What is your name, and where are you based?
My name is Byanka Randolph & I’m currently living in Tucson, AZ.
What inspired you to become a coach?
I was inspired to become a coach my first year of joining CrossFit. Although I didn’t fulfill that until four years later, I wanted to become a coach to help others know what it’s like to achieve physical goals they never thought they could, such as getting your first push-up, pull-up, or being able to lift heavy ass weight. I wanted to help others along their journey of empowerment via fitness.
Tell us about your experience as a coach so far.
Being a coach is the best thing I’ve chosen to do. All of the clients I get to work with have been so amazing. People hire me because I provide accountability. I also coach and empower people to live happier, healthier, and more confident lives. My clients don’t know that they are helping me live a happier & more fulfilled life. It’s gratifying to have people trusting me & allowing me to guide them in such a personal journey.
What is your approach to coaching? Do you have a particular style or method?
I’ve heard from client feedback that I’m not like other trainers because I don’t shame or guilt my clients into getting them to do something. My motto with clients is “Progress over perfection.” I stand by that because perfectionism is forced upon us in a world -even though life isn’t perfect- I find that there is more success without the expectation of perfection but more so emphasizing consistency over a long period.
I’m not sure if I coach in any particular style, but I am candid with my clients, expecting the same in return.
I coach from making slow lifestyle changes from a sustainable place rather than going for the complete overhaul of one’s life with a rapid results approach.
If a client wants to lose weight but is a junk food & soda addict who hardly drinks any water & doesn’t eat any fruits & vegetables, then that’s where I would start with them. I would have them incorporate more of those latter into their current habits rather than asking them to eliminate the soda & junk food. It’s progressive changes that add up in the end.
What’s the best piece of health or wellness advice you have received?
The best piece of health & wellness advice I have received is that this journey is LIFELONG. I had always heard the cliche “This is a marathon. Not a sprint,” but I never really, truly understood it until someone broke it down in terms of my life.
The short time you dedicate to getting healthy for the sake of seeing results is just a blip in the radar that is your WHOLE life. Can you achieve fast results by committing 12 weeks of your life to a restrictive program?
Of course! But what about the next 20, 30, or 40 YEARS of your life? What are you going to do then? When someone pointed this out to me, I realized that back in my quick-fix/crash dieting days, I was placing my focus on the results & how quickly I could get there.
Obviously, the quicker you want results, to more restrictive you have to be with your lifestyle. This would mean turning down invites to social gatherings, not missing workouts, eating foods I didn’t enjoy & craving foods I did enjoy. When in actuality, I should’ve been thinking long-term & figuring out how I could still reach my goals and be healthy while still enjoying my life during the process of it all, aka sustainability.
This is why I coach the way that I do. In a world where the fitness & diet industry promises quick-fixes and as someone who yearned for those results from said quick-fixes, I want people to fall in love with the process & the journey of it but still getting those results they are looking for, regardless of how long it takes.
What do you like to do in your free time when you’re not coaching?
Free time is mostly spent with my boyfriend watching Marvel movies and Star Wars movies along with our three pups. We love watching light-hearted comedy shows on Netflix or Hulu. We’re currently watching The Mindy Project.
We recently purchased hiking shoes & the weather is fantastic here in AZ, so we are planning on doing more hikes soon to cut down on screen time & increase our Vitamin D exposure.
How do you de-stress?
I find joy in going on walks around my neighborhood. The feeling of the sun hitting my face, having a podcast I enjoy in my ears usually, health/wellness related, and being present allows me to let go of all the stresses that are currently troubling me. Another go-to is dancing. Yes, dancing! When was the last time you danced like no one was watching?
Probably not as often as you would like. I once enrolled in a program (coaches need coaches too) & my coach was big on the play. Since then, I implement this playtime sporadically when I feel like I’m taking my life too seriously. Try it out. Put on your favorite tunes & dance it out! You’ll feel the happiness surging through your body.
How do you stay motivated and accountable?
I don’t have a fancy answer. Most people would probably give you a simple answer like “I’m disciplined.” Still, I’ve connected how I physically feel when I eat well and get my workouts in with how I am emotionally and mentally throughout the day.
On the days I don’t eat well, I sometimes fall back into old habits and might overindulge in some chocolate or ice cream or even the days I don’t get any movement in, be it a workout or even go for my hour walk to get some sunlight, I notice how that negatively impacts my mood. I’m a bit more irritable & things stress me out a bit more.
For me, it’s like when you decide to have a long night of drinking and the next morning, you wake up hungover and can’t do anything at all the next day because of the symptoms from the hangover. It’s like that but with healthy habits. I’m motivated by feeling my best self, and I know that checking off those healthy habits makes it easier to show up as such!
What does your morning routine look like?
I wish I could say I have this excellent morning routine because we hear that a morning routine sets the tone for the day, but I don’t.
I’m the worst at morning routines. For a while, I used to do my walks as soon as I woke up, but I’ve recently had some schedule changes, and now my mornings are different every day. Life isn’t perfect & never will be, so I’m currently working on establishing the one thing that will allow my brain to set the right tone for the day, which is why I’ve opted for the 5-minute journal. It’s quick but will enable you to be present & express gratitude for the things that you have going on in your life before starting the day.
What do you enjoy most about coaching through the Verb platform?
I enjoy the fact that I connect with people I usually wouldn’t even meet in my lifetime. People join the platform looking to get healthier & this allows me to do it from the standpoint of implementing small habits that create a significant impact on their lifestyle.
What’s your theme/goal for 2021?
The theme(s) for 2021 is alignment and intentionality.
I’m going to get super woo-woo for y’all, but last year I discovered Human Design. Human Design (HD) is, essentially, the DNA of your energy. It’s more complicated than that, but that’s the best and most straightforward way to explain it.
Since finding out my HD type (I’m a splenic projector), I felt so seen, and it explained why I do certain things & why I have these unexplainable feelings at certain times.
The little bit that I’ve learned about HD and my energy type, the more I KNOW I need to be intentional about how I go about certain aspects in my life (like health & wellness), but on top of that, make sure I feel aligned with what I’m doing.
Make sure that in my gut, it FEELS right. I was and still am a bit of a people pleaser, so doing things that feel good for me instead of doing them because I think I should be doing them to please others is a high priority in my life. A great resource to get a full in-depth HD reading is through Shannon Keating — check out her Instagram profile
What’s your favorite recipe or the food you enjoy most?
I don’t have a favorite recipe, but I LOVE pizza and burgers. Just keeping it real! I’m a nutrition & fitness coach, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy these kinds of foods :)
