Today we’d like to introduce you to Elena Huffman.
Hi Elena, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
A little under 2 years ago, covid was just all talk and not the #topic of the year. I have always been into sports, dancing, drama, choir, speech, gymnastics, and anything that involved physical activity. People kept nudging me to get a certification in fitness, and I never wanted my hobby of working out to become work to where I would hate it. For years I was moving from job to job and was successful everywhere I went, but that did not make me happy. All I wanted to do was play soccer, dance, work out, climb things, and do flips. My previous boss Dan Greiner, where I worked with him at FullCircle Placements knew I was not meant to do recruiting in the mortgage industry for the rest of my life and kept pushing me to figure out what I really wanted to do and to stop wasting my time. I really appreciated that because he was ok with me leaving his work to do what I needed to do… Then in February of 2020 I decided to be brave and create an Instagram fitness business page account as an influencer intended to post videos and photos of me working out, etc. then months later, I started doing virtual fitness, and that did not work. I always danced on the side for almost 5 years, salsa and bachata mostly, but did not think that would be good for fitness because I was trying to be like everyone else. In August of 2020, I launched a website selling merchandise promising to come out with a new design every month to keep consumers in the loop and always coming back. I had 2 previous websites so I was pretty familiar with that task. In October I did my first Bootcamp, which in my eyes was a huge success having 10 people show up. In January I got my first two personal training clients Gene and Sam (both in their 40s and 50s) -that really boosted my confidence knowing people were willing to trust me and my work.
As time progressed, I got more clients, and then I thought to myself if this is my own business Huffman Fitness and I do soccer, fitness, and dance, why can’t I also add that to my list of services…
So, I started advertising that I do privates for dance again. In the past, I had a dance company, but I ended that because it drove me crazy to hating dance, but having dance in addition to soccer and fitness would not make me sick of it at all.
I got clients pretty quickly because people knew me from teaching in the past and I was training with my team in Chicago, ELDC with Jose Serrano, former ballet dancer for 20+ years who trained globally. I learned a lot from him and owe him forever.
In the summer of 2021, I got my first soccer client, Lily Spordler, which was super exciting and fun because I got to train her keeping her in shape for her upcoming season for the fall. We had a blast and she loved the work. So, by this time, I was training in fitness, dance, and soccer on a personal 1:1 approach. This is literally what I wanted.
I knew that was not enough and would not make me happy and satisfied. I have always loved doing events. I then reached out to a restaurant and asked if I could do socials. I told him I did socials for a year straight on Mondays up to the Monday before Lockdown in February. He was in, and it lasted for about 4 months. I decided to stop because people were not available to come out so early at 8 pm.
In August of 2021, I did my first Fitness Day Fundraiser, for my studio I am saving up for, and that was the most amazing day I have had this year if I had to say the least. I had a yoga instructor, salsa, Zumba, bachata, and a class and social dancing that evening. Smoothie King came out and gave smoothies. Supplement superstore set up a table. I had a chiropractor that came out and educated people, juice plus was out there educating people.
Huffman Fitness signs up a team for soccer tournaments for co-ed and has played in 3 so for winning the whole tournament in July, getting to semifinal in October, and currently playing in the dec holiday classic tournament.
It was a mixture of fitness, dance, and health. My motto is Consistency Is Key- 15 minutes a day could change your life. It did mine. Ever since, I have been disciplined, got a house paid off major credit cards, and achieved many other goals.
After my fitness day, I started doing group classes. The first class, we had one student. We had our last class 3 weeks ago and we had 25 students. The community has grown, and that is all I wanted to happen. I have brought instructors such as Daniel Castillo, Jose Berrio, and Semil Sineus, and will be working with Mike Gil soon to teach and broaden my student’s knowledge base of dance.
In November of 2021, I did my first soccer camp for kids. I kept thinking to myself how am I able to reach everyone even outside of who I am working with now like kids and parents I would only meet because of hosting soccer camps for the girls and boys. It is super important for kids to get out there and be active. You learn so much playing sports such as communication, sharing, good sportsmanship, not quitting, fighting, and more…
Overall, I am here today because I was not disciplined before, and I started working out one day and have not stopped since. As of Dec 28th, 2021 I have been working out 638 days in a row without stopping. As long as you are doing something active every day such as taking a walk, playing a sport, dancing, doing calisthenics, pushups, running, plyometrics, etc. then that will be the change you are looking for.
Trust me, it will make the biggest impact in your life making sure you put yourself first in order to take care of others how you would like to be taken care of…
Keep grinding, never stop, and be consistent. It does not matter. Just do the fucking work every day and you will be %%%% closer than you would be doing something once a week for an hour.
Working on something for 3 minutes every single day for 365 days will get you 33% closer from day one at 0%.
Consistency is Key! 15 MIN A DAY TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No fuck that it has not been smooth. Even to this day, I struggle financially. For a whole year, I have been self-employed and am so damn proud of myself that I made it for a year making my own money fending for myself building the business and career I should have been working on years ago.
I have been stranded with no money hours away from home having to basically feel like I was homeless. I have had to borrow money from so many friends of mine it was embarrassing. I can say that this year I did not have to ask people for a few hundred bucks like I did on a consistent basis last year and before. There have been times where I was close, but this year I leveled up…
I started making 500 a month and now I am clearing 2000-3000 a month depending on holidays, but I can say I am so proud of myself for doing that. I struggled to get my house because of shortage of years for being self-employed, but I somehow managed to do it…
I almost got my car repossessed because I was falling behind and was 3 car payments behind. Car was in collections. Being self-employed is difficult because the money you make pays your bills, food, emergencies, and the business….my business expenses are so much and are a pain in the ass.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
What separates me, Elena and Huffman Fitness is the consistency, and creativity working out to music. Whether it is fitness, soccer, or dance client, I train all my clients to music and we focus on control and allowing the music to tell us how fast or slow to go and when to stop and when to go.
I also specialize in calisthenics, plyometric, and resistant training not using weights. Getting people in shape for cardio, aerobic, balance, and stabilizing muscles.
I like to merge a lot of the three different departments and cross-train. Just because you don’t play soccer, it does not mean you can’t do an agility drill. Just because you don’t dance, it does not mean you cannot do ballet conditioning to strengthen your muscles. Just because you play soccer, it does not mean you cannot do abs and arm…
We all need it. I would say I am the most well-rounded individual people have met, I am good at pretty much everything I do because I train myself so diverse, I can be a camillion and blend in.
Consistency is key. A lot of my workouts with clients and alone are the same, but it works … and people never believe until they have 2-3 sessions with me and then they are like what the fuck Elena that is amazing…
People say my workouts are so easy but doing it to music and changing it up to 8 workouts in one song is exhausting. Its mind fucks the brain and confuses it and I love helping people grow in physical fitness and mental coordination.
We love surprises, fun facts, and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
I was adopted from Kemerovo Russia. I lived in an orphanage for almost 7 years. I was adopted into a family of 7 as the 8th one coming in…
Pricing:
- one hour personal training- $45
- one hour personal dance training – $60
- one hour couple’s private dance – $90
- $5 monthly for dance membership saving 15%
- I have a website huffmanfitness.com- you can purchase gear.
Contact Info:
- Email: info@huffmanfitness.com
- Website: www.huffmanfitness.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/huffmanfitnessllc/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/huffmanfitness
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtWHYguxi12dO_vDJI3jVHw
Image Credits
@karakeepsphotogray
@floydvaughn
@pavanphotography
@stephenkinneston
