Cold Open And Big Goal

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Have a joke at the gym, like after a tough work. I'm like, I'm gonna check for abs later. Awesome. I've been checking for two and a half years now, so maybe another six months.

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Keep coming back. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 0:09

They say abs are made in the winter, so I just have to work harder in the winter. Hello and welcome to America's Healthiest City, a channel RVA production. We are here at Westbroad Studios today with Aubrey Iker, the founder and owner of the Well Personal Fitness. And we're gonna get into that conversation in a minute. But if you're new to America's Healthiest City, this is a ten-year community partnership to make all of the region of Richmond uh the healthiest in America by 2033. It is an effort that we have to do together. We have to find ways to move in the same direction at the same time. And that takes everybody. It takes citizens, it takes the government, it takes academic institutions, it takes nonprofits, it takes businesses. And so uh we are working uh with all of those institutions to tell the stories of leaders who are making a difference in the broader health of our community. So uh please check out America's healthy city.com to learn how you can get involved. You can either submit an idea to our ideas board right on the website, or you can learn how you can become an ambassador and uh help us carry this message forward and uh spread the uh the the wealth of health around the community of RVA. So without further ado, we will get

Meeting Aubrey And Gym Confidence

SPEAKER_03 1:13

into it. And um Auri, thank you so much for getting in here with us. I'm uh excited to have this conversation. Uh I am about three years ago, I would have told you uh you're crazy if I learned that I'd be going to the gym every day. Um but this show has changed my life. This show has uh brought people to me who've questioned my choices about fitness and health and the things that I do to stay healthy. And so I will be honest and and and I'll give you a chance to introduce yourself here. Um when I first started this program, I was like, I don't want a bunch of fitness people. Um, because there's a lot of people I think who like like myself who are like, oh, you know, going to the gym isn't what it's about, you know, it's like the social determinants of health and all this other stuff. Um but I'm learning uh so much about the power of uh physical transformation. And that's what I hope to talk to you about today because I know you have such an intimate relationship with your clients. Uh but yeah, thanks for coming in.

SPEAKER_02 2:07

Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Even, you know, just from walking in outside and hearing about you going to the gym, you know, this morning. It's like I was out there doing the same thing. And it's not, you know, it's not a 24-7 thing like living in the gym, but it's it's part of the life, you know, and taking care of ourselves. So that's really exciting.

SPEAKER_03 2:25

Yeah, I think it for me it's like, well, I'm not a gym rat. I can't see myself as a gym. And and I will I'll say something. We'll we talk more about personal training soon, but I I have been somebody who's gone to classes, and I've been somebody who's gone to a personal trainer. And part of the reason I went to a personal trainer when I did was because I didn't want other people looking at me at the gym, because I didn't feel confident in what I was doing. I didn't know how to use the equipment, and that made it all uh so much easier. But uh I want to start this interview with the same uh question that I ask everybody.

From Western Pennsylvania To Richmond

SPEAKER_03 2:53

Um, I know you're not from Richmond, so um tell us uh where are you from and what brought you to this lovely city?

SPEAKER_02 2:59

Yeah, so I am originally from Western Pennsylvania. I it's a small town about 45 minutes outside of Pittsburgh. Um, so not a whole lot going on there. Uh wound up moving to Richmond, like for the first time in 2002. My dad wound up landing here for a job. And so I was moving back and forth. Part of my family is still in Pennsylvania, part of my family was still here, wound up moving, and then I kind of became an island after a while. And uh, so like there's a couple of things like the weather in western Pennsylvania, there's something to be said for it, is like they have one more cloudy day per year than Seattle, uh, which is depressing to talk about like healthy cities. Like, if you don't get sunlight, you're probably not very happy. Uh so I definitely appreciate our weather a lot more, especially now. It's like, oh, it's June, like the sun is bright outside, the sun gets up early, it sets late, like there's a lot of daylight to to do a lot of fun, good things with. So I love love the summertime here. There's lots to do in Richmond.

SPEAKER_03 4:06

Well, my my wife went to Bucknell for her undergrad, so she spent some time in Pennsylvania. And it's a big state. It's a big state, but we've got uh we've got it all here. We have the mountains, we have the ocean, and um 95.

SPEAKER_02 4:19

Then there's that. Yeah, DC.

SPEAKER_03 4:21

Yeah, we can we can we can get to things. So um, so tell me a little bit more about um, you know, your time here in Richmond. You've been here for 18 years. Um, I I know you started a business, and we'll talk a little bit more about that in a minute. But I'm always curious to know what it is about this city that people love and um how they use it as an outlet for all the things that they need to do in their lives, whether it's making a living or having a social life or um, you know, being their best selves. So what about Richmond do you love

Running Community And First Marathon

SPEAKER_03 4:47

the most?

SPEAKER_02 4:47

Yeah, so I was thinking about this some this morning, and I'm I'm really uh grateful and um there's another word there that I'm looking for, but like just grateful that so much of my life ties together. Um, so like, yes, I work in fitness, but I also like I love moving my body. Um, and one of the things that really tied me in to Richmond and like made my experience very rich was training for my first marathon. Um, this was back in 2012. So I got into running. So, like me as a kid, like I didn't do sports when I was growing up. Um, I just really didn't get the opportunity. I probably would have been good. Like I was competitive, I have a competitive spirit, but um I just didn't get the opportunity for this reason, that reason. And um after high school, I started working out. I had a partner that was really into bodybuilding, and um, I was a tomboy, so I liked the weights. And uh, you know, a couple of years later, wound up doing my first 5K outside. It was at Pony Pasture. And this was a point where, like at the gym, um, I had gotten kind of obsessive with like wanting to accomplish like feeling good in my skin. That was my main goal. Like, I was like, I want to wear whatever and not have to think about it, not have to worry about it, not be self-conscious, like just not have to deal with that. And I was spinning my wheels to look back at it today. Like I was spinning my wheels on it, and that was for other various reasons. I had some stuff within the two, you know, walls of my head to to work on. Uh, but I could run like 10 miles on the treadmill, which I look at that and I'm like, I wouldn't want to do that today. Like seriously. And I signed up for this 5k outside, and it was the thick of summer. It was like the end of July. And, you know, it's right along the river, it's pony pasture, and it's like the morning. So, like the the humidity is like 100%. You're just like swimming. And uh I had to walk three times and I was just like miffed by that. Like, what? I can run 10 miles on the treadmill. Like, why you know, and there were a lot of factors that went into that, like pacing and the weather and you know, all of that kind of stuff. But it really got me intrigued and gave me kind of like a carrot of sorts to like work towards, like, oh well, I'm making friends now in this like running community, which is huge in Richmond.

SPEAKER_03 7:16

Um there's a bunch of run clubs.

SPEAKER_02 7:18

There's a bunch of run clubs, and so I haven't been to one of them.

SPEAKER_03 7:23

Um there's a few of them that go to my gym. So I'm I I see them and I'll I'll see them run. I'll be in the bar and they'll run into the bar and grab a drink. I don't know what they're doing. They do these bar crawl runs, different different groups for different folks.

SPEAKER_02 7:35

There are, yes, yes. You got like the super serious people who are like, we're qualifying for the Boston marathon. And then like you've got we're gonna have a beer in the middle of our 5K kind of thing. Um, but yeah, so there's an 8K in the fall, and so like I just kind of progressively worked up from there and made more friends in different running groups. And um, I remember like 2011 doing the half marathon in November, Richmond half marathon. And I had friends that did the full that year, and they finished, you know. I I finished sometime before them because it was a half versus a full, you know, and then like I finished and I was like, that was really cool. And then like they're telling me about their race, and I'm like, I gotta do that next year. So it really like shaped my experience of Richmond running outside, running the streets, like there's so many experiences that I have from that. So that's that's a huge part of it for me.

SPEAKER_03 8:32

We got to interview Rob Mazzonti last year, who is the winner of the Richmond Marathon two years, or not this past marathon, but a year before. And I should have had him come in and do this interview with you. Uh you had had so much to talk about. But um But yeah, no, so I just a curious question. Uh, did you do you happen to be in the ninth year of a decade when you ran your first marathon?

SPEAKER_02 8:52

The ninth year of a decade.

SPEAKER_03 8:54

Like 29, 39.

SPEAKER_02 8:57

No. I was 24.

unknown 8:59

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 9:00

So there's a psychological thing that a lot of people run their first marathon in the ninth year of a decade.

SPEAKER_02 9:05

Um that tracks, yeah. So like, oh, I'm gonna turn a leaf, let me do this.

SPEAKER_03 9:10

Yeah, yeah. I had I didn't have a motivation to do that in the ninth year of any of my decades so far. Maybe the next one I got a ways to get. But uh but so so did you run the Richmond Marathon? Was that yeah? The race that you ran. Yeah. Um, how did you feel? How did you do? Did you were you happy with your performance? Did you I was did you run it again after that?

SPEAKER_02 9:28

I did, yeah. I've done uh this year I'm doing Richmond. I'm signed up for the Richmond Marathon. Um, so the the group that I trained with in 2012 is the same group that I'll train with this summer. Um, they call it Summer Camp, but it's marathon training team. It's through sports backers. Oh, lovely. And they're so fun. I did well on that first one and it motivated me to the point where like I was within 10 minutes of my Boston qualifying time. And so that competitiveness within me came out, and I said, Oh, I'm gonna do that. And so that kind of started this whole process of like me chasing that. I did like four more marathons and then like a couple of triathlons. I was going through a relationship transition at the time. So it was like it became my therapy to like it was a really good outlet. Um, in terms of like all of the outlets that I could have chosen to have like a quarter life crisis, if you will. Um, it was uh it was a good one. And uh, but I burnt myself out by like 2015 and was like, okay, I'm not gonna run this marathon to feed my family. I'm not gonna win it, right? So I enjoy them. Like, where can I just find the happy place and take care of myself? And that was like, I think that was really where like my mindset of fitness started to shift. Like I was really seeing, like within that time frame too, like was also whenever I wound up starting my business. And that was because I saw that there were so many more benefits than just the physical to fitness. It was mental, it was emotional, it was like, you know, you could verbal vomit, you know, on a long run and nobody's gonna remember, you know, because we're all out there struggling through it as well. But you feel like a champ at the end of it. And so, like all of that, like dopamine and all the good hormones, like just feeling good at the end of an exercise session, like, oh wow, cool. And like, you know, probably boosted my longevity. So, like, you know, not just longevity, but like health span too.

SPEAKER_03 11:34

So well, I love the social aspects of it. I think there's so much we could talk about there, and we

Sponsor Break

SPEAKER_03 11:39

will. Um, I do need to take a quick break for our sponsors, but uh, we'll come back and talk a little bit more since you mentioned your business great transition. If you want to own the internet in your domain on search and in AI search, you need the team that wrote the playbook on how to land on top. At Exponent 21, we help businesses dominate search rankings, drive traffic, and convert visitors into loyal customers. In the world of AI, it pays to be number one. You are number one. Make sure the world knows it. Go to exponent21.com and get a free multi-page SEO report when you mention America's healthiest city.

Starting The Well Personal Fitness

SPEAKER_03 12:20

Welcome back to America's Healthiest City. I am your host, Will Melton, and this is a channel RV production. Uh, today we are in Westbroad Studios with Aubrey Iker, the founder and owner of the Well Personal Fitness. Um, we don't have a table here for her to kick me under, so if I've said her name wrong, she's gonna say it here on the show. Um, that did happen one time, uh three times before I got kicked. But uh anyhow, if you're new to this program, please visit America's healthiestcity.com to learn more about how we are making Richmond the healthiest city in America by 2033 with this grassroots uh community effort. Uh, you can get involved in uh small ways, uh, you can share ideas, you can get involved in big ways. And there are lots of people here in Richmond who are making a difference, and we're here to tell their stories. So, Aubrey, thank you so much for telling me more about your time here in Richmond the last 18 years. Um, let's talk about your business. So I know you have a three-location personal fitness studio. Um, so tell us a little bit about what motivated the start of that and how how's how's it been going? How long have you been in business?

SPEAKER_02 13:19

Yeah, so uh started in 2014. So been in business now a little over 12 years, working on 12 and a half, something like that.

SPEAKER_04 13:27

Uh congrats, by the way. Thank you. It's a couple of milestones there.

SPEAKER_02 13:32

It's been quite the journey. I mean, I remember the two-year mark of just like throwing my hands in the air because I had burnt, I I had broken the candle in several places and found new places to burn it and was like, how am I gonna pay the rent? Um, that was year two. And just sticking with it, you know, like I hear I hear other stories of entrepreneurs that, you know, that that hit that mark. And it's like, if you can just get through that, it's it's huge. It's huge. Um, I love the dynamic of problem solving within business. But um yeah, so I was it is a segue from the running. Uh, I was training for my first marathon with sports backers and going through a transition, um, my partner and I at the time, like we had ran multiple businesses together. So I was like always in that like entrepreneurial mindset of like, what can I do? What can I create? That kind of thing. Um, like even back from like high school. High school, I was like working at a restaurant and I was like a hostess, and I thought that it would be the coolest thing to have a restaurant down on Carrie Street and live above it one day. Um I'm kind of glad I didn't do that because I don't think that that would make like the best living situation. But anyway, uh so I had gotten into working with sports backers and our or doing the marathon training team and was really just racking my brain that summer. This was 2012, and saying, like, okay, well, what do I want to do? You know, what's something that I can get passionate about? Because like previously I was like working at an in a desk and I was finding that like as I was running, you know, I would leave midday for, you know, a run, leave downtown in the city, run around, come back, you know, just kind of like sweaty. And but I wasn't around people. Like I was just doing admin work and sales and that kind of stuff. And I was just like, this is not, this is not doing it for me. And um so I knew I wanted to work with people, I knew I wanted to make a difference. Um, so I was thinking more towards like a service-based something. And uh with Marathon training team, we would have these long runs on the weekends. And I like to bake. It is one of the things. Um, so that also feeds into why another reason why I like to run, because I do like to uh indulge in the things that I bake. So, you know, I was making no bakes and chocolate chip cookies and zucchini bread, just like all kinds of different stuff because like when you run 20 miles, you're burning, let's call it 2,000 calories and you're hungry afterwards. So I was really excited about that. I was like, this brings people joy, like good treats. But I so I thought to myself, like, okay, you know, could I start a bakery? That'd be fun. I like mornings, I could get behind that. But then as I kind of really put it together, I was like, uh, not everybody is training for a marathon. So I don't want to, I don't want to make people fat. Like, literally, that was the thought. And uh then I thought to myself, okay, well, like what about a healthy bakery? And again, like I'm in my mid-20s and our household, we were not shopping at Elwood Thompson's or Whole Foods or whatnot. Like, I didn't, I didn't put the pen to paper on all the numbers, but I didn't see the margin in it. I was like, I just really don't feel like that's gonna be their intuitive, just thinking about it. Uh, but I was cross-training one day, I was riding my bike down, it was Patterson Avenue, and uh I was putting two and two together on like, wow, like, you know, people will come out for these long runs and like they can complain about their dog, their their spouse, their job, their whatever. And then at like the end of this long run, 16, 18, 20 miles, feel amazing. You know, be it that they got it off their chest, be it that they're in community with other people, be it that they're um expending the energy in a positive way, like all of that kind of stuff combined. And I was like, huh, this is a lot more than just about the physical. And that's something that I can get behind. Like, I could start, I could be a person, I could be a coach, I could start a fitness studio, I could start a chain of fitness studios because my thought has always been like I knew I can help so many people alone, right? But me plus others, we can help so many more. And so I I look to continue growing that opportunity, which is why like one studio and me as a solopreneur in 2014, whenever I got the opportunity to open it, became two in 2020. Took me a little bit of time to figure some things out, uh, became three in 2025. So to continue like seeing that growth and that effort, um, both that myself and now my team of trainers is putting forth and helping the community with like it's really cool. And like we're excited, and it's like only getting better.

SPEAKER_03 18:34

So well, I think that there's so much that I could talk to you about, and we won't have enough time, but I this intersection of entrepreneurialism and fitness. Um, as I have been an entrepreneur for 20 years, 20 plus years myself, you know, you consume a lot of media from other entrepreneurs because it's lonely at the top. You don't have a lot of folks to talk to about what's going on. Fortunately, I've built a good network and I have those people, but listening to podcasts and listening to, you know, really successful people, they all have a fitness routine. They're not all in great shape, but they, you know, they they have that outlet. And I I've personally I went from being somebody who would go, you know, like a couple times a week or once a week to, you know, not going every day. And there is the part of the reason why I do it is because I don't think about it anymore. It's habit, and I just get up and I go. But also I feel like I can control my life in more meaningful ways, like where without that I feel like things are falling apart and things, you know, like I just don't have the kind of control. But whenever I can leave a physically strenuous activity and feel proud of the accomplishment and then see the difference on my body. Like I have a joke at the gym, like after a tough work, I'm like, I'm gonna check for abs later. I've been checking for two and a half years now, so maybe another six months we'll see.

SPEAKER_01 19:52

Keep coming back. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:53

They say abs remain in the winter, so I just have to work harder in the winter time.

What Clients Transform Beyond Looks

SPEAKER_03 19:57

Um but uh what I want to ask you about is as a personal trainer, you have the opportunity to work one-on-one with people. So you get to see the physical transformation, but you get to hear the emotional transformation, the professional transformation, and all the other ways that people transform. What's that like for you as a coach? And and tell me a little bit. I mean, I'm I'm you know, saying that this is my experience, but across the range of people you work with, what's that like?

SPEAKER_02 20:22

Yeah, it's it's incredible. Like it is what I was searching for whenever I said like I wanted to work with people and I wanted to make a difference kind of thing. Uh, so that's really great to like kind of make that confirmation there, connect those dots. I don't see it as much as I did whenever I was solopreneur and working directly with the clients. Like now I'm I'm one person removed, right? I'm not delivering.

SPEAKER_03 20:47

You don't have anybody that demands that you train them anymore.

SPEAKER_02 20:50

Right, correct. Well, and if they ask very nicely, I still have to say no. That's great. Because boundaries. Um so yeah, but uh I I love getting the opportunity to like be close enough that I am a part of that, you know, and I get the story, and not only like the story, right, with the details, but the emotion with it of like, wow, I feel so much better. Like just various different things, you know, like I can get down on the ground with my grandkid now and couldn't before. Like that was really bugging me. Or I hated that, you know, when I was doing my weekend warrior stuff, you know, clean just cleaning out the car was getting me sore, you know, heading into the week. And now it doesn't. Now I'm going on hikes with my with my loved one and our family and everything. And that's awesome. So it and it bleed it does, it definitely does bleed over into into other areas of life. It's like that sense of it's a self empowerment.

unknown 21:59

Um

SPEAKER_02 22:00

Uh, there's also some kind of like confirmation of integrity of saying, like, I'm going to do this. And other people may or may not know that I said that I'm going to do this, but I'm going to do this anyway. I'm going to follow through. And then I did follow through, and now I feel like a champ, kind of thing.

Three Locations And Functional Training

SPEAKER_03 22:21

So you have uh three locations. Now can you tell our listeners where those are? And, you know, what's it like to be a client there? How what's it like to work out with your your trainers?

SPEAKER_02 22:30

Yeah. So our locations are our main, our our original one, I'll call it our OG, is uh in the fan. It's on North Robinson Street, 8 North Robinson. It's a bright orange building. You can't miss it if you're driving on Robinson. And uh number two is in Hanover County. It's in the Atlee area, right off of the Atlee exit off of 95. Uh, so it's King's Charter, Sliding Hill, like that area.

SPEAKER_03 22:57

What caused you to open up up that way?

SPEAKER_02 23:00

I had the opportunity to do some group classes uh to test the area. So I had it on my radar in the beginning of 2020, pre-COVID, to start location number two. And I started some small group classes just to test the test the market up there. My my friend, my partner at the time uh had a business up there who said, there's nobody doing anything there at 6 a.m. Why don't you try and do that? Which was not what I wanted to do at O Dark Nothing in January, but I did, you know, and it was really cool. We got a good response. And then COVID hit. And we tried to do some stuff online with the small group stuff there. And it it just kind of like petered out. And I said, well, you know, I guess, I guess we're just gonna have to wait. You know, 2020 is not the year for location number two. But as time went on, uh, the uniqueness of our of our spaces, of our studio spaces, is that we're not classified as a gym. So we are completely one-on-one. We're about the size of a large living room. And it's perfect for that, like trainer plus client experience. And it was also really perfect that like we were not forced to close during COVID. So we were still able to be a space for people to go. And we had, we had very serious conversations with like each of our clients to say, like, hey, you know, like what's your what's your exposure to people that are uh more inclined to be immunocompromised and all of that kind of stuff. And if they had zero and wanted to come in, then then we were able to be that outlet. And so, like, as time went on on 2020, it was like, oh, well, actually, well, let's check the market to see for a place to rent up there. And lo and behold, August of that year, our Hanover location was born. So uh that's number two, and that's a little bit about like the experience of our spaces. Uh, and then number three is in Midlothian off of Route 60, Midlothian Turnpike. Um, we are in a shopping center that is uh marked by a big red barn. Uh, a lot of people in the area down there know that. And so uh it's right next to Midlothian Middle, that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_03 25:17

I used to record my episodes down at the SPN station down there.

SPEAKER_02 25:20

So cool.

SPEAKER_03 25:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:22

Yeah. So yeah, it's it's private, it's one-on-one, it's completely catered catered to what the client is looking for. Um, we are functional fitness focused, so we're not gonna be the place where someone comes to say, like, I want to train for the bikini competition. Um, but if they want to learn how to lift, you know, in a functional space, learn how good form looks and feels and how to pair workouts together and how to work towards goals that they have to like get themselves that education that can take them forward. Um, we're definitely the place for that. So we could we co-create the plans with them to figure out, okay, you know, what do you want to do? Where do you want to go? Where are you at today? And then also what are you interested in? Because we're really interested in sustainability. Like, how can how can your new fitness habits take you into years into the future? Like, what's your 80-year-old self look like? You know, are you keeping good posture or are you gonna be kind of slumped over and all of that kind of stuff? Like, how mobile do you want to be for so long? For how long?

SPEAKER_03 26:33

Well, that's what we do with our financial advisors, so why not do it uh for our bodies too?

SPEAKER_02 26:37

Makes sense.

SPEAKER_03 26:37

Well,

Sponsor Break

SPEAKER_03 26:38

I need to take one more break and we're gonna come back and we'll talk a little bit more about the future of this region. And I'm excited to hear what you think.

SPEAKER_01 26:43

Sounds good.

SPEAKER_00 26:44

So you've probably figured out by now that Richmond Water is on Westbrook Street. But where the heck else is it? You can find us online. We're at drinkrichmondwater.com, and there's lots of ways to engage with our website here. But if you come all the way down the bottom, that's where you will find the map. Three refill stations across the city. Just open this Google map that we have here that you can submit to at any time. And you'll find these pink dots are the Richmond Water Refill Stations, of course, up Broad Street, and then over at City Stadium. And then all of the little blue dots are other places that have water refill stations where you can get free water across Richmond City. Join us in making free water more accessible on drinkrichmundwater.com.

SPEAKER_03 27:30

Welcome back to America's Healthiest City on Channel RVA. I'm your host, Will Melton, and I have Aubrey Iker here from The Well Personal Fitness. Uh we're having a great conversation about her business and what caused her to move to Richmond and be integrated in this community for 18 years. And uh this show is all about uh community health. It's about how we can show up individually. It's about how we can show up for our community and work alongside others who are looking to make this community a healthier place. And so check out America's healthiestcity.com if you're new to this, learn about what we're doing, and see how you can get involved. I'd love to have you on the show if you have a story to tell and lots of other ways to get involved as well.

Why Not Richmond By 2033

SPEAKER_03 28:07

Uh Aubrey, I want to close out by thinking a little bit about the future of our region. If we've if we're working for 2033 to be the healthiest region, we've got some time ahead of us to make it happen. Um, one of the things that I thought about when I started this, or at least what I acknowledge, is that there was a contingent of people who didn't think that we could do it. Um and it's not just health, it could be anything. We just can't do it for whatever reason. We couldn't have been able to do it. It's a belief system that I aim to create. Um, what do you believe about the future of our region? And what do you think it's gonna take to actually help us to achieve what might have seemed impossible a few years ago?

SPEAKER_02 28:44

Yeah. Well, the first thing that comes to mind is the belief that a lot of people believed that the sub-five-minute mile was not feasible by humans. Uh, and now like kids on track, you know, are hitting sub 430s for a mile. So I'm a really big believer in looking at belief systems and saying, like, okay, let's let's turn that on its head and say, like, what one, why? Why not? Why not Richmond? Why not now, right? Why not be working towards that? 2033, absolutely. Um I think that it's just getting enough people on board. I mean, there's so many ways that I think of as I've come up in the fitness and wellness industry in Richmond. Like I was talking about holistic fitness in 2014 and had to figure out how to explain what I thought or what I meant and all of that kind of stuff. It was just, it was very nebulous. And then, you know, by the time 2019 that I was like rebranding, there were other places popping up that that were on board with the holistic wellness, fitness, like all of that kind of stuff concept. So it's the thought process is growing for sure. And why not Richmond? You know, we have we have such an awesome area here, like between like I would say, whenever I look at Richmond, like our climate, uh, our mixture of nature plus city is huge. Like it's gorgeous here. We have the river, we have the parks, we have so much like advocacy for all of that kind of stuff. Um, you know, adding more healthy food options, you know, et cetera, et cetera. Like how many festivals do we have per year? I just think that there's so much opportunity for it. I say, why not? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:49

Well, that's um, I feel like the river is is never void in our conversations on this show. Um, it is the staple. And if we didn't have it, um have you ever been to Greenville, North Carolina, South Carolina?

SPEAKER_01 31:03

I have.

SPEAKER_03 31:03

So uh Greenville has a river that runs through it. But when I was there on the inner city visit a couple of years ago, uh or last year rather, they told us that the river wasn't always there. It was actually buried underneath the highway and nobody knew it was there. Like literally, people couldn't see it, didn't know it existed. It was like a creek, it was a dribble. And um they ended up the mayor basically against a lot of people's wishes, just pushed and pushed and pushed and got through. But it's completely changed that community. I can't imagine Richmond without a river. Yeah. It's a big deal. And have have you ever done a Ragnar?

SPEAKER_02 31:37

I have not.

SPEAKER_03 31:37

Okay. I understand I know that they've run that.

SPEAKER_02 31:40

Do you know some people that want to do it?

SPEAKER_03 31:41

I know some people well, I know some people who love to run Ragnar, so um, yeah. I've never done it either, but I I'm also not a super competitive person. I just like to be in good shape. One of these days I'll get out and get some running in, but uh I uh yeah, I mean I think it doesn't matter how people get their their fitness in, you know, go for a walk on the Capitol Trail or you know, there's these segments of the Fall Line Trail. There's so many

Local Leaders And Wellness Momentum

SPEAKER_03 32:06

ways. Well, um, one of the things that I want to make sure that I I do, and everybody who comes on the show, we ask who's somebody else who's out there um making a difference who we should be uh bringing in here and having a conversation with. And I guess you don't have to put you on the spot there maybe a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 32:22

Yeah, yeah. Oh gosh. Uh, you know, I really think of so there is a group that I just joined of health and wellness practitioners uh called Synergy. And the founder of that started uh Metafit RX.

SPEAKER_03 32:42

Oh, David Ambrose. Yeah. He said he's been on twice now. Actually, this is really good. I'm so glad that you said this because we'll we'll call David out. Um, he asked me what I was doing for my personal fitness. So I've done the DEXA scan. I haven't done the um the VAO2 Max yet, but I did the DEXA DEXA scan and he said, he's like, you're good. And I was like, oh man, that's dangerous because I'm now not gonna do anything. But but I also recognize the risk in that. So I ended up, you know, hitting the gym. But he's the reason why I uh I go to the gym every day.

SPEAKER_02 33:13

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 33:14

Yeah. Well, we'll we'll put it back on the show. We'll bring him back on the show. I know they just opened up a Charlottesville location, so they're they're kicking. They're kicking.

SPEAKER_02 33:21

Yeah, yeah. We were both doing like congratulations to each other. I remember meeting up with him, it was before COVID, goodness. So, like just thinking back to 2019. So I was still only at one location and now to have three, and he's got two. And so it's it's cool to see, you know, different fitness, wellness entrepreneurs doing things in the community.

SPEAKER_03 33:41

It's a business on the rise. I don't know the numbers for this, maybe you do, but this has got to be a burgeoning industry.

SPEAKER_01 33:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:47

Uh we all watch Alex Hermosy and uh uh what is that? Acquisition.com and the Rise of Man business. That's a fantastic story. But um people are interested. You haven't looked at it.

SPEAKER_02 33:59

I've I've looked at the website, right? I've got I've I I I grabbed the ad one day and I was like, oh, what's he doing now? Uh so found it interesting, but haven't done the full like rabbit trail poking around.

SPEAKER_03 34:11

Go listen to the uh podcast uh uh Diary of the CEO with him. That's a good one. That'll that's probably two or three hours, it I would imagine, but it it'll be everything you need to know about Alex Ramosi and his uh his awesome growth.

Open House Details And How To Join

SPEAKER_03 34:27

Um well, I know so you have um uh an open house coming up that folks can uh come to to learn more about what you're doing. Tell us about when that is and where they can go to find out more.

SPEAKER_02 34:37

Yeah, so we're doing our our kind of like rhythm this year has been now with having three locations, we're doing an open house at one of our three locations each month.

SPEAKER_05 34:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 34:48

And so uh the one for July is gonna be July 19th from 1 to 3 p.m. That's a Sunday afternoon, and that's gonna be at our Midlothian location. So our cycle is like Midlothian and then Hanover and then the fan and then Midlothian, Hanover, fan, like that's been our cycle now. But all the information can be found on our website. Um, connect with us on socials and and all that good stuff.

SPEAKER_03 35:12

So if you really need to wait until July to find out more, you they can do that. But um, but they don't have to wait until July. How do the folks connect with you and um how do they plug in to your program?

SPEAKER_02 35:22

Yeah, so the website is thewellpf.com. And our main ask is like, hey, submit for an exploratory session. If you're interested in having a conversation, it's a short form of like, you know, your contact information, but then also like, what are your goals? What have you been doing? Uh, what's worked in the past, what hasn't, you know, give us a little bit of information about you, but then like let's have a phone conversation and go from there. Um, our website has all kinds of information and materials and that kind of stuff. It's built for that. Um, so I'd say, you know, check that out and reach out to us that way.

SPEAKER_03 36:01

And I saw on your site you have some video content. Um, you're active on socials, I imagine.

SPEAKER_02 36:05

Yep. Quite a bit.

SPEAKER_03 36:07

What are your handles for that?

SPEAKER_02 36:08

I do that one. So uh our handles are the well personal fitness. Okay. So uh that's for Instagram, Facebook, uh, and then for X is the Well PF.

SPEAKER_03 36:21

Okay. Great. Well, Aubrey, thanks for joining me on America Southeast City. I love what you're doing.

SPEAKER_02 36:27

Love what you guys are doing.

SPEAKER_03 36:28

I'm gonna have to check out one of these run clubs one of these days, maybe just once. Yeah. What's the name of the club that you're a part of?

SPEAKER_02 36:34

Uh Sports Backers. So I'm doing marathon training team.

SPEAKER_03 36:37

Okay. So not a run club anymore, just straight up marathon training.

SPEAKER_02 36:41

Straight up marathon training team. Yeah, yeah. But there's there's so many around Richmond. So it all depends on what flavor, what flavor you want. We can talk more about it.

SPEAKER_03 36:50

Yeah. Well, when you open up your fourth location, come back and talk, talk about it.

SPEAKER_02 36:53

That sounds good.

SPEAKER_03 36:54

I love what you're doing, and uh, and we'll get David Ambrose back on too. We can we can have our you know, two bald guys together and you have a good conversation.

SPEAKER_01 37:03

I can see that.

SPEAKER_03 37:05

All right, folks, thanks so much for listening to America's Healthiest City on Channel RVA. We're gonna catch you next time, but until then, please visit America'salthiestcity.com and learn about what we're doing and go over to channelrva.com to subscribe to all the things that we're doing on that program. It's more than I have time to talk about. Channelrva.com will sign in off. See you next time.