It was February of 2015 when Caleb and I first got the keys to Breakthrough, and started making plans to transition out of our garage gym to our current studio. Reflecting on how 9 years have flown by already, we’ve been thinking about the legacy we want to have, and simply put it’s this: A Legacy of Love.
A Love for Family – My initial entry into the fitness world was passing a kettlebell instructor course in 2009. I knew I wanted to share the cool stuff I had learned with the people in my life, but could never have imagined at that point I would one day coach and own a gym as a full time career. At that point my mom was dealing with extreme pain from fibromyalgia, having to take lots of pain medication, and starting to opt out of family activities she had enjoyed in the past, like hiking. We started working together to slowly build her strength and stamina, and we’ve never looked back! She still hikes, regularly competes in challenges at the gym, and is able to navigate life without the pain she was experiencing before!
Having training as part of our lifestyle is something that became an important part of life for my parents, and my siblings and their spouses. I absolutely treasure getting to train with my family, and we love that several Breakthrough members also train with their spouses and kids.
A Love for Friends – It didn’t take long for us to expand our training group to other people we knew. We were happy to share strength training with musician friends I knew from being a singer, martial arts colleagues of Caleb’s, family friends, and people we knew from church. Not only did we get to spend time with friends, but we began to meet friends of friends as well. Now at Breakthrough, we get the joy of seeing friendships develop between our members who would otherwise not have met!
A Love for Community – Over time we started to outgrow the small group setting we had going at our home garage gym, and we felt a responsibility to share what we had with a greater community. I grew up in the valley, and I love the wonderful people that live here. But I knew from my own experience that I didn’t always feel like I belonged in traditional gyms or other fitness settings, and many people I knew also felt that way. We wanted to create a space where people would not only be able to get strong and healthy, have excellent coaching and programming, but also feel like they were part of something bigger. Breakthrough has always been about a love for community.
A Love for Those in Need – After the Great Flood of June 2023, one of the first things to go back up on our walls were the photos of our grandparents, and their World War II medals. Both Caleb and I were blessed with grandparents who always found special ways to show their love to us and our families. Their photos hang on Breakthrough’s walls because they are a reminder to us that they had the courage to love their fellow humans, and fight for what they believed in.
Our Breakthrough members are amazing people who actively work to do good in the world. They donate or volunteer to support charities, they help out in the community, and they show up to support each other. We sure felt the love last summer when so many of our members helped in various ways as we dealt with the flood.
A Love for Self – Almost everyday we hear stories from our members about how they prioritize their training so that they can be healthy for their kids and grandkids, or show up better for others in their lives. We love this! But we also know the tremendous power there is in self-care. We are all here on this earth to share together in all that life has to offer. When you feel stronger physically, you also improve how you feel mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. When you take care of yourself, you get to enjoy your life more. It may sound self indulgent, but when you take care of you to the best of your abilities, you also interact better with others, can share your creativity more easily, and generally make the world a better place!
I’m typing this post on Valentine’s week, and of course I’m grateful everyday for meeting Caleb when we were just college kids, and that we have built a life full of love together. But aside from romantic love, there is so much love that we can experience and share in a variety of ways on a daily basis. From big leaps, to small actions, may your life be a legacy of love!
Strength & Love,
Kati