Today we’d like to introduce you to Elyse Valdes.
Hi Elyse, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I’ve always loved moving my body and feeling one with nature. I was lucky enough to grow up with cousins who shared this same passion. We would swim in the ocean and bike on the road for hours. This sense of unity and excitement led me to join a variety of team sports in high school, such as track, pole vaulting, and cheerleading. I have now translated many of the techniques I was taught in these sports into my present-day training style. But it wasn’t until my mom brought me to her high-intensity bootcamp when I was only thirteen years old that I truly fell in love with fitness and the feeling it gave me.
When I started college at FIU, I had an important decision to make. Play it safe and stick to something that was going to make me feel comfortable, or chase after my dream and get uncomfortable. I took a leap of faith and chose the unconventional route. And so that’s how “Fitventures” was born! What started off as just an Instagram, @fitventures_with_e, has now grown to a community filled with motivated, strong women.
Within the first year, I became a certified personal trainer through NASM and started teaching live workouts via IG. I also created my own fitness plan and hardcopy book, “Beach Bum 30 Day Challenge.” It includes follow-along workout videos accessed through my website, nutritional guidance, mental health motivation, an exclusive FB community, a stretching guide, and so much more. I want to show girls that working for their dream bodies should be fun, realistic, and exciting!
Fast forward to today, I graduated with my bachelor’s degree and am currently working full time for my company, Fitventures LLC. I train clients in person, run all my social media accounts, create personalized workout plans to fit client’s unique needs/goals, and ultimately coach women to live a balanced healthy lifestyle. To me, fitness is so much more than just hitting the gym and eating healthy. It’s an adventure that guides you to become the best version of yourself: physically, mentally, emotionally. It’s feeling confident in your skin, taking care of your mind + body, and surrounding yourself with people, places, and activities that make you feel good from the inside out.
Living a wholesome lifestyle makes me feel strong, powerful and beautiful from within. I hope to use all that I’ve learned and continue to learn on this journey to hopefully share this same feeling with all of you! I’m excited to see where the future takes us, but for now I’m enjoying the ride.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
It hasn’t always been a smooth road. During high school, I struggled with body insecurities, binge eating and overtraining. I would turn to restrictive diets and quick fixes in order to fill this void; however, this only left me feeling guilty and disappointed. I felt like I was in a never-ending cycle and finally made a decision one day to break away from this. I started by making small changes towards living an active, well-rounded lifestyle.
I think one of the biggest things that have changed along my fitness journey has been my mindset. Because of it, I now have such a positive relationship with fitness, food and my body. Instead of viewing working out as something I have to do, I look up to it as something I enjoy doing because it makes me feel good.
I treat myself in moderation and aim to practice balance in all things: work, training, family, friends, food, social life, social media. I now understand that fitness is a marathon, not a sprint and believe that finding and maintaining balance in all areas of our life is a constant journey that we’ll achieve together.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m a certified personal trainer who designs workouts that are creative, challenging, effective and of course, FUN! As a travel enthusiast, I am a big fan of workouts that can be done anytime, anywhere, with minimal equipment. I love that you can just press play on my workout videos and sweat with me wherever, whenever.
During the pandemic this year, I started hosting weekly live workouts on my IG. Exercise has always been my outlet and form of stress relief, so these 30min-40min were dedicated towards strengthening our minds and bodies together as a community. With experience in HIIT training, boxing, bodyweight circuits, weight training, and yoga, my girls have a variety of training styles to choose from! I’m always switching it up, which keeps the sessions spontaneous and exciting. You really never know what you’re going to be doing, but you’re guaranteed a great time and a good sweat.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
My favorite memory from childhood is growing up in the Florida Keys alongside cousins who were as thrill-seeking as I was. You could always find us on a new outdoor adventure: swimming, biking, paddle boarding, tubing, wakeboarding. Basically, anything that involved moving our little bodies. Overall the outdoors raised us and taught me true compassion for myself, for others, and for our planet.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.fitventureswithe.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fitventures_with_e/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/983023328793508
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyKfWYG-ogLmNhXqquEX2Pw
Image Credits
Photography by Tatiana Torres
