FITNESS: The Story of ‘following your bliss’
I always knew I’d be in the fitness industry.
I literally danced around the house, performing leg lifts and wearing stockings, a bathing suit, long socks and tennis shoes dancing to “Let’s get Physical” when I was only 8.
In 6th grade I avidly performed MC Hammer’s “Can’t touch this” aerobic workout, a routine taught by student’s mother in our P.E. period.
In 7th grade, I religiously ran 2 miles every day on my home treadmill.
In 9th grade, my mom dropped me to the Racquet club before work every morning at 6am so I could exercise.
In 10th grade I volunteered as the Step Aerobics teacher for the rec-classes.
Every man I’ve dated has inspired me in fitness. My high school boyfriend, Erick, bought me my membership at California Fitness and ran with me. My college boyfriend, Karim, was a tennis player and played intramural tennis with me. My most recent, long-term boyfriend, Louis, lost 150 pounds and trained with me every morning.
Probably my biggest motivation: The man I loved most, Paul, inspired me to weight train, to compete and to follow my dreams. Paul is and will always be the best trainer I know.
In my junior year of College, I was contemplating what I wanted to do for my summer job/internship. In the past I worked in a bookstore, at a nonprofit and now…now I wanted to start going forward on a goal to be a kickboxing instructor. As I was training at the gym one night, I saw a couple trainers I befriended when I trained at the Racquet Club a few years back. They were performing pushups on a barbell slowly and rhythmically. When I approached them, they challenged me to try it – and while I never performed pushups before, I did it - and naturally my ego allowed me to perform more than them! After breaking the record, one of the guys said, “I want you to be one of my trainers. I’m the fitness manager here.”
And THAT was the beginning…
I had a full clientele after 2 weeks as a personal trainer. I was like a sponge! (And I still continue to absorb every facet of information available) I loved learning about the body, getting new clients and seeing my body transform. After graduating college I realized I needed more education in the sales arena….so I successfully went into membership sales.
After competing in my last fitness show in November 2003, I decided that regardless of what I studied n college, I wanted to make my passion my career. By ‘following my bliss’ I knew that regardless of my life wave (since everything rises and falls) I would always ‘know’ the underlying purpose to every struggle was my personal desire to change the physical health of Americans. So after reviewing my life experience, I realized I was good at making myself successful, but what I needed to prove, was that I could make others successful. I researched the best gyms in SF (to find a place to network) and interviewed with a fitness director – after being unimpressed, I set an appt. with the owner and gave him a business plan to reshape the service department. In 2 months, I hired, fired and grossed 3x more than what they did the following months.
As my personal history continues to prove, I became complacent…and now realized I needed to TRUST the person I was working for. (A relationship I lacked at the private gym) So after taking a lone trip to Europe, I photocopied everything printed about me, I wrote an awesome cover letter and revised a good resume and sent directly to the CEO of companies I researched heavily.
That’s when I got hired with 24hour fitness corporate as the first female on their corporate team to lead a new set of circuit training gyms. I created marketing campaigns, opened clubs, designed the circuit, edited the newsletters and managed the marketing budget. It was one of the best professional experiences of my life. But after a few years…I felt like I lacked a passionate team environment. In my whole professional career, I’ve been seeking a mentor, a leader, a guide…This last experience made me seek a leader in myself – for every teacher, every company, every struggle, prepared me for what was ‘next’…what was next, behind, here and right now was ME. I needed to find ME…in the process of ‘following my bliss’ I am still rediscovering ME.
Every painful progression in this journey from a trainer, a sales counselor, a manager, a project coordinator, a freelance writer, and a fitness blogger taught me more of what I needed in order to succeed in helping others in fitness…
And now, as I left the world of corporate fitness, I’m discovering a whole new world in ‘nonprofit fitness ‘targeting kids. This is an area that is untraveled, innovative, exciting and new. This is where I am today…after years being intoxicated by writing, podcasting, training, blogging, competing, managing, marketing, coordinating and developing… I am now founding a new NPO.
California’s newest fitness nonprofit, “Fitness Without Borders” is where God is leading me.
I recently received an email from my 1st Fitness Manager who ‘discovered’ me in a small gym in Sacramento. He has been an ongoing source of inspiration for me – so I would like to share this gift with all of you.
Thank you for reading….and for all of y’all who want to get into fitness…GOD BLESS YOU.
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Hi Maria,
This a very interesting story. I went to visit my parents to Mexico and on my way back I visited one of my trainers from Sacramento who moved to San Diego 5 years ago. We were talking and your name came up when we were analyzing who was still working for the fitness industry.
I describe you as the very smart trainer who had pretty big eyes, full lips and a big smile you could see from one mile. You were the one who took me just a couple of weeks to train, instead of the 4 months it took to train him. Then he said “yeah I REMEMBER HER ?????? ” He became a successful lawyer and is now married with 2 kids.
I TOLD HIM you were probably the Vice President of Fitness by now. On my way home I thought about you: Thinking about how your life was… imagining you were probably married with a great husband and a couple of beautiful kids. After all, you are very smart, you have a lot passion and great determination.
So my life went on for a couple of months….This Wednesday I went to get a haircut with my favorite hair dresser, but was referred by my friend Paul (a different Paul) to another stylist (when I found my stylist was sick) – and as I sat in the waiting area, I picked up and opened this magazine and there was “Maria Kang”. I am really proud of you. I knew some how you will be very successful.
I just wanted to say hi to the most smartest, most determined, and most passionate trainer I have ever had.
Good luck and God Bless You,
Jesus Sandoval
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Sent: Fri, 21 Sep 2007 11:42 pm
Subject: Re: destiny is amazing
Awwww…Thanks Jesus!!!
This message is VERY special to me. My favorite moments of my entire fitness career have been training with you, Paul, Neil, Hillary and the whole team. It was such a special experience. It really, really was. I miss your ‘top gun’ awards and recently ate at Baja Fresh and thought of you!
I remember you telling me once that I was like a diamond - a rock that needed pressure in order to form…I’ve thought about that when I competed, when I went through an eating disorder, when I broke up with Paul, when I quit 24 hour corporate…
And so here I am - writing…still not sure where ‘destiny’ is supposed to take me. I was confident I’d be married with kids right now. But I’m not…for sacred reasons I am sure.
I am founding a fitness nonprofit and am working towards becoming a motivational speaker/author. I also want to expand my writing into other media outlets and continue what I’ve established so far with my websites, columns, and podcasts.
How are you ?? What are you up to these days? Who were you referring to in the email? How are your daughters?
Hope you are well. You’ve always had a kind heart and a passionate soul. You deserve to be happy and successful - you’ve been a great mentor for me. Thank you for allowing me to believe in myself. For that, I will always treasure you.
Your trainer,
Maria
www.mariakang.com
www.fitnesscure.com
My 1st year as a trainer! Jesus is in the center!
I was hired by Mark Mastrov, the founder and chairman of 24 hour fitness! This is us at the IHRSA Convention this past March.
Christmas party 2006
Isn’t this ccuutee??
Final Thoughts: YOU CAN FOLLOW YOUR BLISS. But you must know that behind every commitment, there is a sacrifice. Behind every journey, there are many roadblocks…and behind every single death, there was a life of a person who lived with passion, with grace and with courage to be exactly who God intended he/she to be. Follow your bliss. Devote your life to a cause… and live each day with a passionate awareness of a divine purpose you were meant to manifest. GOD BLESS ALL OF YOU.