We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Amber Edwards a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Amber, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
Once graduating from Occupational Therapy school, I was eager to start studying for my Boards to officially become a clinician and make a difference in the healthcare world as an OT and working with the older adult population. As a Track and Field athlete majority of my life, I knew I was in the right profession to make a difference. I knew that movement, strength and prioritizing the client’s needs and wants was the best way to see effective results. However, I didn’t realize that I was just touching the surface of what my career could be or the type of OT I could be.
During the pandemic in the beginning months of 2020, I was struggling to pass my boards and I took a 5 month break from studying and refocused on my fitness. I created a fitness Instagram page called @thick.amb.fit, and posted the workouts I did during the pandemic. I prioritized working out with the weights I had access to, ran outside almost everyday and mealprepped weekly, which help me reach my fitness goals of lowering my mile time and be ready to lift heavier once the gyms reopened.
Once I passed my Boards in September 2020, I already had a pretty good following on Instagram and I wanted to start blending OT into my page. I knew I wanted to pursue a fitness approach with Occupational Therapy, but I wasn’t sure how because I didn’t see any OTs doing it. I wrestled with the idea of how to blend the two worlds into one. I kept up my workout routine by working out at the gym at 5am before my 8-5 shift as a full-time OT. I was in my happiest place in the gym, but became frustrated, burned out, and overwhelmed once I step my foot into the skilled nursing facility I was working in. 6 months of frustration led to a chance to explore the fitness world more deeply when I was invited to a kettlebell class in July 2021 that changed my life forever. That one kettlebell class opened a world of networking with other fitness coaches and a modality that I was able to relate to because of the knowledge I learned in Occupational Therapy school. Even better, I met a fellow OT who was a strength coach in the kettlebell community who showed me that it was possible to blend the two worlds together.
I was ready to take a risk to redefine what Occupational Therapy was and how I was going to show up in both the OT and fitness worlds. I invested time and money by traveling to fitness networking events, attending various kettlebell classes, and hired a coach within the kettlebell community to prepare me for my Russian Kettlebell Coach (RKC) Certification. The RKC cert is earned when you demonstrate your knowledge and skills to perform and coach foundational movements with the kettlebell (Swing, Clean, Turkish Get Up, Press, and Snatch), in addition to performing 100 snatches with a kettlebell weight based on your current weight. (I had to use a 16kg/35lb kettlebell). Receiving my RKC certification opened the door for me to build my business, earn clients, and become happier in my profession. However, I was still working most of my hours as an OT and wanted to do more. In 2022, I transitioned to Travel OT where my time was more flexible to be more available to be more active in the fitness world. In the summer of 2023, I took a risk on myself: I decreased my hours in my OT job to be more available to take more clients for my business and it was the best decision that I made for myself.
I was nervous because the risk was huge. My income initially dropped because the money was flowing in right away, but I knew that God prepared me for a time such as this. By the end of the summer in 2023, I maximized my schedule with clients. By the end of the year, I was able to take a part time OT position in home health where I have the ability to blend both worlds without the feeling of being overwhelmed or burned out. I wake up everyday knowing I am making a difference in both worlds and continue to advocate and encourage other OTs and other health professionals who have a passion for fitness that they can do the same.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My name is Amber Edwards and I am a New York-based Occupational Therapist and Strength Coach. I currently provide Occupational Therapy services in the home and specialize with working with the geriatric population. Services include, but not limited to fall prevention training, home assessments, and various therapeutic exercises and activities for clients with various diagnoses ranging from orthopedic dx (ex: generalized muscle weakness, fractures, post hip/knee replacements) to more severe and complicated diagnoses such as Stroke/CVA, Parkinsons, and Dementia. Outside of services for clients, I provide consultation services to OT students, OTPs and other healthcare students/professionals who are seeking guidance and mentorship to find their foot into the fitness world and redefining what their career looks like to be fulfilled and working the career of their dreams.
In the Fitness world, I am a strength coach who specializes in kettlebells with certifications: Russian Kettlebell Coach (Level I) and Dynamics Sports Performance (Level I and II). I am also a Track and Field coach in the elementary level and have coached the middle school and high school level in the past. I host fitness classes throughout NYC and in various cities such as Atlanta and Dallas during fitness networking events such as “Swing and Shoot” and “Bellfest”.
I am most proud of being a non-traditional Occupational Therapist who is changing what OT is with every client and person I work with. OT is not just working on the upper body or working with older adults. Occupational Therapy is fitness and fitness is Occupational Therapy. Using my OT skills in the fitness world allows me to have a more gentle and holistic approach when compared to other personal trainers. I use this approach when it comes to programming workouts and classes for any individual, at any age, and with any ability. Finding the “just right challenge” for my clients is always the goal for my clients to not only get stronger physically or mentally in order to engage in activities that are meaningful for them.
Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?
As the saying goes, “It’s not about what you know, but it’s about WHO you know”. The most helpful thing for succeedidng in my field is networking. I honestly wouldn’t have gotten to where I am without the people I have met along the way. The healthcare world is so small that even whenever I transitioned to other settings in other areas of the country, I always ended up seeing the same people or having mutual friends in the same space. There was a time when I started out as a Travel therapist in a setting and working with a COTA and 2 years later in another travel assignment, I was working with the same COTA. It’s always good to be nice to everyone you work with because you never know if you will meet again some time in the future. In the fitness world, it gets even smaller. Because of social media and attending various fitness events, I have been given opportunities to be apart of big fitness events/classes throughout New York City, Atlanta, and Dallas, just to name a few. I have networked with not only Certified Personal Trainers (CPTs), but Physical Therapists (PTs), other fellow Occupational Therapy Practitioners (OTPs), and other influencers around the country and world because of our common goal: to make a difference in people’s lives in the fitness/health world. Our message becomes bigger and stronger when we work together. I have a podcast called “Reaching your pOTential” which has helped me to expand my networking space to have deep conversations with various people on how they reach their fullest potential in life as well. In return, I have been invited to various podcasts to talk about topics that I am passionate about such as Occupational therapy, fitness, kettlebell training, and everything in between. You cannot go far without others and I am not successful without the people I have met in both the OT and fitness worlds.
Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?
I remember there was a time when I was on the phone with my grandma and she asked me if I ever regretted going in OT and I took a second to really reflect on that question. After much thought, I had to tell her no. I have no regrets on choose my profession of Occupational Therapy, my specialty of geriatrics or my specialty of kettlebell training. It has made me the person I am today. God truly ochestrated my journey as an OT in a way where people continue to ask me “How did you do it?”. My only answer is God. When I was in the college, I was interested in Physical Therapy because that was all I knew, however, Occupational therapy was a field that helped me open my mind to morre possibilities. My great-grandparents who lived to be 83 and 89 years old gave me the passion to pursue geriatrics. Being an OT student also taught me the importance of advocating and educating others. Even as a new grad OT (I used to call myself a “baby OT”), working full time with my “big girl job”, I didnt feel fufilled. This wasn’t the profession that I learned about in OT school. I felt like I was doing the bare minimum to get by and I wanted to do more. I am grateful to get into my career of OT because it helped me redefine the definition of Occupational Therapy so it can be accessible to those who need it: individuals in the fitness world with underlying impairments that affects their fitness journey. When it came to fitness, being active was always important to me, but after hanging up my spikes once my track career was over, I knew how much community meant to me. The kettlebell community gave me community and so much more. I made friends not only in New York, but around the world. The ability to meet up with people who have been doing kettlebells longer than I have allows to me contnue to grow. I enjoy being in a space to continue to grow as a person and coach with like-minded individuals because it gives me the push I need to better my business and to continue to pursue the purpose God has in my life. I honestly feel that God put me in a space to make a differnce in both the OT and fitness world and if I could go back in time, I would do it all over again.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.thickambfit.com
- Instagram: @thick.amb.fit