Choosing People Over Convenience: Human Connection at RAH! Power Fitness

It was a simple question. One I had never been asked before. It was 2016. I was working at The University of Texas at Austin at the College of Natural Sciences. I was in my 16th year of working in public education and I had fallen in love with fitness. So much so that I enrolled in the Certified Personal Trainer (CPT) Certificate program at UT, passed the CPT exam, and was about to complete my internship at one of Inc. 5000’s fastest growing companies - Camp Gladiator. I was about to launch my own boot camp locations with this company when I was asked “what do you want your schedule to be?” 

Having worked in public education all my life up until that point I was always told what my schedule was. I never had the option to think beyond the typical time constraints a teacher has to consider. Things like: 

“What time do students arrive?”

“When are faculty meetings?”

“What time is morning/afternoon/lunch duty?”

To be given the opportunity and above all the autonomy to think about what time constraints I wanted for me and my life and my family stirred something inside me. It quietly started my path to a different way of working. A different professional life for me. It started showing me opportunity - opportunity to do what I wanted to do when I wanted to do it. 

From 2016 until 2026 I worked “the schedule of my dreams” leading workouts mainly on Tuesdays and Thursdays. During that time I decided to go out on my own launching my own fitness business - RAH! Power Fitness in 2023 - where I kept my schedule, but became in charge of my own perspective - one where people would be at the center. 

Not profit. 

Not expansion. 

Not numbers. 

RAH! Power Fitness was created as a space for humans to come together to be their genuine selves to elevate their health and fitness no matter what. 

So why after 10 years did I decide to change my schedule and up the ante on my workload? It was a combination of factors; trainers moving on, onboarding new trainers, and more. It caused me to revisit how I viewed my role as a Trainer. I had to ask myself what it meant to be someone’s Trainer. I knew deep down being someone’s Trainer was more than merely texting them to check in on them. Being someone’s Trainer meant to show up for them -  to see them. To truly see them. 

To make eye contact with them and share a smile. 

To bump fists and tell them “way to go!”  

To ask how their body is feeling in real time. 

To hug them. 

To call their name aloud with POWER.

All those things and more center on the human connection. 

You see I know deep down that the hour you’ve chosen to be at RAH! is more than an hour of exercise. I look at it as an hour to connect. For me to connect with you. For you to connect with others. For you to show yourself how YOU can show up for YOU. An hour to look beyond a screen and up to the beautiful sky above or out into the expanse of the open air. 

If I were to have kept my schedule as it had been for 10 years I would have missed an opportunity to potentially see each and every one of you at least once a week. Does it mean I’m having to change and sacrifice some things? Sure it does. We are all making sacrifices in our lives. The difference now that I’ve been adjusting to my new schedule is what used to be a sacrifice in my eyes has become an opportunity for more human connection. 

And where there’s more human connection there’s more POWER. 

RAH!