The Journy to Full-time Personal Trainer with Jenny Lam

We recently sat down with with Jenny Lam, aka @soulmatefit on Instagram. We had a wonderful conversation about life and fitness, and how Jenny became a successful full-time personal trainer. Jenny caught our eye on social media because of her wholesome, inspirational, and educational content.

Jenny is a certified personal trainer and nutritional coach based in Toronto. She has been a coach for over 7 year now and believes her mission is to help her clients become the healthiest versions of themselves so that they can live their best life. As we dove into the journey that led Jenny down this path, she shared how she used to be waitress and led, what she would described as, an unhealthy lifestyle. “I used to get sick all the time. I had a nagging cough that never went away. Can you imagine having a nagging cough right now during COVID? It was totally unacceptable.” Jenny decided to go see a doctor who prescribed an inhaler. She shared how the moment she held the inhaler she had a realization that this could not be how she lived the rest of life. “I didn’t want to be this person who would be carrying an inhaler for the rest of her life.”

At 28 years old, Jenny decided it was time she began taking care of herself. “It started with signing up for a gym membership and just staying consistent with going to the gym. I fell in love with it. I loved how I felt after going to the gym.” Jenny described how this led to her improving her nutritional habits, which led to better sleep, and over time she simply started feeling better.

At this point in her life Jenny was still waitressing but also knew she didn’t want to be one forever. It wasn’t until she feel in love with fitness that she felt inspired enough to leave that role and pursue personal training. “At that time I didn’t know any successful personal trainers. The only people I knew were those who worked at Goodlife. Then one day, I met a successful personal trainer and he began coaching me, and that’s how it all started for me.”

We went on to speak to Jenny about her passion for training. She shared how her favorite part of this job goes beyond just helping her clients achieve their goals. “I love seeing how much coaching carries over into their everyday lives. For example, one time a client felt so confident in her own skin that she was brave enough to ask for a raise. Another client, was feeling so strong in her body that she left a toxic relationship.” Jenny shared multiple stories similar to these that she says fuels her passion and drive to continue showing up for this work.

We asked Jenny if she had any advice for aspiring fitness trainers looking to building a personal training business. She talked about how someone was passionate about training should pursue it. They could start small if they desired, they don’t have to leave their full-time job at first. It is however important to just get started, and build on that. Jenny talked about how she didn’t leave her job as a waitress right away. “I used to waitress during the day and train clients in the evening.” Jenny shared how she did this until her personal training career really kicked off in year two or three of her fitness career.

Towards the end of our time with Jenny, we talked about women in the weightlifting space. Jenny shared how she believes it is so great to see so many women now weightlighting. “For an Asian woman, the women we grew up with weren’t lifting weights.” Jenny shared how her mom’s diagnosis with ostreoperosis helped her realise it was more important for her to start lifting weights and be strong, and simply focus on having an able body so that she could be independent. Jenny talked how she and her husband subscribe to glass waterbottles that get delivered twice a week. These bottles are at least 11 liters. “I don’t even think twice about how heavy it is when I need to change the water because it’s a part of my routine and I’m able to do it.” Jenny went on to say how she believes being strong is empowering because it lets women do things on their own.

Speaking to Jenny was inspiring and motivational. Jenny is someone who had a dream and went after it head on. She is someone we are so excited to continue to follow and celebrate as her career grows. If you’d like to connect with Jenny you can find her on Instagram @soulmatefit.