Today we’d like to introduce you to Marisol Rodriguez.
Marisol, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I have designed my all-women boot camp training, from a very personal place. I know this journey well I have been through it myself.
I remember when I first started my journey… I felt completely lost. I went to sign up to a big box gym because that’s what you do when you decide to get healthy, go sign a three-year contract to a big box gym. After I signed up, I was excited and couldn’t wait to begin. It was so disappointing when I arrived I felt lost and self-conscience about the machines and equipment. I had no idea where to start, the moment I asked for assistance, they tried to sell me on a personal training contract that was way out of my budget.
I started doing what I could on my own. My fitness journey was not going great. I was not seeing results. I got frustrated and desperate, so I began taking diet pills. I even went on crash diets, just to lose the weight fast. Well, it worked, and I began getting compliments and felt good for a few weeks, but then I began having dizzy spells… When I went to my doctor he advised for me to get off these pills immediately if I wanted to avoid a heart attack. I got off the pills, and within a few weeks I had gained the weight back, and a few more pounds! I became depressed and stopped exercising, and I would go on junk food binges for weeks.
It was then that I realized I had a bad relationship with food and I was stuck in a rut. I tried everything there was to try except the only thing that would work (long term) to eat right and exercise regularly! Until I made these two things part of my lifestyle I stopped this yo-yo lifestyle of mine. Where I would lose weight just to gain it back. The big hard lesson I learned is that temporary results always come from a temporary fix and that I hadn’t changed my mindset. The pills and the short cuts held the power for the way my body looked and the way I felt. I can tell you today that this lifestyle is learned and can not be done from one day to the next, it takes finding the right guidance, being consistent, having patience and love for ourselves.
In my journey, I have learned that we hold the power to permanent change!
Once we change our lifestyle and begin to enjoy the journey we begin to transform, we earn a kind of self-respect that is only earned through hard work and dedication. Once we have this respect for our bodies it is hard to break, and the journey becomes the destination.
I found my passion for teaching the women in my community how to tap into their power, the power of real transformation. For me, it is important to have a place where a woman feels safe and guided when she is working out.
Especially if she is just beginning her fitness journey. I love witnessing women go from a push up on their knees to a full body push up, or a burpee on a chair to a full burpee on the floor. That makes me happy and excited to continue on my journey as a coach and trainer.
I am passionate about teaching women how to conquer their power, and to show women how to free themselves of inhibition thought healthy living and Bootcamp training. When a woman is happy with herself it pours into every aspect of her life, career, family, relationships. She adds so much value to not just her own life, but the lives of her loved ones. We begin to teach and impact our own children’s future relationships with food, and exercise.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
“Fitness Girl Bootcamp” began as an idea in 2013. It hasn’t been easy I am a mother of two, after teaching at various parks, gyms, studios, and parking lots throughout the San Fernando Valley. I decided to open my all women’s fitness studio when the guy renting a room for us in a community bingo place decided to raise our rent without notice.
I was so fed up with moving my girls from park to park and rented spaces that were not suitable for gym equipment. So I decided to open the studio, I had no money for the start-up. I contacted my ex-husband who was paying me alimony every month. I asked him if he would give me a lump sum of $5,000.00 to start up my business, he made the court arrangements and I signed off half my alimony payments to get the $5000.00 to start it.
I have been working as I’ve never worked in my life ever since. I didn’t have good credit for a loan or to hire anyone so I started doing the painting myself, the mat flooring, my mom and brother helped install a toilet. I hang signs all over the community and hand out flyers.
Today the load is not as heavy I have four wonderful employees that help create my vision every day.
Here is a short video clip we made about how it is to be doing this as a single mom. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDbshN5jHoU
Fitness Girl Bootcamp – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
At Fitness Girl Bootcamp we change lives every day, through teaching a fitness lifestyle.
Our Mission at Fitness Girl Bootcamp is to spread our passion for fitness by teaching the women in our community the fundamentals of fitness with fun, unique workouts, welcoming all levels of fitness (beginners, intermediate, and advanced.)
Each day we impact the lives of the women in our community through teaching them how to exercise, we teach them how to get to the next fitness level one workout at a time, one week at a time, one month at a time, one year at a time… we witness the women in our Bootcamp become a stronger and healthier version of themselves in only a few weeks of training.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I believe our success is earned not just once, but every day. At the end of the day how we feel about ourselves. When we honor and respect ourselves doing the things we said we would do. Even when it’s uncomfortable. Success is a confidence we carry because we have a kind of self-respect that is earned through the work we do when no one is watching, the work we do when no one there is no clock in and clock out system.
Pricing:
- $157.00 for a 4 week unlimited training package
Contact Info:
- Address: 15334 Chatsworth Street
Mission Hills, CA 91345 - Website: www.fitnessgirlbootcamp.com
- Phone: 8183366311
- Email: marisol@fitnessgirlbootcamp
- Instagram: @fitnessgirlbootcamp
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fitnessgirlbootcamp
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/fitness-girl-bootcamp-mission-hills
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