Today we’d like to introduce you to Samantha Wellington.
Hi Samantha, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was a track and field athlete from middle school until my 2nd semester of college. In my last two years of high school, I had coaches and skilled instructors that helped me shape my extracurricular hobbies into high-level skills that gave me a lot of confidence.
My instructors were very patient and generous with the information I needed to be successful. They gave me realistic expectations and lead me to the work I’d have to do to see my results.
I didn’t realize at the time that I would carry these lessons with me for life. However, my empowering journey did not continue through college. I really struggled as a student with the pressures of passing exams, curved grading, and the stress of preparing for “real life”. But I passed and received my Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering.
Unfortunately for my family, graduating with my degree was about all I could to follow a path that made sense to everyone around me. During my university years, I fantasized about how I would spend so much time on fitness and working out if I didn’t have to be in class. I felt like I was deprived of that access. So after college, I rerouted my actions to follow my personal interests.
I just wanted to be active in whatever job or career I took on. I didn’t want to sit at a desk for hours anymore. So I drove rickshaws around Austin, then Chicago. I picked people up and delivered them to their destinations. It was my first taste at being my own boss. I really enjoyed that I worked for myself and was able to be very active. I also made friends and traveled to cities I had never been to.
This was a really tough time between me and my family because a graduated mechanical engineering student driving people around on a bicycle just didn’t make any sense to them. But I was resolved to do what I wanted and believed in the risk I was taking.
After a year and a half on the pedicab, the season got cold in Chicago and I needed to find work that was less exposed to the elements. But I still wanted to be active and was ready to start setting up a more long-term career path. I decided to get my certification and start a job as a personal trainer.
Within my first six months of training, I realized I’d need to know a lot more than just how to give a good workout if I was going to make the impact on people’s lives that I hoped for. I found that, like me, my clients struggled with sleep, nutrition, stress, movement patterns, and self-worth. I wanted my clients to develop the hands they needed to take care of themselves after seeing me, just like mentors had done for me. I wanted to give real-life skills that applied to their circumstances and encourage them to practice small steps regularly.
Today, I’m four years into working with clients and 1.5 years into owning my own business. My confidence as a business owner grows every month and I feel like I have already made the long-term impacts on my clients’ lives that I hoped I would. I’m looking forward to settling even deeper into this field and being a source of positive change in many lives. This world needs all the human-centered help it can get!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Wow no, it has not been smooth by any measure. But some combination of tunnel vision, rebellion, and mental health struggles fueled my onward march through the muck of this journey.
My first largest obstacle was the open disappointment my family shared with me regarding my career choice. We absolutely could not see eye-to-eye and it was a large strain on our relationship. I harbored a lot of self-doubt and guilt for choosing a job that I enjoyed as well as side jobs to help me survive. It is still a sore point to this day for many of my family members. But I have close friends and clients that support me and also value what I do. They have helped me stay grounded and positive in the journey.
My next biggest obstacle was balancing the turbulence of a new personal training business with my own mental health development. I had a lot to learn about myself in my mid-twenties, and learning about myself while also learning to help others created a lot of friction for me. It took a long time to fully believe the value I could bring to my clients. On my bad days, I’d wake up feeling like a fraud who didn’t know anything and couldn’t actually help anyone. I didn’t understand that you don’t have to be perfect to make a difference. It took a lot of writing down my values repeatedly and receiving positive feedback from friends and family to start to believe that I was bringing something worthwhile.
We’ve been impressed with Wellington Standard Fitness, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
My fitness training and nutrition coaching is extremely personalized. My end-goal is for my clients to have the knowledge and practice to carry on positive lifestyle changes for life, with autonomy in their confidence.
I take a functional approach to every part of my coaching. For example, our current western lifestyle typically involves a lot of sitting. So before I take someone into moderate – high intensity workout, we’ll warm up to counter the effects of shortened hip flexors and an inactive core.
Depending on the client and the setting, I use a library of tools to counter joint imbalances, build strength from an injury, counter high-stress levels, and build personal confidence.
Compared to other trainers, I am very transparent about my interest to help clients learn to take care of themselves. Some people have busy lives and just want someone to tell them what to do. And I offer that help! While other people want to participate in their own learning; and I do enjoy empowering them with knowledge and practice.
I enjoy being able to meet people where there are at. So if someone needs help prioritizing valuable nutrition, I offer nutrition coaching with accountability support. Each day of my 2-month nutrition program, you receive a nutrition or wellness tip via email. These small doses of knowledge are tailored to your interests and the bite-size makes for easy digestion and fast learning.
I offer personal training for anyone interested in one-on-one help. I also offer small group personal training for people that enjoy the class vibe but also want personal attention. We track the metrics that are valuable to you, like body-fat percentage, circumference, and progress pictures.
I’d love for your readers to know that I am an entirely black-owned, one-woman show! I’m looking forward to expanding my business in the future to include other trainers and administrative assistants with an interest in transparent, functional wellness.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
The fact that I take a ‘personal approach’ to wellness has been the most valuable to my success. I am not delivering a one-size-fits-all service.
I’ve tried for a while to envision what my “ideal customer” looks like based on things like gender and socioeconomic status. But I’ve honestly had clients of so many different genders, races, ages, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status that I no longer limit my expectation of who I should anticipate working with.
My priority is always to approach people as unique individuals on their own unique path. So, to the best of my ability, I offer solutions that satisfy them uniquely.
I offer modifications and different exercise starting points to accommodate different levels of fitness, interests, goals, and physical limitations.
Taking a personal approach has just been a core-value of mine. It takes more effort in research and emotional availability to work with many different types of people, but I love the variety. This approach has made me smarter and more adaptable as a coach.
Pricing:
- Small-group personal training (up to 4 people) is $170 / month
- My 2-month nutritional & wellness coaching is $500 total
- Personal training varies by training site (at-home or at my gym), but ranges between $55 and $95 per session
Contact Info:
- Email: wellingtonstandardfitness@gmail.com
- Website: wellingtonstandard.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samverysimple/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6PqhbmogeOX9zQlOe2aP7g/videos
