About [F.I.C.]
Our Mission
Fitness in Context is a fitness duo that believes fitness and access to information about fitness should be available to everybody.
To those who are new to exercise, and those typically left out of fitness spaces (women, LBGTQIA+, people who aren’t interested in being a fitness model or elite athlete), we extend an intentional and warm welcome and hope you find something here that feels accessible and supports you in feeling your strongest. Whether you’re curious and don’t know where to start, or you’ve been active and interested in fitness and exercise for years, we want to help you find new connections with your body and increase your capacity for strength and resilience.
We’ll be sharing our own unfiltered experiences with health and fitness. We’re not Olympians or fitness models—we’re two regular people who have found strength training to be medicine for our emotional, mental, and physical health. We’ve made moves across the country (and the world), endured heartache and job loss, live with chronic illness, work day jobs, and pay bills. Our training and guidance are offered through the context of ‘real life’. For us, the workout supports daily living and is a training ground for the demands of being human–not the other way around.

Meet the Coaches

Tracy
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ISSA Certified Personal Trainer
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Content Creator and Manager by day
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Passionate hiker (but not a fan of running)
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Resides in Barcelona, Spain since 2011
The Details
How long have you been interested in health and fitness?
I’ve always been into sports. The street I grew up on had lots of families and all the neighbor kids would gather to play street hockey regularly. My parents signed me up for sports when I was young. I started with soccer in 3rd grade and quickly realized I didn’t like all the running. I got into basketball and volleyball after that and continued throughout high school. I also ran track (to avoid running, I became a pole vaulter…yes there’s a theme here). My family joined a gym when I was a teenager and I loved going and trying the different machines.
I stayed active in one way or another throughout the years, but around my mid-30s I started learning more about health and fitness and decided I wanted to get stronger. I signed up for a Spartan race with a friend and we began training together. I loved it. I’ve been adding to my home gym for years, starting with just a couple of dumbbells and a yoga mat.
I am someone who values information and knowledge and had already been gathering from whatever I could get my hands (eyes) on—articles, YouTube, social media accounts…etc. and in December decided to get my certification so I could have even more information and knowledge. It’s an interest/hobby turned lifestyle for me.
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How did you get started?
I’ve always been curious about, and interested in, fitness. I’ve tried new fads like yoga and HIIT workouts. I’ve tried running…and confirmed I don’t love it. But realized I loved feeling strong and looking strong. So I started using more and more weights—adding heavier plates, more dumbbells, kettlebells, and eventually barbells to my gym.
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How did you keep it going (sustain)?
I think it’s really hard to make something a habit that you don’t enjoy. So I think it’s the same with exercise and fitness. Everyone is different and what you enjoy might not work for another person. I know that cardio just isn’t my thing. Especially running. I could never sustain a running habit. But I love lifting weights and feeling stronger, so that’s what I do. And now that I’m so used to using my home gym, it’s something I plan my day around. A couple of months ago I injured my back. But I was still going into my gym almost daily and using the space to stretch. I had built this habit and it was easy to keep it going, even though I was unable to work out.
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What motivates you?
It depends really. I would say I’m motivated by getting stronger, but on days when I don’t feel it, it’s more about consistency than motivation. I’m also very motivated by the outdoors. We recently had some rainy days here (which is pretty abnormal for where I live) and I didn’t get out for a hike one of the days and it was tough. I think hiking around the mountains where I live gives me some sort of energy. I feel inspired and motivated when I’m on a hike!
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What do you crave the most (food)?
ALL OF IT! I love food. Every day my husband and I talk about what we want to make for dinner and it always has to be something exciting and fun. We both love to cook and dream up dishes and we have favorites that we make regularly too. My go-to comfort food is spaghetti bolognese. It makes my heart warm.
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What do you do with your free time?
Workout haha. No, but really, I love to take hikes around where I live with my dog, Xispa. I like to travel to see new places and go back to regular spots. I also like to watch trashy reality TV.
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Who is your fitness inspiration?
I followed fitness influencers and built workout plans based on what I saw on Instagram and YouTube. But because I was living out in the country, with little to no access to a gym or trainer, I wanted more. I wasn’t sure if what I was doing was correct, if I had good form, if I was planning my workouts well or if I was working out too much (Covid had that effect on me).
I looked up to Seamus for their knowledge and expertise in all things body. They studied to be a personal trainer and a massage therapist so I asked if we could meet so I could pick their brain. And it really helped me to understand more about what I was learning and what to lean into so I could learn more. Part of the reason I decided to get my PT certification is because of Seamus and their influence.
Seamus
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Licensed Massage Therapist and ACE Certified Personal Trainer (since 2018)
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ISSA Certified Tactical Conditioning Specialist (2024)
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BA in Religious Studies (believes in the Lorenz attractor)
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Lives with scoliosis (since forever) and type 1 diabetes (2007)
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Is not always this serious, they swear! 😅

The Details
How long have you been interested in health and fitness?
I've been interested in health and fitness since about February 2007. The decision to start exercising was quite literally a matter of life and death. I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in late January 2007. Up to that point I had no interest in exercise (outside of marching band in high school) and had no idea about what I put in my body or how it affected me. I had never needed to. I was 20 years old at the time and was really excited about being out of my parents' house, which is to say, I was really excited about being able to do whatever I wanted and eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. When I was diagnosed with type 1, it stopped that energy dead in its tracks. Quite frankly, it was an initiation of sorts. I fell into a deep depression thinking about my death and the impermanence of my body for the first time in my life. I read horror stories about people losing limbs from diabetes, losing their eyesight, being on dialysis, having their bodies deteriorate. I decided that was not going to be me. While my penchant for the dramatic has cooled (a bit), the diabetes is still one of my most powerful sources of motivation for keeping my body moving and my muscle mass high.
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How did you get started?
My first run ever was down the driveway and back. That was my first work out. I started there and gradually ran farther and farther until I could run 2 miles. And then for years, I would run 2 miles a few times a week. I eventually went to the university gym and started haphazardly working out on weight machines.
This kind of casual relationship continued until 2009 when I went through really bad break up. At that time my running went from 2 miles a few times a week to 3 miles five days a week. I was running out all of my grief and processing some really serious emotions. It was at that time that I signed up for my first mud run. It was a smaller local mud run not anything big like a spartan race. It was mostly a reason to drink beer and eat giant turkey legs and wear one of those plush Viking horned hats, but I did it and I trained for it and did a lot of CrossFit-type workouts during that time. This officially began my CrossFit era as well as my trail running era. I'm still in my trail running era, although I'm much more casual about it now than I was between 2010 - 2022.
I've always needed to work out on a budget so I have never invested a lot of money in gym memberships. I've signed up for Planet Fitness and I had financial assistance through the YMCA for a membership there. Mostly I put a little bit of money into workout app subscriptions and some paid workout plans. I did a lot of research on how to develop strength and athleticism with bodyweight training and calisthenics. That's where I currently am. I do miss deadlifts, but I have some bridge variations that are giving me a run for my money currently.
So yeah, it's been about 16 or 17 years at this point. I've done a lot of different things and followed a lot of different programs. I'm currently a massage therapist a personal trainer and a general anatomy nerd. I really love helping people find their way to a fitness regimen that works for them, that fits into their lifestyle and that is in their budget. There's a lot of flashy equipment and programs and methods in the fitness industry and what I found to be most helpful is just to keep it simple, find something that you can do consistently, and make it a joy. That does not always mean that it's enjoyable – I certainly have not always enjoyed it – but I get a real sense of accomplishment out of progressing a push-up or a pull-up or out of showing up for myself on a bad day and and doing one thing for myself, even if that's just 15 minutes of exercise.
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How did you keep it going (sustain)?
I kept it going by keeping myself up to date on new things that interest me, researching things I don’t agree with (ha!) and switching up my training modality from time to time. Last summer I joined a dragon boating team,which is great cardio, and is also a great way to make friends. But sometimes I'll do fun and kind of wild things, like in the summer of 2021 I decided that I would run the distance between my house and my partner's house which, at the time, was about 14 miles. I had never run longer than 6 miles and didn't really think that I could do any kind of long-distance, but I found a good plan and I followed it and in November 2021 I ran over 14 miles. It took me a little over three hours, so no records were set or broken but I had a great time doing it, and I learned something about myself, and I would totally do something like that again.
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What motivates you?
I enjoy having an easier time managing my blood glucose. Exercise really helps with that. It also helps me with my mental health – so keeping a good relationship with both of those things. Those benefits keep me motivated and help me with my discipline when I don't feel motivated. I also really enjoy feeling strong and I enjoy feeling the kind of tired that you feel when you've worked hard to accomplish something. I feel that way at the end of my workday, and I almost always feel that way at the end of my workout. And it keeps me coming back.
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What do you crave the most (food)?
First of all, I love this question! Secondly, it's really hard to pin down one food that I crave the most. I love to eat, and bake, bread. I was baking sourdough before the pandemic made it cool. I also really enjoy a burger and fries. while I enjoy lots of fancy food, when I find myself craving something it's almost always some kind of pub food. It's some kind of fried thing or it's a burger or it’s, strangely, a cup of coffee. Is coffee a food? I don't know if it counts, but coffee might be the biggest reason I get up in the morning.
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What do you do with your free time?
Right now, my free time is spent reading (I try to have one nonfiction and one fiction going at all times. Sometimes, it’s two nonfiction books), renovating my pop-up camper, and building an outdoor shower from an old chicken coop. I also really enjoy hiking camping and generally being outside. I love music – listening to it, singing, and playing on my guitar. I'm always trying to learn new things and so I'm also usually taking some course or wandering around YouTube.
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Who is your fitness inspiration?
I follow GMB Fitness, The Red Delta Project, and Reasonably Fit (Jason and Laura Pak) religiously. I have learned almost everything I know about building muscle with calisthenics from RDP (not to mention his DIY and low-cost equipment ideas) and I lean heavily on GMB's methods for my rehab/massage clients. Reasonably Fit has solid, approachable training advice and helps me reset my sensibility barometer about what it means to be "fit". What I appreciate about all three of them is their consistent study and learning, their willingness to teach, and their skill at breaking complex fitness concepts and trends down into digestible, applicable bits for the rest of us.