Today we’d like to introduce you to Venus Lau.
Venus, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Becoming a fitness & movement expert was so obviously my path, yet I didn’t see it coming till the middle of my career. But isn’t that always the powerful lessons in life? Simplicity and listening to your instinctive strengths.
Since I was a kid, I was drawn to movement and exploring movement. As a quiet kid, it was my version of speaking my voice, through body language of being an athlete. I played many sports, including competitive swimming, soccer, volleyball, then I dialed in my focus to mainly golf and ended up as a NCAA Division-I scholarship golfer at Baylor University. College was tough years as my father was diagnosed with cancer when I was a freshman, and passed away during my senior year. Then my mother passed away from cancer as well four years later.
There was a hiatus of sports and working out as I was navigating who I was as a young adult. To be honest, I played golf to make my parents proud but it wasn’t the sport that I was in love with. I just loved moving and feeling connection, still to this day… It isn’t the specificity of the sport but the strength, power, and connection I love having with any movement.
So let’s fast forward a bit. I moved to Los Angeles to be a comedy writer, yes, record scratch. I’m a silly artist at heart with a love for movement and athleticism. As I was making my way of being a writer in Lalaland. I was tired of working at bars to pay the rent and my best friend said, “You should be a personal fitness trainer.”
At first, I was not into the idea because of the stigma of personal trainers in LA and my ego of being a former D-I golfer. To be honest, I was also scared of yet again having to start all over again in another career path. But I pushed through the fear as it did make sense and in the back of my head, I thought, “oh, this is just temporary.” Ha ha ha! Fast forward again… Now been a fitness trainer and movement specialist for over 12 years as my passion in life!
I started at Equinox 12+ years ago and would do continued education to arm myself with more knowledge to help my clients. The more I learned, the more I fell in love with my job as a coach. Knowledge truly is power. Power for ourselves and power to share with others.
I’m now known for being a Strength, Mobility, Flow, and Movement expert who teaches people to be stronger at every angle and more effective with their goal of movement. I teach VenusFit Strength & Flow, which is a hybrid of functional strength and bodyweight training/Animal Flow/yoga. I believe strength at every angle, whether with weights, body weight, and within breathing is how to optimize the body for better health and resilience.
I’ve accumulated 15+ certifications and counting more every year, trained every type of individual you can think of (from kids to celebrities to elderly to professional athletes), taught strength & flow workshops internationally & at schools, been featured in major publications & magazines, have released three online programs, and there’s more yet to come.
But the most gratifying part is that I realize that when we keep it simple and listen to our instinctive strengths, that’s when the magic happens and when life begins to flourish.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Life is never a smooth road. It’s about how we handle the bumps. Dealing with the passing of both parents four years apart was the hardest lesson that took me years to deconstruct. Becoming a fitness and movement expert was a huge part of how I healed… By helping others and continually educating myself, I saw the real sides of myself that I got to grow from, learn from, embrace, and let go.
Growing up Asian and from Texas was tough and so “fitting in” was a huge goal until I did the work of “being true and discovering my true me.” This rings truth in my career and my relationships. I dated men only for majority of my life. The more I began to understand myself and dealt with struggle by trying to understand triggers versus fight them, I came to realize that feminine energy was what I needed in a partner. I now have a girlfriend and it’s the most fulfilling relationship I never knew I actually deserved.
It was extremely scary going against the norms in both career and relationship but fear doesn’t outweigh the freedom on the other side. Obstacles in life are just a blip, and as humans, we tend to react in panic versus sitting with fear and trying to understand the real message in it. Most of the time, fear is just a message to tell us that whatever we think is working actually isn’t and adjustments get to be put in place. And trust that everything will be okay as long as we keep growing and learning instead of resistantly reacting.
VenusFit – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I’m in the business of getting people stronger at every angle with their body so they can connect mindfully with themselves. I’m a fitness and movement expert with over 15+ certifications and have coached every type of person from kids to elderly to post-surgery to celebrities to professional athletes to other coaches.
I’m known for being a Strength, Mobility, and Flow coach. I combine Functional training with Bodyweight Flow, using different modalities of movement (Animal Flow, Yoga, Calisthenics, Kettlebells, & more). I’m known on social media platforms like Instagram for my Strength & Flow videos (@Venus2bfab).
I think what sets me apart from others is the fact that I break down training at a foundational level then build upon it. I believe it’s important to teach foundational primal movement like crawling, rolling, hanging, rotations, squats, push, pull and more at different angles, every angle the body is capable of moving in!
And a big thing for fitness, wellness, movement, is connection. That mindfulness that comes with movement takes anything you are doing from good to optimized greatness, more big bang for your buck effort = Better results. I always tell my clients and students, “Focus on the intention and optimization of movement, trust the side effects will be getting stronger, more mobile, leaner, and move like a true athlete!”
And I enjoy adding the creative artist inside of me to my fitness profession. So many workouts are boring, so I love Flow and bring an element of flow to every workout I coach. It keeps both the left and right sides of the brain happy to continue playing and gets people the results they are looking for faster as well as keeping them consistent in their training. When goals get accomplished and consistency is in place, then growth is exponential and I love seeing clients and students gain confidence in all areas of their life.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Success has three parts…
Did the experience teach me something new or give growth? Almost every experience teaches us something new, so absorbing that is a first step.
Was this big win something that furthers me in the goals that serve my true values? Sometimes big wins serve our true values, sometimes they are just another blip for our ego.
But biggest question of true success is… Do I love my daily life? The day in and outs of my normal week, the simple things like cooking and watching a movie with my partner. Meeting up with a friend for brunch. Teaching a client how to breathe and move more efficiently.
Pricing:
- Beginner Concepts to Movement & Flow: $57
- Strength & Flow Program: Optimize Movement & Body at Every Angle: $169
- FREE VenusFit Jumpstart Content: FREE go to VenusFit.com to Subscribe & Start!
Contact Info:
- Website: VenusFit.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/venus2bfab/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Venusfit/
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/user/venus2bfab
Image Credit:
Photographers Nicol Biesek & Dimyana Hanna
Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
