We were lucky to catch up with Becky Wickes recently and have shared our conversation below.

Becky, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How’s you first get into your field – what was your first job in this field?

When I was right out of college, I was working full time as a social worker for a Child Placing Agency, and I decided I also wanted to be a CrossFit coach. I saw it as a way to build relationships and help foster community for people. As a young 23 year old ready to take on the whole world, I decided I was going to coach CrossFit without ever having DONE CrossFit. Once I actually did it, I was like “oh, nope, never mind, this is extremely difficult and I’ll never be able to coach!” But I stuck with it, because I wanted to do it for a work out even if I wasn’t going to lead the work out. However, after a year, I did end up getting my certification. It’s pretty common in CrossFit for the gym owner to approach members and ask them if they’d like to start coaching. This was not the case for me. I got my certification without the promise of a job and subsequently asked if I could start shadowing other coaches and train. The manager at the time agreed, but let me know there weren’t any classes available for me to take on; the gym was fully staffed. I just hung around, though, and after only about six weeks, one of the current coaches tore his ACL in a non-CrossFit related injury and voila! I had a job. I still thank that previous coach for his injury to this day.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I got into CrossFit when I was young with a desire to get stronger, but the cool thing about CrossFit is that it’s much more than just a workout. CrossFit as a whole also talks about nutrition as the base of the pyramid when it comes to heath. CrossFit’s goal about longevity; we address how me move now because it impacts our mobility and independence when we’re in our seventies, eighties and nineties. But mostly, CrossFit addresses community in a society and time period where people are becoming more and more isolated.

That vision captured me, and as I grew from part-time coach, to Head Coach, to General Manager, to now co-owner, I’ve made it our mission to keep pushing those things forward over the years. Yes, we have CrossFit classes, but we don’t stop there. We offer nutrition coaching, personal training, specialty courses like pregnant and postpartum fitness, kettlebell and rope flow, and even CrossFit Kids! Our desire is to be a place where people can come and receive support and accountability so they can be the best version of themselves not just in the gym, but also the roughly 165 hours they spend outside of the gym every week as well.

We now even offer a program called Renew 360, where clients get fitness and nutrition coaching but also high accountability habit coaching and mentorship. We look at things like stress, sleep, mindset, hydration, etc. because the whole person matters, and it all needs to be taken into account when we’re looking at optimizing our health.

We’re proud to be a gym to be able to serve anyone who is ready to start or continue prioritizing their wellness. We’re not a giant globo gym where you show up with your headphones in and don’t talk to anyone. We’re also not one of those gyms where you work out and leave feeling like you’re going to die at the end of every single workout so you can earn the piece of pizza you want to eat later. We’re a community of people with the like-minded goal of long-term fitness and caring for the people around us. And we love to have fun while doing it!

Any advice for managing a team?

Find people who think differently than you and make them a part of your core team. I tend to be the type of leader who is always pushing us towards the next thing and challenging people to be better, which is a great quality in a leader! But I also need people near me to remind me the importance of encouragement and affirmation of where we are now.

Also, build trust with your staff by spending quality time with them if possible! Again, I have to remind myself it’s not all about productivity all the time. The times we spend just hanging out as a staff an enjoying each other’s company are just as fruitful for our team.

Lastly, ask for feedback often! People probably HAVE thoughts, but aren’t always comfortable sharing them unprompted. That doesn’t mean it might not be really valuable. Create space for people to share ideas or voice their opinions because a lot of it is gold!

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

A big desire to constantly learn with a little side of hustle.

If you work in the wellness industry, you have to be willing to work when other people aren’t. If nine to five is your goal, wellness is not for you.

Every single client is an opportunity to learn something new. No one body moves exactly the same, and not one person has identical requirements for nutrition as another. The more people I serve, the more opportunity I have to learn how different people respond to different things, and it makes me better for the next client!

Our bodies are crazy and can do miraculous things. It’s so exciting to keep learning about them as I continue in my career, and I don’t think you could last in this field if that’s not intriguing to you.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.crossfitrenew.com
• Instagram: @wearerenewfitness; @beckylwickes
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wearerenewfitness

Image Credits

Miko Marquez, Cecily Breeding