Inclusive functional fitness and training
Transcript
Marsh Naidoo (00:10): Welcome to the Raising Kellan Podcast. My name is Marsh Naidoo and I blog at raisingkellan.org where we curate resources for parents raising children with developmental delay and or disabilities. As always, remember, the information provided on this podcast is purely educational, and if you are seeking advice for your specific situation, be sure to contact a trained professional. In today's episode number 67, we chat with Sergio Calderon. So grab your cup of coffee and get ready for some awesome conversation as we jump into our sizzling summer series.
Marsh Naidoo (01:07): Sergio Calderon welcomed the Raising Killen Podcast. We are so pleased that you are here with us this morning. Sergio is actually originally from Filmore in Southern California and has since moved to Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He is the founder of Valiant Fitness and he provides an all-inclusive functional training program for individuals of all abilities. Welcome Sergio!
Sergio Calderon (01:41): Thank you so much, Marsh. It's definitely a pleasure and I definitely wanna thank you for having me on here. It's another avenue where I get to express a little bit more what I think is missing in the community and can be beneficial for everybody. So I definitely wanna thank you.
Marsh Naidoo (01:59): Tell me about Valiant Fitness, the idea about behind Valiant Fitness and how all of this got started.
Sergio Calderon (02:08): Absolutely! So I'll kind of give you a little background information about it and I won't get too far into detail as far as, cuz it's not really needed. But there was a point when I was trying to follow, I guess similar steps as you in the PT world and during the time of my studies I ended up having or being part of an accident that caused a traumatic brain injury to happen. So going through the process of trying to fight for my life, both physically and mentally, I had to almost experience some of the things that maybe is seen within the community, whether it's the inability to talk, the inability to walk, the inability to be able to coordinate certain things, movements all these sorts of things I got to experience. And when I was finally able to surpass that and able to try to get back to living my life normally once I had to relearn a lot of these things, I had a different, I guess, outlook in life and it wasn't so much in the PT world, I just knew that I wanted to help out and it was just trying to figure out which way I could go about it.
(03:30): So I just so happened to be, as I'm trying to figure out anybody else, trying to figure out what you wanna do in life and how you wanna give back and be passionate about doing something, I got introduced to a very similar idea that I'm doing now in which it was providing a fitness program for the special needs community and at that time it was still very small and I was able to participate and be in it for a very long time. We're talking about good five years that I was into it. And during that time is when I was able to grow, not just as a person, as a coach, but I really got to see the impact of what even a session, two sessions can do for someone that is looking for an outlet but doesn't know or maybe hasn't been provided an outlet that they could actually use to help better themselves.
(04:32): And eventually, and it just so happened to be when Covid hit in California, a lot of things got shut down. So I kind of had to step back and say, okay do I take the leap now and work forward towards the thing that I always wanted to do? And I said, You know what? I think this is, there's no other better chance. So I did it and then for the last two years I've had the Valiant Fitness that was created, although this is running in California, the idea is to replicate the same thing that I have there and bring it here to Tennessee.
Marsh Naidoo (05:13): So how would you frame what you are doing? What is the foundation of it? Are you doing personal coaching?
Sergio Calderon (05:21): The way that my program runs, so people have the choice to either do private sessions and this can be different in duration. So whether this is 30 minutes, 50 minutes, a lot of time it really goes off of what their abilities are. So normally there's kind of like a process that happens and normally I offer a free session in which I get to see where they're at and then suggest what I think depending on goals that they may have, what I think is gonna be the better way to try to attain some of these goals. And then if for some reason if there's a group of people that want to do this all together, we offer that as well. So the private sessions can either be done at your home, at a park, at a facility if you have access to one. And this is kind of the same thing for the group classes as well. So the two different ways that I try to cater for the needs.
Marsh Naidoo (06:25): So this fitness-based program, who are the key intel that you mostly work with? Is it anyone within the disability community? Is there a certain niche group of folks that you work with or how does that work?
Sergio Calderon (06:41): Yeah, so there's no specific I, I'd like to say that I see everyone we're talking about if it's not ASD, Down syndrome. Genetic disorders cerebral palsy, if we're talking a little bit more on the mental side, we're talking about schizophrenia and I've had the pleasure and truly grateful to be able to have a pretty good amount of experience working with everyone. And we're talking about as young as three years old to as 50. So it's a pretty big range. So I don't ever want to, And the idea even when I created it was to never have it be limited to your diagnosis or your age. So I really try to see everyone that I can and it's not meant specifically for just one diagnosis. I think everyone should be or at least have access to something like what I'm trying to provide.
Marsh Naidoo (07:40): What's the reason behind the move from California to Tennessee? That's a <laugh> pretty big leap.
Sergio Calderon (07:47): It was kind of one of those things that we had this idea many years ago, this is before we had kids, we actually did a family trip that we came out here and we visited and we didn't get to spend a lot of time, but what we did see was what attracted us. And then it just so happened to be obviously when you have kids things kind of change, your priorities change now it's not so much about you and your wants, it's like okay, what do I have to do to be able to provide the best for my kids? So that was kind of the thing. But when Covid was hitting, there was a lot of things being shut down and almost taken away in a sense, maybe it was a combination of things that weren't sitting right on the way things were being handled and we wanted to, although this was being pushed a little later, but the idea, especially when my wife as she was pregnant, we didn't want to have that be an added stress because the moving is one thing, the packing and doing all the other things were another.
(08:52): And I am very, very grateful that she was able to really help because she did the majority of the moving I physically the moving, she did the packing and it was a pretty big move cuz it happened so quickly I think mean this idea was to have it be this year around Thanksgiving time that we would push for it. But we did it last year during this time or the November time and I think within, gosh, it felt like it was a couple weeks. I mean we packed everything and we were out and then we got out here in December, started off in Franklin just to get an idea of where we wanted to live and then stumbled across the house that we love so much here in Murfreesboro and that's kind of where it's at now.
Marsh Naidoo (09:47): So what are some of the spots that you are working currently in Tennessee? How can parents, or young adults reach out to you? Where are you offering your services at Present?
Sergio Calderon (10:02): Awesome. Yeah, so because I don't have a set location at the moment, although I've been speaking with Steven from, We Rock the Spectrum. So the plan is also to use his space that he has available for me to use on Mondays and Wednesdays and I posted a couple of these things on the social media for people to be able to see. So on Mondays and Wednesdays at least starting in April, I'm gonna be offering from two to three and I'm gonna be offering a class it's gonna be for 30 minutes, so two to two 30 to three where people can come to an actual location. If not, I'm being more of a mobile service. So I will go to you as long as it makes sense as far as the driving distance. But I'm trying to just service as many people as I can. Middle Tennessee I guess is where I'm kind of leaning to cuz Middle Tennessee covers a lot of areas, so at least for now, but I'm not against traveling further if that means I can provide you or your community in these other areas outside of Middle Tennessee the same thing as well.
Marsh Naidoo (11:19): So typically and I know this would vary according to the individual that you were seeing, but what would a session consist of just to give us an idea?
Sergio Calderon (11:38): Okay, yeah, yeah. So I'll break it down to the simplest way and the simplest way that I even teach my students. So I break it down into three things and I normally have a whiteboard so people can get a visual of seeing that there's a start and there's an end because as anybody else, when you get involved in something, you definitely wanna know what you're gonna get yourself into, what you are possibly gonna be doing. So what I do, and you can kind of picture this in your mind, so on a whiteboard I'll have three things written up that will never change these three things. I can pretty much put it in with a sharpie. But you're gonna always gonna have a warmup in where I am going to prep your body for it to get warmed up, get fluids in the right areas are gonna be worked on, and try to prep it for what you're either gonna do as a skill or something to gain some strength in.
(12:36): So of course as you mentioned, all these things are more individually based, but nonetheless what's written under can apply to anybody. It just becomes, if everybody's not on the same ability wise, then I have the ability to scale these things. And I always have this in the back of my mind because just because it works for one doesn't mean that it's gonna work for everyone. So I always have a backup planning case, whatever I have written up does not really fit the capabilities of these individuals to be able to do. And then the last portion is what we call a WAD which stands for the work out of the day. And that is where I'm going to challenge you. Whether that's by different types of contractions, muscle contractions, different challenge you in different planes of movements and kind of challenge you cardiovascularly to see if you can maintain moving at a pretty decent pace while I'm still challenging you, whether again, it's what we were working on to gain better skill or to get better strength.
Marsh Naidoo (13:41): Sounds good, thank you! That parent listening out day, what would you say to them?
Sergio Calderon (13:50): My biggest thing for parents, parents is to not look at the limitations that are placed on them. To have an open mind that those limitations are only placed on them by those that do it. Your child has a capability doing so much more than what even the diagnosis limits you in being able to do. And I guess in what I see when I get to work with some of these students is that I get to show them what I do as far as movements and I kind of get to expose your child to what should be fairly normal if there's not a lot of missing pieces within moving your body and you get to see a little glance of the possibilities that if you have the right support system, a lot of these things can be so achievable, but it's not unless you try it that you will never really find out what your child is truly capable of doing.
Marsh Naidoo (14:59): Just so just giving them that exposure and opportunity to try an activity. And I know that perhaps as our kids reach those teenagers, motivation may not necessarily come from mama.
Sergio Calderon (15:14): Oh absolutely,
Marsh Naidoo (15:16): Yeah.
Sergio Calderon (15:16): Yeah. And it's like I, when we hit that teenage years, even your wants and needs are very different, but it doesn't change the same outcome that if you are provided the right support system, the things that are so achievable is it's almost limitless. But again, the only thing that's gonna hold you back is whatever you have been placed on as far as limitations or been told that you're not gonna be able to do something because of your abilities where you were seen that it's not until you get to really work on those things that you can almost prove the people that thought that you could only be capable of doing certain things kind of wrong. And that's kind of where I like to I feel so grateful and be able to do that because if I could just be the one person in so many different areas that I can change even the, I guess your inner self and your thoughts behind what you can truly be capable of.
(16:29): Again, if you provide you and I, if we were be provided the right support system to be able to do something, of course you're gonna be able to do it. It's kind of like a no-brainer, but sometimes it's so overlooked because if you're not involved in exercise or you don't really feel like it's a priority, then it's gonna be very hard even for me to speak to you where you're gonna have an open mind about it, you might just shut off and say, No, this isn't gonna be for my kid because I know what they're capable of. But again, if you don't never tried it, you've never had the right support system, it probably will always feel that way that you're gonna probably feel like, yeah, I tried it but it didn't really work out. And that's kind of where I try to just fill in the gap and be a guide in a sense for these kids and kind of lead them in a position where they can do so much more than what they think.
Marsh Naidoo (17:27): And how can folks reach you and where can they follow you at?
Sergio Calderon (17:33): Absolutely! So on the social media part, whether it's on Instagram, although the name is a little different, only the last portion, but I have Valiant Fitness, S C V, so whether that's on Instagram or on Facebook that's originally the name that I'd given it when I first started off in California. But Valiant Fitness is the name of the company. And then S C V just happens to follow the, on both of those social medias. And if you want, you can also visit www.valiantfitness.com.
Marsh Naidoo (18:12): So you're wishing you the best of luck moving forward and
Sergio Calderon (18:15): Oh, I appreciate it. Absolutely. Thank you so much and thank you for giving me the opportunity to be able to expose a little bit more about my plans to provide something very, very different and new here in the community in Tennessee. So thank you so much, Marsh.
Marsh Naidoo (18:33): Well you have an amazing day. Okay, Thank you sir.
Sergio Calderon (18:36): Thank you. You as well. Bye. Take care now. Righty. Bye bye.
Marsh Naidoo (18:42): Sergio, thank you so much for joining us today. And guys, be sure to leave a rate and review of this podcast recording on your podcast platform, whether that's Apple or Spotify, it is truly appreciated. If you would like to listen along to YouTube, you could also hop along to the Raising Kellan YouTube channel. As always, get to the top of your mountain and we shall see you guys the next time. This is Marsh Naidoo signing off.