google form.

Why do I have a class just for Black women? Number 1, to create a safe space to be amongst each other because community is healing. Number 2, due to the disparaging health inequities, this is my contribution to the work by centering those who are oftentimes marginalized and left out from group fitness spaces – especially due to cost.

Talking about cost, if these prices are too expensive/out of your budget but you would still be interested in my personal training services, please let me know & we’ll discuss what works best for you! The last thing I want is for you to feel like you can’t do something to improve your strength and overall wellness due to cost.

Let's Bloom in Strength Together!!!

I am excited to continue my journey of becoming a personal trainer – even it may be in my later 20s. As a personal trainer, although I come with knowledge so do you too. You come with knowledge about your own body and goals/aspirations you would like to accomplish. As a trainer who is always learning, I love reading research articles to understand the science but most importantly, I love learning from YOU because your opinion and your voice also matters in the training process.

So whenever you are ready, feel free to fill out for the google form so that we can bloom in strength together!