Welcome to the shark bite show. We dive into the stories of our members, coaches, friends, and family. Shark by fitness and nutrition. All right, let’s go. I guess today we have, we have Rachel Hafer. She is a member here at Shark Bite Cape Coral. She’s been with us for a couple of years now. She has, by far, the best voice in the game. There’s no question about that. I think she’s secretly from Minnesota. When you hear her talk, you’ll understand why I say that. And she is absolutely one of my favorite people to hang out with and work out with. So Rachel, thank you. Thank you. Thanks for coming in. So talk to me. First off, who are you? What is your history in fitness and sports?
Rachel
Yeah, so I’m 24. I’m from Cape Coral. I lived in Pennsylvania for two years, but that doesn’t really count. It was an elementary school, but basically, I’m from here.
Rachel
I don’t know where the accent came from. It just sounds like certain weird words. But anyways. I always did sports. I played soccer and did cheer when people didn’t think that was for fun. I think it was more. I ran track. I was a big runner. Never ever heavy lift or like anything other than soccer. Soccer interior and I did gymnastics when I was little too. I was usually just a runner up until I joined here.
Nick
Cool. Okay, what was the most recent thing you were doing before you came to at the time Crosby Cape Coral, banana SharkBite.
Rachel
Um, I cheered at GCU. So I tuned in college, and then I was running maybe two more miles that would say every day, but that would be a lie. As much as I got myself to sometimes, I did those video things like, what’s that guy? Insanity. Oh, Sean T. Yes. T videos to not like passionate or like really into an until I joined this gym.
Nick
Well, it’s called me when I was in the army. We did insanity videos. They were hard. Yeah. Cuz and
Rachel
then. What’s the other one? Pina, and yeah, I never did that one. But I did insanity.
Nick
We do the insanity videos because it would show up in Fort Drum and upstate New York nine or 10 months a year. Yeah, maybe like negative 30. And the other squads would go out. And they would like to run three miles in the snow. My team would go. On a Saturday, people would make fun of us. They were like laughing at us doing them. Do you know? They were intense, though. And they keep their asses and then bite when the winter comes around. And we would have our cardio and the other guys wouldn’t be. So funny story about you. CHEERING AND FGCU we missed each other for about a year.
Rachel
Yeah. Yeah. So I did the 2014 to 2015 season. So you must have been 15
Nick
I was 15 to 16. Not your team. Sorry. I was. Yeah. 16 to 17. I was the athletic trainer. Yeah.
Rachel
Yeah. I just did it for one year, I had to get a job and make money. Understandable. Yeah. But it was fun. No, but I love that school.
Nick
Cool. So you’ve got a cool story about joining the gym. Right? So I remember, you know, way back when I sat down with you in this room. And we did during those were the intro. Do you ever what you told me when you want to join the gym? Like why do you want to join the gym?
Rachel
There are probably two reasons. I know it was during a time when I had just graduated with my master’s. And so I lived in Tampa for a year when I finished my master’s I got a job that wasn’t going to start for like four months. So I like just graduated college and was about to serve my job. I literally had like nothing going on. So I was like, I’m feeling very lost. And I needed to join somewhere. And then probably what you’re thinking of maybe Brian was joining the police academy, and he was doing like buddy carries or something. And I tried to pick them up and I couldn’t move them like even if we had a fire in our house you would have been done for so it was like, Oh my god. So we got to do something. But it was definitely to be a part of something because I was very lost. And like I was always on teams and in sports or in school, and I had like, what is Rachel doing right now? I need to do something. And then I talked to Bailey So Bailey and I Bailey is one of the coaches here we were friends. Sorry, my brain goes to like four different places at one time. So we were friends before kindergarten when I moved to Pennsylvania, Lisa wrote each other letters in the mail.
Like drawing pictures and stuff. So we always talk about that now but anyway, she and I kind of reconnected because we were friends a long time ago and then not really at that moment. And we reconnected and she brought me in. It was Sunday was the first workout I had ever done here. Yeah, I was sore for like, two weeks after but she was like she joined the gym a couple of months before that. And so I’ve been watching her on Instagram and stuff. So I reached out to her and then she invited me in for that drop-in, picked my button, and then I joined
Nick
Yeah, that’s awesome. I know what you were thinking. Yeah, send me What’s me? What workout? Is
Rachel
that? Five pull-ups 10 Push Ups 15 squats for 20.
Nick
Yeah. So that’s actually the first workout I ever did. Really? Yeah,
Rachel
absolutely. Right here destroyed I would take my shirt off for like two weeks; it would take me like
Nick
yeah, that’s where we usually don’t have people do workouts like that to start for that.
Rachel
It was like This sucks so bad when I wanted to do it again. Yeah, that was at the time when I like had nothing going on for myself. So I was like, Rach, you need to get it together. I mean, it was like a gap period. So I did it. But no, so exciting. For me.
Nick
Those are two cool. Two really cool reasons, I think. Right? Like one, you want to build a pickup burden. Yeah, you want to
Rachel
fire in the house? You’d be dead? Yeah. Well,
Nick
I mean, now I think you could throw it pretty easily. And then two, you wanted to find like brands and something to do. Right. Yeah. And I think that’s really cool. Because I know many people say they want to join the gym, just to get in shape. But I think really what they’re looking for is that too, and not everybody, right. But I know that for me. When I got out of the army, I was getting out of the army. It was really important for me to find something like that.
Rachel
Yeah. Because you’re still like in the army. You were so used to being in the squad? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So you were I was always on a team are always in school. You’re always with your squad. And then when you’re alone, it’s like, I don’t know what to do.
Nick
You’re trying to like find a new community and company board.
Rachel
And I’m a social person. So I don’t like to just not have people listen to me talk.
Nick
I don’t think anyone’s ever described you as social. No way. I’m getting the most social person alive. Well, that’s awesome. All right. So how old are you? 24 We’re in a very small birdie, very miniature version. You Bailey. told me you got your master’s degree in a super yummy dress?
Rachel
I did. I was 22. That’s awesome. I think I might have it nice. 22 Yeah, because it was a year-long course.
Nick
Okay, well, that’s awesome. How did you do that? How did you accomplish that?
Rachel
Um, I did some dual enrollment in high school. So I had I finished my bachelor’s in three years. And then six months went by and I immediately started grad school. And it was a one-year program. I went to Tampa, USF in Tampa. So it was a Gerontology program, which Gerontology is the study of all people, it doesn’t know. So it was like half online, half in-person in Tampa. And it was just the 12 classes. And I was going to go in because I loved it. So I did it so
Nick
fast. Well, yeah, cuz that’s what I was gonna ask, right? Like, what do you do for work now?
Rachel
So I’m the Sales and Marketing Director at a senior living community, which won the preserve. It’s in Fort Myers. So it’s assisted living, skilled nursing, and memory care, as part of larger volunteers of American non for profit, which has been around for 125 years, and Gulf Coast Village in Cape Coral, like a mile away. It’s been around for 30 years, that’s our sister community solar preserve opened about two years ago. It broke ground about two years ago, and it actually officially opened about a year ago. So I’m their sales and marketing director, formerly the life enrichment and memory support director. So that’s activities and memory, sports-specific programs. But yeah, I do sales and marketing. So I get to talk to families who are thinking about transitioning their loved ones into a senior community. And I kind of help them through the process and talk about what their future will look like in our community.
Nick
Yeah. And that is so cool, right? So now we’re friends in real life. We’re also friends on Facebook, I get to watch the cool videos you post of what you get to do inside of the facility. Right? I love it. So talk about some of those things.
Rachel
So I’m still kind of in the life enrichment, Director role because we’re currently hiring for a position if anyone’s looking to apply, but we get to do the life enrichment programs. So we do you know, of course, exercise groups, and we do entertainment. And with COVID, which we can talk about later, things are a little different. But it’s like working in a History Museum. I don’t know if that sounds kind of wrong. But it’s like when you talk to people, you get to learn about like, this is an 89-year-old veteran who has like 12 grandkids and this is what he did for his life. And then this lady has lived in Germany and Ireland and like every person, you talk to as like 8995 or 100 years of history. So it’s really cool to just like, sit and talk to somebody who’s been through whatever pandemic we’re in times like 45 other different life historic events,
Nick
you know, yeah, I totally understand that. Right? Because I feel like we get that here at the gym and you’re the age bracket might not be the same, but we get to learn the experiences of people that we might not have ever learned otherwise, and you probably get that pretty much every day, right?
Rachel
Yeah, it’s really, really neat. We just had a 100 Well, not just was a couple of months ago, like a birthday parade for a man who turned 100 Oh, that’s awesome. Yeah, like, can you imagine? 100 years? 100 years ago, so it was 1920. That’s a long ago. So what happened in between now? And then? A lot?
Nick
Was it Jim’s years? Does no joke carry? Okay, that’s awesome. So why is it so rewarding for you? Because like, I think anybody who spent any time around you knows that you love your job. Yeah, you love it. And it like, it just seeps out of you. Why, why is that so rewarding for you?
Rachel
Because I think it’s kind of a population that people forget about. And people don’t, you know, everybody wants to work with kids or work. I don’t know where people want to work, like people who often don’t want to work with seniors. So it’s kind of like, you know, I have a lot of love and respect for what they’ve done throughout history as we talked about, and they’re, you know, I keep saying like a museum or history, but it’s like, so full of history and excites me. And like, it’s a group of people that people often overlook. And people are scared of senior communities, like, you know, people talk about, I’ll never go into a nursing home. But I’ve seen so many great communities where they do a lot of programs that kind of fulfill the last couple years of somebody’s life. And so to be the person that can, you know, provide the last two years of your grandmother’s life like to make it better. And anyway, it’s just really cool and rewarding. And,
Nick
yeah, that to me, that’s super cool, right? Because you’re taking somebody who might have a lower quality of life, and you’re like, qualitatively increasing their quality of life. But that’s awesome.
Rachel
Thank you. And it’s like, certain things are tailored. So maybe, you know, there’s Okay, so there’s this man that we had a patient, he was a fashion designer, he went to NYU, or NYT, or whatever the Fashion Institute is in New York City. He has a poster in the Hard Rock Casino in Naples, Maryland. Marilyn Monroe was on a poster there wearing a coat that he designed, like, how cool is that. So like, I printed out a picture of our building, but he never completed it. But I printed out a picture of the front of the preserve. And I wanted him to sketch it because he has like a sketchbook and stuff. So it’s like, he was once a fashion designer who designed a coat for Marilyn Monroe. And he’s sitting here right in front of me, like getting therapy from us. So I gave him a picture to draw because I knew that that was important to him. And that’s what his wife says that he likes to do. So, you know, just to be able to see somebody in their prime, designing votes for Marilyn Monroe, and then they’re here and they need that kind of like, that was his thing, you know, so I want to help him be able to do his thing, even though he’s like 85 years old now, and not quite the same strength that he was before. But he can still do it. Yeah. And I want to help them do it.
Nick
Oh, that’s so cool. Because like, how like, would he get that otherwise?
Rachel
I don’t know. I mean, and sometimes, especially with COVID, a lot of seniors are just sitting in their homes. I did a tour the other day for a lady. She says she hasn’t left her home since April of last year. And she’s a neat lady and I talked to her for a long time. And like she, you know, her history, she was like in different community groups are really involved in her church and just to see her like, I know everybody in the world is going through this right now. So I completely understand but like, if she were in our community and around the kind of some other people, we may have been able to, you know, help her embrace those things that she’s kind of isolated from help or
Nick
socialize a little bit more. Yeah.
Rachel
Yeah. Yeah, that
Nick
was something that you and I have talked about a bunch of times was seeing if there was any way that we as a gym could come help through that. I know. Restrictions out exactly allowed for that.
Rachel
Yes. In Christmas cards. Yeah. Christmas cards. That was awesome.
Nick
That was cool. It was one of the funniest things we’ve done. Yeah. Probably has no we wrote Christmas cards, between the three gyms to residents
Rachel
and other communities to a bunch
Nick
of them. We had a lot of think we have like seven or eight of them are that we sent out. All right. That was part of our December bingo. So that’s pretty cool. I think I don’t know how many we got out. But I was really happy about that.
Rachel
I know. I still have one from Danielle, her boyfriend, and her daughter. They sent like an actual Christmas card picture printed out one or two, she wrote a handwritten one. So sweet.
Nick
That’s cool. I’m really glad we were able to do that. I hope I hope they enjoyed it. They did. Yeah. Okay, well, so another cool thing you’ve done right? You took a mission trip to Haiti, right? I did that once. Twice. Okay, when were those
Rachel
while I was, I think 2017 And no, 2016 and 17. So there were two back-to-back summers. So my family has a long history with Village of Hope in Haiti. So actually found it my grandma’s ashes are scary. They’re scattered there too because my grandparents were really involved with that specific missionary. So we went on medical mission trips two times. The first one when I thought I was gonna go to nursing school, change my mind, very happy about it. But we helped do intake and we had a dentist, go a surgeon go, you got to bring it up. Okay. And so we set up we went in the middle of quad A bouquet is like, Florida Prince is the big area that everybody knows it’s like the hub in the city. But we went into the actual put like parts of Haiti and went into these villages that were like, brick, cemented buildings, and we just set up camp, no AC, no nothing. And then everybody in the villages would just come and go through and the doctors would see them and kind of diagnose or give them some of the supplies that we brought over from the state. So different churches here, different churches in Tampa, we collected donations for months, and we were able to bring like two check bags each, and they were full of like bandages, eye drops because there are no cemented areas. It’s all like Dustin gravel. So everybody’s eyes are so dry all the time. So we just go to CVS and we get eyedrops. There. We feel like they came to that place to get eyedrops, because it was like, that was such a big deal. So that was really cool that it was something we’d say like so for right now. Like, forget I dropped some chapstick, you know? But they like walked miles to come to this area where we had set up to see the doctor to get their eye drops. So it’s like really putting perspective on how blessed we are here. But then we checked people’s weights the dentist came the second time but never viewed the judges. Oh, I was scared because he was like extracting people’s teeth and stuff but things that people needed to do.
Nick
And nobody could have done otherwise. Right.
Rachel
I decided I couldn’t be a nurse because I was sitting there watching, and I had never passed out before, but I was okay, but rambling on, let me get to the really cool story. So we met this guy. His name is Dr. Blaine and he’s a pediatric cardiologist in Tampa. So he went on a medical mission trip with us twice is one of my uncle’s really good friends. So the full year before my sister was pregnant, we went on a medical mission trip with him. So my sister was pregnant about two years later, and they found out that her baby was going to have a heart defect. And guess where they referred her to the pediatric cardiologists in Tampa that whom we had a personal relationship and went to Haiti with him two years before. So he was the person who likes, laid out the entire plan of how they were reconstructed, heart. It was like, I know, I’ve goosebumps. Like I, I don’t know if anybody’s religious or anything, but that was a second chance. You know, it was like this place or a place in Texas and my uncle lives like 15 minutes from the hospital. So when Abby was there, for seven months, she got to live in my uncle’s house. And the person who was calling her to explain how he was going to repair her baby’s heart was like a man that we went to Haiti with two months. Cool.
Nick
That’s super, super cool. I remember. Abby was a member of our gym long ago, and following that story was absolutely unreal. Yeah, at that point, I hadn’t talked to her in a year or two. And I felt like, I know, I had nothing to do with it. But I feel like I and all these people got to be a part of this story. And like, see this awesome success? And I’ll see like a little brother running around you don’t have and
Rachel
she was to dance class yesterday. Oh, my gosh. So background story, my niece, she’s now two but she walks she’s walking now without her walker, but she was born with. I have like the actual diagnosis, which is ridiculously crazy. There’s like all these different things. But essentially, she was born with half a heart. So she was a couple of weeks old when she got an adult-sized pacemaker and adult-sized pacemaker because the baby one wasn’t going to do what it needed. So she’s had two open-heart surgeries. She’s been intubated, intubated. A couple of times she was on ECMO. We’re like its full-wave support. She’s walking around going to death. So awesome. Right. And Dr. Blaine, we met him a couple of years before that’s just crazy to me.
Nick
Shout out, Dr. Plant. Yeah. That’s, that’s so cool. We were not on the podcast with me privately about like, that concept of like, like leadership, like through service to others. Right. And I think it’s cool to hear like, you’re so passionate about helping other people. And I think probably doing things like that like going to Haiti or seeing how people outside of your circle live. I gotta imagine that has something to do with it, right?
Rachel
Yeah, it was I came back I remember like the last couple of weeks once I got back I just didn’t feel right. And it was like, you would go to Starbucks and people were whining and complaining about their drink was over I’m like, and now I always check myself in the back of my head. I’m like those eyedrops from UBS, Rachel, like, don’t complain about the things that you have these people hyped miles to go get those. So it’s like, for my I mean, honestly, for your own selfish gain to be a better person, I think people need to do things like that, you know, to serve people so you can be a better person for yourself for other people. So I know obviously, I’m not a perfect person, nobody’s a perfect person. But I think opening my eyes to that kind of makes me check myself sometimes when I get upset about why to make copies wrong at Starbucks, you
Nick
know, there because it gives you like a, like a sense of perspective. I remember coming back from Iraq the first time, you know, and like, hearing things that people complain about like you’re talking about coffee, I remember being at a Burger King somewhere. And this person just losing their absolute mind. Yeah, because there were pickles on it when they asked for no better Oh, Lord. And I just remember thinking like, you know, is this really what’s, what’s that hard your life right now?
Rachel
Yeah, no sacrifice in your life for that person to be angry about pickles. Thank you for your service.
Nick
Thank you. But I think the important part is like both of us got perspective. Yeah. You know, and I think that that’s probably what’s missing in a lot of people’s lives. Right? Is that perspective of others? And then where you really are, yeah, we were able to preach and we talked about that. But I think it would really benefit other people to do this. You know,
Rachel
and we don’t say that to think that we’re better than anybody or anything like that. Just you know, yeah,
Nick
I think it’s like you said, All selfishly, it really,
Rachel
you know, I know. And if anything, like we were helping people in Haiti, but they definitely helped us more than we did for them.
Nick
Yeah, that’s a cool way to put that. So you have a special somebody at the gym, right? Mr. Brian bird. Everybody’s favorite sheriff? He’s possibly the most handsome person to charter, but I think he’s got a 62 pack. Babs. And Brittany doesn’t know Bert is not a large guy. And he’s might be the strongest person and all the gems combined. Which is
Rachel
he’s, what do you call it when you like, pretend you’re good at add-on like poker, and then you? You lose a couple of games. And then you finally win.
Nick
It’s like a shark. Yeah, exactly. He’s unbelievable, right? So I know that he’s definitely one of the people that I love chasing on the scoreboard, right? And he’s also one of the nicest dudes I think I’ve ever met. What’s it like going to work out with these your fiance, and he’s got to come to the same gym with us in the same group of friends. He doesn’t get to share a hobby. What’s that? Like? Yeah,
Rachel
it’s fun. Because he can tell that he’s genuinely excited and happy for me. So he did CrossFit, like, at his friend’s garage, so he wasn’t actually part of the gym till after I was part of the gym. But he’s been doing it for like the last six years since high school in college and whatnot. So like, whenever I, you know, do really well on something or when I got my butterfly pull-ups or on my toaster bar and stuff, like he was so genuinely excited for me. So it’s definitely been something we could bond over because we’ve been dating for eight years now. So like, our lives are completely combined. And it’s like, we got nothing new is shared with each other because we know everything about each other. So it is another thing for us to kind of like, share new experiences together. And I know he’s so proud of me. So it’s cute. Yeah, that’s cool.
Nick
I’ve coached like early morning classes, and I’ll come in and hope he’ll come to me and say something like seeing Rachel’s core yesterday. That’s
Rachel
so cool. So he’s like, See, he wouldn’t. He’s very like to himself, and he’s humble about it. Definitely is very good. But he doesn’t like, for people to know that he’s good or doesn’t like to be recognized. Like he doesn’t take compliments. Well, but he’s Brian if you’re listening. You’re wonderful.
Nick
I think you’re wonderful to do to say that. He never talks every time he says I’m like, it feels like a part of the selection. Yeah. That’s awesome. So you, you and I competed together a couple of months ago, and our charity competition reindeer
Rachel
when we got first in the gym. No big deal. Yeah.
Nick
We’re in the Cape Coral crown. No, no big deal. Shout out to Rachel and crystal for leaving us behind. Talk about that. What was that charity competition like for you? How was it? How was that?
Rachel
It was fun. Like I that was I think that was my first RX competition.
Nick
either bad or the K poor class. I grew up with crystals. Yep.
Rachel
So yeah, it was my second. It was awesome. And I didn’t want to let you down, Nick. So I tried really hard. Hold
Nick
on, hold on. Hold on. Hold on. I’m gonna stop you right there. Because right before the first word of the first day, remember that? You came up to me and you said, verbatim you said these words. I’m not making any of this up. I did. You said I did this workout with Brian. Your fiancee. We got I think it was something like nine rounds. Right? And I was like, Holy crap. That’s a lot. And you said something along the lines of It’s okay though. I didn’t want to let him down. But I don’t really care if I let you down so it’ll be okay. I did say and it just kind of came out and, I stood there with my mouth on the floor. Just we got like a lemon. Yeah. And we ended up smoking. Yeah, here we
Rachel
go. No, it was a lot of pressure because the owner of the gym you were running the entire competition and me, little me was your partner. tried really hard.
Nick
I remember thinking I cannot believe you just said that. And then I heard three run into game mode.
Rachel
It might have motivated you a little people talk smack it makes me know you got something to prove. Yeah, you proved it to me. No, I
Nick
think I think we did. Also, I think it was super fun. You’re saying a little old me, for anyone who doesn’t know Rachel weighs 2014 pounds. And she’s one of the stronger people I’ve met. It doesn’t really make anatomical sense. But you were super strong. And I was. I felt super confident. You’re up in that car. But then you didn’t. Yeah. I think you learned butterfly pull-ups the night before two nights before but
Rachel
I was practicing. Yeah. What would that was a Saturday. I think we came me and Chelsea and snap came on Sunday. And I was practicing them. So the week before? Yeah.
Nick
And it worked out perfectly in place. 14 teams, I’ll take that nobody else compares.
Rachel
Then when you say little me, I have to share a cute little moment I had yesterday, Chris brought up from the evening class. She said she thought of me because you know how advertisements come up or something on her Facebook. And a t-shirt popped up. And it says like, underestimate me, I dare you or something like that. And so she’s like, Hey, I saw your shirt. And I thought of you because you know, you’re so small. And you wouldn’t think that you’d be able to do these things. But you go and you like, lift heavyweight, and it’s really impressive. And it’s like, what am I me and hers lives over crops. You know, that’s what I’m saying. It was so sweet. And she fired me.
Nick
That is so nice. I think that that thing you just said though, right? Like when would be in this person’s life ever cross? I think about that every day. Like I get to meet so many people from so many. Just wholly different realms of life. Yeah, but what? Think about the class going on out there right now. Right? There are probably 14 or 15 people that would never know each other.
Rachel
I know. Like Chris Morgan is one of my rows when we meet with Morgan ever hang out.
Nick
Yeah. Nothing would organically make you guys run into. I think about that often. Jim. Jim is the same age as my dad. You know he’s like when you’re investing. We’re really one of my best friends. Like how would I ever
Rachel
become number here, man?
Nick
Yeah. Joe Carrey is
Rachel
I would have crossed paths with him. You’re sorry, Joe. Joe is one of my favorite people to I love you, Joe.
Nick
Me. I don’t really like him. You won’t be able to hear us on the podcast.
Rachel
Put it in the comments. So the subtitles are gonna read may send it in the mail. Making fun of Joe Astrix. Okay, so we have the this is they probably
Nick
won’t air until afterward. But we have the intramural open coming up, right? Yep. You’re one of our Catholics. Yeah. Oh, no honor. Dude, when I talked to the other coaches, and I said, you know, what do we back I told you that you were unanimous. It was like, Oh, it was paper. And that’s how that worked exactly like
Rachel
that. Like that’s Wait, guys, make me feel special. Who’s your
Nick
co guide? This morning, right? And what is your terrible teammate?
Rachel
Caloosahatchee. Bananas love. Did you make it up? I’m not. So I was trying to find memes. It’s happened. So banana slugs are actually a mascot for
Nick
a team. Oh, really? I didn’t know that. That’s news to me.
Rachel
It’s like some college. There’s a slug. Oh, I don’t know. Maybe I’m making this up. I’m not sure it’s a man and a mascot. For my banana costume.
Nick
So when, when we did the intramural draft a couple of weeks ago, you and Morgan were wearing banana suits. And that was so good. You know,
Rachel
it’s funny. I had those two just add them
Nick
know while we get along. I don’t know how many people know this. When Steph and I first started dating. She came to my house one time and open up a closet. And I’m going to mess up the story’s order a little bit, but she was like, What the hell is this? A full closet full of costumes. Yeah. And not like three like I’m saying I filled a full walk-in closet with costumes.
Rachel
That is impressive. Come share some of your most important classes in the house.
Nick
She’s now backgrounded to I’m sure yeah, she’s made me move it out to a garage now, but it takes up about a quarter of our garage. That’s funny because I have that exact banana. So how do you and Morgan plan to lead the Caloosahatchee? Banana Slugs? How
Rachel
are you I haven’t really thought much of again. We just love our people. So we like, we’re like, who do we want on our team? Not necessarily who’s the best person, you know, but it’s like, it’s going to be so I’ve heard gonna be like, challenges and stuff and like participation. Yeah,
Nick
I guess we’ll find out.
Rachel
So like, we don’t necessarily have to be the best people but people who are willing to participate, and we’re just going to love our people and hope that they really love you. Will you please post on Facebook or wear a blue shirt or whatever?
Nick
Everything in me is hoping that when this plays you guys didn’t win? Because I have I’m on the circuit a sore leg and I wanted to take the crap you made? I sure hope so. I’ll talk to the scorekeeper about it. Okay.
Rachel
Now I need to go to Chris and we need to plan I did make a Facebook group though.
Nick
Yeah. Okay. You guys haven’t participated. Do you guys get like strategy sessions going on yet? Because we are. We had to Oh, that’s not true. You guys are going down? You guys are going to guys. If when this happens, Amazon’s got last place. We know why.
Rachel
I’m just being just inconspicuous. Yeah, okay. I don’t want to give away my plan to
Nick
go. Alright. So what are some of your favorite moments you got in the gym? What are some things like November we sat down for delivery on the rascal that right? When you left the gym, you were like, hell? Yeah. What’s a monad? You’d like that for you?
Rachel
Oh, boy. Um, well, I always have to say because Joe, as much as you make fun of Joe, he’s like a big highlight for me. Because we hold stroke. 110 Okay, so 100 But he’s in his early 80s. Right?
Nick
Yeah. The 70s sorry. Four, something’s off. Somebody said all right. So he’s sorry, Joe. You can’t hear me but.
Rachel
And he, he’s okay with all this just so you guys know. So Joe, if he works hard at like, you know, making sure that his future is gonna be, you know, that where he’s gonna be able to live healthy and independent and be as strong as he possibly can. I think at one point, he had said he wanted to be able to get himself off the floor if he ever falls. Yeah. Right. Like, he might sound like he’s joking. But no, like, that is a huge, huge thing. And a lot of the people who end up living in communities, you know, might be one of the falls where they land on the floor and stay there for a couple of days that lead them into a future that maybe they didn’t plan for. And so the fact that he’s been prevented to was doing the necessary things to keep themselves healthy and independent, as long as possible, was a real inspiration to me. So anytime I watch Joe exercise, that’s gonna be a highlight.
Nick
Yeah, no, me too. I make a lot of jokes about Joe because he’s like my cranky old grandpa. But we, I love it when we when he was brand new. That was something we worked on a lot, right? Because he said pretty openly. That was a goal of his. I was like, I need to get off the floor. Like I don’t want to be a guy who can’t do that. Yeah. And Joseph my size. He’s a large guy. He’s He’s 661620. You’re on Tinder balance. He’s a large man. And now he’s out there doing hanging knee raises and cleaning. Bless his heart. Yeah, we competed in a competition two or three years ago. He was my partner. Yeah. I think we think we podium to wow, how cool is that? I didn’t do much work. So it was all him.
Rachel
And I like another one of my highlights is anytime I watch Tiffany willing to talk to anybody at the gym. She just like, she makes you feel so special. But she also likes, will pick out exactly. So Tiffany is not a coach. She’s not a coach. She doesn’t have to be, you know, she’s not employed to the person to help. But she goes out of her way to you know, pick apart anything that you might be doing wrong, but she does so in a way that is like, you know, it’s like, yeah, I do this, let me fix this now, like, Oh, you’re doing that wrong, Rachel, you know, and she’ll always make you not make you but encourage you to throw an extra pound on there. Throw a couple of fives on there, but she does it in a way that makes you feel special. And I and she always does it to you know, newer people or she’ll take people under her wing and she’s not a coach, and she doesn’t necessarily have to do that stuff. But she just does it on her own. Well, yeah.
Nick
We feel like we have a lot of people like that too. Right? Where it’s like, their intent is always good. There’s no There’s nobody like looking down their nose at you about your lift or whatever.
Rachel
Yeah, you can you never feel that. It’s like, oh, I’m doing it. Tiffany saw me do it wrong. Like Like, she helps you she actually wants you to do it right or she wants you to like, you know, feel stronger. You’ll have to do some things and she’ll take time out of her after her workout to work on something with you.
Nick
Yeah, only we’re going to be allowed because she will openly talk shit to me in the middle of a workout. And that doesn’t happen very often anymore. It’s really fun. I’ll get off the bars or like, get back on there. Yeah. That’s awesome. Okay, so
Rachel
you have now
Nick
been here for a couple of years. April will be two years. That’s awesome. Okay, so it’s March 4, recording this month. You were talking to someone who is scared to start working out? Right? What would you tell him?
Rachel
You can be afraid to I don’t want to say Oh, don’t be scared, but it is kind of scary, especially like it’s a little bit intimidating, but you just have to do it. And I guess sometimes when people hear CrossFit, they imagine people like throwing things and slamming things, which you are, but then you learn to love it. And people are intimidated by it. But I think it’s like, the other day, I did a legless rope climb and was ready to get into a bar fight. Like I felt like, I felt like the Hulk or something. Why would somebody like that, ever end up in a situation? Like climbing a rope with no legs until I joined this gym? So you like, it’s cool, because you can see what I’m what you’re capable of? I would never have thought that I would have been strong and have big muscles. I did it. So did you ever see my comparison photo of my arms, like I had noodle arms before this gym in it? Like, I didn’t think anything of it. But now that like, I actually have some meat on my bones. Like, I feel awesome. As I said, we’re ready to get into a bar fight that rope workout, but you can be afraid at first. And then as soon as you come in, you do the first workout if it’s Sydney or something else. And you’ll feel awesome. And you know, I think it’s good to challenge yourself and do things that you’re afraid of. So I would say just try it a couple of times. And then you’ll fall in love with it. And then you’ll meet the people here and then it’ll be a reason to wake up. I don’t like to wake up early. But I always wake up Saturday morning, because Saturday morning classes are my favorite.
Nick
And you didn’t come to find them sometimes.
Rachel
I try to really try to go federal Yeah,
Nick
you don’t see me there?
Rachel
No, I think you just have to try it. I mean, just don’t really think about it. Just try it. And then if anyone ever has any questions, talk to somebody about it, I would reach out to Tiffany. Tiffany Bailey, anybody who’s been around pretty much anybody you can ask. And then they can give you the full, you know, spiel, everybody got here somehow from a different area. So it’s cool to learn what led people to be here.
Nick
Yeah, that’s, that’s honestly been my favorite part of this podcast. So more about doing each of these is that
Rachel
it’s like what led you here? They didn’t know stories. Yeah. And I guess the reason I knew about it, was my mom and my sister went here for a short amount of time. And then Bailey was the person that kind of like, drew me into it.
Nick
Well, cool. So if anything else you want to talk about, there’s anything else you wanna bring up? I mean,
Rachel
I do. Want to make sure. I know. Let’s see. Um, no, I think we’ve covered pretty I was looking at the time as 40 minutes. That’s pretty good.
Nick
Okay, so if somebody wanted to find out more about you, or about the Preserve, how could they do that
Rachel
they can go to the preserve vla.org You can type in to preserve senior living on Google we also have a golf course village in Cape Coral. It’s a full continuing care retirement community meaning it has all ranges of senior care from independent all the way to skilled nursing memory support. And or you could find me on Facebook originally for I’m always sharing the preserved stuff. But yeah,
Nick
well, cool. So thank you very much for doing this down with banana slugs. So. All right, thanks for hanging out with us today on the SharkBite show. If you’d like to get a hold of us, you find us on Facebook or Instagram at Shark by fitness nutrition, or on our website at Shark by fitness.com. If you’d like to find out more about our guests, that information will be in the show notes. If you’d like to talk to us about getting more fit. Feel free to schedule a free no-sweat intro at one of our locations in Cape Coral, Fort Myers, or Naples, Florida.
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