Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / 72. Betina Gozo, Nike Master Trainer

Transcript

72. Betina Gozo, Nike Master Trainer · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

0:00
Speaker 1: Hey, hurdlers, Emily and Body Here a little out of
0:04
Speaker 1: breath with episode seventy two of Hurdle, a podcast that
0:09
Speaker 1: talks to everyone from entrepreneurs to top CEOs and athletes
0:12
Speaker 1: about how they've gotten through tough times hurdles of sorts
0:16
Speaker 1: by leaning into wellness. This breathing thing, it's because I
0:21
Speaker 1: literally just walked in the door from running the New
0:24
Speaker 1: York Road Runner's new Balance fitth Avenue mile a six
0:27
Speaker 1: h nine. Feeling pretty good about that, considering I logged
0:32
Speaker 1: a fifteen miler long run yesterday and uh, just really
0:36
Speaker 1: loving the diversity in all the running that I'm doing.
0:39
Speaker 1: Enough about me for now before I get in today's
0:42
Speaker 1: episode with Bettina Gozo, she's a Nike Master Trainer. Quick
0:47
Speaker 1: shout out to my sponsor, Athletic Greens. Before I sat
0:51
Speaker 1: down to record this intro, the first thing I did
0:54
Speaker 1: coming in the door from my run was shake up
0:56
Speaker 1: some ag. And that's because Athletic Greens. It gives me
1:00
Speaker 1: the boost I need to start off my day right
1:03
Speaker 1: right when I get in from my workout. I drink
1:05
Speaker 1: it every day on an empty stomach, and it just
1:07
Speaker 1: gives me the energy, makes me feel clear, and ready
1:11
Speaker 1: to take on whatever comes my way. They are offering
1:14
Speaker 1: Hurdle listeners a special deal. It's twenty free travel packs
1:18
Speaker 1: a seventy nine dollars value, absolutely free with your first purchase.
1:23
Speaker 1: Just head on over to athleticgreens dot com slash Hurdle again,
1:26
Speaker 1: that's Athleticgreens dot Com slash Hurdle to grab yours today,
1:31
Speaker 1: No code necessary. All right, now, let's talk about Betina.
1:37
Speaker 1: Betina is a ray of light like that's the best
1:40
Speaker 1: way to describe her. We were introduced through some mutual
1:43
Speaker 1: friends in the industry. Obviously, you guys have heard from
1:45
Speaker 1: Kirsty Godso, Joe Holder, Alex silver Fagan, all other Nike
1:49
Speaker 1: Master trainers and we immediately clicked. This episode is a
1:53
Speaker 1: direct result from you guys actually writing in and asking
1:58
Speaker 1: me to hear a chat with her. So mental note
2:01
Speaker 1: that I'm listening and I want to bring you guys
2:04
Speaker 1: stories from the people that you want to hear from. Anyway,
2:07
Speaker 1: Betina and I sat down when I was in Los
2:10
Speaker 1: Angeles a couple months ago, and she used to make
2:12
Speaker 1: a living playing bass in a rock band. But in
2:15
Speaker 1: today's episode, she talks to me all about the workout
2:17
Speaker 1: class that changed her career entirely, and how she went
2:20
Speaker 1: from hardly being able to do exercises with five pound
2:23
Speaker 1: dumbbells so crushing barbell friendly workouts on the Nike Training
2:27
Speaker 1: Club app. We also wrap about one of the hardest
2:30
Speaker 1: parts of adulting, balancing a career in your personal life,
2:33
Speaker 1: and the tough decisions she had to make after spending
2:36
Speaker 1: some time cell phone free on a work trip. What
2:39
Speaker 1: I love about Beatina, Like I said, she's just Her
2:41
Speaker 1: energy is amazing, It's contagious. Right this very second, she's
2:45
Speaker 1: actually donating her time in Kenya for her foundation, Dance
2:49
Speaker 1: with Money. It's a nonprofit organization. It's got a mission
2:52
Speaker 1: to bring volunteers to orphanages and schools with physical and
2:55
Speaker 1: mental disabilities in developing countries. It's really inspiring what she's doing.
3:01
Speaker 1: If you want to hear more, if you want to
3:03
Speaker 1: contribute or donate to the cause, definitely go check out
3:07
Speaker 1: Dance with Money. That's mweyne dot org and all the
3:13
Speaker 1: other usual stuff that comes from me, you know at
3:15
Speaker 1: Hurdle Podcast at Emily a Body. If you have a
3:17
Speaker 1: Hurdle moment of your own to share or just want
3:20
Speaker 1: to say Hi, Feel free to reach out to me.
3:22
Speaker 1: It's Emily at hurdle dot us over email. Also, if
3:25
Speaker 1: you're in the New York City area, I'm super stoked
3:28
Speaker 1: to be teaming up with Trellis. They're a woman's egg
3:30
Speaker 1: freezing fertility studio for a live podcast episode with Ayakna.
3:34
Speaker 1: She is the Chief Fashion director at Hurst. It's part
3:38
Speaker 1: of their Fertility boot Camp Week, which brings a lot
3:41
Speaker 1: of awareness to the idea of fertility and what your
3:44
Speaker 1: options are as you get older in life. It's definitely
3:47
Speaker 1: something that's on my mind as I am getting into
3:51
Speaker 1: my mid thirties and something that I personally don't know
3:53
Speaker 1: a lot about. So if you're in the New York
3:55
Speaker 1: City area, the podcast goes from six to eight pm.
3:58
Speaker 1: I'll make sure to put a link in the show,
4:00
Speaker 1: so if you're round and you want to come hang
4:01
Speaker 1: out and listen in, you're more than welcome. Hope to
4:04
Speaker 1: see you guys there. And with that, let's get to hurdling.
4:19
Speaker 2: Today.
4:19
Speaker 1: I'm sitting down with Bettina Gozo. She's a Nike Master
4:22
Speaker 1: trainer and all around awesome babe. How do you like
4:26
Speaker 1: to describe yourself?
4:30
Speaker 2: I don't know, Actually, spunky spunky, a lot of energy,
4:33
Speaker 2: A lot of energy.
4:34
Speaker 1: I can't tell that right off of that. Amazing. Okay, well,
4:38
Speaker 1: I'm excited you've invited me into your home in Los Angeles.
4:41
Speaker 1: Why don't we start off. I've had a few of
4:44
Speaker 1: your peers on the pod. I've had Kristy and Joe
4:47
Speaker 1: and Alex Silverfagan, all Nike Master trainers, and every time
4:50
Speaker 1: I've asked them to tell me, what is it to
4:54
Speaker 1: be a Nike Master Trainer? So why don't you tell me?
4:56
Speaker 1: Why don't you tell me that?
4:57
Speaker 2: That is a great question. So to be an Ikey
5:01
Speaker 2: Master Trainer for me personally, what I've experienced with all
5:05
Speaker 2: the other trainers is really it's about being someone who
5:10
Speaker 2: can partner with the brand and represent the brand in
5:12
Speaker 2: a way that they want to relate to their consumers. So,
5:17
Speaker 2: you know, I mean, depending on your skills and your talents,
5:20
Speaker 2: every trainer kind of has a different thing. I almost
5:23
Speaker 2: feel like they wanted to put it together a team
5:25
Speaker 2: like the Avengers. You know, everyone has a different skill,
5:27
Speaker 2: everyone has a different thing that they're really into, we're
5:30
Speaker 2: really good at And for me personally, it's just being
5:33
Speaker 2: able to connect to the consumer, making training relatable to
5:37
Speaker 2: the consumer and making them understand like what it is
5:41
Speaker 2: that we do and you know, as far as training goes,
5:43
Speaker 2: and how we live our best lives with the things
5:46
Speaker 2: that we're incorporating.
5:47
Speaker 1: So what is your personal training style?
5:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love to incorporate strength training, and I always
5:54
Speaker 2: like to have fun with my clients, Like I want
5:57
Speaker 2: my clients to get better and know that when they train,
6:01
Speaker 2: it's going to make them stronger, because it's not just
6:04
Speaker 2: about the weight room. It's about, you know, doing things
6:08
Speaker 2: that are challenging and overcoming them. And I feel like
6:11
Speaker 2: strength training is one of those things where like you're
6:13
Speaker 2: choosing to put yourself through pain and choosing to overcome them,
6:17
Speaker 2: hopefully at least. And I think that just relays in
6:19
Speaker 2: so many other aspects in your life.
6:21
Speaker 1: So let's rewind it back, because have you always been
6:23
Speaker 1: into fitness or what's no, what's that look like for you?
6:26
Speaker 1: Where did you grow up?
6:27
Speaker 2: I so, I was born in the Philippines, but I
6:29
Speaker 2: came to the US when I was two. I grew
6:31
Speaker 2: up in Northwest Indiana and I didn't move to the
6:35
Speaker 2: South or so to Chicago until I was nine. I
6:39
Speaker 2: was in the South suburbs, and I actually only played
6:41
Speaker 2: music pretty much my whole life. And I danced a
6:43
Speaker 2: little bit in high school in middle school, but music
6:45
Speaker 2: was like my passion, like I wanted to play bass
6:49
Speaker 2: for like Beyonce or Prints or something, and I never
6:52
Speaker 2: really worked out. I didn't really play sports, like I
6:54
Speaker 2: played volleyball because it was like fun, and played soccer
6:58
Speaker 2: here and there, but sports was just like not a
7:00
Speaker 2: thing because none of my relatives played sports. It was
7:02
Speaker 2: everyone was creative. We're in the healthcare industry. And I
7:05
Speaker 2: actually played in a band for a living for almost
7:08
Speaker 2: all of my early twenties. And then it really wasn't
7:10
Speaker 2: until I was I think it was twenty four. My
7:14
Speaker 2: roommate took me to the gym and made me take
7:16
Speaker 2: a workout class, and I remember being like, Oh, this
7:20
Speaker 2: class looks so easy. I mean, I dance around with
7:22
Speaker 2: my bass for three hours every night, like I'll totally
7:25
Speaker 2: be fine. But it wasn't until that class I realized
7:28
Speaker 2: quickly how out of shape I was.
7:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, so what was going on in the class?
7:32
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I remember, I remember there are these
7:35
Speaker 2: like these rings, and now I know that they're like
7:38
Speaker 2: agility rings. But back then I remember there's like two
7:40
Speaker 2: little rings that were like stacked on each other, and
7:42
Speaker 2: I had to like shuffle my feet. I was so
7:44
Speaker 2: I could dance, but I felt so uncoordinated and I
7:46
Speaker 2: was so out of breath, like bouncing back and forth
7:48
Speaker 2: on these on these little rings. And then I remember
7:51
Speaker 2: there's another station with dumbbells, and I remember just being like,
7:54
Speaker 2: what am I doing? Tory has these ten pound weights
7:56
Speaker 2: and I had like the five pound weights, and I
7:59
Speaker 2: think it's just so funny to think back at that
8:01
Speaker 2: because now I'm like throwing around barbells over my head
8:04
Speaker 2: that are like sixty five pounds if not heavier, you know.
8:07
Speaker 2: So it's really cool to tell how my client set
8:09
Speaker 2: because they're like, you've probably always been stronger, You've probably
8:11
Speaker 2: always played sports, And it's just a nice reminder to
8:14
Speaker 2: people like if you just work at something, you will
8:16
Speaker 2: get stronger and you will get better.
8:18
Speaker 1: Right. It's interesting because at this point, usually it goes
8:21
Speaker 1: one of two ways. Right, you either decide like, wow,
8:23
Speaker 1: I am not doing that again, but you didn't have
8:26
Speaker 1: that feeling, you go to the direction.
8:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was. It was one of those things. After
8:30
Speaker 2: I got over the oh my god, that sucked. That
8:33
Speaker 2: was horrible, and I don't know what just happened. I
8:36
Speaker 2: kind of like became addicted to it, and I think
8:38
Speaker 2: like secretly I was a little competitive with myself and
8:41
Speaker 2: maybe even with Corey, being like, why does she get
8:42
Speaker 2: the ten pound weights and I'm dying in these five
8:44
Speaker 2: pound weights? So I keep coming back to the class
8:46
Speaker 2: with her, and eventually I had the twelve pound weights,
8:48
Speaker 2: and you know, I wanted to get so much stronger
8:51
Speaker 2: and better at it that I hired a personal trainer.
8:55
Speaker 2: And then from noticing that I was getting stronger, I
8:59
Speaker 2: I noticed I wanted to eat better. And when I
9:01
Speaker 2: was playing in the band, you know, I wasn't eating
9:03
Speaker 2: real healthy. I was eating gas stations food, eating the
9:05
Speaker 2: wings and the pizza that we were that we had
9:07
Speaker 2: at the bars that we would play at. And when
9:10
Speaker 2: I started taking care of myself, I realized I wanted
9:13
Speaker 2: to make every other aspect of my life better. So
9:15
Speaker 2: I would order salads with chicken and you know, not
9:18
Speaker 2: get the gas station Swedish fish or sour Patch kids
9:21
Speaker 2: or whatever it was there.
9:23
Speaker 1: Tell me about the band.
9:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, that was so fun. We played top forty covers,
9:29
Speaker 2: so we had a female singer and a rapper, and
9:32
Speaker 2: we played everything that you heard on the radio at
9:34
Speaker 2: the time, so a lot of Black Eyed Peas because
9:35
Speaker 2: we had the female male dynamic, and a lot of
9:38
Speaker 2: Kanye we had, oh man, we played everything almost anything
9:43
Speaker 2: old school hip hop pop, and we played bars, bar mitzvahs, weddings, festivals,
9:49
Speaker 2: like we played about three or four, maybe five times
9:52
Speaker 2: a week.
9:53
Speaker 1: Wow.
9:53
Speaker 2: And so in my early twenties, like that was like
9:55
Speaker 2: the coolest job ever, especially because I wanted to play
9:57
Speaker 2: for Beyonce. So I was like, I am going to
10:00
Speaker 2: leave Chicago and move to la and be Beyonce's basela,
10:05
Speaker 2: Like that was my dream back then.
10:06
Speaker 1: So I don't even know does have a full time player.
10:12
Speaker 2: Has an all female band and her bass player is
10:15
Speaker 2: actually her band leader? Oh yeah, wow, I know.
10:18
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, I can with that. It's okay, okay.
10:22
Speaker 1: So you're playing in the band and you're traveling a lot,
10:25
Speaker 1: and that can be really overwhelming and to go hand
10:29
Speaker 1: in hand with that so along the same time is
10:31
Speaker 1: when you're starting to get into fitness. Yeah, they don't
10:34
Speaker 1: go that well.
10:35
Speaker 2: The other no, they definitely don't.
10:38
Speaker 1: So what did that look like at first?
10:39
Speaker 2: At first, it was more like I was working out
10:41
Speaker 2: for a hobby and it was fun, and I was noticing,
10:45
Speaker 2: you know, I would have to I mean before, when
10:49
Speaker 2: I was playing the band, I would play till four am,
10:51
Speaker 2: and then I mean sleep until two in the afternoon
10:55
Speaker 2: the next day, and then like wake up, roll out
10:57
Speaker 2: of bed, and be like all right, time to play
10:59
Speaker 2: the next show. Get our our guitar player would come
11:01
Speaker 2: pick us up in our big band, and then whatever,
11:03
Speaker 2: and then I would just work out. So I just
11:04
Speaker 2: kind of worked out here and there. We traveled a lot,
11:06
Speaker 2: so I would get the band to work out with me,
11:09
Speaker 2: and eventually I was like, you know what, like I'm
11:11
Speaker 2: noticing I'm starting to make an influence on people that
11:14
Speaker 2: are close to me, like the band, Like they're wanting
11:16
Speaker 2: to work out, they're doing playings and squats with me
11:18
Speaker 2: before a show, and it just kind of became an
11:22
Speaker 2: integration of like now we're working out when we travel
11:25
Speaker 2: instead of just like sleeping all day and like doing
11:27
Speaker 2: nothing or just sitting around, and so now we were
11:30
Speaker 2: working out, We're doing things that made us feel good.
11:33
Speaker 2: And then I realized, since I had that influence, I
11:36
Speaker 2: was like, well, why don't I get my personal training
11:38
Speaker 2: certification to make extra money, and I was coaching at
11:43
Speaker 2: different gyms and teaching classes and it was so funny
11:47
Speaker 2: because I don't I think back at it, I'm like,
11:49
Speaker 2: how did I run around? Like I was sleeping or
11:54
Speaker 2: going to sleep at four am on the weekends. But
11:57
Speaker 2: then I was riding my bike all around Chicago. I
11:59
Speaker 2: remember I didn't have a car at the time. I
12:00
Speaker 2: was like riding my bicycle, like my single speed bike,
12:03
Speaker 2: all over Chicago from one gym, teaching bar at one place,
12:06
Speaker 2: teaching a boot clamp, another places, teaching like zoomba or
12:09
Speaker 2: something like some sort of class somewhere else, and then
12:12
Speaker 2: maybe only got like four or five hours of sleep
12:14
Speaker 2: because I just loved it so much. Yeah, and yeah,
12:17
Speaker 2: it was just one of those things where it just
12:19
Speaker 2: didn't really matter because I was so passionate about training
12:22
Speaker 2: and passionate about teaching classes and still passionate about playing
12:25
Speaker 2: music too. But eventually I realized I couldn't sustain that,
12:29
Speaker 2: so I had to pick one, and I just chose
12:33
Speaker 2: the fitness thing and chose training because I really loved it.
12:37
Speaker 1: So when do you stop running around so much?
12:40
Speaker 2: I don't even know if I still don't about they
12:42
Speaker 2: were like running around all our place. Eventually, it was
12:45
Speaker 2: just I was offered a fitness director quote unquote position
12:51
Speaker 2: at this new gym that opened, and at the time,
12:54
Speaker 2: the owner didn't really even know what that meant. He
12:56
Speaker 2: just knew like, I hate like my energy, He liked
12:58
Speaker 2: that I worked hard, and he was like, hey, would
13:00
Speaker 2: you be interested in this fitness director position? And we
13:03
Speaker 2: kind of turned it into this really awesome thing that
13:06
Speaker 2: you know, we grew from one location to three locations,
13:08
Speaker 2: managed like from three trainers to like forty trainers over
13:11
Speaker 2: three years, if not, I think maybe even more by
13:14
Speaker 2: the time I left. But when I was offered that position,
13:17
Speaker 2: it gave me more stability to quit those other places
13:20
Speaker 2: and then and then quit the band.
13:23
Speaker 1: Okay, so we leave the band, which must have been
13:26
Speaker 1: like it was hard.
13:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, I really felt like it was an identity crisis
13:30
Speaker 2: a little bit because I was so passionate about playing
13:33
Speaker 2: music and I was so convinced that I was going
13:35
Speaker 2: to be a famous bass player and playing for whoever.
13:37
Speaker 2: I even really wanted to play for Kesha like that
13:39
Speaker 2: was another It was another really I heard she just
13:43
Speaker 2: came out with an album.
13:44
Speaker 1: I'm I'm not surprised by that. I mean, she had
13:47
Speaker 1: that stuff with Maclamore like two years ago and that
13:51
Speaker 1: was gold.
13:52
Speaker 2: Yes. Well, and that's at the time when I was playing.
13:54
Speaker 2: It was when like TikTok came out and all those songs,
13:57
Speaker 2: So we were playing those songs. I loved it of
14:00
Speaker 2: having and I heard that she had all female musicians too,
14:02
Speaker 2: so I was like, I'm going to play for her.
14:05
Speaker 1: Leave the band. And it's like kind of a little
14:06
Speaker 1: bit of an identity crisis.
14:08
Speaker 2: Such an identic crisis. And on top of it, I
14:10
Speaker 2: had like imposter syndrome because I was this quote unquote
14:13
Speaker 2: fitness director and I had only been a trainer for
14:15
Speaker 2: like a year at that point, and I was supposed
14:18
Speaker 2: to be leading trainers and doing all these things. So
14:20
Speaker 2: I just every single dollar I spent, I just spent
14:22
Speaker 2: it on continuing education, Yeah, because I was like, I'm
14:25
Speaker 2: so delayed on this, Like I've been studying music and
14:28
Speaker 2: doing all the things that are so opposite of this
14:31
Speaker 2: for so long. Yeah, And I think it was one
14:35
Speaker 2: of those things where I had to I was like
14:38
Speaker 2: not copying everyone, but just seeing what everyone else was
14:40
Speaker 2: doing and trying to be like them, but trying to
14:43
Speaker 2: find myself in that way. But then I think when
14:46
Speaker 2: I really just kind of like honed it on what
14:47
Speaker 2: I was good at and just knew that people liked
14:49
Speaker 2: working with me because I'm me, it just helped me
14:53
Speaker 2: settle down a little bit more and like just focus
14:56
Speaker 2: on the reason why I like doing it, which is
14:58
Speaker 2: like helping people.
14:59
Speaker 1: So how did you really shoved that imposter syndrome to
15:02
Speaker 1: the side? Then?
15:03
Speaker 2: That was I don't even think I really got over
15:05
Speaker 2: that until I moved to Portland, because before I moved
15:09
Speaker 2: to Portland in twenty sixteen, so twenty thirteen was when
15:13
Speaker 2: I became the Fitness Director and in that time Nike
15:17
Speaker 2: found me and offered me a contract to be a
15:20
Speaker 2: Nike trainer, then like a few months later offered me
15:22
Speaker 2: a contract to become a Nike Master Trainer. And I
15:25
Speaker 2: think for so long I was so attached to these
15:27
Speaker 2: titles like Fitness Director, Nike Master Trainer, and I felt
15:31
Speaker 2: like I didn't live up to these titles, and I
15:34
Speaker 2: just kept studying and doing all these things, and it
15:37
Speaker 2: really wasn't until I moved to Portland where I was
15:39
Speaker 2: stripped of this title of quote unquote fitness director. I
15:42
Speaker 2: was like, well, what am I doing now? Like, I
15:43
Speaker 2: can't call myself this fitness director. I don't even know
15:46
Speaker 2: what that meant. But I just knew that I was
15:47
Speaker 2: doing a good job at what I was doing in
15:49
Speaker 2: Chicago and then in Portland, I was still working with
15:53
Speaker 2: Nike and doing stuff. But I think I had to
15:57
Speaker 2: just really focus on me and what I love doing.
16:01
Speaker 2: And I think when I did that, I just was like, Oh,
16:04
Speaker 2: I don't need to be attached to these titles, because
16:06
Speaker 2: what do you stand for? I think I really had
16:07
Speaker 2: to figure out what I stood for and what I
16:08
Speaker 2: really liked doing and why I do it. And when
16:11
Speaker 2: I did that, that's when I was like, Okay.
16:13
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I think that's important no matter what
16:16
Speaker 1: you're doing, right, Yes, totally. Yeah. So just to take
16:20
Speaker 1: the time to take a step back instead of throwing
16:22
Speaker 1: yourself into your work like when you make because it
16:24
Speaker 1: because your values matter and your decision making they matter
16:27
Speaker 1: and how you execute your day to day. So if
16:29
Speaker 1: you can't align yourself with these values, if you can't
16:33
Speaker 1: identify what your why is, yes, then no title is
16:36
Speaker 1: going to give you any gratification exactly.
16:38
Speaker 2: And I feel like for so long, I was just
16:41
Speaker 2: wanting to be like all these other master trainers, to
16:44
Speaker 2: try to be like all these other trainers that were around,
16:46
Speaker 2: and I just didn't focus on why I became a trainer, right,
16:52
Speaker 2: I was trying to be like everybody else. And that's
16:53
Speaker 2: when I when I slowed down, I was like, Okay,
16:55
Speaker 2: what is what is my Why why am I doing this?
16:58
Speaker 2: And what are my valueues? Like you said, is that's
17:01
Speaker 2: when I was able to just kind of get rid
17:03
Speaker 2: of that.
17:03
Speaker 1: Right, And so, how did you go about identifying what
17:07
Speaker 1: your values are? Because I think this is an exercise
17:10
Speaker 1: that a lot of people actually really struggle with the
17:13
Speaker 1: like Google, like, how do I figure out my values?
17:16
Speaker 2: It's funny because actually was working with a business coach
17:18
Speaker 2: for a little bit and he helped me with a
17:20
Speaker 2: lot of that. Yeah, so actually one of the first
17:22
Speaker 2: exercises did it helped me validate my values? Because I
17:25
Speaker 2: don't even remember how I figured it out. But he
17:28
Speaker 2: had this like long list of all these different things
17:31
Speaker 2: and he was like, I want you to pick like
17:33
Speaker 2: your top ten, and then our top twenty, and then
17:36
Speaker 2: from like and it was different things like it was
17:40
Speaker 2: like fun you know, empathy, or all those kind of
17:43
Speaker 2: different things, and we ended up like picking the twenty
17:47
Speaker 2: and then he would just help me like rate them.
17:49
Speaker 2: And I just sat there and like was like, wow,
17:51
Speaker 2: that these are the things that are really important to me.
17:54
Speaker 2: And I think too, slowing down was really important because
17:59
Speaker 2: I was just go, go go all the time. And
18:01
Speaker 2: when I was running around with the band and this
18:02
Speaker 2: and that, all I realized was I loved doing what
18:04
Speaker 2: I was doing. But I didn't know why I would
18:05
Speaker 2: say yes to everything, right, you know. I mean I
18:08
Speaker 2: was teaching like bar and zoomba and so just and
18:11
Speaker 2: that wasn't even my style. Like I just knew that
18:12
Speaker 2: I liked to dance. I would teach zoomba, and I
18:14
Speaker 2: knew I liked bar class, but it wasn't like my
18:16
Speaker 2: favorite to teach. But I was just doing it because
18:19
Speaker 2: I was just doing it. But I think people also
18:23
Speaker 2: have to patience, and I had to have patience with myself.
18:25
Speaker 2: And I noticed this a lot with a lot of
18:27
Speaker 2: young trainers. They always want to figure out what's happening
18:30
Speaker 2: at this moment, what everyone else is doing, and they
18:32
Speaker 2: searching for the answers and want someone to tell them
18:34
Speaker 2: the answers. But a lot of it is just patients
18:37
Speaker 2: and just experience, yea, figuring.
18:39
Speaker 1: Out what it is you like. So you moved to
18:41
Speaker 1: Portland and this is for Nike. No.
18:45
Speaker 2: I actually moved there with my ex partner and he
18:47
Speaker 2: really wanted to move to Portland, and I had thought
18:50
Speaker 2: I was Chicago girl for life, and I just kind
18:53
Speaker 2: of took a chance and I was like, I'm going
18:54
Speaker 2: to move to Portland. Yeah, And so I did, and
18:57
Speaker 2: I really loved it at first. And I think it
19:00
Speaker 2: was such a.
19:01
Speaker 1: A time of year did you move exactly?
19:03
Speaker 2: I moved in August.
19:04
Speaker 1: Every time beautiful.
19:06
Speaker 2: And then it was actually the first winter they had
19:08
Speaker 2: in like nine years where there was a lot of snow.
19:11
Speaker 2: So I remember being like, oh my gosh, this is horrible.
19:13
Speaker 1: This is awful awful. Yeah, yeah, but a lot of
19:16
Speaker 1: snow compared to Chicago exactly.
19:18
Speaker 2: But they don't have the infrastructure to handle it right now.
19:21
Speaker 1: I remember last year, I snowed like an inch and
19:24
Speaker 1: it was like, as of the apocalypse hit Portland.
19:26
Speaker 2: But it's funny because you see people like skiing, uh
19:29
Speaker 2: cross pitry skiing in the streets, so it's.
19:32
Speaker 1: No big deal. Okay, So you're in Portland and what
19:35
Speaker 1: happens from there.
19:37
Speaker 2: Oh, my gosh, I had such an identity crisis. Like
19:39
Speaker 2: I didn't like I thought that I wanted to work
19:43
Speaker 2: at Nike the corporate office, like I thought I wanted
19:46
Speaker 2: to be the fitness manager there, and I was doing
19:49
Speaker 2: this doing that just kind of like running around not
19:52
Speaker 2: really sure what it was I wanted. Because when I
19:54
Speaker 2: was in Chicago, like I was, you know, basically running
19:57
Speaker 2: this gym with the owner and then we finally like
20:00
Speaker 2: hired people. Actually, this is a side of this is
20:02
Speaker 2: how hard I was working at that gym. When I left,
20:05
Speaker 2: the owner split my position up into like eight different people.
20:08
Speaker 1: Oh geez, that's a lot.
20:10
Speaker 2: That's how much I was working. And I mean it
20:13
Speaker 2: was definitely one of those things that it probably should
20:15
Speaker 2: have happened anyway, but we just kind of didn't realize
20:19
Speaker 2: because you grew so quickly.
20:21
Speaker 1: It just shows how agile you are and nimble to
20:24
Speaker 1: be able to do all the things.
20:26
Speaker 2: That I was literally doing everything. I was like, yes, totally.
20:31
Speaker 2: I remember I bought like a nice camera just so
20:33
Speaker 2: I could take the headshots of the trainers. Yeah, so
20:37
Speaker 2: when I was importantly I thought it was a good
20:39
Speaker 2: opportunity for me to just kind of slow down and
20:41
Speaker 2: figure out what it is what it is I wanted
20:44
Speaker 2: to do, and obviously I still wanted to train people,
20:47
Speaker 2: but there were so many things that I was like, well,
20:48
Speaker 2: maybe I start a podcast, maybe I do this, maybe
20:51
Speaker 2: do that, Like, had so many different things that I
20:53
Speaker 2: wanted to do. But you know, over the span of
20:57
Speaker 2: the two years there, you know, I was training client
21:00
Speaker 2: and then I still just like didn't wasn't really sure
21:03
Speaker 2: if that's like I wanted to train, but I was like,
21:05
Speaker 2: I don't know if I wanted wanted a management position.
21:08
Speaker 2: Like I applied for a management position. I loved like
21:11
Speaker 2: the interview process, but I like would try to picture
21:15
Speaker 2: myself in those roles and I didn't seem happy doing it.
21:18
Speaker 2: I was like, I don't know if I could actually
21:19
Speaker 2: do that. I didn't get one of the roles, and
21:21
Speaker 2: I was glad because at the same time when I
21:23
Speaker 2: was interviewing for that role, I was I just submitted
21:27
Speaker 2: to the Women's Health Next Fitness Star and they interviewed
21:31
Speaker 2: me and I didn't get it. I was like one
21:33
Speaker 2: of the last four people that they were interviewing, and
21:36
Speaker 2: I remember being really upset and then like a week later,
21:39
Speaker 2: it was when I found out that I won the
21:40
Speaker 2: Women's Health's Next Finis Star And I just remember when
21:45
Speaker 2: I won, I cried and it was on the Insider
21:49
Speaker 2: on TV with Debbie and with Jen Ader, and I
21:53
Speaker 2: was crying because I was like, I didn't think I
21:55
Speaker 2: deserved it out of every single person that was there,
21:58
Speaker 2: all the women that were there, like they were also
21:59
Speaker 2: amazing to me. And I think that's that moment when
22:03
Speaker 2: I won was kind of a moment where I was
22:05
Speaker 2: like realizing that I doubted myself for so long, you know,
22:09
Speaker 2: all these imposter syndromes, like even when my boss gave
22:12
Speaker 2: me the Fitness director title, where when Nike gave me
22:15
Speaker 2: the Nike Master Train or title, like I never thought
22:17
Speaker 2: I deserved any of that stuff. And I realized, like,
22:21
Speaker 2: you know, all these titles are giving to me, and
22:23
Speaker 2: people are giving me these things, but I didn't know
22:25
Speaker 2: what I stood for. But everyone else is believing me.
22:29
Speaker 2: But the most important thing was that I needed to
22:30
Speaker 2: believe in myself, right, And it really wasn't until like
22:33
Speaker 2: I won that title. Even though as silly as I
22:35
Speaker 2: sadly kept saying, like you don't want to focus on titles.
22:38
Speaker 2: But it was one of those things where I realized,
22:39
Speaker 2: oh wow, people are seeing the quote unquote greatness of
22:42
Speaker 2: what I'm doing or the passion that I have. And
22:46
Speaker 2: I really had to just sit there and like believe
22:48
Speaker 2: in myself, and as cheesy as it was, like I
22:50
Speaker 2: had to like journal and like give myself affirmations and
22:53
Speaker 2: tell myself, like, Wow, we're really awesome, Betina. Like you know,
22:56
Speaker 2: I think they were just like insecurities going on in
22:58
Speaker 2: my life for so long that I never believed that
23:01
Speaker 2: I could be that I was, you know, that I
23:04
Speaker 2: was good enough for any of these things. And I
23:07
Speaker 2: don't really know what the switch was, but I think
23:09
Speaker 2: it was just that day when I won. Like I
23:11
Speaker 2: think I remember being like, oh wow, like there's all
23:14
Speaker 2: these the beauty that I saw on these women was
23:19
Speaker 2: like the beauty that I had and the greatness that
23:20
Speaker 2: I had because I was able to see that in them.
23:22
Speaker 2: I mean, I really truly believe when you see something
23:24
Speaker 2: in somebody else, like you have that too, you know,
23:27
Speaker 2: just like when you're insecure, you're like when people are
23:29
Speaker 2: like judging other people, it's usually like a reflection of themselves,
23:32
Speaker 2: Like what's the positive of that is that like when
23:34
Speaker 2: you see something beautiful in someone else, I really think
23:36
Speaker 2: that that's something that you have, right, And so I
23:38
Speaker 2: had to remind myself that, and yeah, it was just
23:42
Speaker 2: from there. It was just like also like phew, all
23:44
Speaker 2: these amazing things were happening.
23:52
Speaker 1: Quick break from today's episode. To give my sponsor, Athletic
23:56
Speaker 1: Greens a little bit of love. So last week I
23:58
Speaker 1: hosted an awesome run in New York City with my
24:01
Speaker 1: friends at Wolgo Woman and Athletic Greens was gracious enough
24:04
Speaker 1: to give all the ladies a five count starter pack.
24:07
Speaker 1: What we learned from this experience is that a lot
24:10
Speaker 1: of the women in the room actually were already taking
24:13
Speaker 1: Athletic Greens. And what I loved about the conversation that
24:16
Speaker 1: we had about the product was that so many people
24:19
Speaker 1: highlighted a lot of the same benefits. All of us
24:22
Speaker 1: like to take it first thing in the morning, and
24:24
Speaker 1: we all feel more energetic, a little bit more clear,
24:28
Speaker 1: and just a better sense about how our body is
24:30
Speaker 1: handling the food that we end up putting into it
24:32
Speaker 1: throughout the day. Because we started with Athletic Greens. I've
24:36
Speaker 1: said it before, it's got seventy five proven vitamins, minerals
24:39
Speaker 1: and whole food source ingredients, prebiotics, probiotics, adaptagens, superfoods. It's
24:45
Speaker 1: got everything you need to feel like your best self.
24:49
Speaker 1: They're offering Hurdle listeners a really awesome deal. It's twenty
24:53
Speaker 1: travel packs a seventy nine dollars value, absolutely free with
24:56
Speaker 1: your first purchase. Just head on over to athleticgreens dot
24:59
Speaker 1: com slash Hurdle again, that's Athleticgreens dot Com slash Hurdle
25:04
Speaker 1: to grab yours today, no code necessary, Let's get back
25:10
Speaker 1: to it. So then what happens when you win the
25:18
Speaker 1: next Fitness Star.
25:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, so in the previous four years, they would make
25:24
Speaker 2: a DVD and you'd get featured in your own DVD. Actually,
25:27
Speaker 2: like Niki Metzker is a good friend of mine and
25:29
Speaker 2: she won through your two years prior when I won,
25:32
Speaker 2: they let me publish the Women's Guide to Strength Training
25:35
Speaker 2: with one of the other writers for Women's Health, and
25:37
Speaker 2: so that was pretty exciting because you know, I think
25:40
Speaker 2: in the past there's a lot of like hit training
25:42
Speaker 2: and you know, like the fun DVDs, which are really great,
25:44
Speaker 2: but this gave strength training an opportunity to be mainstream.
25:48
Speaker 2: So I was really excited about that.
25:50
Speaker 1: Awesome. So were you coming to and from New York
25:53
Speaker 1: to work on some of that stuff? Yeah?
25:54
Speaker 2: Okay, Yeah, so I went back and forth to New
25:57
Speaker 2: York a few times because we did the the cover
26:01
Speaker 2: of the magazine for the finalists, and then also when
26:05
Speaker 2: I was, you know, writing this stuff, I had to
26:07
Speaker 2: like go back and forth with the writer a few
26:09
Speaker 2: times and then do the photo shoot and videos and stuff.
26:12
Speaker 2: And yeah, I think I went back there twice. Okay,
26:15
Speaker 2: so it's pretty pretty crazy for you.
26:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, so you're but you're still living in Portland.
26:20
Speaker 2: It's still living in Portland this time.
26:21
Speaker 1: So then what happened?
26:23
Speaker 2: Oh, I remember, it was just a crazy few months.
26:26
Speaker 2: It was such a blur actually, and at that same
26:31
Speaker 2: time that I won, actually same week, I got engaged. Oh,
26:36
Speaker 2: I got engaged. So it was a really crazy time
26:38
Speaker 2: and I had all the stuff happening, like there was that,
26:44
Speaker 2: and then I was traveling like Nordic Trak. All of
26:47
Speaker 2: a sudden I wanted to work with me, which was
26:49
Speaker 2: kind of a dream because two years ago I really
26:54
Speaker 2: had told myself, like I really want to be like
26:56
Speaker 2: the next Jillian Michaels. You know, but like a different,
26:59
Speaker 2: like perky, happier version of Jillian Michael's. And I remember
27:02
Speaker 2: one of our biggest partners was Nordi Trac. Yeah, so
27:05
Speaker 2: when they called me, I was so excited. Was I'm like, oh,
27:07
Speaker 2: this is like kind of on the same path as Julian,
27:09
Speaker 2: you know. Yeah, So I started working with them. Like
27:12
Speaker 2: they got a random email from them about going to Thailand.
27:15
Speaker 2: They're like, hey, your friend Gideon's coming with us to Thailand.
27:18
Speaker 2: Do you want to come? And I was like, who
27:19
Speaker 2: is this? Why are you emailing me? Like it was
27:22
Speaker 2: such a casual email, but it was a producer from
27:24
Speaker 2: nord Track and they had me come out to Thailand
27:27
Speaker 2: with getting to Conde, a good friend of mine as
27:29
Speaker 2: a trainer as well, and he or we filmed a
27:33
Speaker 2: bunch of contact with them, and after that I started
27:35
Speaker 2: working with them, and you know, I don't even know
27:39
Speaker 2: what happened, but it was just like boom, boom boom.
27:42
Speaker 2: So many different opportunities were coming once I started to
27:44
Speaker 2: really believe in myself and just like hone in on
27:47
Speaker 2: what I was good at. And unfortunately, in that time,
27:51
Speaker 2: you know, I was traveling a lot, and you know,
27:53
Speaker 2: I like I just mentioned, I was engaged and it
27:57
Speaker 2: was really hard for my partner and we were having
27:58
Speaker 2: such a hard time, like figuring out what it was
28:00
Speaker 2: that we wanted for each other and when we were
28:03
Speaker 2: going to get married and all this. And in that time,
28:06
Speaker 2: I realized, like, there's so much more that I want
28:08
Speaker 2: to do here and it's not in Portland. And also
28:12
Speaker 2: that like, I just have so much that I want
28:15
Speaker 2: to achieve and so many people that I want to affect,
28:17
Speaker 2: and I think it goes beyond training. And there was
28:21
Speaker 2: a trip that I took to Antarctica with Nordic Trek
28:26
Speaker 2: and it's so silly when I talk about it out loud,
28:28
Speaker 2: because it's like whatever. But on the first day before
28:33
Speaker 2: we left to go on the ship, my phone broke
28:36
Speaker 2: and I was freaking out, Like I was like, oh
28:38
Speaker 2: my gosh, I'm gonna be in the most beautiful place
28:40
Speaker 2: in the world and I can't document it, you know,
28:42
Speaker 2: and I can't have my phone. I can't tell anyone
28:43
Speaker 2: about it. Like I knew I wouldn't have service, but
28:45
Speaker 2: I wanted to be able to like do stories and whatever,
28:48
Speaker 2: I do all the things that I was used to.
28:51
Speaker 2: But my phone broke we went two days through the
28:55
Speaker 2: Drake passage and all I did was journal. Well, I
28:58
Speaker 2: threw up a few times because it was so but
29:01
Speaker 2: then I journaled when I felt good enough to uh journal.
29:05
Speaker 2: And you know, obviously I was working because I was filming,
29:07
Speaker 2: but in between the time, I just had like time
29:11
Speaker 2: to myself, you know, with my thoughts, and because moving
29:16
Speaker 2: to Portland was such a crazy time, like I was
29:18
Speaker 2: trying to force myself into these positions that I wasn't
29:20
Speaker 2: even sure if I wanted. And then I won Women's
29:25
Speaker 2: Health next spinister that I was engaged, and then I
29:27
Speaker 2: was going to Thailand, and I was going back and
29:28
Speaker 2: forth to Utah, which is where noted Trak's headquarters were,
29:32
Speaker 2: and just doing a bunch of stuff with Nike here
29:34
Speaker 2: and there, planning what now is premium antic premium, but
29:38
Speaker 2: at the time I couldn't talk about it. So I
29:40
Speaker 2: was doing so much stuff and I was never swing down,
29:43
Speaker 2: like I had no free time on top of it
29:44
Speaker 2: balancing a relationship, right, And so when I was in Antarctica,
29:48
Speaker 2: I just slowed down and was like in my own thoughts,
29:53
Speaker 2: like on a ship that you wouldn't know where to go,
29:55
Speaker 2: Like I couldn't even get on the internet anywhere, yea.
29:58
Speaker 2: And so that was the time where I was like, okay, Betina, wow,
30:05
Speaker 2: like there's so much more you want to do. And
30:06
Speaker 2: that's where I really had my second like revelation, like Okay,
30:11
Speaker 2: this is like Betina wants more than just to be
30:14
Speaker 2: a trainer, Like there's so much more. She doesn't really
30:16
Speaker 2: know what it is that she wants to do, but
30:17
Speaker 2: there's something else, and like no one can stop her,
30:21
Speaker 2: you know. And so I had to come back and
30:23
Speaker 2: tell my partner, you know, and be like, hey, I
30:27
Speaker 2: I don't know if like I don't want to I
30:29
Speaker 2: don't know if I need I don't know if I
30:31
Speaker 2: don't want to be with you, but like I need
30:33
Speaker 2: you to be supportive of everything that I want to do,
30:36
Speaker 2: like everything, And you know, he definitely had our time
30:39
Speaker 2: with like me traveling already, and so that was hard
30:42
Speaker 2: for him. And then so we delayed the wedding and
30:45
Speaker 2: I was also like I need to go to Africa.
30:49
Speaker 2: It's like, why do you want to go to Africa?
30:51
Speaker 2: And for some reason, Kenya was calling me so much
30:56
Speaker 2: and I went out there because I had always wanted
30:59
Speaker 2: to do a volunteer trip to work with special needs kids.
31:02
Speaker 2: And I found some organizations and I found this one
31:05
Speaker 2: specifically that had an organization and Kenya and it was
31:09
Speaker 2: an orphanage. So I went out there. And when I
31:13
Speaker 2: went out there, I was just like, you know, you know,
31:16
Speaker 2: I think it's funny because when people go out to
31:18
Speaker 2: go with these mission trips are always looking for something,
31:20
Speaker 2: like they want to give back, and you're like looking
31:22
Speaker 2: for like it's almost like a weird selfish thing where
31:25
Speaker 2: you're like looking to give back so you can give,
31:26
Speaker 2: like yourself some sort of reward for giving back, you know.
31:30
Speaker 2: And even all all their volunteers that were there were
31:32
Speaker 2: kind of in the same place, like not sure where
31:33
Speaker 2: they're going in their life, or they're really young, they're
31:35
Speaker 2: like just graduating from high school or you know whatever.
31:38
Speaker 2: And I was there and I met these kids, and
31:44
Speaker 2: I met these house moms and the organizers of the orphanage,
31:47
Speaker 2: and it just like it was one of those things
31:50
Speaker 2: where they literally had nothing and they were able to
31:53
Speaker 2: give so much, you know, and they're just so happy
31:57
Speaker 2: and so content. And I know that when you say
32:00
Speaker 2: it out loud, it's like, well, duh, you know, people
32:02
Speaker 2: should just be happy with they want.
32:03
Speaker 1: But like we're so privileged, yeah.
32:05
Speaker 2: You know. And when I was out there, the kids,
32:08
Speaker 2: the smiles that they would have, like most of them
32:10
Speaker 2: are physically and mentally disabled that I work with specifically,
32:13
Speaker 2: and they some moment can't walk, and the smile that
32:16
Speaker 2: they have just for when you hold them and they
32:17
Speaker 2: can like run their feet around on the ground is
32:19
Speaker 2: just like so incredible, you know. And the biggest lesson
32:24
Speaker 2: that I learned was to give, to give and not
32:26
Speaker 2: to want anything return, you know. And so when I
32:30
Speaker 2: was talking to the program directors of the organization that
32:33
Speaker 2: I went out with, they said that, you know, there
32:35
Speaker 2: would be months that would go by where no one
32:37
Speaker 2: would volunteer for special needs. And it wasn't because no
32:40
Speaker 2: one wanted to. It's just people didn't know it was
32:43
Speaker 2: a thing, or they thought you might need a special
32:45
Speaker 2: skill to do it. And special needs is so important,
32:48
Speaker 2: is like very very close to my heart because I
32:50
Speaker 2: lived with my good friend that has fund a USCO
32:52
Speaker 2: atrophy in my when I was eighteen, So just it's
32:55
Speaker 2: just been something that's really special to me. So when
32:58
Speaker 2: I went back, you know, I was like I have
33:00
Speaker 2: this reach now, Like I have all these followers on
33:02
Speaker 2: Instagram and posting things about these videos of these kids
33:04
Speaker 2: and people asking all these questions. I felt like I
33:07
Speaker 2: had an opportunity to really spread awareness and to tell
33:10
Speaker 2: people about these kids and tell people about this orphanage.
33:13
Speaker 2: So I started like kind of posting stuff here and
33:14
Speaker 2: there and saying like, you know, these kids don't really
33:16
Speaker 2: just need things because they don't want things. They don't
33:19
Speaker 2: need toys, they don't need this. So I wanted to
33:21
Speaker 2: give people the opportunity to like volunteer, And that's when
33:24
Speaker 2: I started my nonprofit, the Dance with Money Foundation, because
33:28
Speaker 2: I wanted to give people the opportunity to be able
33:30
Speaker 2: to experience what I experienced and to feel what it
33:32
Speaker 2: feels like to give, just to give and to get
33:35
Speaker 2: that love that you get from the kids and from
33:37
Speaker 2: the house moms. Like the last trip that I had,
33:39
Speaker 2: I remember she just a house mom that we were
33:41
Speaker 2: staying with. She just every time i'd come there and
33:45
Speaker 2: we would come home, she would just like look at
33:47
Speaker 2: you and just feel like, I'm just so grateful for
33:49
Speaker 2: you for you know, sacrificing your time to be here
33:53
Speaker 2: and just we're so thankful for you. And she just
33:56
Speaker 2: sat there and slaved over a kitchen and helped us,
34:00
Speaker 2: made us a dinner and stuff, and I'm like, can
34:02
Speaker 2: we help you, like do the dishes, and she's just
34:04
Speaker 2: she's like, no, no, no, just you guys, relax and I'll
34:07
Speaker 2: cook for you. After a full day of her taking
34:10
Speaker 2: care of these kids, you know, and it's just which
34:13
Speaker 2: is really incredible.
34:14
Speaker 1: So what tell me more about the foundation?
34:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, so this just started it last year and my
34:20
Speaker 2: whole mission is just to give people the opportunity to
34:22
Speaker 2: be able to volunteer with special needs. And when I
34:25
Speaker 2: originally started it, like I had this vision in the
34:27
Speaker 2: next three years that I wanted to work in all
34:28
Speaker 2: these different countries. But I've gone back to Kenya four
34:31
Speaker 2: times now and I was like, there's a lot more
34:33
Speaker 2: to be done there. There are two orphanages that I'm
34:35
Speaker 2: working with, and they both have about thirty children and
34:39
Speaker 2: adults anywhere from the age of two to like thirty
34:42
Speaker 2: five that have physical and mental disabilities and or physical
34:46
Speaker 2: and mental disabilities, and there's usually only like four women
34:49
Speaker 2: that work there, and so you can imagine there's a
34:52
Speaker 2: lot to be done. Yeah, So these women are washing
34:55
Speaker 2: the clothes, they're cooking, they're feeding, they're doing everything else
34:59
Speaker 2: all around the house. They don't really get time to relax.
35:01
Speaker 2: So they don't even really get that much time to
35:04
Speaker 2: interact with the kids. And I mean they do, I mean,
35:07
Speaker 2: they have so much love in their heart, but it's
35:09
Speaker 2: just so hard because they don't have time.
35:11
Speaker 1: Right.
35:11
Speaker 2: So the volunteers that come out, I mean they have
35:13
Speaker 2: they can do so many different things. They can just
35:15
Speaker 2: help wash the dishes, they can help clean and or
35:20
Speaker 2: just help play with the kids. Like I actually we
35:22
Speaker 2: rented a bouncy house, you know, for the kids, and
35:24
Speaker 2: brought all the kids out and there are some kids
35:25
Speaker 2: that were in their thirties that had never been in
35:27
Speaker 2: a bouncy house before. You just put them on there
35:30
Speaker 2: and just bounce around. Their face is just light up
35:32
Speaker 2: so big. Yeah, it's so incredible, And yeah, it's just
35:37
Speaker 2: been something that I thought was gonna be a passion project.
35:39
Speaker 2: But now the more and more and more and more
35:41
Speaker 2: that I've been working on it, the more I'm just
35:43
Speaker 2: like I want this, Like it's the it's like the
35:45
Speaker 2: one thing, like the only reason why I want to
35:47
Speaker 2: continue to build my brand so I can tell more
35:49
Speaker 2: and more people about it.
35:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's really special. Yeah, Like I wish you guys
35:53
Speaker 1: could see her face right now. It's like completely.
35:57
Speaker 2: Yeah. I just love those kids so much, and they're
35:59
Speaker 2: just yeah, they're just they're just so special. They're most
36:04
Speaker 2: special people in the world.
36:06
Speaker 1: So you started the foundation last year, but in the meantime,
36:10
Speaker 1: you leave Portland.
36:11
Speaker 2: I leave Portland, I go to LA.
36:13
Speaker 1: I go to La. So how did you make that decision?
36:16
Speaker 2: So remember Beyonce, I'm just kidding call no. So yeah,
36:23
Speaker 2: I mean, eventually I did tell my partner like, hey,
36:26
Speaker 2: this isn't going to work out. You know, we went
36:27
Speaker 2: to we went to couple therapy and I was able
36:30
Speaker 2: to articulate, We were able to articulate to each other
36:33
Speaker 2: like we need more from each other and we're not
36:35
Speaker 2: able to give that to each other. And I think
36:37
Speaker 2: it was you know, I think he's one of the
36:40
Speaker 2: most amazing humans in the world. And it was one
36:44
Speaker 2: of the hardest decisions I think I've made in a
36:46
Speaker 2: long time. But I am proud because I know he's happier.
36:51
Speaker 2: I know I'm I'm happier. And when we broke up,
36:55
Speaker 2: I was like, well, there's really no reason I'm in Portland,
36:57
Speaker 2: Like really the only reason why I moved out there
36:59
Speaker 2: was for him, and it wasn't even for Nike. It
37:02
Speaker 2: was just to be out there with him. And I
37:04
Speaker 2: happened to be already working with Nike, so Nike took
37:07
Speaker 2: me in like no problem. And so last year Nike
37:13
Speaker 2: had their Just Do It headquarters and I was doing
37:15
Speaker 2: a lot of projects out there. I even asked the
37:18
Speaker 2: global team who I was working with at Nike. I
37:19
Speaker 2: was like, Hey, do you guys mind if I box
37:22
Speaker 2: back and forth? Just curious. I really love La and
37:26
Speaker 2: all my best friends from my early twenties live here,
37:29
Speaker 2: so every time I came out with stay but then
37:31
Speaker 2: and had friends and just I don't know, there was
37:35
Speaker 2: just something that was calling. And even when Tim and
37:37
Speaker 2: I were still together, I remember telling him like, you
37:39
Speaker 2: know what I feel. I feel like I could be
37:42
Speaker 2: half La half Portland. And then when I was we
37:46
Speaker 2: weren't together anymore, I was like, well, I guess it's yeah,
37:49
Speaker 2: full La. Yeah. So I took a trip to Africa
37:53
Speaker 2: September and then I drove down from Portland in my
37:57
Speaker 2: car with my friend Chelsea down La and stayed with
38:01
Speaker 2: a friend for two months. And the place that you're
38:03
Speaker 2: in right now. Actually, my best friend since I was eighteen,
38:07
Speaker 2: he lives in the back house. He said that there
38:09
Speaker 2: that it was opening up in December, and I moved
38:12
Speaker 2: in here and I was just like, okay, we're going
38:14
Speaker 2: to do it. And I actually wanting to move down here.
38:17
Speaker 2: I had no plan, like I just jumped the ship
38:21
Speaker 2: and was like all right. And at the time, we
38:23
Speaker 2: were filming what is now Nike Premium or NTC Premium
38:27
Speaker 2: and which is an app by the way, which is
38:30
Speaker 2: in fact, oh yes, yes, yeah, yeah, it's an app.
38:32
Speaker 2: It's a Nike Training Club app, and there are workouts
38:34
Speaker 2: that I'm that are uh that are in there that
38:36
Speaker 2: I'm leading, and we were filming that. We started filming
38:41
Speaker 2: it and I remember telling the team. I was like, yeah,
38:44
Speaker 2: so I'm moving to LA and they were like, uh
38:46
Speaker 2: you are. You're like, well, we didn't budget for you
38:49
Speaker 2: to be living in LA when we were filming this,
38:51
Speaker 2: And I was like I'll fly back, like I was like,
38:54
Speaker 2: I'll figure it out, like I want to be obviously
38:56
Speaker 2: want to parties, and we had already planned on all
38:58
Speaker 2: those happening. So for like four months, I was going
39:01
Speaker 2: back and forth to Portland in LA and when I
39:04
Speaker 2: moved here, I remember Lyft Society. It's a gym. The
39:08
Speaker 2: owner like reached out to me right away. She's like,
39:09
Speaker 2: do my job. And I remember telling her like I
39:12
Speaker 2: don't really want to be committed to any place, but
39:14
Speaker 2: I'd love to help out here and there She's like,
39:16
Speaker 2: no problem, Like I love your energy and I want
39:18
Speaker 2: you here, so like we'll just figure it out. I
39:20
Speaker 2: know your travel a lot, so so I kind of
39:22
Speaker 2: had a training home and then I was still traveling
39:26
Speaker 2: back and forth to Portland and then I don't even
39:28
Speaker 2: know what happened. It was just like a really crazy
39:31
Speaker 2: harmonious thing that just happened. That everything the way I
39:35
Speaker 2: wanted it to happen out here is just happening.
39:37
Speaker 1: Yeah.
39:38
Speaker 2: You know, like I told myself that I wanted to
39:40
Speaker 2: continue to reach more people, continue to work with all
39:42
Speaker 2: the brands, continue to work on camera filming workouts so
39:44
Speaker 2: I can reach more people. And I feel like exactly
39:48
Speaker 2: that happened.
39:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's wild. What do you do, aside from obviously
39:55
Speaker 1: the gratitude and you know, the meditation and things like that,
39:58
Speaker 1: to give back to yourself when you're not giving to
40:01
Speaker 1: everybody else.
40:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, so yeah, like you mentioned gratitude, you know, meditation.
40:06
Speaker 2: I do a lot of you know a lot of
40:09
Speaker 2: the self care stuff like massages. It's fun. I actually
40:12
Speaker 2: budget into my monthly thing of like I don't want
40:16
Speaker 2: to say how much, but I spend a lot of
40:17
Speaker 2: money on massages and like you know, facial is just
40:19
Speaker 2: to relax in here and there, because that's really important
40:22
Speaker 2: to me because because I travel so much. Yeah, and
40:25
Speaker 2: you know, I just need that relaxation. And I also surf.
40:29
Speaker 2: I'm not very good, but I just love to be
40:31
Speaker 2: out in the water and I think it's so peaceful.
40:34
Speaker 2: And I take a lot of time with my friends
40:36
Speaker 2: that are not involved with my work. You know, all
40:39
Speaker 2: my friends from my early twenties from Chicago. I'll live here,
40:41
Speaker 2: so I try to spend as much as time as
40:43
Speaker 2: I can with them because I think that's really important.
40:45
Speaker 2: It grounds me and it just helps me feel like
40:49
Speaker 2: really chill. You know, those friends that you could just
40:51
Speaker 2: like you don't have to be on for you just
40:53
Speaker 2: sit on the couch anything, You don't say anything for
40:55
Speaker 2: like three hours and everyone's happy.
40:56
Speaker 1: Everybody's happy, everybody's happy. And then you still play bass.
41:00
Speaker 2: Yes, I still play bass, and I love it. It's
41:02
Speaker 2: actually I have to remember them. I have a few
41:04
Speaker 2: basses in there. Yeah, I still play bass. I play
41:07
Speaker 2: guitar every almost every night, even if it's for ten
41:11
Speaker 2: fifteen minutes, but I try to get like thirty forty
41:13
Speaker 2: five minutes in. I've actually filled in for my good
41:16
Speaker 2: friend Ryan for his band Rookie of the Year a
41:21
Speaker 2: few months ago, and it was so fun. I flew
41:22
Speaker 2: out to North Carolina and played some shows, so fun,
41:26
Speaker 2: grow back. It was so fun.
41:28
Speaker 1: When you do stuff like that, do you have like
41:30
Speaker 1: a moment where you're like, what if I never did
41:31
Speaker 1: all this other stuff?
41:32
Speaker 2: Yes? Serious, there are times where I'm like, man, I
41:36
Speaker 2: really wonder But no, I truly believe that everything happens
41:39
Speaker 2: for a reason, you know. And I do think that
41:42
Speaker 2: performing on stage has given me the opportunity to feel
41:45
Speaker 2: more comfortable in front of the camera and to talk
41:48
Speaker 2: to people and to just be you know, figure out
41:51
Speaker 2: the balance of like how much energy to give, because
41:53
Speaker 2: I knew when I was on stage if I was
41:55
Speaker 2: like super high before, like I would be tired on stage.
41:58
Speaker 2: So it was finding that balance or that harmony of
42:03
Speaker 2: being on camera or being on a podcast or whatever. Right,
42:06
Speaker 2: also chilling hard because I chill hard.
42:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, what does that even mean?
42:11
Speaker 2: I do a lot of like just nothing.
42:14
Speaker 1: I just I do a lot of lounging. Yeah, basically
42:17
Speaker 1: you missed Patina laying back on my couch and being like,
42:19
Speaker 1: this is what I do now? Like, what does life
42:22
Speaker 1: look like for you these days?
42:24
Speaker 2: Oh? It's so insane. Yeah, it's funny because people are like,
42:28
Speaker 2: do you live an eye? Because since I've moved in October,
42:32
Speaker 2: I've never been here for longer than two weeks at
42:34
Speaker 2: a time, okay, because I'm always traveling. It's every single week,
42:39
Speaker 2: if not every other week, I'm gone on a plane
42:44
Speaker 2: driving somewhere to San Diego or wherever. And it's me
42:49
Speaker 2: either training people. When I'm here, I work on behind
42:53
Speaker 2: the scenes a lot of Nike, but I'm also you know,
42:56
Speaker 2: in front of the camera for Nike stuff, being featured
42:59
Speaker 2: as a trainer. I'm filming a lot of workouts. I
43:01
Speaker 2: partner with Women's Health doing you know, form videos or
43:05
Speaker 2: workout videos, and same thing with Nike form videos workout
43:09
Speaker 2: videos also with an order track. So if I were
43:13
Speaker 2: to split up my time and actually like figure out
43:16
Speaker 2: what it is, I feel like it's like thirty percent
43:20
Speaker 2: I might make this math wrong, thirty percent training, twenty
43:25
Speaker 2: percent like behind the scenes on camera, and then like
43:29
Speaker 2: another thirty percent in front of the camera. What I
43:32
Speaker 2: got twenty percent ten percent chill in time.
43:34
Speaker 1: That was impressive, I know, like the math was impressive.
43:38
Speaker 1: Twenty percent chill in time. It's funny with traveling so much,
43:41
Speaker 1: I often find that I get a lot of my
43:43
Speaker 1: chill in time on the plane. Yes, I got upgraded
43:47
Speaker 1: to first class the other day, and it was like, yeah,
43:50
Speaker 1: I love that. If they were like there'll be no
43:53
Speaker 1: entertainment on this play, I was like, this is going
43:54
Speaker 1: to be five and the hours of meditating.
43:56
Speaker 2: Yeah for real. Though, Well, and it's funny that you
43:58
Speaker 2: say that because I was us noticing the other day,
44:01
Speaker 2: like I love being on the plane and just like
44:03
Speaker 2: sitting there, like put my phone away and just chill
44:05
Speaker 2: and I'll listen to a podcast or journal or whatever.
44:08
Speaker 2: But the other day, or remember sitting next to two
44:10
Speaker 2: women that were just like looking through the phone and
44:14
Speaker 2: they weren't even looking at anything. They're just flipping, yeah, flipping, closing,
44:17
Speaker 2: And I'm like, blocks, yeah, you know, okay, it's okay, it's.
44:22
Speaker 1: Okay to let go, I know.
44:24
Speaker 2: Yeah.
44:25
Speaker 1: So now, I mean you've been a trainer for a
44:28
Speaker 1: considerable amount of time. Yeah, what would you say, has
44:30
Speaker 1: been one of the best pieces of advice that someone's
44:33
Speaker 1: offered you in this, you know, chapter of your career.
44:39
Speaker 2: This chapter of my career.
44:41
Speaker 1: Yeah?
44:41
Speaker 2: Man, oh man. Do you know Brian Juniez. No, Brian
44:48
Speaker 2: Juniez is a also a fellow Nike Master trainer and
44:53
Speaker 2: he actually just one idea Fits Trainer of the Year Wow.
44:57
Speaker 2: And he I feel like, I don't have any specific
45:02
Speaker 2: advice that he's given me, but I any time I
45:06
Speaker 2: talk to him, he's just always like, shine your light,
45:09
Speaker 2: and He's just like, continue to be you. And I
45:11
Speaker 2: think that I always, like, anytime I ever like stray
45:15
Speaker 2: away from what it is that I like doing or
45:17
Speaker 2: what I feel like, I believe it, always think of
45:19
Speaker 2: Brian as being there, like just like I love your energy,
45:21
Speaker 2: be you, you know. And I think that's the one
45:24
Speaker 2: thing that's so important is ever you know, when we
45:27
Speaker 2: are so overstimulated with Instagram and everything, you find yourself
45:31
Speaker 2: comparing a lot and I don't even notice that I
45:34
Speaker 2: do it, but I'm like, oh, what is that person doing,
45:36
Speaker 2: and I just have to always remember, like I am
45:41
Speaker 2: where I am because of who I am and what
45:43
Speaker 2: I do and because I'm so passionate about me about
45:46
Speaker 2: it and I'm so unapologetically myself. And I think that's
45:51
Speaker 2: the one thing that I that I've ever heard from people,
45:53
Speaker 2: like when they're just like just being yourself. That's I
45:56
Speaker 2: don't know, I think, And that applies to so many
45:57
Speaker 2: different things, not just training.
45:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, totally, speaking of comparing a lot, I feel like
46:02
Speaker 1: it's kind of inevitable in this crazy age of social media,
46:06
Speaker 1: especially you know how many followers you have on Instagram now, Like, yeah,
46:10
Speaker 1: a lot, So it's almost inevitable. How do you avoid
46:16
Speaker 1: what can be like this black hole of comparison?
46:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, first of I don't even really scroll a
46:22
Speaker 2: lot on Instagram. I don't really watch a lot of stories.
46:26
Speaker 2: I actually just go to my friend's pages and watch them,
46:28
Speaker 2: or sometimes if I see someone like my thing, Like
46:30
Speaker 2: I'm very sporadic with Instagram, Like if I see someone,
46:33
Speaker 2: I'm like, oh, I should look at their thing. Yeah,
46:35
Speaker 2: but I just never get in this like twenty minute
46:38
Speaker 2: like staring at the phone and like it's super mindless.
46:40
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people need to get out
46:42
Speaker 1: of that. I actually remember that. Kirsty said the same thing,
46:45
Speaker 1: but she doesn't scroll anymore.
46:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't scroll. I just check up on my friends.
46:48
Speaker 2: It's funny because my friends always call me out because
46:50
Speaker 2: they're like, all of a sudden, I'll just like, like
46:52
Speaker 2: done other pictures. Yeah, They're like, what are you doing?
46:55
Speaker 2: Are you're creeping on me? Like, yes, I am creeping
46:56
Speaker 2: on I'm just keeping up, just keeping up. Yeah, yeah,
46:59
Speaker 2: because I don't. Really I'd rather get to know someone
47:02
Speaker 2: in person anyway, you know, because for me personally, I
47:06
Speaker 2: feel like there's so much more to me than what
47:08
Speaker 2: I portray on my Instagram. You know. I try as
47:12
Speaker 2: much as I can to show different aspects of me,
47:14
Speaker 2: but I feel like me in three D is so
47:16
Speaker 2: different than the Instagram. So if I know that about myself,
47:20
Speaker 2: I know that's true for a lot of other people.
47:24
Speaker 2: So I just try to remember that because people only
47:26
Speaker 2: show their highlight reels and people don't realize all the
47:30
Speaker 2: hard work that people are doing behind the scenes too.
47:33
Speaker 2: And also a nice reminder is usually the smartest, most
47:36
Speaker 2: richest people aren't on Instagram, you know, and the people
47:39
Speaker 2: that are doing a lot more aren't showing everything what
47:40
Speaker 2: they're doing on in s certing because I we don't
47:42
Speaker 2: even have time to do it all on Instagram, but
47:45
Speaker 2: I don't. I think it's just one of those things
47:47
Speaker 2: where I try to run my business where I utilize
47:51
Speaker 2: it as much as it possibly can. But I'm trying
47:53
Speaker 2: to grow and use my business as if tomorrow it
47:56
Speaker 2: shuts down, it will never be there again. I think
47:59
Speaker 2: it's really important to do that because it's pretty possible.
48:02
Speaker 2: There's that one day. I remember was like a few
48:03
Speaker 2: weeks ago, Instagram was gone for like a day and
48:07
Speaker 2: people were like, I have no idea, I don't know
48:08
Speaker 2: what to do, and so I just one of those
48:11
Speaker 2: things you have to just remember that, and you know,
48:14
Speaker 2: with the comparison thing, I think that's where again knowing
48:18
Speaker 2: what your values are and what you stand for and
48:20
Speaker 2: knowing what you do well and understand. I think when
48:24
Speaker 2: I was listening to Kirsty saying, she was talking a
48:25
Speaker 2: lot about how like Yo, she used to wonder like
48:27
Speaker 2: why that person got this and why that person got that,
48:30
Speaker 2: and comparing yourself. But I think you have to have
48:32
Speaker 2: that abundance mindset no matter what because there's enough to
48:35
Speaker 2: go around for everyone. You know, if one person's getting
48:38
Speaker 2: this job over somebody else, or one person's working with
48:41
Speaker 2: this brand. You know, people often ask why you get
48:45
Speaker 2: worked with Nike or why you became a Nike Master Trainer,
48:48
Speaker 2: and why they aren't one. You know, it's it doesn't matter,
48:51
Speaker 2: you know, like if you know what you stand for
48:53
Speaker 2: and if you're so unapologetically yourself and you're proud of
48:55
Speaker 2: who you are, all those extra things like doesn't matter.
48:58
Speaker 2: And I think whenever I just really on who I was,
49:01
Speaker 2: it made me more confident because it's like if I
49:04
Speaker 2: if those brands don't love me, I'm cool, like cool
49:05
Speaker 2: because I love myself and that's all that matters to
49:08
Speaker 2: you know.
49:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that. Okay, So on the note of
49:12
Speaker 1: loving yourself, the way that I wind down the podcast
49:16
Speaker 1: every time is that I ask my guests. Right now,
49:20
Speaker 1: you have the opportunity to offer the Betina a piece
49:23
Speaker 1: of advice looking back on that time, either you know,
49:27
Speaker 1: during those two days when you didn't have a phone
49:29
Speaker 1: and you were kind of questioning all that you thought
49:31
Speaker 1: that you were doing in that Hurtle moment, or maybe
49:34
Speaker 1: it's back you know, when you're in the band and
49:37
Speaker 1: you feel like you have to leave everything behind to
49:39
Speaker 1: like follow this other passion and you're just unsure. You
49:42
Speaker 1: have an opportunity to offer yourself a piece of advice
49:45
Speaker 1: going through some of those tough times. Right now, What
49:47
Speaker 1: do you tell yourself?
49:50
Speaker 2: I am laughing to myself because I would tell myself
49:53
Speaker 2: to listen to that Lizzo song Soulmate. It's my favorite song, okay,
49:59
Speaker 2: because one of our lyrics is is look up in
50:02
Speaker 2: the mirror and say, damn, she's the one.
50:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I just.
50:05
Speaker 2: Love it because she's just so unapologetically like in love
50:08
Speaker 2: with herself. And I think that the soulmate, It's like
50:11
Speaker 2: it's I'm my own soulmate. And I think I had
50:13
Speaker 2: to remember that, like in all of those times I'm
50:19
Speaker 2: number one. I mean, for so long I was giving
50:22
Speaker 2: to every single person, whether it be in my band,
50:24
Speaker 2: it was for our band leader, you know. And I
50:27
Speaker 2: think both of those realizations when I was, you know,
50:32
Speaker 2: going into fitness and then slowing down, it was just
50:34
Speaker 2: like remember to put yourself number one. You know, obviously
50:38
Speaker 2: you don't ever want to hurt anyone, but put yourself
50:40
Speaker 2: number one because you are the most important person. You
50:43
Speaker 2: are the only person that gets to live in your
50:45
Speaker 2: body and try not to let everyone else tell you
50:47
Speaker 2: how to live it.
50:48
Speaker 1: Yeah. Wow, what a great note to end, Padina, Thanks
50:52
Speaker 1: so much for hanging out with you. You please take
50:54
Speaker 1: a moment to leave a quick review by clicking the
50:56
Speaker 1: link with the description to this episode. We all face
50:59
Speaker 1: multiple hurdles in life. I want to hear about yours.
51:02
Speaker 1: Reach out to me at Emily at Hurdle dot us.
51:04
Speaker 1: Connect with the podcast on Instagram and Twitter at Hurdle
51:08
Speaker 1: Podcast Patina. Where do they find you? How do they
51:10
Speaker 1: keep up with you?
51:11
Speaker 2: You can find me on Instagram at Patina Gozo. But
51:13
Speaker 2: if Instagram dies, you can find me at beatinagozo dot com.
51:18
Speaker 1: Also, what about the NTC Premium.
51:20
Speaker 2: At NTC Premium, you can work out with me anytime.
51:22
Speaker 1: I love it all right, I am at Emily Abodi.
51:25
Speaker 1: Another hurdle conquered. Catch you guys next time.