We were lucky to catch up with Maria Chavez recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Maria, thanks for joining us today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

I feel like I have taken many risks in my life journey. The risk to become a CrossFit Affiliate owner has probably been the biggest yet. My journey with CrossFit started just over 3 years ago; I fell in love with it! I have always been into fitness in health and when I first started doing CrossFit workouts, I saw it as a challenge and still do. I have chronic health conditions that made it impossible for me to workout for years. Somewhere along that journey of wanting to feel better and be able to move like I used to, I found functional medicine which taught me how to use food as medicine in order to improve my health. I improved my health enough to get back in the gym and I chose a CrossFit gym! While on my CrossFit journey, I began to envision and dream about what it would be like to be an Affiliate Owner and a coach. I knew if I was ever to become an owner, I would need to have my Level 1 training under my belt so I started there. Getting my Level 1 was also a journey, I had to wait for the course to be held near me and then I failed the test the first time. I began to doubt myself and wondered if I was just an imposter and I didn’t have what it took. I decided I would follow through and retake the test and I put in the extra study time and I succeeded on my second try! A few months after that, the opportunity to buy the gym I had been the member of for just over a year was presented to me and while I had some moments of doubt; I told myself that if this dream of mine became a reality, it was meant to be! I still am not entirely sure what I’m doing; I’ve never owned a business like this but I know I’m incredibly passionate about this community that welcomed me with open arms, I love coaching and watching people progress in their own journeys and I’m thrilled to continue growing as a CrossFit athlete myself, as a coach and as an Affiliate owner. This part of my story is just beginning but I’m grateful and excited to see what happens next!

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’m a retired, disabled veteran from the Air Force. I enlisted in 1999 and the age of 20 and served for more than 13 years. I’m also a single mother with a 19 year old son. I got into health and fitness while on active duty. The fitness part was sort of par for the course; we had regular physical fitness and our fitness was also tested annually so it was always important for me to do well and not get in “trouble” for not meeting the standard on anything. While on active duty my body began to shut down in many ways and at the time, the only thing I knew was to see a medical doctor for answers. Well, the answers were all over the place and the only solution was to take medications. I was taking more than 10 prescriptions daily at one point and at the time, unable to get out of bed. I was not living, I was existing! I became so sick and tired of being sick and tired and I made an investment in myself and consulted a functional medicine doctor which completely changed my life. It was not an easy process to go through detoxing from over a decade of medications and changing the way I thought of and picked the foods I ate. But, I was beyond ready to get up and start living and enjoying living! I even decided to become a health coach and obtained my certification. All of this puts me in a unique position to know and advise people when it come to health and fitness because I understand what it’s like to gain weight and not know what to do to fix it. I believed the medications would make me better and they made me worse. With my job as a CrossFit coach, a health coach, a gym owner; I can be the example for what is possible even when you think you can’t change your life, lose the weight, be an athlete, become a business owner (insert your dream here), to show that anything is possible and I get to watch everyone who comes to my gym improve their lives and hopefully assist them in making it easier!

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

My son was about 3 or 4 years old when I was stationed in Las Vegas and I had a long commute and worked long hours. My son was getting to be school aged and I wasn’t sure how my schedule and my husband’s at the time would work. I didn’t want my son to spend more time with a babysitter than with us so I made the painful decision to have him live with his Father full time. His Father was active duty Army at the time, stationed in Kansas and he and his wife lived on base and the elementary school was located across the street from their home on base housing. It was a good time for my son and his Father to build a bond because they usually only saw each other once a year. It is a decision that later came with consequences I hadn’t anticipated. Years later, we ended up in a custody battle that lasted a few years and it led me to move to Pennsylvania after my medical retirement so that I could fight for custody and live in the same town as my son. I moved to a place where I had no support system, friends, or even a job but I knew I had to do that in order to get equal time with my son as the judge had already decided she would not allow him to move to CA where I’m from. In addition to having no support system, I knew the colder weather, rain and snow would negatively impact my chronic medical conditions which it did. I didn’t focus on myself much during that time but I had to focus on seeing my son regularly and doing whatever it took for that to happen. I remained focus on that until I reached 50/50 custody. Years later, after my health was at its worse, I found functional medicine. It would have been easy to stay in sunny CA, and not fight, not spend money I didn’t have on litigation but my resiliency led to me being there and watching my son grown up and being there for his soccer games and ultimately where I am today.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

I think word of mouth has been the best source of clients. Current members love the community aspect, the excellent coaching staff and new programming so it’s not surprise I have been getting phone calls and message from people saying “Hey, my friend told me about your gym and I would love to come and try a class!!” I love those kinds of referrals because I know that after experiencing one class, they will become members! I’m also very appreciative for it because I’m not the best with social media and marketing and something I’m learning still, but having members refer others helps our community continue to grow with likeminded people.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.cfdefy.com
• Instagram: @crossfitdefy; @mlchavez78
• Facebook: CrossFit Defy; Maria Lucy Chavez