January 5, 2022 • 24 mins
"It's got to mean something to you." - JoJo Polk, Owner and Instructor of Core Fitness Studio in Raleigh. Join JoJo and Jessie, Listing Partner, on our newest episode of Making Moves to learn more about JoJo and Core Fitness.
This one of a kind fitness studio welcomes you with open arms. They offer full conditioning, Tabata, strength training, and many other types of upbeat classes to get your heart pumping.
Get to know Core Fitness:
- Website: http://coreraleigh.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/COREraleigh/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coreraleigh/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/coreraleigh
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBn1fi-kvvCPjMGsyyKYMfQ
Reach out to The Rachel Kendall Team:
- Website: https://rachelkendall.com/about/team/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheRachelKendallTeam/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therachelkendallteam/
- Touring the Triangle Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/touringthetriangle/
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- Twitter: https://twitter.com/rkteam
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- Phone: 919.782.4505
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Hey Triangle lovers. Welcome toMaking Moves hosted by The
Rachel Kendall Team, where wewill explore together the top
restaurants, community hotspotsand events in our area. Let's
make some moves.
Hello there, everyone andwelcome back to Making Moves by
The Rachael Kendall Team. I'mJessie Hrivnak and I cannot tell
(00:22):
you how excited I am for today'sguest. For those of you who know
anything about the health andwellness community in Raleigh,
this guy will be no stranger toyou, Joseph Polk, otherwise
known as JoJo. Thanks for beinghere today.
Thank you for having me.
I'm so jazzed. So I was thinkingobviously, as we had you
(00:44):
scheduled when we first met youremember? You don't?
I mean, I kind of do.
It's okay. I won't I won't testyou. But it was at Seaboard.
Yes. When Seaboard Fitness wasliterally the only gym in
downtown Raleigh, right. And forthose of you who don't know
(01:05):
JoJo, one of the coolest thingsthat is always memorable about
him is like, you've got theenergy, I would walk into that
gym after a long day and yoursmiling face would be there. And
like, you know, you made me wantto work out. So we're really
excited to have you here today.
So tell us a little bit aboutyou. What's your what's your
(01:25):
story? How did you end up inRaleigh? And how do you end up
in the fitness world?
Oh, wow. Well, I used to be aprofessional football player
played arena football. And Iactually broke my neck and was
paralyzed from the waist down.
And that's the crazy story. Andit's so so we'll shorten it up
(01:45):
to say, I made a great recovery,something that can only be
looked at as a miracle. But whenI came back, I was training my
teammates and things like that,as I was still playing. So when
I got done playing football, itjust seemed like a natural move.
(02:06):
So but the reason why I'm inRaleigh, though, is because of
my wife. We met during thattime, but I wasn't I didn't have
a set home. So I asked her Hey,mind if I move to North
Carolina? She had a home? I washoping, right? right. And
luckily she did. And here I amin Raleigh.
(02:31):
I love that. Well, I don't wantto focus too much on the story
of your injury. But, you know,one of the things I mentioned
was you do just have such agreat energy and tell me about
your mindset after the injuryoccurred. Like I would say maybe
in the you know, the couple ofdays after when you knew I was
(02:51):
paralyzed, probably one of themost scarier times. Talk to me
about where your mind was then.
Um, well, my mind went to alittle bit of a dark place then
because I was told I'd neverwalk again. So all the hopes and
dreams that I had before had tochange. And so I cried, of
course. But like he said, I'vealways just kind of had a
(03:14):
different attitude when it cameto things like that. So I just
started to think positively andI was thinking, maybe I can go
to the Olympics now. You know,anything like that, but just I
just knew all in all, that Icould lose myself physically,
but I couldn't lose myselfmentally. So I just tried to
stay mentally strong, mentallypositive, and have fun with it.
(03:36):
I know that sounds crazy. Butjust
the choice did you have, right?
I mean, there you are, you couldeither succumb to it or make
something out of it.
Exactly. And then basically, itcame down to, you know, your
body. You know, I know thatsounds crazy, but just even you,
you know your body more thandoctors do. So I knew. And this
(03:57):
is a great thing about sports,too. I knew that what pain was
and what injury was. And so evenwhen I started to get feeling
back in my legs, I would go inand out of paralysis, and they
didn't know which way I wasgonna go, but I knew you did.
Hurt and at least I was feelingsomething when I was going
(04:17):
through that rehab process, andI'd rather feel the pain than
nothing at all.
Your body was talking to you.
Right? Yeah. Soit was like, I just needed to
find out what was on the otherside of that pain. So
that's, that's so cool. Sotalking about the health and
wellness community in thetriangle. And you started core
(04:39):
fitness, right? How many yearsago?
Oh, wow. I've been there sevenyears now.
Okay. Yeah. So talk to me aboutwhat your vision was is, you
know what, what makes it aspecial place and what did you
set out to achieve by by puttingout your own gym?
Oh my goodness. I'm I've Youknow, coming from where I came
(05:01):
from being a trainer, and seeingkind of how that that plays out
and how much respect we don'tget as a trainer eight. That's
kind of what made me want tobecome an owner, I actually got
lucky. And Katherine Williamswas the owner of core and I
partnered with her at thebeginning, okay. And when she
(05:21):
brought me on, I was nervous,because, of course, I've never
ran anything before. But it kindof came naturally. Because my
goal was to treat people, rightcheap, rigorous back kindness,
build a community, build afamily, because people say, Oh,
we're all family. But when youcome to our gym, you just feel
it. You don't have to say it,you just come in, and you're
like, wow, these people likeeach other.
(05:44):
And that's the differencebetween a gym and a community,
right? I mean, about a placewhere you build relationships
with people, which is, I know,it's a huge focus for our
company, too, is that it's allabout the relationships that you
build that get people comingback, right?
So and that's the thing. It'slike, you just when I came in, I
just wanted to build thatatmosphere, because it's all
about not only the people, butyour employee. So I needed to
(06:07):
find a team that felt the sameway I did. It was about the
people first. And if you dothat, then everything else will
come, you know. And I have aphenomenal team now. And they, I
mean, I couldn't ask for abetter team. And so we kind of
work on the same wavelength, wehave the same energy. I mean, of
course, we all have differentlevels, but it's just all fits
(06:27):
together. And I couldn't ask forlike, a better like situation.
Now from where I started. I'mjust like, This is what I
wanted. But wow, it actuallyhappened
I got was actually I mean, JoJo,not to point out the obvious
parallel, but the story we justtalked about with your injury.
And now with your jet, you havea way of figuring out how to
just get there, right? So okay,for someone like myself, working
(06:53):
out with a personal trainer isintimidating. I mean, because
let's be honest, if I'm going togo work out with a personal
trainer, it's because I've gotgoals to achieve. And I'm
looking at that personaltrainer, and I'm saying you've
achieved them tell me how to getthere. So for someone who is
maybe thinking about workingwith somebody one on one, or
working in a, you know, kind ofa group training atmosphere,
(07:15):
what's what's one thing that youwould share from a trainers
perspective to keep in mind,I'm gonna, I'm gonna, like
probably change the narrativehere, because I'm just gonna
speak from our side. Andbasically, we we want to know
more than just your goals, wewant to know more than just why
you want to get in shape. Wewant to know what's going on at
home, we want to know like, whatmakes you happy? What makes you
(07:37):
sad? Like, because it's allabout your mental more so than
your physical. And if I can'ttap into your mental If I can't,
like get to a point of where'sthe problem sustaining from you
know, right, then we'll neverget to our goals. So we always
start with short land. Yeah,right. short lived. Yeah, right.
And so we always start with,like, finding out who the person
(07:57):
is, and why they came to us inthe first place, things like
that. And then we get into the,alright, if these are your
goals, separate them and let'sgo one at a time. And let's
start knocking them out one at atime. And it's been a process
that's worked for us. And I feellike it works because we like I
said, first of all care aboutthe person first. And once you
start to change yourself as awhole, not just, Oh, I gotta get
(08:21):
a six pack abs, which I do.
But you start to realize that,oh, it all works together. And
it just trickles over into youreveryday life. Because for us it
like you said being with atrainer can be intimidating.
Well, that's our goal is to tryand make it as the least amount
(08:43):
of intimidating as we can makeit and so basically what we're
trying to do is make sure thatwhen you come to the gym, you
want to be there not Oh, I haveto work. That's a horrible
thing.
Yeah, well, it's I mean, I'd belying if there weren't some
times where I'm like, Rileytoday, but then it's it's so
funny. So I I'm big into yoga.
Yeah. And I can't tell you howmany times I've said to myself,
(09:07):
I do not want to get up and goto yoga. And those are the days
that you need it the most. Soyou're absolutely right. And
that there's it is its mindheart body soul connection,
right? Like you got to geteverything healthy for it to be
sustainable.
(09:27):
I mean, it should become yoursanctuary, not your torment, if
you will. And so basically, whatI want you to do is when you
have those days, like oh my godthat's my goal. Like okay, but
(09:48):
he'll be there he'll push methrough it.
You remember that little angelon their shoulder right saying,
No, you're gonna show up today.
I wasn't gonna say it, but I'mglad you did. So let's talk
about just the health andwellness community as a whole
and the triangle because I thinkit is something really it's,
it's, it's really cool, it'sevolved, again, going back to
(10:10):
that first memory of likeseaboard fitness being the only
one downtown and now it's notjust about, you see a lot of
businesses working together. Andwhether it's a gym or a studio
or an independent, like, there'sreally this community around
health and wellness. And you'vereally played a big part in
that. What, what's kind of beenyour mission in terms of the
(10:32):
impact on the community as awhole, maybe not just outside,
or just not just from a businessperspective?
Well, for me, I feel like coreis not four walls. Basically. If
you are going to be part ofrally you gotta you got to
expand those those walls. And sofor us that my main focus was
(10:53):
just meeting the people aroundme. And so I remember when bar
three moved in, I went and I waslike, hey, Tori. Is this to
go to a bar class?
I did? Do. Y'all be kicking mybutt?
Things are for me those Clubwas like, I should go to ballet.
Right? No, I so it's so funny.
(11:17):
And it's so amazing. Like,there's so many great workouts
that you can get in Raleigh now.
And it's just what's yourpreference? And what do you
need? And, and the thing aboutme is, I wanted to involve
myself with everybody around. Soif someone came to Corps, and
they were like, Ah, this doesn'twork, I'll be like, well, you
should try this just to try itout. You should, um, I've never
(11:38):
been a person and be like, Oh,we're against each other. I'm
not sharing my people. Becausefirst of all, I don't have
people. We all none of thesepeople, right? So the cool thing
is, I can be like, well, youknow, have you ever thought
about barcodes you and I, as I'mtraining somebody, I also figure
out what they seem to need. Andif it's not us, I can direct
(12:00):
them in the right direction,whether it be a metabolic or
whether it be a heat, or youknow, your combination, or
combination. You tried to get meto do one workout on a long
period of time I am havingmargaritas.
I mean, go to yoga, you know, goto Indigo, you know, all these
places, core power, you know,there's all these places around.
(12:22):
So as far as the fitness and howit's grown, it's just it's
expanded to where it's foreverybody. And like you said,
you can do a combination, or youcan maybe sometimes find it all
in one place.
Well, and and you know, goingback to your you talking about
core and its community, when youdo that for other businesses,
it's a trickle down effect,right? Because they start doing
(12:44):
it for you. Yeah, right. That'sthe whole and that. And that's
what forums this this place ofit's not we're we're really
working together to create thishealthy community versus it just
driving revenue in business.
Right, exactly.
Well, I mean, once you createthat, isn't it automatically
going to create revenue? Like,yeah, if you start to build that
(13:04):
platform, and, and people juststart coming, then that's what
builds the revenue? So it's allabout I mean, it's, I feel like
you should never be scared ofwho you are, I guess is how I
would say it. Because if youbelieve in what you do, what you
present to everybody and whatyou represent as the community
back there, why would you benervous about anything?
(13:25):
Yeah. Why would you want to beanybody else? How in the world
do you stay so motivated? Imean, you aren't like you you're
out there and you're happy andlike I said, you know, that
energy and that push, you know,and and you've had some trials
and tribulations in your life,how do you how do you stay just
(13:46):
so positive focused,I mean, I meet people like you
that I know that and that'sthat's still remember me years
and years, I mean, that I mean,seriously, that is motivation in
itself, because I don't know howmuch the consumer or the member
or knows that we feed off ofthem to and that energy that
they have, whether it benegative or positive, can help
(14:08):
or hurt us as well. So it's justfeeding off the people around me
and surrounding myself with goodpeople. Yeah. And so I have a
good peer base. I you know, likeI said, I introduce myself to
the community and like reallyreach out to businesses that I
care about and things that Icare about and like you know,
whether it be third place thecoffee shop, oh, you know, or
(14:31):
that place Yeah, I know. Right.
I used to go there in highschool and get the Italian so to
see this is what I was talkingabout going down squirrels.
Okay. Well, and it's funny yousay that because really, I feel
like in any no matter whatyou're doing, whether you are
selling real estate, whether youare operating a you know, a gym,
when your focus is to have animpact on somebody, it's really
(14:54):
easy to be motivated. Right?
Because we all make adifference.
Yeah, I posted the other day. Itwas just fun. quote, and then
just said, I think life excitesme.
And honestly, when I saw it, Iwas like, it's kind of corny. I
(15:15):
wake up in the morning, and I'mlike, you know, what are we
gonna do?
That so and it's just, I mean,it's fun, you know, because you
you never really know what theday will bring no matter what
kind of schedule you have, or,you know, what kind of houses
you guys are showing here. Youknow, you never know what day is
actually going to hold. And Ithink that in itself is kind of
exciting. And that's what kindof keeps me going, I guess. Love
(15:37):
it here. The Oh, no.
Tell me about is it light mycandle or light your candle? Oh,
I like my light my candle. Sofor those of you who are
wondering, What the heck is shetalking about? On Joe Joe's
social media, I started seeingsome posts at the end that said,
light my candle? How did thatstart? What does it mean?
(15:58):
It just goes back a little ways.
But as I say, lighting my candlebecause it started with the
George Floyd case, believe it ornot. And it was very close to my
heart because I was abused by apoliceman at 15 years old. And
it was a very, very similarstory. Luckily, I didn't end up
on the wrong side of that. AndI'm still here, but it brought
(16:21):
me to a place I hadn't been toin almost 30 years, you know,
and it just, I've always donestuff in the community have
always made sure that you know,fight for social justice, all
that but I just felt like, youknow what, this time I got to do
more like I got to be out theremore I got to be heard. And so
we did nine days lighting ourcandle at nine o'clock for
(16:44):
George Floyd for the nineminutes. And I just once it was
over, I was like, No, I'm nevergonna handle Yeah, I'm never
gonna stop lighting my candles.
So I'm gonna I'm gonna shine alight. Because I think what
happens is we hear terriblethings. The first thing we do is
look for the bad, right? Yeah,look for what's wrong. And
(17:06):
everybody's angry. Somebody'sgot is not being someone's got
to open their eyes and see itfrom a different perspective,
someone's got to shine a lighton it. So that we change the
narrative if we don't just goout and do the same things over
and over and in back in the sameplace. And so that's where I
came with it. And next thing Iknow, it just kind of took off.
(17:28):
So I've been liking my candle.
Yeah, ever since last what Aprilhad other people like?
I mean, that's the thing too,just watching people join in and
be like, Oh, I did my candletoday Jojo. Like,
I mean, they were looking for aleader, right? They were looking
for someone to show them how tomake a change. And and I love
that you you mentioned the, youknow, you can look for the good
(17:49):
you can look for the bad eyewhen you have a choice, right?
And that's that's the that's themental piece of I can hang out
in the bad or man I can I can Ican find some sort of good, what
choice do I have? Right?
That's the thing. It's like, atthe end of the day? Well, it's
like I always tell my clientslike, please do not have a bad
(18:09):
day.
Like, you're gonna have thatchoice.
Like, and it might be terriblemoments like you might break
your neck and be paralyzed fromthe waist down. Like it might
happen. But you dictate whetheryou end today that way, like
even with my broken neck and Icried and I'm tearing up at the
end of the day before I went tosleep. I was making the nurses
laugh in my room and I'm like,I'm like, do I look sexy?
(18:34):
Jojobut it's just I mean, but even
in my darkest moment, like well,I don't you know, I don't look
at that as my darkest momentanymore. When my wife when my
wife was in hospital, that wasmy darkest moment now but, um,
but it's just, you find a waylike you just and and it sounds
funny and it sounds like I saycorny is the word I use because
(18:56):
I feel like I am corny and I'mfine with that. I'll totally go.
But it is hard sometimes becausesometimes there really isn't
much light there's not much it'sa decision why I changed the
name of it that's why you lightthe candle there's not always
going to be light right but youhave to bring your own light
(19:16):
sometimes to the to the party,so I
fell on that I love that. Therewe go. Let's have some fun with
some wrap up questions. I mean,this whole thing has been fun
but what's your favorite treatyourself meal?
Wow. I'm a trainer some schoolssay something. Yeah, yeah.
(19:38):
Anyway. No, honestly the familyloves Outback and so we do I
love their their wings. Okay, sogood. And then she's,
oh my gosh, their cheese fries.
What is in their ranch thatmakes it I mean it is just
I didn't mean that doesn't feellike just Yes. Amen to so good.
(20:01):
So yeah, that's our treatment.
So after we've talked aboutranch and cheese fries and
chicken wings, what is one thingthat you feel everybody should
incorporate into their healthand wellness world that has
nothing to do with fitness ornutrition?
So, time? I know that soundsfunny, but let me explain what I
(20:22):
mean by that. You need to haveat least three minutes, five
minutes, 10 minutes of YUTAN.
Like, what no matter Yeah, nomatter what, whether it's just
taking time to breathe, whetherit's just sitting in your car
for a second, whether it'sreading a book, or
we have our sat in our drivewayto hear the end of that song
before we walk into our homesand meet the chaos, right?
(20:45):
Yes, I mean, that's, I would saythat time is, it's so rare, it's
so just special right now,especially in these times, you
know, so you just got to findsome time for yourself. Like I
said, it doesn't even have to belong, I'm telling you, you just
take five minutes, it feels likefive hours because you're like,
(21:05):
alright, because you do it veryright. And get reset, you just
kind of reset.
I don't remember the author ofthis book. But there's a book
out there called 168 hours. Andit talks about how there's 168
hours in a week, right? And howwe all run around saying how
busy we are, how busy we are.
But when you really break downthose hours, how much time we
waste on things that are notimportant to us. Right? Guilty.
(21:32):
Could be something like thisawesome pocket,
automatic squirrel and gettinglost. I mean, we're not gonna go
down that rabbit hole becauseI'm one of those people. Okay,
so if you are talking to thepeople that live in Raleigh,
what is one thing that you wouldsay? I want you to remember how
special this is about our city?
(21:53):
I wouldn't be our community.
It's just it. Raleigh is adifferent city. Is it? It's like
a quiet storm, if you will.
Right. There's, it's like,there's always nothing going on.
But everything going on? Yeah, Imean, so and that's what I love
about it's just like, you canalways find something to do, you
can always find something that'sout there, whether it be at camp
(22:13):
or at Raleigh, you know, artstudio or whatever. Like,
there's always just somethingspecial going on in Raleigh. And
don't forget your specialty,right and explore your setting.
I like to call it like asleep orcity, right? Like, we've kind of
I feel like we've flown underthe radar for in terms of like a
large metropolitan city. But letme tell you, I went to high
school and I went to collegehere and I left and I was like,
(22:34):
get me back. That place isamazing. And I'm never leaving
again. Okay, and what about thepeople who are researching this
area? Thinking about movinghere? Can't be the same answer
can't be anything to do withlike infrastructure or economic
growth or real estate. Like,what is one thing that you would
say you've got to know thisabout Raleigh?
(22:59):
What you got to know about rallyis that you can never dictate
the weather. So different if youdon't want it to be too cold? It
probably won't be. It probablywon't be
in the same 24 hours. Yes, yes.
It could gofrom 70 to 30, in a matter of
hours. So I think that's, it'scrazy, but it is kind of
(23:20):
a fun, but hey, you can drive tothe beach, or you can drive to
the mountains. Just roll withit. Yes. If there was one word,
one adjective to describe theimpact that you want to leave on
Raleigh as a whole, what wouldit be?
one word or one phrase?
I mean, I said, we're feelinglike you want to tell me a
(23:41):
phrase, a phrase, I'll give youa phrase,
okay? For me, it's, it's got tomean something to you. That's,
it's my phrase, I patented itand trademarked it. But no
matter what you're doing, nomatter where you are, what
you're going to embark in overyour lifetime. If it doesn't
mean anything to you, does itreally matter? Or are you going
to sustain it, you know, so,that's our saying in our gym,
(24:03):
you know, it's gotta meansomething to you.
Love it. It has been so fun tosee you. And such a pleasure to
talk to you. And we're justreally thankful that you were
here to share your story andjust share your light and share
everything that you're doing forreally Raleigh as a community
and all of us to stay healthyand well, both mentally,
(24:24):
mentally and physically andJoJo. Thanks for being here.
Thanks for having me. Take care.
Thanks.
Thank you for joining us on thisepisode of Making Moves. We want
to deliver the highlights of theTriangle that you want to hear.
Let us know your feedback,comment on our social media like
and of course subscribe tocontinue and discover why we
love where we live until nexttime with making moves hosted by
(24:47):
The Rachel Kendall Team.
Hey Triangle lovers. Welcome toMaking Moves hosted by The
Rachel Kendall Team, where wewill explore together the top
restaurants, community hotspotsand events in our area. Let's
make some moves.
Hello there, everyone andwelcome back to Making Moves by
The Rachael Kendall Team. I'mJessie Hrivnak and I cannot tell
(00:22):
you how excited I am for today'sguest. For those of you who know
anything about the health andwellness community in Raleigh,
this guy will be no stranger toyou, Joseph Polk, otherwise
known as JoJo. Thanks for beinghere today.
Thank you for having me.
I'm so jazzed. So I was thinkingobviously, as we had you
(00:44):
scheduled when we first met youremember? You don't?
I mean, I kind of do.
It's okay. I won't I won't testyou. But it was at Seaboard.
Yes. When Seaboard Fitness wasliterally the only gym in
downtown Raleigh, right. And forthose of you who don't know
(01:05):
JoJo, one of the coolest thingsthat is always memorable about
him is like, you've got theenergy, I would walk into that
gym after a long day and yoursmiling face would be there. And
like, you know, you made me wantto work out. So we're really
excited to have you here today.
So tell us a little bit aboutyou. What's your what's your
(01:25):
story? How did you end up inRaleigh? And how do you end up
in the fitness world?
Oh, wow. Well, I used to be aprofessional football player
played arena football. And Iactually broke my neck and was
paralyzed from the waist down.
And that's the crazy story. Andit's so so we'll shorten it up
(01:45):
to say, I made a great recovery,something that can only be
looked at as a miracle. But whenI came back, I was training my
teammates and things like that,as I was still playing. So when
I got done playing football, itjust seemed like a natural move.
(02:06):
So but the reason why I'm inRaleigh, though, is because of
my wife. We met during thattime, but I wasn't I didn't have
a set home. So I asked her Hey,mind if I move to North
Carolina? She had a home? I washoping, right? right. And
luckily she did. And here I amin Raleigh.
(02:31):
I love that. Well, I don't wantto focus too much on the story
of your injury. But, you know,one of the things I mentioned
was you do just have such agreat energy and tell me about
your mindset after the injuryoccurred. Like I would say maybe
in the you know, the couple ofdays after when you knew I was
(02:51):
paralyzed, probably one of themost scarier times. Talk to me
about where your mind was then.
Um, well, my mind went to alittle bit of a dark place then
because I was told I'd neverwalk again. So all the hopes and
dreams that I had before had tochange. And so I cried, of
course. But like he said, I'vealways just kind of had a
(03:14):
different attitude when it cameto things like that. So I just
started to think positively andI was thinking, maybe I can go
to the Olympics now. You know,anything like that, but just I
just knew all in all, that Icould lose myself physically,
but I couldn't lose myselfmentally. So I just tried to
stay mentally strong, mentallypositive, and have fun with it.
(03:36):
I know that sounds crazy. Butjust
the choice did you have, right?
I mean, there you are, you couldeither succumb to it or make
something out of it.
Exactly. And then basically, itcame down to, you know, your
body. You know, I know thatsounds crazy, but just even you,
you know your body more thandoctors do. So I knew. And this
(03:57):
is a great thing about sports,too. I knew that what pain was
and what injury was. And so evenwhen I started to get feeling
back in my legs, I would go inand out of paralysis, and they
didn't know which way I wasgonna go, but I knew you did.
Hurt and at least I was feelingsomething when I was going
(04:17):
through that rehab process, andI'd rather feel the pain than
nothing at all.
Your body was talking to you.
Right? Yeah. Soit was like, I just needed to
find out what was on the otherside of that pain. So
that's, that's so cool. Sotalking about the health and
wellness community in thetriangle. And you started core
(04:39):
fitness, right? How many yearsago?
Oh, wow. I've been there sevenyears now.
Okay. Yeah. So talk to me aboutwhat your vision was is, you
know what, what makes it aspecial place and what did you
set out to achieve by by puttingout your own gym?
Oh my goodness. I'm I've Youknow, coming from where I came
(05:01):
from being a trainer, and seeingkind of how that that plays out
and how much respect we don'tget as a trainer eight. That's
kind of what made me want tobecome an owner, I actually got
lucky. And Katherine Williamswas the owner of core and I
partnered with her at thebeginning, okay. And when she
(05:21):
brought me on, I was nervous,because, of course, I've never
ran anything before. But it kindof came naturally. Because my
goal was to treat people, rightcheap, rigorous back kindness,
build a community, build afamily, because people say, Oh,
we're all family. But when youcome to our gym, you just feel
it. You don't have to say it,you just come in, and you're
like, wow, these people likeeach other.
(05:44):
And that's the differencebetween a gym and a community,
right? I mean, about a placewhere you build relationships
with people, which is, I know,it's a huge focus for our
company, too, is that it's allabout the relationships that you
build that get people comingback, right?
So and that's the thing. It'slike, you just when I came in, I
just wanted to build thatatmosphere, because it's all
about not only the people, butyour employee. So I needed to
(06:07):
find a team that felt the sameway I did. It was about the
people first. And if you dothat, then everything else will
come, you know. And I have aphenomenal team now. And they, I
mean, I couldn't ask for abetter team. And so we kind of
work on the same wavelength, wehave the same energy. I mean, of
course, we all have differentlevels, but it's just all fits
(06:27):
together. And I couldn't ask forlike, a better like situation.
Now from where I started. I'mjust like, This is what I
wanted. But wow, it actuallyhappened
I got was actually I mean, JoJo,not to point out the obvious
parallel, but the story we justtalked about with your injury.
And now with your jet, you havea way of figuring out how to
just get there, right? So okay,for someone like myself, working
(06:53):
out with a personal trainer isintimidating. I mean, because
let's be honest, if I'm going togo work out with a personal
trainer, it's because I've gotgoals to achieve. And I'm
looking at that personaltrainer, and I'm saying you've
achieved them tell me how to getthere. So for someone who is
maybe thinking about workingwith somebody one on one, or
working in a, you know, kind ofa group training atmosphere,
(07:15):
what's what's one thing that youwould share from a trainers
perspective to keep in mind,I'm gonna, I'm gonna, like
probably change the narrativehere, because I'm just gonna
speak from our side. Andbasically, we we want to know
more than just your goals, wewant to know more than just why
you want to get in shape. Wewant to know what's going on at
home, we want to know like, whatmakes you happy? What makes you
(07:37):
sad? Like, because it's allabout your mental more so than
your physical. And if I can'ttap into your mental If I can't,
like get to a point of where'sthe problem sustaining from you
know, right, then we'll neverget to our goals. So we always
start with short land. Yeah,right. short lived. Yeah, right.
And so we always start with,like, finding out who the person
(07:57):
is, and why they came to us inthe first place, things like
that. And then we get into the,alright, if these are your
goals, separate them and let'sgo one at a time. And let's
start knocking them out one at atime. And it's been a process
that's worked for us. And I feellike it works because we like I
said, first of all care aboutthe person first. And once you
start to change yourself as awhole, not just, Oh, I gotta get
(08:21):
a six pack abs, which I do.
But you start to realize that,oh, it all works together. And
it just trickles over into youreveryday life. Because for us it
like you said being with atrainer can be intimidating.
Well, that's our goal is to tryand make it as the least amount
(08:43):
of intimidating as we can makeit and so basically what we're
trying to do is make sure thatwhen you come to the gym, you
want to be there not Oh, I haveto work. That's a horrible
thing.
Yeah, well, it's I mean, I'd belying if there weren't some
times where I'm like, Rileytoday, but then it's it's so
funny. So I I'm big into yoga.
Yeah. And I can't tell you howmany times I've said to myself,
(09:07):
I do not want to get up and goto yoga. And those are the days
that you need it the most. Soyou're absolutely right. And
that there's it is its mindheart body soul connection,
right? Like you got to geteverything healthy for it to be
sustainable.
(09:27):
I mean, it should become yoursanctuary, not your torment, if
you will. And so basically, whatI want you to do is when you
have those days, like oh my godthat's my goal. Like okay, but
(09:48):
he'll be there he'll push methrough it.
You remember that little angelon their shoulder right saying,
No, you're gonna show up today.
I wasn't gonna say it, but I'mglad you did. So let's talk
about just the health andwellness community as a whole
and the triangle because I thinkit is something really it's,
it's, it's really cool, it'sevolved, again, going back to
(10:10):
that first memory of likeseaboard fitness being the only
one downtown and now it's notjust about, you see a lot of
businesses working together. Andwhether it's a gym or a studio
or an independent, like, there'sreally this community around
health and wellness. And you'vereally played a big part in
that. What, what's kind of beenyour mission in terms of the
(10:32):
impact on the community as awhole, maybe not just outside,
or just not just from a businessperspective?
Well, for me, I feel like coreis not four walls. Basically. If
you are going to be part ofrally you gotta you got to
expand those those walls. And sofor us that my main focus was
(10:53):
just meeting the people aroundme. And so I remember when bar
three moved in, I went and I waslike, hey, Tori. Is this to
go to a bar class?
I did? Do. Y'all be kicking mybutt?
Things are for me those Clubwas like, I should go to ballet.
Right? No, I so it's so funny.
(11:17):
And it's so amazing. Like,there's so many great workouts
that you can get in Raleigh now.
And it's just what's yourpreference? And what do you
need? And, and the thing aboutme is, I wanted to involve
myself with everybody around. Soif someone came to Corps, and
they were like, Ah, this doesn'twork, I'll be like, well, you
should try this just to try itout. You should, um, I've never
(11:38):
been a person and be like, Oh,we're against each other. I'm
not sharing my people. Becausefirst of all, I don't have
people. We all none of thesepeople, right? So the cool thing
is, I can be like, well, youknow, have you ever thought
about barcodes you and I, as I'mtraining somebody, I also figure
out what they seem to need. Andif it's not us, I can direct
(12:00):
them in the right direction,whether it be a metabolic or
whether it be a heat, or youknow, your combination, or
combination. You tried to get meto do one workout on a long
period of time I am havingmargaritas.
I mean, go to yoga, you know, goto Indigo, you know, all these
places, core power, you know,there's all these places around.
(12:22):
So as far as the fitness and howit's grown, it's just it's
expanded to where it's foreverybody. And like you said,
you can do a combination, or youcan maybe sometimes find it all
in one place.
Well, and and you know, goingback to your you talking about
core and its community, when youdo that for other businesses,
it's a trickle down effect,right? Because they start doing
(12:44):
it for you. Yeah, right. That'sthe whole and that. And that's
what forums this this place ofit's not we're we're really
working together to create thishealthy community versus it just
driving revenue in business.
Right, exactly.
Well, I mean, once you createthat, isn't it automatically
going to create revenue? Like,yeah, if you start to build that
(13:04):
platform, and, and people juststart coming, then that's what
builds the revenue? So it's allabout I mean, it's, I feel like
you should never be scared ofwho you are, I guess is how I
would say it. Because if youbelieve in what you do, what you
present to everybody and whatyou represent as the community
back there, why would you benervous about anything?
(13:25):
Yeah. Why would you want to beanybody else? How in the world
do you stay so motivated? Imean, you aren't like you you're
out there and you're happy andlike I said, you know, that
energy and that push, you know,and and you've had some trials
and tribulations in your life,how do you how do you stay just
(13:46):
so positive focused,I mean, I meet people like you
that I know that and that'sthat's still remember me years
and years, I mean, that I mean,seriously, that is motivation in
itself, because I don't know howmuch the consumer or the member
or knows that we feed off ofthem to and that energy that
they have, whether it benegative or positive, can help
(14:08):
or hurt us as well. So it's justfeeding off the people around me
and surrounding myself with goodpeople. Yeah. And so I have a
good peer base. I you know, likeI said, I introduce myself to
the community and like reallyreach out to businesses that I
care about and things that Icare about and like you know,
whether it be third place thecoffee shop, oh, you know, or
(14:31):
that place Yeah, I know. Right.
I used to go there in highschool and get the Italian so to
see this is what I was talkingabout going down squirrels.
Okay. Well, and it's funny yousay that because really, I feel
like in any no matter whatyou're doing, whether you are
selling real estate, whether youare operating a you know, a gym,
when your focus is to have animpact on somebody, it's really
(14:54):
easy to be motivated. Right?
Because we all make adifference.
Yeah, I posted the other day. Itwas just fun. quote, and then
just said, I think life excitesme.
And honestly, when I saw it, Iwas like, it's kind of corny. I
(15:15):
wake up in the morning, and I'mlike, you know, what are we
gonna do?
That so and it's just, I mean,it's fun, you know, because you
you never really know what theday will bring no matter what
kind of schedule you have, or,you know, what kind of houses
you guys are showing here. Youknow, you never know what day is
actually going to hold. And Ithink that in itself is kind of
exciting. And that's what kindof keeps me going, I guess. Love
(15:37):
it here. The Oh, no.
Tell me about is it light mycandle or light your candle? Oh,
I like my light my candle. Sofor those of you who are
wondering, What the heck is shetalking about? On Joe Joe's
social media, I started seeingsome posts at the end that said,
light my candle? How did thatstart? What does it mean?
(15:58):
It just goes back a little ways.
But as I say, lighting my candlebecause it started with the
George Floyd case, believe it ornot. And it was very close to my
heart because I was abused by apoliceman at 15 years old. And
it was a very, very similarstory. Luckily, I didn't end up
on the wrong side of that. AndI'm still here, but it brought
(16:21):
me to a place I hadn't been toin almost 30 years, you know,
and it just, I've always donestuff in the community have
always made sure that you know,fight for social justice, all
that but I just felt like, youknow what, this time I got to do
more like I got to be out theremore I got to be heard. And so
we did nine days lighting ourcandle at nine o'clock for
(16:44):
George Floyd for the nineminutes. And I just once it was
over, I was like, No, I'm nevergonna handle Yeah, I'm never
gonna stop lighting my candles.
So I'm gonna I'm gonna shine alight. Because I think what
happens is we hear terriblethings. The first thing we do is
look for the bad, right? Yeah,look for what's wrong. And
(17:06):
everybody's angry. Somebody'sgot is not being someone's got
to open their eyes and see itfrom a different perspective,
someone's got to shine a lighton it. So that we change the
narrative if we don't just goout and do the same things over
and over and in back in the sameplace. And so that's where I
came with it. And next thing Iknow, it just kind of took off.
(17:28):
So I've been liking my candle.
Yeah, ever since last what Aprilhad other people like?
I mean, that's the thing too,just watching people join in and
be like, Oh, I did my candletoday Jojo. Like,
I mean, they were looking for aleader, right? They were looking
for someone to show them how tomake a change. And and I love
that you you mentioned the, youknow, you can look for the good
(17:49):
you can look for the bad eyewhen you have a choice, right?
And that's that's the that's themental piece of I can hang out
in the bad or man I can I can Ican find some sort of good, what
choice do I have? Right?
That's the thing. It's like, atthe end of the day? Well, it's
like I always tell my clientslike, please do not have a bad
(18:09):
day.
Like, you're gonna have thatchoice.
Like, and it might be terriblemoments like you might break
your neck and be paralyzed fromthe waist down. Like it might
happen. But you dictate whetheryou end today that way, like
even with my broken neck and Icried and I'm tearing up at the
end of the day before I went tosleep. I was making the nurses
laugh in my room and I'm like,I'm like, do I look sexy?
(18:34):
Jojobut it's just I mean, but even
in my darkest moment, like well,I don't you know, I don't look
at that as my darkest momentanymore. When my wife when my
wife was in hospital, that wasmy darkest moment now but, um,
but it's just, you find a waylike you just and and it sounds
funny and it sounds like I saycorny is the word I use because
(18:56):
I feel like I am corny and I'mfine with that. I'll totally go.
But it is hard sometimes becausesometimes there really isn't
much light there's not much it'sa decision why I changed the
name of it that's why you lightthe candle there's not always
going to be light right but youhave to bring your own light
(19:16):
sometimes to the to the party,so I
fell on that I love that. Therewe go. Let's have some fun with
some wrap up questions. I mean,this whole thing has been fun
but what's your favorite treatyourself meal?
Wow. I'm a trainer some schoolssay something. Yeah, yeah.
(19:38):
Anyway. No, honestly the familyloves Outback and so we do I
love their their wings. Okay, sogood. And then she's,
oh my gosh, their cheese fries.
What is in their ranch thatmakes it I mean it is just
I didn't mean that doesn't feellike just Yes. Amen to so good.
(20:01):
So yeah, that's our treatment.
So after we've talked aboutranch and cheese fries and
chicken wings, what is one thingthat you feel everybody should
incorporate into their healthand wellness world that has
nothing to do with fitness ornutrition?
So, time? I know that soundsfunny, but let me explain what I
(20:22):
mean by that. You need to haveat least three minutes, five
minutes, 10 minutes of YUTAN.
Like, what no matter Yeah, nomatter what, whether it's just
taking time to breathe, whetherit's just sitting in your car
for a second, whether it'sreading a book, or
we have our sat in our drivewayto hear the end of that song
before we walk into our homesand meet the chaos, right?
(20:45):
Yes, I mean, that's, I would saythat time is, it's so rare, it's
so just special right now,especially in these times, you
know, so you just got to findsome time for yourself. Like I
said, it doesn't even have to belong, I'm telling you, you just
take five minutes, it feels likefive hours because you're like,
(21:05):
alright, because you do it veryright. And get reset, you just
kind of reset.
I don't remember the author ofthis book. But there's a book
out there called 168 hours. Andit talks about how there's 168
hours in a week, right? And howwe all run around saying how
busy we are, how busy we are.
But when you really break downthose hours, how much time we
waste on things that are notimportant to us. Right? Guilty.
(21:32):
Could be something like thisawesome pocket,
automatic squirrel and gettinglost. I mean, we're not gonna go
down that rabbit hole becauseI'm one of those people. Okay,
so if you are talking to thepeople that live in Raleigh,
what is one thing that you wouldsay? I want you to remember how
special this is about our city?
(21:53):
I wouldn't be our community.
It's just it. Raleigh is adifferent city. Is it? It's like
a quiet storm, if you will.
Right. There's, it's like,there's always nothing going on.
But everything going on? Yeah, Imean, so and that's what I love
about it's just like, you canalways find something to do, you
can always find something that'sout there, whether it be at camp
(22:13):
or at Raleigh, you know, artstudio or whatever. Like,
there's always just somethingspecial going on in Raleigh. And
don't forget your specialty,right and explore your setting.
I like to call it like asleep orcity, right? Like, we've kind of
I feel like we've flown underthe radar for in terms of like a
large metropolitan city. But letme tell you, I went to high
school and I went to collegehere and I left and I was like,
(22:34):
get me back. That place isamazing. And I'm never leaving
again. Okay, and what about thepeople who are researching this
area? Thinking about movinghere? Can't be the same answer
can't be anything to do withlike infrastructure or economic
growth or real estate. Like,what is one thing that you would
say you've got to know thisabout Raleigh?
(22:59):
What you got to know about rallyis that you can never dictate
the weather. So different if youdon't want it to be too cold? It
probably won't be. It probablywon't be
in the same 24 hours. Yes, yes.
It could gofrom 70 to 30, in a matter of
hours. So I think that's, it'scrazy, but it is kind of
(23:20):
a fun, but hey, you can drive tothe beach, or you can drive to
the mountains. Just roll withit. Yes. If there was one word,
one adjective to describe theimpact that you want to leave on
Raleigh as a whole, what wouldit be?
one word or one phrase?
I mean, I said, we're feelinglike you want to tell me a
(23:41):
phrase, a phrase, I'll give youa phrase,
okay? For me, it's, it's got tomean something to you. That's,
it's my phrase, I patented itand trademarked it. But no
matter what you're doing, nomatter where you are, what
you're going to embark in overyour lifetime. If it doesn't
mean anything to you, does itreally matter? Or are you going
to sustain it, you know, so,that's our saying in our gym,
(24:03):
you know, it's gotta meansomething to you.
Love it. It has been so fun tosee you. And such a pleasure to
talk to you. And we're justreally thankful that you were
here to share your story andjust share your light and share
everything that you're doing forreally Raleigh as a community
and all of us to stay healthyand well, both mentally,
(24:24):
mentally and physically andJoJo. Thanks for being here.
Thanks for having me. Take care.
Thanks.
Thank you for joining us on thisepisode of Making Moves. We want
to deliver the highlights of theTriangle that you want to hear.
Let us know your feedback,comment on our social media like
and of course subscribe tocontinue and discover why we
love where we live until nexttime with making moves hosted by
(24:47):
The Rachel Kendall Team.
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