We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lauren Powell. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lauren below.

Lauren, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you get your first job in the field that you practice in today?

Ten years ago I decided I wanted to be a personal trainer. I’d recently made some decisions that led to a healthy lifestyle and wanted to make it a career. The problem was I had absolutely no experience with exercise. I did some running and some yoga videos at home but that was it. I honestly couldn’t have told you the difference between a squat and a lunge.

The first step was to research what the best certification was and start studying. I chose the National Academy of Sports Medicine and spent 6 months studying for the exam. I was so excited when I passed! I started looking for jobs immediately and was surprised to get a job offer from one of the big gyms really quickly. But there was one problem… yes, I studied and passed the exam, but I had no hands on experience and quite honestly I was a bit worried telling people what to do with their bodies at that point.

As luck would have it I stumbled upon an upscale private training studio in a nearby neighborhood. My friend dragged me in and made me introduce myself and talk to the owner. That night I figured it wouldn’t hurt to email the owner and ask if he was looking for an intern. Lucky for me he was and I started the next week as an intern and administrative assistant.

I really think I owe my career to that decision. If I’d taken the job at the big gym I would have been walking around trying to make sales on the gym floor and had a completely different perspective of what a career in this field looks like. Instead I had a team of mentors that showed me what it looks like to do this job well and with passion and I couldn’t be more grateful for that experience. So when it comes to starting out, trust your judgement! If it doesn’t feel right there may be something perfect waiting right around the corner.

Lauren, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I started as a personal trainer over a decade ago and decided to open my own training business five years ago. I’ve since added massage therapy to my skill set and love seeing clients thrive using the combination of strength/conditioning and manual therapy.

This year I created The Remedy Fitness & Wellness with the goal of making quality exercise programming and wellness/recovery practices available to everyone. One on one training is fantastic but you’re limited by availability and affordability. The Remedy has a full on-demand video library and Live Classes every week that can be taken anytime, anywhere. This idea came out of online coaching during the pandemic and clients that have relocated and still wanted to get great workouts.

One of the biggest parts of my success with training clients has been developing a fun and supportive community and I can’t wait to do the same with The Remedy! Along with a few other coaches I’ll be hosting in-person and online meet-ups as well as developing a community forum and challenges. It’s so much harder to make changes on your own and I want this to be an uplifting space where people can make friends with others that have similar goals!

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Starting my training career was a huge pivot for me! Up until then I was working in the Veterinary field and kept asking myself if I wanted to go to tech school or start my college work from scratch and begin studying for vet school. Turns out it was taking so long because I didn’t really want to do either.

If you’d told a younger version of myself that I was going to work in fitness I would’ve laughed at you. Sometimes you get a crazy idea and it turns out to not be so crazy after all.

And of course I still love animals, now I just adopt them and give them tons of love :)

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

One big thing that I had to unlearn is that when you’re working with behavior change you can’t always be nice. Working in customer service for most of my life you’re taught the “customer is always right” and to always smile and be nice. That just doesn’t work when your working with people that need to make big uncomfortable changes. If you’re not making changes and I just keep telling you “good job, your doing great!” or if a clients form is off and I am too nice to make corrections, the client is going to suffer in the long run. I am by no means any type of drill sergeant coach but I have learned that the real kind thing to do is be honest with people.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.theremedyfit.com
• Instagram: @theremedyfit