“for sale” sign on a commercial building inspires countless potential businesses, but few people take the risk to plunge into their passion. Renea Perez is one RGV local who felt that inspiration hit when driving through downtown Harlingen over five years ago. “The space looked perfect for a studio,” she said. After hard work developed the space into the Bod Squad Training studio, she was inspired once again when the building next door became available. She went into yet another business venture with her sister and brother-in-law. “We’re a small ‘mom-and-pop’ trying to do something good for the community,” said Perez, whose two businesses do more than stimulate the economy of the Rio Grande Valley. The Bod Squad Training and Juiceology Juicebar serve healthy food, physical fitness, and nutrition information to help the RGV develop a culture of fitness. “It turned into something bigger than I thought,” she said.
healthy, says Perez. “I just fell so in love with personal training.” She wanted to share the way she felt after putting on muscle and working off over 70 pounds of post-pregnancy weight. She began to dedicate herself solely to personal training, leaving the dental field for a career she found more rewarding. After training women for about six years in other studios, Perez wanted to open up a private space of her own where her clients would feel comfortable coming in to train hard. “Sometimes women are intimidated to go into a big gym setting because of all the people, and not knowing what to do there,” Perez said. The Bod Squad provides that space, as well as a support network. “What I love about the Bod Squad is that it’s all women of different ages and sizes, and we’re all there to support and encourage each other. In our environment we’re all about positivity.”
SQUAD SUPPORT!
The Bod Squad is an appointment-based personal training gym for women. “We train you according to your body type and what your goals are,” said Perez, who is in great shape herself. Individuals with no fitness background may be intimidated to start training with her, but she is quick to tell you that the reason so many of her clients work so well with her is that she relates to them, and they feel the connection as well. She lets them know that she used to be a person who never paid much attention to fitness at all. “I wasn’t watching my weight; I wasn’t very healthy. So when I got pregnant, I gained so much weight,” she said. “My body just does that.” She decided that she didn’t want to let her pregnancy dictate her body forever. “I started to go to Curves, an all-women circuit-style gym,” she said. “I fell in love with it and they asked me to start teaching their nutrition challenges, and it all started from there. It was a struggle but I lost all my weight and then some.” Since then, it’s been her passion to help other women and moms to feel empowered, strong and
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