We had the good fortune of connecting with Gina Lombardi, RDH, NSCA-CPT*D and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Gina, other than deciding to work for yourself, what was the single most important decision you made that contributed to your success?

Other than deciding to work for myself, which by the way, was always my desire since I was thirteen years old, I also decided that fear wasn’t going to play a role in my decisions to move ahead with I what I wanted to accomplish. When you are out on your own, with no mentor, no help, no employees yet, you are faced with having to make things happen on your own. Only YOU are responsible for the outcome of your day, week, month year, your income and ultimately your success. Another decision I had made a long time ago was not to care about what other people think of me or what I am doing. When you are on a path that you know fulfills your purpose, do not let others sway you. I’ve had people come right up to my face and try to shake me as I am getting onto a stage to speak to 800 people. As you can probably guess, that person was NOT fulfilling their dream and thought it would be better for his own self-esteem to try to pull down someone who is fulfilling their dream. The lesson? Keep your head down and forge ahead.

What should our readers know about your business?

I’ve owned Coach Lombardi, LLC for 30 years and built it from ground zero when personal training wasn’t even a thought in anyones head yet. I focused on my education in the field and my credentials first and foremost. When I found there wasn’t an accredited certifying body for personal trainers, I joined a committee at the NSCA (National Strength & Conditioning Association) to create a certification exam that would wind up being the gold standard. It still stands as such today and is now a global organization. Under the Coach Lombardi umbrella is the Health Interrupted Podcast. This venture with my co-host, Laura Kaeppeler (Miss America 2012), is an extension of my work as a trainer all these years since our topics and guests require my years of knowledge in the health & fitness field. I still believe today that my edge as a trainer has to do with my background as a Registered Dental Hygienist because of the outstanding education I received at the University Of Pennsylvania in the area of the human body. My only struggles along the way were those regarding running a business. If you don’t study these things in college you wind up in the school of hard knocks. Fortunately, I am tenacious and resourceful so I learned what I needed to do to succeed by researching, asking questions of those who were successful in business already (not necessarily in my field) plus trial and error. Knowing that I’m the only one who can make my business successful was motivation enough not to quit. Even during the hard times, I would take the very next day to find out what I needed to do to break through any lulls. One thing that helped me tremendously was keeping statistics (actual graphs on paper!), on my wall in my office that I looked at every day. I would graph number of clients monthly, number of sessions completed with clients weekly and gross income. If any of those statistics were down I knew where my focus needed to go. This was and still is my secret weapon!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?

Hello old friend! You’re here for a week? Follow me… Lets start off the day with a workout at Cardio Barre Studio City or Orange Theory Sherman Oaks
Lunch at Tender Greens Studio City
An afternoon at The Getty Museum on Sepulveda Blvd
Coffee or Green Tea at Aroma Cafe on Tujunga Ave
Dinner at Made In Italy in Thousand Oaks (tell Antonio I sent you!)
Movie at Cinepolis in Westlake Village
That is my perfect day.
Rinse and Repeat

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Although there will always be naysayers and haters in everyone’s professional life, there are far more supporters and cheerleaders and those are the people you want in your inner circle. For me, it has been my university professors who spent hours with me of their own time advising me on my creation of assessment tools and programs for my clients as I was starting out and then allowing me to have first access to newly published data in my field. This gave me such an edge as a trainer, writer and a consultant in fitness. My husband, of course, who always encourages and promotes everything I do. This is probably the most important person because it is the ONE you see the most. The ONE that believes in you the most. Then there are friends and colleagues who truly want to see you win with unconditional love and never ending support. For me it is my professional certifying organization, The National Strength & Conditioning Association who has given me a platform to teach and share my knowledge with other trainers and coaches around the world. Equally important, are friends like my podcast Co-Host, Laura Kaeppeler who stayed the course with our venture and continues to remind me that we can do tough things even when there’s a chid hanging off of our leg. Liz Svatek, friend and LA Chapter Chair of the More Than Me Movement which is an amazing organization of powerhouse women who truly care about YOUR success! Carrie Murray’s, the BRA Network (Business Relationship Alliance), an organization that empowers women to hold each other up and reminds us that we are stronger as a collective. BRA gives women entrepreneurs the support, resources and networking opportunities to grow profitable in your business while balancing a fabulous lifestyle!

Website: www.healthinterruptedpodcast.com

Instagram: @coachlombardi @healthinterruptedpodcast

Linkedin: Gina Lombardi Health Interrupted Podcast

Twitter: @coachlombardi @HealthIntPod

Facebook: Gina Lombardi (Public Figure Page) Health Interrupted Podcast (business page)

Youtube: Health Interrupted Podcast

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutLA is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.