Kelly Groff Team Jeremy Scott Fitness

Talks about how she got into fitness….

Many people have asked me why and how I got in to the fitness industry. Did I always want to do this? The answer is really no I didn’t know that I always wanted to be a personal trainer.

Growing up I was very active in sports; I grew up in a small town and was able to play all sports all year round. I joined the Army Reserves out of high school, and then started my college career at Missouri Southern. I went in undecided as my major. I knew I wanted to do something on the creative side…I was an art geek!

Loved all fine arts. After my first year of college I realized I was not ready to figure out what I wanted to do and decided to fly the friendly skies for a while, I worked in the airline industry for quite some time. I must admit Fitness and nutrition were not exactly high on my list… to be honest they weren’t even on it.

After 5 years of the airline industry I met my now husband and decided that I wanted to go back to school and get a degree. Still unsure of what I wanted to major in I started with my general education classes. I took night classes and took a job with Kraft Food as a sales representative. My job with Kraft was great! I was making good money, had options and was able to see a career for myself there.

During my time with Kraft I took night classes and start caring about my health a little bit. Or at least how I looked on the outside. I joined a gym and started working out. I will be honest with you all I wouldn’t go anywhere near the free weights because I was so intimidated, I took fitness classes and lived on the elliptical. My nutrition was far from “clean” my mentality was I worked out so I can eat whatever I wanted. I continued yo-yoing with fitness and nutrition for a long time in the future.

As I spent more time in school I and realized that maybe this traveling sales job thing wasn’t for me, I majored in Art at Arizona State University. I married my husband we decided on a family and for me I wanted a job where I could stay home with my kids and have their schedule too… so the thing that made most sense was a teacher. I was an art teacher of all ages in a School District in Phoenix, I loved the fact I could help people express themselves and seeing their faces when they completed something was amazing.

After our second son was born, many of you know he was born with some special needs. His journey is another blog in itself so needless to say he required a lot of time. This took me away from my job and I found myself at home, caring for his needs and the rest of the family. Now I wouldn’t have changed it I needed to be there and I love that I was able to be there. But the stress of finding out what was wrong with him and the rollercoaster ride of emotions took a turn on me, my body inside and out. I knew I had to do something.

My sister in law and I joined the local YMCA and would do the elliptical and some machines… I was starting to feel better about myself because I was starting to get a break from the reality at home. Eventually the weight was dropping off of me faster than I realized. I was working out, but still wasn’t watching what I was eating. I realized some other things were starting to happen to my body, heart palpitations, and cold all the time, anxiety, horrible mood swings. I finally went and got checked out. I had a thyroid disease. My body could not regulate itself. I struggled with this for a couple years. I finally decided to remove my thyroid and move on. My weight was almost at an all-time high. I knew I had to do something.

I found Jeremy Scott Fitness on a living social deal and came in. After the first couple months I noticed a difference in me. On the outside I was starting to lose some weight and on the inside I was looking forward to my next workout. The drive from the people around me was awesome. After a couple years of working out there I decided this is it. All the jobs I have had have always been to help people. I want to help people feel better about them in a positive way. I decided to become a trainer because I know we all worry about how we look on the outside, and I know if I can help somebody be happy with how they look on the outside they will become happy with who they are on the inside.

My drive in life has shifted a lot in the last 20 years, but my main goal during the entire time was to put a smile on somebody’s face and to make a difference.

Kelly Groff – ISSA CFT 

Team Jeremy Scott Fitness