Today we’d like to introduce you to Nikki Herrera-Adams.
Hi Nikki, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I began my journey I believe as a young athlete on the soccer field, learning not only about the virtue of team sport, but the importance of being a leader. I played keeper so the ability to see things from a different perspective for sure was an early start for me. I began my career in the fitness industry in 2003 working as a personal trainer as well as teaching group fitness classes, as a young mother I naturally gravitated towards women and women who were walking through challenging times, like the motherhood transition, and or struggling to regain a sense of self from a fitness and body image standpoint. My career would continue to lead me down this path working with several groups of people, in different styles of fitness from boxing, CrossFit, and spinning all the way to meditation and breathwork practice. In 2014 I opened up a small training studio with my previous partner, we were certainly blessed with getting to work with a great group of humans, it was in 2016 that I truly found my purpose in training athletes when I became a BIRTHFIT coach. I found a deep connection to this work, helping to support and facilitate health and fitness for women in the motherhood transition (pregnancy and postpartum).
In 2018 my partner and I parted ways, and we had to say goodbye to our company and brick + mortar, this most definitely was one of the hardest seasons of my life both personally and professionally. What I will say is this setback was actually setting me up for where I am today, so when you hear it’s happening for you, not to you, believe it!! In 2020 in the middle of a global pandemic, I decided I could no longer sit back and wait for the opportunity, but rather I need to create it. I opened up my brick-and-mortar location Cave Training, aka known as the Babe Cave/the Cave.
I could lie and tell you it’s been easy, but it has surely not been that, however, it has been an absolute joy and purpose-filled calling to serve my community and watch people regain health, fitness, and community, especially after such a hard time in our collective. Where I have felt so aligned is within the BirthFit side of what I do through my pregnancy and postpartum program BABEFIT, I lead this program in series, getting to work with new mamas and babies every six weeks. This is what I call soul work. This is where today you can find me working with my community, at The Cave.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Well, I think I touched on that a little with how I started, I went through a painful divorce in 2018 that included a business dissolving and having to rebuild not only myself mentally, physically, and spiritually but also financially.
Then deciding to take an online approach during the early season of the pandemic was also very difficult and had a lot of obstacles, that really had me pivoting left and right. Then, well I opened my brick + mortar space in June of 2020 thinking that we were in a good time within the pandemic to do so, little did we all know that in fact, it was not the most opportune time to do so.
The business struggled, and I was working around the clock to save in any way I could and to travel to clients’ houses to privately train them, basically in full hustle mode, and just honoring the journey and the lessons. I would say to be completely transparent and honest there are always going to be struggles and obstacles along the way, especially when you operate a brick and mortar, throw in the fact that you’re in a very competitive industry, and you better believe you will have bumpy roads.
We’ve been impressed with Cave Training, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
The Cave, as my community lovingly calls it, is known as a space of wellness. We chase fitness and performance in a small group training environment. We offer strength and conditioning classes, yoga, boxing, pregnancy, and postpartum fitness, as well as host community events, and offer our space as a fun way to connect to our collective.
We say you don’t have to work out to kick it. We are known for being the gym that supports families through the parenthood journey, specializing in pregnancy and postpartum fitness, and support, and giving families a safe space to bring their babies with them to work out. We are also known for having great coaching, and well-rounded fitness in a micro gym aka a boutique setting.
We are the space people come to who really want a community and to train vs. just work out. We like to say we are for everyone, but not for everyone. Hard work is attractive. We are also a community that gives back, we believe that a healthy community is one that is participating not only in self-health but community health, we host free community workouts, as well as hold fundraisers quarterly to support non-profits who are doing good in our hood. I would say what I’m most proud of about this brand is the standard we hold, we are not like everyone else, and we pride ourselves on that, we are a grassroots community, with no loans, no grants, no partners, just hustle, heart, grit, and faith. We are truly a community, in every sense of the word.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
I’m an only child, who was raised by a single mom, I have a 24-year-old son who proudly served our country, as a US AIRMAN, I hate socks, I almost never wear them (I have secrets to my feet not sinking) lol. I think what most surprises people is that I myself struggled with weight and an eating disorder, which is a huge reason I felt drawn to this work.
Pricing:
- Unlimited CAVE membership
- Babefit Series membership
- private individual session
- 5, 10, 15, or 20 class packs
Contact Info:
- Website: babecavetraining.com
- Instagram: @cavetraining babefit_socal personal: @nikki_thebabewhisperer
- Facebook: @cavetraining; personal- Nikki Adams
Image Credits
Andreanna Arambula
