FXBG Neighbors Podcast
Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast
FXBG Neighbors Podcast
EP #96 The Hard Truth About Health: Work Beats Quick Fixes
A farm, a gym, and a fierce commitment to real change—this conversation with coach and Marine veteran Kimberly Lanford of Let’s Flex It is a testament to what happens when grit meets community. Kimberly shares how surviving a violent assault at 19 lit a lifelong passion for strength and coaching, and how that journey carried her from Southern California to the Marine Corps to a nine-acre fitness oasis off Route 610 in Stafford. No fluff, no fads—just smart training, behavior-focused nutrition, and a welcoming space where people from 18 to 84 show up, move, and keep moving.
We dig into what makes the Flex Farm different: group and private strength and conditioning, habit-centered nutrition coaching, and Spartan’s DEKA functional fitness events that bring 50 to 200 athletes together to celebrate movement. Kimberly is blunt about the myths: quick fixes and magic pills don’t build lasting health. Instead, she focuses on education, small steps that stick, and programming that adapts to your phase of life, schedule, and injuries. Her Marine discipline comes through without intimidation; this is a safe, friendly place to sweat, connect, and grow.
Kimberly also opens up about entrepreneurship on a budget—running the gym on a generator, insulating walls by hand, and learning every unglamorous skill required to build a dream. She shares three big lessons for founders: be willing to get dirty, give yourself grace when things break, and build connections that carry you through doubt. That community focus powers everything, from repeat DEKA competitors to a soon-to-open Flex Lounge where members can linger and belong. Want to join the movement? Look for the big Flex Farm sign off 610, find letsflexit underscore coach Kimmy on Instagram and Facebook, or reach out at letsflexit@gmail.com.
If this story fires you up, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs a push, and leave a review to help more neighbors find local voices like Kimberly’s.
Kimberly Lanford
Let's Flex It
Letsflexit@gmail.com
+1 540-654-6474
This is the Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Dori Stewart.
Speaker 1:Welcome back to another episode of the FXBG Neighbors Podcast, where we share the stories of our favorite local brands. I have a special guest joining me today. We have Kimberly Lanford joining us, and she is with Let's Flex It. Kimberly, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 2:Hi, thank you very much.
Speaker 1:I'm excited to learn about you and learn about your business. So let's start there. What is Let's Flex It all about?
Speaker 2:Okay, so uh Let's Flex It is a gym. All right, it is located on the Flex Farm, which is off the 610 in Stafford. Um, I am a strength and conditioning coach, so and a nutritional coach, so I offer uh group training. I also offer uh private training as well, then I offer nutritional coaching, um specifically more towards the behavioral change piece. Um I am also a DECA affiliate. DECA is a um 10 fitness events, functional fitness events that we do as fast as possible. Um, it's ran by Spartan, and so here at the Flex Farm, I host at least four fitness events a year where people all over the community um and all over in multiple states come and we celebrate fitness here on the farm. So I also sell fresh eggs too. We do a whole bunch of stuff here.
Speaker 1:Amaz you do a lot. You are you are busy. That's a wide range of services. I love it, I love it. So tell me, I'd love to learn more about your background and how all of this came to be.
Speaker 2:Oh, um, okay, so I've been doing this now for almost three decades. So wow, I don't know um how much of the journey you need to know, but uh it actually started when I was 19 years old. So um when I was 19, um I went through a horrific assault um with my boyfriend at the time. And after the aftermath of that day, um I turned to the gym, and the gym actually changed me. I got a trainer, um, I became very healthy at the age of 19, um, and I was like, man, I love this stuff, and so it just kind of stuck since then because fitness became my outlet, and I then I have such a huge amount of energy that I was like, I gotta pass this on. I gotta help people. Um, and so after that, I became a certified personal trainer, I became a cake boxing coach. This is all in Southern California, where I am from, um, and then it turned into I joined the Marine Corps, and after I joined the Marine Corps, um, I missed fitness so much. I got my master's degree in the Marine Corps, uh, which aided me into then working for multiple gyms after I got out, and then uh I started Let's Flex It in 29 Palms, California in 2018. We moved here, I came here kicking and screaming. Okay, I'm sorry, Southern California was great. Um, I came here in 2019 and I had to put the gym to sleep, like you know, because I didn't know anybody, I was new to the area. Um, I became the fitness director of one life after COVID. Everything changed, and I reopened up the gym, and I was like, let's grow it, and I became a DEFTA affiliate, and we bought nine acres on the 610 to build the dream. So, what you're looking at is the dream, and that's kind of how I came to be uh living here on a farm running a gym.
Speaker 1:Wow, what a cool story! I love it. Congratulations on all your success.
Speaker 2:Um, where I'm standing physically was all grass a year ago. So um, it's been a really fast-paced, moving, improvement type of year.
Speaker 1:Wow. I'm so impressed by all you've accomplished. Congratulations. Thank you. Very cool. Okay, so you came to Fredericksburg kicking and screaming. How do you like it now?
Speaker 2:Um, I love it, I absolutely love it. Uh, I am a blossom where you're playing, the type of girl. Um, and I don't ever want to leave. I love where we live. Um, I really love the community that that's flexible has become. Um, and I love the people. I also love all four seasons, so you don't get that in Southern California. Um, I love having the fall, the snow, the spring, and even the hot summer, you know, just gives us another reason to sweat.
Speaker 1:Right, right. I love that. Great outlook. So let me ask you this: do you find that there are any myths or misconceptions about the industry or maybe specifically about your business?
Speaker 2:Um well, specifically the industry, um, there's no quick fix. There's no quick fix to living a healthy lifestyle. Um, no matter who you are, what you're doing, all right, you have to put in the work, you have to get the education, um, and you have to find what fits you in your current phase of life. Because we do go through phases in life. And so, I mean, I've been doing this a long time. I've met a lot of people, I've helped a lot of people, and there's one thing that's never changed is if there's no quick fix, um, there's no magic pill to getting fit and lean, um, you know, even if it's Mongero or trizepatite or any of those new ones that are coming out, um, or if it's intermittent fasting, the carnivore diet, keto, name it, all of those are quick fixes. Um, you know, and they may work, but they're not the permanent solution. I'm all about the permanent solution, which is let's let's hunker down, let's you know, find out how we can start living a healthier lifestyle one step at a time.
Speaker 1:I love that. I love that. It's so important, and it it is a transformation inside and out, and you're proof of that. You figured that out uh very young. So I love I love what you're doing. Who do you think is your um ideal um client or customer?
Speaker 2:Someone that's willing to put in the work. So um, like it doesn't matter who you are. I here at Let's Flex It with we have my oldest client is 84 years old, my youngest is and both of them, but specifically my 84-year-old, she reminds me that as long as you're willing to put in the work, you know, and be okay with facing the hard times. Because exercise is hard, changing healthy, changing to healthier habits is hard, putting down the fork when you know you want to keep eating because you're emotional, that's hard to do. Um, but at the bottom of my saying is every day is a new day to change. I practice that every single day. Every single day I wake up wanting to be a better coach, um, because they're like, I want the people that want to work. If you want to see results, I got you. Because we're gonna get there no matter what your obstacle is, hurdle, things of that nature.
Speaker 1:I love that. I love that. So you're not afraid to do hard things, and starting a business is a hard thing. So if someone came to you and they were thinking about starting a business, what advice would you give them?
Speaker 2:I'd probably give them three things. Okay. All right, so one, you have to be willing to put in the work, and you have to be able to get dirty. Okay, what I mean by that is I have two degrees in exercise finance. I'm a PhD candidate, all in health and promotion, and I eat, sleep, and breathe, the coaching lifestyle. However, that doesn't teach me how to get insulation on these walls, how to, I mean, this gym was ran off a generator. Okay, I didn't get electricity until three months ago because I'm building a train on a budget. Okay, I'm on a budget here. Okay, I have three kids, we live on a farm, we do lots of stuff, you know what I mean? Um, so you gotta get dirty. Like I have on the floor scrubbing, you know, what if I'm talking about really get dirty, you gotta be okay with that. Um, because you never know what you're gonna learn as an entrepreneur because things aren't set, you are building it, and so as you build, you will learn um and grow. So that's number one. Number two would be to give yourself grace, all right. Um, it's hard, and what I mean by that is you work so hard, you put so much passion into something, and then it may fall apart and it doesn't work, okay. Or critics, people, you know, people just love to either criticize or not job, whatever it is. Okay, you got to just give yourself grace, you know, and focus on what you're doing and focus on building the connection with your people, all right, because that is like the next piece, which was the number three, which is build connections. Um, I struggle with that the most, which I don't build enough connections with people in the community. Um, I build connections great with my clients, but the more connections you build, you never know who's out there that's gonna support you or help you. Um, just like we're doing today, you know, um, building connections is key.
Speaker 1:I love that. Such great advice. And you're so right about being willing to get down and dirty. It is rough in the beginning.
Speaker 2:Well, there are some things that I have done to make this tune happen. Um I did not see, I was like, this has nothing to do with lifting weights. No, it's right. Like this is gonna get people here, okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yep, yeah. Thank you for sharing that. So, what is something that you wish the listeners knew about Let's Flex It?
Speaker 2:Let's flex It is a community, um, and that has been uh the biggest piece for me. In if you talked to me six months ago, I was the entrepreneur that was like, you know, is this worth it? Why am I, you know, putting all this time? Because we literally have built an indoor and outdoor fitness facility from scratch on a budget, um, in this weather. Weather has everything to do with it, and I wanted to quit. I didn't, I was like, you know, is this is this worth it? Um, and what has absolutely saved me every single time is the community here. We have all walks of life that come into this place, all fitness levels, people that are you know wanting to get ripped, people that are just wanting to absolutely just be healthier, um, people that want to move. My expertise is with people with injuries. So um, you know, people, a body in motion stays in motion. I say that all the time. I have it on a sticker. Um, the fitness events, I mean, you have anywhere between 50 to 200 people that come to an event, and this past year I've seen the same people come, like about a good handful of them, and that tells me it's a community. They're like, I can't wait for your next one. When is your next one coming? Um, and we're building a flex lounge so people can hang out just a little bit more, um, you know, and just feel comfortable here. Like it's not, yes, it's a gym, yes, we do a lot of work. Um, yes, I'm a United States Marine, but I'm not I'm not like intense and crazy, no, not at all. Like it this is a safe space to be, a great place to get healthy and have like established friends there.
Speaker 1:That's beautiful. I love it. So if the listeners want to learn more about what you do, if they want to connect you, where can they find you?
Speaker 2:So that's I don't have a website yet. Okay, so I'm like I've been too busy building the gym. Um, but people don't really find me through social media. Uh when you pass the 610, you literally can't miss it. It's a big sign. Um, but uh Let's Flex It underscore coach Kimmy. That is who I am on Instagram, Facebook. You can find me. Uh you can find me at LinkedIn. Um, you know, like I'm also a precision nutrition coach. You can find me under there. Uh let's flexit at gmail.com. That's another one. Um, just find the name Let's Flex It and you'll you'll find a route to me.
Speaker 1:Amazing, amazing. Kimberly, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast today and sharing Let's Flex It with us.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Thank you so much. This has been an amazing gift for me to be able to do this, and it's wonderful meeting you.
Speaker:Thank you. Thank you for listening to the Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to FXBG Neighbors Podcast.com.