We were lucky to catch up with Cierra Brackens recently and have shared our conversation below.

Cierra , appreciate you joining us today. Can you recount a time when the advice you provided to a client was really spot on? (Please note this response is for education/entertainment purposes only and shouldn’t be construed as advice for the reader)

One thing I make sure I tell ALL my clients is “Your journey is not their journey”. It may seem pretty simple, but most people don’t truly let that resonate. It’s very easy to get caught up in someone else’s fitness journey and then become impatient with your own, but we are all unique. Just because it worked for one person doesn’t mean it will work for you. Social media makes it hard when you are constantly bombarded with everyone’s successes, naturally we start to compare ourselves. (This doesn’t just apply to fitness but life in general) We always see the end result, but not the work it took to get there. “Your journey is not their journey” is me encouraging my clients to embrace every part of their journey,-the ups and the downs, the weight loss and the unexpected weight gain. It’s all a part of the journey and it will be even sweeter at the top looking down on all you have overcome.

Cierra , 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?

Hi! I am Cierra Brackens and I am the creator of Your Version Fitness, a mobile personal training service that helps others FIND THEIR FIT. I have always enjoyed working out. I played volleyball through high school so exercise wasn’t new to me. Even in college I remained active with weight lifting. It was something that I enjoyed so much I thought I would make it a career! I started personal training in 2017 but that is all it was. After training for a few years and seeing the behind the scenes of big box gyms and the fitness industry in general, I noticed that it’s about the look. Every one wants a 6 pack, every one wants a tiny waist because they think that it equals “fit” but it doesn’t. FIT is unique to the individual. FIT is taking your goals, your limitations, your needs and turning into something that is sustainable.

My goal with Your Version Fitness is to help my clients stop comparing themselves. To stop trying everything they see on the internet to look like someone on the internet and to focus on THEM. I try to encourage my clients to focus on doing things to increase their quality of life and their longevity. Of course, their goals will get reached, but I want to change how they view fitness. I don’t want them to exercise because they may get a 6 pack out of it, I want them to exercise because it makes them feel good.

The fitness industry has become so saturated with showing off and selling “a look”. Your Version Fitness is about what’s on the inside. It’s about how we can train our bodies to function at its best at all seasons of our lives.

If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?

If I am being honest, no. Two reasons why. The first is stability. While there are tons of positives to entrepreneurship there are also a lot of negatives that most don’t want to talk about. It’s unpredictable, some months your business can do really well and some you may make zero dollars. There are no healthcare benefits or retirement savings (of course you could still get these things but the out of pocket cost can be insane!) This leaves most, myself included, to seek full time employment. Talk about exhausting! The second being its lifespan. It’s not a profession that I can see myself doing for the rest of my life. I thoroughly enjoy training, please don’t get me wrong, but at 40 or 50 I don’t want to be a personal trainer. If I could go back I would pursue more business like ventures. That way, even if God still places me in the fitness industry, I would know the ins and outs of the business side making it easier to scale. Once I have exhausted my love for training, I can still stay in the industry just behind the scenes.

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

Hands on experience for sure. You can take all the courses and read all the articles in the world, but nothing can quite prepare you for personal training clients. Some clients are a piece of cake, exactly like you learned in your courses, but some have chronic pain they have been dealing with for years and you have to know how to train around it, some have never stepped foot in a gym and you’ll have to literally hold their hand with EVERYTHING. Some clients will think they know more than you! Like I say all the time, everyone’s unique. Personal training definitely requires patience. You never know what type of personalities you will be interacting with.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.yvfitness.com
• Instagram: _yvfitness
• Facebook: YV Fitness
• Youtube: Your Version Fitness

Image Credits
Gabrian King