We were lucky to catch up with Kristen Bender recently and have shared our conversation below.
Kristen, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.
When I started tuning into my body and really listening, my life was changed. I would have never thought my relationship with fitness was unhealthy before this moment. However, after I grew my mind and body connection I realized that I was moving out of punishment not out of love. If I ate a certain way I felt like I had to “work it off”, I thought I had to always be sweating and sore after a workout, and even though I loved movement I wasn’t really enjoying the process. It was when I took time to slow down, connect with my body, and really listen that my mindset began to change. Through slowing down, showing myself grace, and falling in love with mobility work and strength training I began to see a massive shift within myself. I was beginning to move because I craved it on the inside. I was moving because I was loving myself. I was also resting because I loved myself. A balance was found that gave me so much passion and joy for these wonderful bodies of ours. This is what led me to pursue becoming a personal trainer. I wanted to learn and grow in this field to teach others what I spent years learning myself. A simple moment of slowing down and tuning into myself changed my heart, my passions, and allowed me to see long-term changes in my health and fitness. Now I have the joy to be able to work with others and help them do the same. This is one of the greatest joys of my life. To help busy men and women regain their mind and body connection to build strength from the inside out.
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 Kristen Bender and I am a certified personal trainer. I offer one on one virtual training as well as group training for retreats, meetings, and private events. I am extremely passionate about helping my clients find long-term and sustainable change when it comes to health and fitness. The yo-yo dieting and fitness trends are all too familiar to me and I want to help my clients move beyond the back and forth to real and lasting results. I take a holistic approach that takes YOU into account first. By looking at your current habits, life, schedule, relationships, and more I help build systematic programs for you to reach YOUR goals. I don’t provide quick fixes but help my clients work toward each goal step by step to make lifelong changes. I am so proud of the knowledge that I have gained along this journey, from corrective exercises to pre and postpartum exercise care, programming, mindset, and more. It is this knowledge that allows me to be one of the best in my field and it’s my desire to never stop learning that will keep me on this path. I truly care about my clients and by keeping up with new science, research, and fitness findings I am able to provide them with the best care and coaching possible.
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 lesson I had to unlearn was that you need to know everything and have everything perfect before starting. I delayed my business so much by holding onto this perfectionist mindset and idea that I had to do everything myself. There are people out there who want to see you succeed, who believe in you, and trust your services. Sometimes you just have to learn by DOING. You will never get started if you don’t get started. The biggest lesson that I have learned was that 70% of perfection is good enough. This is because real results, knowledge, and improvement come from taking risks, putting yourself out there, and learning by doing.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
I am a personal trainer and communications professional. While working in the marketing department for a school I took a leap and shifted into the fitness industry. It felt like my life was on two different paths and I didn’t want to let go of either. I learned that I didn’t have to let go of either. In reality, my experience as a communications professional where I worked with people, in marketing, and in social media management has allowed me to become a better coach and trainer. The fitness industry is about people and being able to communicate effectively is crucial to being a great coach. So as I continue my career I will hold onto both of these passions of mine because, in the end, I didn’t have to pivot. I was able to take hold of both and utilize them in a unique way.
Contact Info:
- Website: oneobedience.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: oneobedience
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristen-bender-08a081136/
- Twitter: khbender
Image Credits
The photos of me in red were taken by Alyssa Mims Photography (Instagram: @alyssamimsphotography)