As a runner and an athlete, setting goals and working to reach them is a major part of my life. It’s what drives me to get better and it makes me happy. Even more fun though, is helping other people reach their goals.

Back in high school I was always putting together plans and forcing my friends to run sprints in an empty gym during the off-season to get ready for basketball. For years I’ve acted as a personal trainer for my Mom setting up workout plans for her and teaching her how to swim so she could add a new cardio element to her routine. A couple years ago, I got to take things a bit further.

I saw an ad for a company called Custom Fitness Concepts (CFC) looking for outdoor boot camp instructors. I had taken boot camp classes for a few years and thought this would be a blast, so I replied to the ad with my background and reasons for wanting the job. After a month and a half of CFC’s in-house training program and shadowing other instructors, I was getting my own class. It would be a new site up in Quincy Park and would be held Monday through Friday at 6 a.m.

I had five people show up for my first class – four were friends of mine. Attendance was a bit rocky at first, but eventually it built up and I had a pretty solid showing most mornings. During the nicer months, especially when we were running Groupon deals, I often had 20+ people showing up. Despite the early hour (I’m not much of a morning person), I absolutely loved it.

A few months later I took over the evening class at Quincy Park as well for a trainer moving out of town. That one met Monday through Thursday after work at 6 p.m. I was able to do both classes and my day job for a little over a year before it became a bit too much and I dropped the morning class. If only there’d been a financially feasible way to turn fitness-related work into a full-time gig!

It was so fun to see so many people coming out and trying to get in better shape while having some fun doing it. Although, a lot of my bootcampers out there might say that I was the only one having fun, they kept coming back, so I don’t believe it! It was especially great to get to know the regulars who came over a long period of time, and see how much of a transformation some of them made. If you’re in the DC/NoVa/Maryland area and are looking for a kick-butt workout, look no further than CFC.

I had to give up teaching boot camp when I started my new job and at the same time my car died at the beginning of this year, but it was an awesome experience. This summer I started doing some personal training for CFC. I only have one client a couple days a week right now since that’s pretty much all my schedule allows for, but it’s great to be back to helping someone take a step towards getting more fit and leading a healthier lifestyle.

While it’s no doubt rewarding to reach my own fitness goals, there is nothing quite like the feeling of knowing I helped someone else do something they didn’t know or never thought they were capable of accomplishing.

How do you reach your fitness goals? Do you like to go at it solo or take group classes? What are your favorite types of classes?