Owner Rebekah and Nutrition Coach Steve of the Blackbird CrossFit Team have done an amazing job offering not only fitness, but the opportunity to live a healthy lifestyle. Nutrition is the basis of that lifestyle.

This duo means business, they are a great example of a gym who has taken advantage of everything that HSN has to offer.

Read about how their program is expanding and how HSN has provided them with the tools and resources to create success.

You had over 50 people sign up for your challenge, how did you get so many people bought into your program?

Our final total ended up being 63 if you include all 9 of our coaches.  One of the biggest reasons for so much buy in this time around is that we started sending out love letters in the Fall explaining the importance of nutrition.  When it came time to announce our January partner challenge people were ready to take action because the love letters had already sparked motivation in many people to get help with their nutrition.  I also think doing a partner challenge this time around was a game changer.  Many of our clients who were nervous to seek our help felt way more comfortable knowing that their best friend, spouse, or gym buddy would be going through it with them.  We’ve have done a much better job this year making nutrition a regular part of our conversations with people as well.

Steve- You are a full-time teacher and a new dad in addition to a nutrition coach- how are you juggling so much and what has lead to your success in being able to manage so much?

The number one reason is that I have a great support system at home.  My wife has always supported my goals and dreams from day one and she works really hard to make sure our family has everything we need at home.  I have my schedule set up so there are only certain days I Coach a few CrossFit classes and other days where I can finish at school and spend the evening at home.  The nice thing about nutrition coaching is I can schedule clients when it works best for me.  It’s not always easy for us but I’m hoping that my hard work now will open new and exciting opportunities for our family and for me as a CrossFit Coach and a Nutrition Coach.

Rebekah- You guys are bringing on another coach to grow the program and Steve is working towards quitting his role as a teacher- where exactly do you see the future of this program?

We have always believed that Blackbird CrossFit offers not only fitness, but the opportunity to live a healthy lifestyle.

Nutrition is the basis of that lifestyle. Bringing HSN on board has enabled us to complete the circle of our well-rounded approach to a healthy lifestyle for the whole family.

 We repeatedly use the old adage of “you cannot out-train a bad diet.” And we feel that with the amount of members who signed up for this challenge who were not seeking weight loss, but to build better habits, this is finally sinking in!

Steve has done a wonderful job with his current clients and has leveraged our partnerships with other local health professionals to reach past our membership. The word is spreading on how effective this program can be. We are thrilled to be able to bring Ashley into the fold to help lighten Steve’s load and bring her passion for healthy eating to more people in our community. She humbly walks the walk. Our members notice that about her and are inspired by her. Ashley has a knack for posting great nutritional content on her own social media, so we‘re excited for her to work with our team to continue that trend. She also has the time and passion to help us grow the program. There are avenues that we have wanted to take with our nutrition program, like corporate/local business partnerships and community events and outreach, but we haven’t had the right person to devote the time to those efforts.

We envision our nutrition program going hand-and-hand with everything we do at Blackbird. Steve and Ashley are in the driver’s seat as to how far and how big they want to go. If they invest the extra time it will take to get the program running full steam, they will reap the benefits–ie. leaving that full time job! They have our full backing and support.

Good nutrition can help change the lives of everyone who walks into our gym, what owner wouldn’t be on board with that?

Steve- If you could give advice to a nutrition coach running a nutrition program what would it be?

First, take advantage of all HSN Mentoring has to offer.  In the beginning I didn’t use all the materials provided or make regular monthly mentor calls.  As soon as I started making my monthly mentoring call consistent (shout out to Emily for being a great mentor to me!) we started to really grow our nutrition business.  

HSN provides a complete road map to become an effective Nutrition Coach.

Everything you need is there, you just have to work towards your actions steps the mentors give you.  Having graphics already made, love letters already written, and Handbooks to guide clients every step of the way saves us so much time.  

There is no way I could handle the ongoing client load I have now without all the great resources provided by the mentors.

Rebekah- If you could give advice to a gym owner or nutrition coach running a nutrition program what would it be?

We have done nutrition challenges and education ever since we opened in 2014. Each year we tweak our challenges as we learn better practices, but it still wasn’t hitting the mark. The year before we joined HSN, we introduced the plate method and “the tray way of life” and had great success. But being able to hand our clients an actual meal plan on top of the increased accountability built into the program, has made all the difference. We went from doing two challenges a year, to offering a focused, proven program. There is no need to fumble through a few years of trial and error.

HSN hands you everything you need to bring your clients success.

Once we joined HSN, something that worked well for us was to do a “soft” introduction of the program and let Steve practice on a few people to get the client process down before fully launching the program. We established him as the go-to guy for all things nutrition to plant the seeds with our members. Then we did our first challenge and from that he kept a few clients on long-term. Their successes and word of mouth really inspired the growth. Within 6 months, Steve was doing nutrition presentations with our local business partners, a chiropractor and a running store, and that really spurred the growth outside of our gym. Now our reciprocal referral network with our friends at these businesses can extend into nutrition too! This was not an overnight process. If you give your nutrition coach the time to hone the process, the product you introduce to the masses will be more professional and better received.

Another game changer for our business was purchasing an InBody 270. It was an investment, but just like HSN, well worth it! We offer the body composition scans during our No Sweat Intros and Hungry For Help nutrition consults. It’s the best way to start the conversation of what the potential client really needs to get healthy and make lifestyle changes. For our new members, we do a pre and post Foundations for Beginners InBody and are able to show them the changes in their body composition even within their first month. Being able to give our members real, accurate data is powerful and gives them motivation to continue.

Are you looking to add nutrition services to your offerings? We want to help!