Have you ever been sidelined by an injury, only to find the path back to fitness fraught with obstacles? Our guest unpacks the all-too-common narrative of lingering functional deficits that conventional gym routines fail to accommodate. Diving into the conversation, we discuss the overlooked chasm between healthcare and fitness, revealing a personalized approach that respects each individual's physical capabilities and aspirations. This episode will not only redefine your concept of exercise but will also offer a guiding light for those seeking to reclaim their bodies' potential through a blend of movement, therapy, and nutrition.
Running a business that intersects the wellness of body and spirit isn't just about the bottom line; it's about fostering a community. This journey is illuminated by our guest's organic rise from a single massage therapist to a community cornerstone for health and recovery. Listen to a story of growth powered by genuine connections, word-of-mouth, and strategic collaborations. As we peel back the layers of this success, we reveal a future vision that includes new locations and a transition to a mentorship role for up-and-coming therapists, demonstrating that legacy isn't solely about lineage, but the lives we touch.
Finally, prepare to be moved by a client's extraordinary journey towards healing that defies medical expectations. Through tireless commitment and a synergistic relationship with their practitioner, this individual's story is nothing short of miraculous. If you've ever doubted the power of consistent, patient effort in tandem with professional guidance, this segment promises to renew your faith in the human capacity for recovery. Tune in for an episode brimming with inspiration, passion, and the remarkable tales of those who refuse to be defined by their limitations.
Have you ever been sidelined by an injury, only to find the path back to fitness fraught with obstacles? Our guest unpacks the all-too-common narrative of lingering functional deficits that conventional gym routines fail to accommodate. Diving into the conversation, we discuss the overlooked chasm between healthcare and fitness, revealing a personalized approach that respects each individual's physical capabilities and aspirations. This episode will not only redefine your concept of exercise but will also offer a guiding light for those seeking to reclaim their bodies' potential through a blend of movement, therapy, and nutrition.
Running a business that intersects the wellness of body and spirit isn't just about the bottom line; it's about fostering a community. This journey is illuminated by our guest's organic rise from a single massage therapist to a community cornerstone for health and recovery. Listen to a story of growth powered by genuine connections, word-of-mouth, and strategic collaborations. As we peel back the layers of this success, we reveal a future vision that includes new locations and a transition to a mentorship role for up-and-coming therapists, demonstrating that legacy isn't solely about lineage, but the lives we touch.
Finally, prepare to be moved by a client's extraordinary journey towards healing that defies medical expectations. Through tireless commitment and a synergistic relationship with their practitioner, this individual's story is nothing short of miraculous. If you've ever doubted the power of consistent, patient effort in tandem with professional guidance, this segment promises to renew your faith in the human capacity for recovery. Tune in for an episode brimming with inspiration, passion, and the remarkable tales of those who refuse to be defined by their limitations.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, so I was doing that for other people, you know, and what I realized is that there are a lot of injured people walking around, especially in gyms or and a lot of people who really have no business doing group exercise classes Because they have Residual functional deficits right, they have herniated this they have right right.
Speaker 1:
So they have this, that are, that are compromised. They had a knee surgery that isn't completely healed, or they have, you know, a Shoulder that doesn't have the proper range of motion, you know and then they go into these Classes or boot camps, or they try to just pick up their kids, you know, and they're not quite ready. And so, like I said, what I, what I noticed was that those people are All over the gyms and just walking around and there's no real place for them to go to be healed, right, physical therapy won't take them because they're not quite injured enough. The gym is too much, you know, and so there's no space for them to go. So that's what function and fitness does. We feel that gap. We feel that gap and we allow people to go from health care to fitness, and so, yeah, like I said, I just Saw a need.
Speaker 2:
How do you do that? How do you accomplish that? Is it in a gym? Do they come to you?
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah, yeah so I have a brick and mortar, have a space literally like three minutes down the road on King Street, and they come in twice a week. We do exercise. It basically starts with an assessment right, I need to know where they are, what they can do, what they can't do, and so, yeah, so we do a full assessment, check their range of motion levels, we sit down and we have a chit chat, you know, find out what their goals are. And then, yeah, from there I can recommend we need massage therapy, we need exercise, we need stretching, and then, you know, the program starts at that point. And so it's a combination of things. You know, not all, not all exercise. Exercise is great, right, and I like to say movement, right for some people, because exercise, I think, has a certain connotation. You know, we think certain things when you hear the word exercise, and it's not always Running on a treadmill or doing box jumps and burpees, right, like that's not the answer. Sometimes it's laying on the floor for 30 minutes and stretching.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, right, sometimes that sounds good.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, right, right, you know, and so or it's you know, a 15 minute core exercise routine, right, and. And they finish that and they walk out feeling like a million bucks. Versus going and and doing something too intense too soon, right, ends you back into the doctor's office, back in physical therapy back to square one back to square one, exactly your story. My story, whoo what part.
Speaker 1:
Wherever you want to start what part you want, the longer, the short. So I'm an athlete In my heart. I don't compete anymore, but I'm an athlete in my heart and Movement has always been a part of my life since I can remember. I played a sport of some sort In high school. I sustained my first Major injury that required surgery my senior year in high school. I was playing basketball. Basketball is my absolute love and passion, still to this day, and so I had to have surgery my senior year in high school. Right, I'm expecting to play basketball in college, but of course, with a knee injury like those, chances are pretty limited. And so I Rehab to what's the physical therapy.
Speaker 1:
After physical therapy, got to college and continued strength training and was able to walk on the basketball team play my freshman year in college, and to me that was my first Real-life experience with the power of exercise, the power of movement, the power of keeping the body and getting the body strong To do the things that I enjoyed doing right. And so then, from there, I thought that I wanted to be a physical therapist, because my physical therapist was so amazing. You know for me, like I said, I'm a physical therapist. You know for me like she touched my life and I was like, oh my god, I want to do this, I want to give this to people. But I didn't know how competitive physical therapy was right. I wasn't the best student and so my grades and GPA, you know, didn't allow that. But I found another route to physical therapy and I found another route to helping people to be active again.
Speaker 1:
I personally didn't know it then but realized that my identity was wrapped in the athletics. It was wrapped in my ability to move, and so when that was taken away from me, you know, I struggled emotionally, and that's a common story, you know. If you can't move, you can't do the things you love. You know, like who are you and how happy are you right. And so that led me to pursue personal training and massage therapy and really kind of honing my skills right, gaining as much information as I can about those two areas and how I can apply that knowledge to others and help others to move better and enjoy life right. So yeah, that's kind of me and a nutshell. You know, I spent a lot of years in big box gyms and so, again, I got to see the so-called generally healthy population and I learned that a lot of people are not generally healthy.
Speaker 2:
You know A lot of people but there's still in those gyms what they're at. But there's still in those gyms, yeah, you know.
Speaker 1:
And it is like I said, I got to the point where I would sit and I would talk to gym members and they would say I joined the gym six months ago and I haven't been yet. And I'm like why? Oh well, my back hurts, oh well, my shoulder hurts, oh well, I tried to do this and I couldn't do it because I had this pain and I'm like pain should not be a reason to not move, right.
Speaker 2:
But it is a good reason.
Speaker 1:
But it is an excuse. There you go.
Speaker 2:
I like that you called me out on that.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah yeah, an excuse, because I feel like there are. Just because your shoulder hurts doesn't mean that your knees don't work right. And so my clients, they try those things on me but like, oh well, my ankle is sore, oh, that's okay, we can still work on your core, we can still do bicep part, we can do other things right. Let's focus on what you can do versus what you can't do right. And so, yeah, like I said, I worked in big box gyms for probably about 15 years before I got the idea to start functioning fitness and really, just out of my love and my appreciation for the human body, the physiology of it all, like how our bodies will heal themselves if we allow them to do so, and so, yeah, like, my method is massage therapy and exercise.
Speaker 1:
Some people use nutrition. You know which works as well. You know, not my specialty, but massage therapy and movement are my two tools that I have found that can really change, you know, a person's life, you know really, yeah, that's what I do, that's my passion, that's that's me in a nutshell.
Speaker 2:
How are you currently attracting clients?
Speaker 1:
Currently, a lot of it is word of mouth, right, current clients that Are being successful to other neighbors, their family members, you know, co-workers. Second to that is relationships with other physical therapists, the healthcare providers you know, and then it goes down from there, right, social media, you know that sort of thing, but Primarily, yeah, word of mouth, just like most businesses, right, at least personal services businesses.
Speaker 2:
word of mouth, the ultimate yeah, that's client when they come in from a word of mouth referral Absolutely. Are you by yourself? Do you have a team?
Speaker 1:
What is so? I? I have a team. I just Just found my team about a about a month and a half ago, which is super exciting some I mean some growing right, and so I have a team of five along with myself and have three trainers in addition to me, I have another massage therapist and a yoga instructor. So, yeah, the six of us are getting it done.
Speaker 2:
I love that. And you're right down the street. Yes, King Street. Yes, we're next to.
Speaker 1:
I could have walked here. You're like dang it. I know, I know you know where the PNC Bank is on King Street. Yeah, I'm in that complex the Waverly Park.
Speaker 2:
Okay, okay, very cool. Yeah, yeah, a little bit of long walk, but you could.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, and it's cold.
Speaker 2:
Where do you see yourself in ten years?
Speaker 1:
Oh, ten years, that's a. That's a. That's a long time. Ten years I I would like to still be doing what I'm doing. Function of fitness with would will be. It will have grown Into potentially a second location. I would like that to happen. I would be definitely in a Business business owner role probably less, you know, hands-on as I am right now. I'm just more focused on on growing and reaching and helping more people. Yeah.
Speaker 2:
How about?
Speaker 1:
you as a human, oh, me as a human. Oh, 10 years, wow, oh, I like a few more stamps on my passport. I have beliefs on my radar, have a ruble on my radar. Yeah, you know, I really think in ten years I will be a lot of the same, just a little bit older, probably a little more gray hair. You know, well, traveled, that's if I'm not working. I would love to be traveling.
Speaker 2:
Have you been to any cool places so far? Went to Dubai oh.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, that was, and I picked the cooler time of the year, so it was amazing.
Speaker 2:
It was amazing.
Speaker 1:
Oh my gosh, I was sand surfing. Okay, I have that on on video, that you know. So, yeah, did the sand surfing? Rolled the camel, those like those are like the two things on my list that I absolutely had to do. Visited the Burj Khalifa, toured presidential palace in Abu Dhabi, which was breathtaking. I ate a lot of great food. What else did we do?
Speaker 2:
Um, how long were you there? 10 days. Okay, just planning my trip. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:
I mean there's so much to do. Did the Dubai Mall, which is like five football fields long? I mean got lost in the mall, couldn't figure out how to get out, like where's the taxi stand? Let's see, I'm trying to think what else did we do? Yeah, we did a lot. Oh, saw the fountain show that like dwarfs the Bellagio in Vegas. I thought Bellagio was great go to Dubai Okay. Everything is bigger and better. Yeah, yeah yeah, bigger and better. It was amazing. It was amazing for sure.
Speaker 2:
That's amazing yeah, in terms of legacy, what does that as a kid? Have you ever thought about that as an adult?
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I haven't really thought about that legacy. What I know is I come from a long line of entrepreneurs. I just learned that my grandmother's father was a store owner in East St Louis, missouri, and this had to be 1920s, early 1900s, you know. And so learning that gave me a great sense of pride. I don't own a store, but owning a business.
Speaker 1:
My mother was a state farm insurance agent and ran her own office, and so watching her own business and so watching her was my role model. Right, I wanna be like her, I wanna have my own. Never thought about insurance, but I knew that I wanted the flexibility of business ownership and I just had to figure out where my niche was right, what my passion was, and once I found that, I knew that I could make it work, and so I don't have children of my own to pass that along to. But certainly when people think of Shannon Cervé, I want them to think of function, of fitness, and the success that function of fitness has, and the impact on your team members and the impact on my team members.
Speaker 2:
Their families, yeah.
Speaker 1:
I don't think sometimes we realize, as business owners, how much we impact our community, our clients our team members, our family members, the impact our community, our clients, our team members, our everything. Yeah, yeah, that's true. That's true. Like I said, my team is new, so I'm still shifting my brain into thinking about the team.
Speaker 2:
It'll be a different role that you're stepping into now where you're not just managing your clients and your responsibilities. It's gonna be motivating your team, making sure everyone's happy answering questions, and you'll be slowly shifting from that to-.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah, I welcome the shift.
Speaker 2:
Yes, I'm sure you do as we all, yeah, yeah yeah, I welcome it for sure yeah, awesome, if you could leave one piece of advice to the world, what would that advice be?
Speaker 1:
Oh, my goodness, one piece of advice for the world, that's a lot. Follow your passion. Really discover your passion, I would say I think a lot of us don't take the time to really sit and search or even listen to what we like, what we want, what we're driven by and so yeah. So take that time to discover your passion and then follow that.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, how do you discover it?
Speaker 1:
I think for everybody's a little different, but for me just a lot of time to think about the things that I enjoy. What would I do just for fun, without payment, without any other incentive, but this is what I like to do, and so for me that's what it was Thinking about, those things that and for me it's helping people. Like I said, I've been an athlete my entire life. As a young kid I remember teaching some of my girlfriends how to play basketball, cause I wanted somebody to play with.
Speaker 2:
Like okay, that was the motive.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like okay, dribble the ball like this, and some of it was like their own interests, but I found that I was good at teaching people things how to move or how to do this and so as I got older and, like I said, found fitness, I realized that that was. I enjoyed that also, and I was really good at teaching people how to exercise.
Speaker 2:
I'll say you discovered that you were good at teaching.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so I just one with that. Like what else can I teach? Who knows?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, yeah. Do you have any other stories or thoughts or anything you wanna share?
Speaker 1:
Ooh, you know there's lots of stories, I think also, one of the things that really, I think, pushed me into this arena was also, also, one of my grandfathers had a stroke when I was 15. And so, again, the power of movement, the power of exercise and the power of the body to relearn things right, I was 15 and I remember it was summer and so I didn't have to go to school, but my grandmother had errands to run, Needed to go to the cleaners, run to the bank, get her hair done, those types of things. And so she says, shannon, can you come and sit with your grandfather for a few hours while I go do these things? And again, he had just had a stroke. He was still mobile, he could walk around, but he needed help eating or carrying a plate or just minor things around the house. And so I went.
Speaker 1:
We went to one of his occupational therapy appointments and they're teaching him how to button up his shirt, they're teaching him how to climb the stairs again. And I just remember watching his progression week after week, and I'm like this is amazing, like my mind was blown. I remember going to the hospital and he can't raise his hand, and then all of a sudden he's doing these things and I'm like these people are musicians, like magicians, like how do they do this Right? And then again, like that was like kind of the entryway to me, recognizing how powerful our bodies are If we can create a rhythm, create some consistency in our movement, our bodies will learn how to take care of us again, and so like.
Speaker 1:
After that I was like hmm, what kind of job do you have to have to do this? What kind of knowledge do I need? And so I think that really sparked my interest in, like I said, anatomy, physiology, physical therapy, occupational therapy, all of those things. And I remember those things. Like I have clients that come in now that have had back surgeries, have had hip replacements, knee replacements, and so they're kind of in that same state of learning to walk again, learning to move again, and just the joy I have in seeing their progress from day one to six weeks later, to eight weeks later and beyond, and the reports of oh, I was able to do this. That I haven't done in months and I'm like that's why we're here.
Speaker 2:
He's sharing these stories with me. It fills my cup.
Speaker 1:
Exactly, exactly. It's like what else did you do? Yeah, so, like I said, those are just like some of the little things that keep me going, keep me up in the morning to start the day and help some more people.
Speaker 2:
Isn't it crazy how a lot of the things we do as adults stemmed from when we were a kid? Yeah Right.
Speaker 1:
Or a young adult.
Speaker 2:
Something that happened, experience. We went through that just motivates us.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely yeah.
Speaker 2:
Very cool. Anything else you'd like to share? I feel like you've got more stories. I don't want to look, I've got a ton.
Speaker 1:
I've got a ton. No, it's just like I said. It is like when you're working with people and in a capacity where you're helping them to improve. And again, for me it's not just about fitness. Can you run a mile in some amazing time? Great, wonderful. But how well do you move through life? How would like, can you play with your kids? Can you get on the floor and play blocks and stand up again? Those are the things to me that are most important.
Speaker 1:
I've aged out of the beach bodies and, oh, I just wanna look good for this or that, and, if I'm honest, I never saw those goals as true goals. You know, like meaningful, right, I moved out of general fitness for that reason. That didn't motivate me. You know the people that are like, oh, I got vacation coming up, I need to lose 25 pounds. You know I'm like, okay, so stop eating crap, like you don't need me for this. Like you know, eat better, right. But you know, when you're in a gym, you gotta do the things right.
Speaker 1:
And so I realized that I really found more motivation in helping those people that, you know, just wanted to get out of bed without pain. You know, just wanted to go down the stairs without their knees hurting, because to me those things lead to the other things, you know. They lead to being able to play pickleball, they lead to be able to play in golf again or tennis, or you know swim. You know tin laps again. You know like, whatever your true joy, you know the activities that truly bring you joy, like they start from getting out of pain and not seeing that pain as a limitation and so, yeah, so anything I can do there, like I said, I thrive, you know, with those challenges. Like I have a client right now. She's had brain surgery. She had a tumor in her brain. She's had brain surgery. She's had back surgeries just recently a nerve ablation in her lower back. She's had a knee replacement on her left knee. I think her right knee now is needing a knee replacement, but right now she's pain-free, you know.
Speaker 1:
She needs a her doctor's told her she needs a knee replacement, but she's like I have no pain in my knee. What are they talking about?
Speaker 2:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
You know and her doctor's like well, keep doing what you're doing.
Speaker 2:
We can put this off. So now you're the magician is what I'm here for.
Speaker 1:
You know, but she does the work, you know, she does the work. It's a, you know, 50-50 relationship. You know, yes, I have to show up and guide, but she has to show up and do the work. And so when that happens, yeah, like you, you-.
Speaker 2:
Magic can happen.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, magic can happen.
Speaker 2:
Thank you so much for being on the show and sharing your knowledge and experience and a little bit of the nutshell version of your story.
Speaker 1:
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Yeah, that story could go on forever, but, you know, try to condense it.
