We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Andrea Steponaitis. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Andrea below.
Andrea, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
As a seasoned personal trainer and small business entrepreneur for over 18 years, I have witnessed our industry have many pitfalls. Large box gyms are well kept, typically positive and motivational but tend to lack knowledgeable staff on subjects such as clients with disabilities, injury prevention or prenatal and postpartum expertise.
I had started my fitness career working alongside medical professionals including physical therapists, chiropractors and orthopedic surgeons as well as specializing in prenatal and postpartum fitness. I always knew we could do better in the fitness industry. Professional Trainers needed to become more focused on a smaller niche of clientele and work hard on being the best within that niche.
In 2013 I opened up a local women’s fitness studio in Flower Mound, Texas that focused on women of childbearing age and postpartum. It was a desperate need in the fitness industry; one that had been extremely undervalued due to the ever changing nature of and inherent risks of working with pre and postnatal women.
When I became a mother of 2 beautiful girls myself, my focus changed. I decided to shut down my brick and mortar women’s fitness studio. I didn’t shut it down for me or the lack of love and passion of what I do, I shut it down because of the season I was in. This emotionally hard decision quickly turned into an idea of creating a smaller, more intimate space for women like me who are going through the “thick of it” but need a safe space to workout and be encouraged.
This is when I birthed AndreaClaireFit. The premiere private women’s fitness studio in Argyle, Texas. Revamping my business inside of my garage and offering women 30 minute workouts designed specifically for each woman ended up being a blessing in disguise. Not only did I see the need for this more specialized and private space for women to feel safe and encouraged, it was great for me as a small business owner. I was able to be home for my family and work the hours that were right for me in this season of motherhood.
My mission is to help any woman transform and view fitness in the way they intend, not what a magazine article, family member or society intends. Health and fitness looks different on each person and we should allow that difference to shine!
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 background and context?
My Name is Andrea and I have been a fitness fanatic all my life. I was a young athlete in the areas of gymnastics, cheer, volleyball and track. I Cheered for 2 amazing Collegiate teams, Navarro and Texas Texas Tech University. Both cheer teams were recently showcased on the Netflix documentary “CHEER”. Being in the fitness industry from a young age really set the foundation for continued health and wellness throughout my life.
After College I went on to work at a few prestigious and well known health and wellness facilities in Dallas, Texas. Baylor Tom Landry fitness center was my starting point. This facility housed over 100,000 square feet of workout, track and aquatic space as well as a cardiac rehabilitation unit. I helped as a personal trainer, weight loss specialist, spearheaded their water lymphoma exercise program and worked under physical therapists in their prenatal aquatics. You could even catch me teaching dance and bootcamp classes in the early mornings.
For a few years I was found on Saturday morning channel 8 news demonstrating new exercise trends.
After Baylor I ended up developing Carrell Clinics first ever patient after care fitness program for patients who wanted/ needed extra fitness guidance once insurance ran out with their physical therapist. It was a job I will always be grateful for as I was able to learn from the industries best leaders in physical therapy and orthopedics.
I then tailored my niche and opened up a small women’s fitness studio to cater to women who needed extra attention postpartum and or those women who wanted to be in a smaller more like minded fitness setting. That studio was my baby but once I had 2 babies of my own it became a season of choices and change. I now own my business out of my home where I am still able to cater to women in a safe and private setting with Individualized programs to help aid in the best results possible.
I feel my services stand out for several reasons.
1. Being a college Cheerleader I am a true Cheerleader for your fitness journey. I want to see you succeed, help you feel better in your own skin and I wont give up on you when you struggle.
2. Being in this industry for over 18 years, I’ve learned to ignore the fads, cut through the misguided trends and give you the real solutions to change. No one should settle for a a cookie cutter workout. I’ve developed a system called her map where I find out key specifics about your past and current exercise, health and goal history as well as your current overall health to hone in on a specific “map” of guidance for you to follow.
3. At AndreaClaireFit I believe that getting back to your best self means “Owning” where you are at all points in your journey. Working together to build sustainable and healthy habits for the long haul can and will make major change in your life!
My current services include one on one private personal training packages and done for you meal plans in a digital PDF format.
I am proud of what I do because I am confident that with a consistent exercise and nutrition program you truly can transform yourself from the inside out. I do what I do because I want to live a long and productive life with the ability to seek adventure well into my elderly years. There is so much life to live!
New products and services will be evolving soon!
Please feel free to follow along my journey @andreaclairefit on instagram and facebook as well as my website www.AndreaClaireFit.com.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
I’ve learned to let go of the practice makes perfect mentality. Growing up in sports I was always told to practice until its perfect and then practice some more until you can’t fail. While that is great advise in sports and education, it may not be the best for business. Unfortunately, that mentality held me back on starting my business longer than it should have.
Factors that contributed in the delay of opening up my business in my 30’s instead of my 20’s was due to feeling like I hadn’t had enough knowledge since I had not owned a business yet. I was afraid of failing before jumping in and getting my feet dirty. Once I made the commitment to go in scared but with all of my passion and love for what I do, I realized it wasn’t so bad after all.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
In the past 4 years my resilience was tested and shown through an acute back injury that landed me in emergency surgery with a microdiscectomy of my L4-L5 spine and a cadaver bone placed between my facet joints to try to save the crushed nerve. I was warned it could take a year for the nerve to heal. Before the surgery I was unable to feel my right leg and buttock.
It was a very trying time as a new mom to my second baby girl and uncertainty for what the future may look like with my type of career and athletic ability. I took that time to reflect on how I would like life to look like going forward and how I planned on trying to make it happen. I leaned on the motivation I would dish out to others in the past and heavily relied on the encouragement of my family and friends. I stuck my nose in many back surgery recovery studies and kept up with an anti-inflammatory diet.
I had some bad days of frustration or pain but within 6 months not only did I have a full recovery but I was able to do all of what I had been able to do before surgery. I can still throw back flips ( Sorry Dr. K) and I ran a half marathon last December. I’ve continued to run my fitness business throughout recovering. I am now 4 years out and feeling amazing and stronger each year.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.AndreaClaireFit.com
- Instagram: @andreaclairefit
- Facebook: @Andreaclairefit
Image Credits
Jessica Adkins