Meet Trailblazer Alayna Machacek

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alayna Machacek.

Alayna, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I always knew that I was going to go to college, but I didn’t know what I wanted to study. I was flipping through channels on TV as a junior in high school and landed on the show “The Biggest Loser.” Although today, I find many issues with the show overall, I connected deeply with the contestants and the feelings they were experiencing. Throughout high school, I was called “anorexic” and told to “go eat a burger.” I wanted to gain weight, but I didn’t know how, I didn’t know where to learn how, and I didn’t really think it was possible for me. I was a victim of my body. So were the contestants of “The Biggest Loser.” Even though our goals were different (weight loss vs weight gain), our purpose and pain were similar.

I saw the trainers on the show empowering each contestant and helping them make big changes in their life. That’s what I wanted to do for people. Before the episode was over, I grabbed my laptop and Googled “college degree for a fitness trainer.” After that moment, I never considered doing anything else with my life. Using fitness to change women’s’ lives is my purpose.

Now that I’ve learned, through education and experience, that physique transformation is possible for anyone, I want to be that resource for other women that I was looking for when I felt like a victim in my body. Today, I help women cut through the fitness and dieting BS and get maximum results with minimal sacrifice. Because not only is it possible to transform your physique and your life, it can be enjoyable.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It hasn’t been a smooth road, for my own fitness journey or starting my business as a fitness coach.

My fitness struggles are the same as anyone’s, I think. Stress and hardships in my health, relationships, jobs, etc. all take a toll and it can be hard to keep fitness as a top priority all the time. After graduating from college, I really had a hard time prioritizing the gym and making good food choices. I moved away from home and started working as a personal trainer at 24 Hour Fitness in Hawaii. Funny enough, working in a gym was one of the most inconsistent times in my own fitness. Once I got off work, I didn’t want to be at work anymore even though that was where I needed to work out. I didn’t have a car at the time, though, so I am grateful for the fact that I had to walk to both my jobs (I also worked as a server at a bar) and even to the grocery store and back.

The next and more severely inconsistent time in my life was at my next job. I moved to Arizona to work for an incredible non-profit scholarship foundation that was not at all related to fitness but was very rewarding work. The job required tons of hours and tons of travel where it felt impossible to work out and eat well. Right at the same time as this intense job stress, I went through a breakup that was worse than I could ever have imagined. I went through a period of skipping meals because I just didn’t have the energy or motivation to eat and I lost about 6lbs. Then I flipped the switch and used food as a crutch and gained those 6lbs back plus another 6. It took me a really long time to be okay.

I dove deep into personal development and tried to figure out who I really wanted to be and realized I needed to get on stage for a bodybuilding competition and I needed to quit my job and start my own business. I’m very goal oriented so those goals really carried me the rest of the way out of the dark place that I had been in for so long.

If you’re just starting your journey, no matter what it is, you need to understand that it’s a journey. It’s not a trip that you take where you know the destination and all the fun stuff you’re going to do once you check-in to the hotel. Much of your journey will be unplanned and unexpected. A friend recently shared a quote that really stuck with me: “Nobody in the history of the world looks back on their life and says, ‘Yes, this is exactly what I planned to happen.’ But many, many people wake up one day and say, ‘I knew this is what I was meant for, but the details always surprised me.'”

You know you’re capable of achieving whatever it is you want to achieve. Do everything you know how to do and be open to things unfolding for you and working out better than you could have hoped. Although fitness is a science, much of a fitness (or any) journey is faith. Faith that if you put the work in, it will happen.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Frumpy Fit – what should we know?
I am an online fitness coach, which means I’m a personal trainer but my clients and I don’t actually meet in person. It usually sounds a little funny when I try to explain it, but it works. Plus, it’s convenient and cost-effective for the client.

I LOVE fitness, but there are a lot of issues in the fitness industry that aren’t being addressed by enough people. The purpose of my business and my existence on social media platforms is to help women navigate all things fitness and nutrition. So many of my clients come to me saying something like, “I’m so motivated to lose weight, but there is so much contradictory information out there that I don’t know where to turn for help.”

Because fitness is important to so many people, and it’s hard to find the right info, it’s very easy for companies and coaches to take advantage of people. Fad diets, supplements that don’t do anything, workout programs that aren’t realistic or customized enough for the client, and products like creams, wraps, and waist trainers are all things that someone who is new to fitness can’t possibly be able to navigate on their own. Companies and coaches push all these things on people because there is a TON of money to be made off them. None of these things are particularly dangerous (although some can be) but they are wasting people’s time and money who only want to make their lives better. It makes me sad. And although there are coaches out there who are knowingly being dishonest, lots of them just don’t know any better. There is little to no regulation for online fitness coaches and social media influencers so anyone with a “nice body” can start giving advice with absolutely zero knowledge of effective and safe practices for physique transformation. I could go on forever.

In addition to making a positive difference in the fitness industry, my passion is dedicated to helping women. Women are put under so much pressure to look a certain way and are treated differently in the fitness industry than men. My coaching greatly emphasizes mindset and confidence building in addition to the typical fitness and nutrition stuff, because those things are all equally important to me and have equal power in getting a body that you love.

Frumpy Fit, as an extension of me, is different because I don’t care what is trendy, or cool, or going to get my clients to their goal as fast as possible in exchange for their health and happiness. Anyone can lose weight by eating 1,200 calories per day and kicking their butt in the gym until they can barely walk. But what often happens is that those same people end up gaining all their weight back when they give up on this miserable, unsustainable method of reaching their goals. It takes a skilled coach and a patient client to get weight loss that LASTS by making lifestyle changes that don’t totally suck the life out of you.

I am proud to say that I am a fitness coach with integrity who ALWAYS puts a client’s well-being above anything else and is dedicated to making a positive difference in the fitness industry.

Do you feel like there was something about the experiences you had growing up that played an outsized role in setting you up for success later in life?
Not an experience, but a skill. For some reason, I was always thinking about the future growing up. The one skill that can change someone’s life drastically is delaying gratification and I was constantly practicing this.

My dad would bring home gold coins from the post office that he got out of the vending machines for stamps. Each one was worth 1 dollar and I absolutely loved saving them and lots of other change. Any time I got money for holidays or my birthday, I saved it as well. I don’t really know why, but I loved it. That’s just one small example, but this skill of delaying gratification (saving the money instead of spending it) has benefited me in every aspect of my life.

Now, I’ve refined this skill into deliberate and intentional thoughts. Whenever I have to make a decision I ask, “What would future Alayna want me to do?” and in that case, the answer is usually pretty clear. Always consider the future and if you know you’re going to be in a situation where you’re going to be tempted with instant gratification it’s helpful to have thought through the scenario ahead of time and to make a decision before you have the temptation in front of you.

This has helped me graduate from high school and college summa cum laude, lose 20+ lbs, get on stage for two bodybuilding competitions, and save up enough money to quit my 9-5 job and start my own business.

Skills are much like a muscle in that they only get stronger if you work on them. It’s never too late to develop a new skill just like it’s never too late to start working out. Start practicing this idea of delayed gratification and I know that it will transform your life.

Contact Info:

• Website: frumpyfit.com
• Email: frumpyfit@gmail.com
• Instagram: frumpyfit
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/frumpyfit/

Getting in touch: VoyagePhoenix is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.