Meet Ire Wardlaw

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Ire Wardlaw. Ire was introduced to us by the brilliant and talented Kelly Elsas.

Hi Ire, we’re so thrilled to have you sharing your story with us today. Maybe we can kick things off by having you introduce yourself to our readers? We’d love to have you go into your story and how you got to where you are today.
I started about 13 years old when I got to the point in my life where I want a career that I would absolutely love, and that I was naturally talented at and make a decent amount of money.

As I meditated and prayed, I was reminded about how many times I get approached everywhere I go as to whether or not I’m a trainer and people wanted me to train them. I turned them down because I didn’t know anything about how to train a person and the human body.

So I decided to take the most credential and known certification course, National Academy of Sports Medicine. I study real hard and very quickly and within eight months I took the exam and received my certification.

I started by putting a personal trainer ad in Craigslist. I started out at $25 a session. I remember when I got my first client! I had to get up at 3:00 AM in the morning, drive to her home, which was about 35 minutes away. I had to get up extremely early to go train her because she was a nurse. And then I was approached by a gentleman at my apartment Jim as I was working out. And he asked me if I can train him so I had two clients but it was definitely not enough for an income so I started driving for LYFT and then LYFT was just beginning.

I worked out at 24 Hour Fitness, and one day the general manager asked me if I was a trainer and if I would be interested in working for them. At that time, I turned them down because I knew I would not be allowed to train outside the gym and I really want to grow my own business, due to financial struggles. I came back to the general manager at 24 Hour Fitness and accepted the job.

I picked up Client fairly easy, because the members would come up and approach me as I was working out and asked me if I could train them because they loved my body and they loved how I worked out. I built up a pretty good clientele base within a month or two I stayed at 24 Hour Fitness for about a year and a half, and then took off on my own again.

So I trained clients on my own again for about two years, and I did pretty well as I had a couple of high profile clients , but again due to financial struggles. I decided that I wanted to work in a gym. But not just any old gym. I want the best gym in town and so I put in an application at Golds gym finish Beach. This is the Mecca of Bodybuilding, where the Arnold Schwarzenegger trains among other high name members. The manager said that he wished he could’ve hired me, but he just hired trainers and was full. He then said I will give you a recommendation to a different gym call Bayclubs at this time. I had never heard of this gym when I went to the Bay Club, which was in the Pacific Palisades, the manager was so impressed with my résumé that she hired me on the spot, and from my career completely took off .

Pacific Palisades Bay Club gym is a very elite gym where high profile members which train and I went in and offered up 15 minute but sessions to the members for free. And before I knew it I had so many clients I could barely handle them all even the manager said that I was the only trainer who has come in and a short time received so many clients.

I stayed with Bayclub, and absolutely loved working for them. Out of all the gyms in America they paid their trainers very, very well. The atmosphere was pleasant as the gym overlooked the ocean. I was doing so well, that I was able to move in the condo which was right across the street from the gym! And this condo was something that I used to look up and say to myself, quotation mark someday I will live there because it was right across the ocean, and I love to run at the beach . Everything was as I had ever hoped and dreamed for. Until Covid happened..

Covid came. The Jim shut his doors, but I did not shut my doors as soon as we got the notification that night that the gym was going to be shut down. I immediately contacted each and every single one of my clients. I told them that if they were interested in still training that we would do FaceTime training. And if they did not have any weights, than order the weights on Amazon, and because my clients did immediately they were able to get before it was impossible to get weights.
I didn’t miss a beat. I was busy training my client FaceTime during Covid up to 6 to 7 hours a day. It was actually very pleasant because I would wake up. Do my thing have my coffee, and then set up my iPad and my gym and train clients! I even received up to five new clients because they were looking for someone to train them online . And then when the gems reopened, I continued to train online as well at the gym and as well at clients homes.

Because of Covid, the gyms allow the trainers to keep their outside clients (before Covid was not allowed). My business outside the gym by this time was in full effect. I was booked back to back and I had clients on a waiting list.
Unfortunately, dude to the Jin being unable to pay the lease Bay Club Pacific Palisades had to shut their doors. And this is when I decided to grow my business on my own.

And funny how things come around full circle, because by this time I was working out at Golds gym but not training there. So when I went to ask the managers if they were hiring, they already knew who I was because of my workout training method and how hard I work out in the gym, but when I found out that their trainers only receives about a third of what I was already making on my own, I decided to lease the gym from them which meant I have to pay a very large amount of money per month in order to bring my outside clients into the gym. And the rest of the story goes like this .

I have become such in high demand that I have a huge waiting list. Am honored to have the members and the managers at Gold gym, who tells me all the time that I am one of the best trainers that they’ve ever seen. It is now at this point, I had just hired another independent trainer-to work underneath my brand.

And what makes me unique and what my brand is all about is to observe the client up close and personal. I watch every single rep that they do, I am watching their facial expressions. I am watching how their body moves with each workout. Every single one of my client has their own personal chart that I spend time designing for them to be sure that they will reach their goal safely and affectively when I train my clients in the gym, I do not see anyone. I do not talk to anyone. I do not look up do anything on my phone. During 55 minute session the only thing I care about is my client.
And this is what me sets me apart

Please tell us more about your brand, Personal Trainer
What I do for each and every single one of my clients, is that I create a chart that is uniquely designed for them. In this chart, I design workouts that work on any kind of muscle and balances or muscle weakness first and then I worked them through my five phases of training, each phase preps my client for the next phase. So by the time they reached the phase where they are in muscle height, they are seeing results week after week. I have been told, that what set me apart from other trainers, that I am very hands-on with my clients. I am constantly correcting their form, I have created a technique that teaches my clients how to engage the correct muscle group that we are targeting. I also keep my attention 150% focused on my client. I do not talk to any anybody else in that gym. All I care about in that 55 minutes is my client. I am watching their facial expressions. I am watching how their body moves. I am asking them questions about how each exercise feels. I am asking if they felt that particular muscle engagement, and depending on how they are emotionally are mentally feeling I will change the work out on the spot to help them to relieve themselves mentally and emotionally . Also, I guess something that not a lot of trainers do, is that I keep a chart and I track their progress every single session. I am extremely proud of how my brand has changes my clients life by incorporating all aspects of the human spirit. I not only train their body physically, but emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.

Kelly Elsas has been a great friend to us and I know you’ve got a great relationship as well. Maybe you can tell our audience a bit about Kelly and your experience with them.
When I first saw kelly he’s not gonna get it. Oh my God, kelly, the first thing I noticed was her absolute, beautiful smile and beautiful spirit.

Kelli came to me because she is an actress and wanted to prepare her body for a very important role that she has booked for a film. this role was about a real person‘s life. So she became very dedicated to making her body look exactly like her character, which is why she hired a trainer to help her to achieve this.

In order to achieve this, and to prepare herself for this role, she followed my instructions to the letter, not only the workouts, but the nutrition and supplements that comes with preparing your body to become leaner. I truly already had a beautiful canvas to work with, which is kelly body, which already looked amazing however, for this character, we had to make her incredibly smaller for her character was very, very lean.

Kelli showed up to every trading session, always with a smile on her face , and determined to do the workouts that I gave her as well as to follow the nutrition plan.

As kelli and I begin to train more and more, and I got to know her more as a person, I disco She is a highly intelligent woman who knows what she wants, and goes after what she desires both in her personal and professional life.

Also, as I got to know her more and more not only as a personal trainer, but a friend I came to admire how she problemsolves life challenges that comes up for each and every single one of us. She truly does consider the other person feelings first and tries to understand where they are coming from and work with that.

I’m very proud of her. I’m excited to get ready to watch her walk the stage in LA fashion week I bought a ticket so I can see that girl strut her stuff which by the way we prepare for the walk by doing balance exercises and proper posture exercises. She always does everything with excellence

Instagram: Ire_fitmotivation

Image Credits
Arnold Schwarzenegger Robert F Kennedy Jr Kelly E My other clients