Today we’d like to introduce you to Tara De Leon.
Hi Tara, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Thanks so much for the opportunity to share a little about myself! I am happily married to my husband Marcus. We have the best story, but the quick version is that we met as exchange students in Costa Rica back in 2001. We quickly became best friends and kept in touch after we returned to the States, him in Texas, me in Maryland. (And then Utah and Hawaii) After we finished school and I was working as a Strength Coach, I had the opportunity to go to a conference in Dallas. Marcus agreed to meet me for dinner and the rest was history! We started officially dating, married two years later, and eight years after that brought our son into this world. We love being parents, talking walks with our Aussie pup, Chula, and traveling the world. We love giving back to the community and often participate in fundraisers or collections for various charities.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Everyone has challenges in their lives, and I am no different. I have been super lucky that none of my challenges have been insurmountable. One of my mottos is that either you succeed or you learn. I have done A LOT of learning in my life but have been blessed with lots of success as well.
One of my biggest challenges was making the decision to leave the strength and conditioning industry and come back to personal training. It felt like I was giving up on my dream and that I was regressing in my career. But the lack of pay, long hours, gender politics, and insane commute made that decision a little easier and now, five years later, I can’t imagine not being where I am.
No discussion of challenges would be complete without mentioning the challenge of parenting. I have PCOS and struggled for over 5 years to get pregnant. Naively, I thought that that would be the hard part but now as the mother of a two-and-a-half-year-old, I know better. There is so much information out there and we are all just trying to do the best we can for our children but somehow it all feels like you’re not doing enough or doing the right things. Without a doubt it’s my greatest blessing and biggest challenge.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a personal trainer and the personal training manager at Edgewater Fitness, located just south of beautiful Annapolis, Maryland. I help people feel badass and confident by teaching them to lift heavy weights.
I started my fitness journey (although I didn’t realize it at the time) when I was just a kid. Unfit and fairly unfortunate looking, I quickly realized that being out of shape wasn’t that much fun and it wrecked my self-esteem. I immersed myself in team sports and tae kwon do (The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were so hot back then!) and found my inner strength.
Fast forward to college (Go Seasiders! That’s Brigham Young University-Hawaii, in case you were wondering) and I realized that I could make a career out of helping people get healthy. I quickly switched my major from international business to Exercise Science and got my first personal training certification. It was awesome.
I started working in a gym, got even more certifications, starting teaching group fitness classes, and then decided I wanted to be a collegiate strength and conditioning coach. So, after a few unsuccessful interviews, someone told me that I needed a Master’s Degree and more experience. I went back to school at A.T. Still University of Health Sciences in Arizona and got my MS in Human Movement with an emphasis in Sports Conditioning. I was ready to help athletes make their dreams come true!
And you know what? I did. I worked at NAVY, Loyola University Maryland, and even for a brief stint at University of Maryland Baltimore County. I LOVED it. But eventually, the commute, politics of being a female in a male-dominated workplace, and the severe lack of pay made it easy for me to leave and I decided to come back to my roots as a personal trainer. I also have been at Anne Arundel Community College for the past 18 years teaching students how to become amazing personal trainers.
Now, 20 years after it all started, 2 degrees and 14 certifications later, I’m back in the gym, helping regular people like you and me get back to being healthy. I have spoken at National Strength and Conditioning Conferences, am in the process of being published, I recently was voted Best Trainer, Best Lifestyle Coach, and Best Prenatal Fitness by What’s Up Annapolis and started a podcast! Due to covid, I also added virtual personal training to my services and enjoy helping people all over the world!
Because I struggled with infertility, I did a ton of research on how exercise can help with conception and now often train clients who are trying to conceive or are pregnant/postpartum. I love helping people exercise safely during such a special time and give their babies a healthier start to life. I also work with other types of clients- everyone from the athletes to the elderly and everyone in between, but those trying to conceive will always have a special place in my heart.
I love helping people get strong, feel awesome, and live confidently!
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
Just a quick note about my podcast. I believe that the world is full of toxic diet culture and it is harming us as a society. I have teamed up with a registered dietician/intuitive eating counselor, as well as a therapist to create this podcast that pushes back on diet culture a shows people what wellness truly is. We are here to help you consider what’s actually healthy and what’s wellness culture run amok, we challenge diet culture, hustle culture, and toxic positivity as we redefine what it means to care for your health. We know you’re tired, overwhelmed, and sick of hearing what you can, can’t, should, and shouldn’t be doing. You’re ready to ditch the impossible standards, forgo the latest wellness fads and turn inward towards genuine health-promoting self-care. Get ready to tune into your body, feel empowered around food and health as you nurture your physical, mental, and emotional well-being.
If you’d like to listen, it’s called Wellness: Rebranded and you can find it anywhere you enjoy podcasts.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ptdistinction.com/taradeleonfitness
- Instagram: @tara_de_leon_fitness
- Facebook: @taradeleonfitness
- Other: Wellness Rebranded Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wellness-rebranded-intuitive-eating-diet-culture-food/id1651744916
Image Credits
Maureen Porto
Tara De Leon
