When we think about fitness and health as little luxuries in our lives, our entire mindset about them changes. We spoke with Mona from Rumble Boxing in DC about this, and she couldn’t agree with us more.
Mona is in the business of getting people moving. She believes that fitness is all about intention, about building the mind—that it is a true form of self-care and a luxury for our personal wellbeing and growth. Once we stop thinking of working out as an obligation (or, even worse, a punishment) and think of it as a reward for ourselves, everything changes. When we push ourselves, we know we are not limiting ourselves. The challenge the body experiences results in building the mind, lowering of our “real world” stresses and making them more manageable. We gain more respect for ourselves, and we can marvel at our body’s innate capabilities when we allow ourselves this freedom of movement and growth.
Mona is a founding trainer at Rumble Boxing in Washington, DC, which opened in April 2019. For the first four months of 2019, she and six other selected trainers picked up and moved their lives from DC to NYC to eat, sleep, and breathe Rumble so that by the time the studio opened in DC they would be fully prepared. While still under a year from its opening, DC’s Rumble Boxing studio has fully come to life and has had an enormous effect on its community. It has been amazing to witness everyone become stronger and stronger while having fun and learning a new skill.
"When you find something you love, you want to know everything about it.”
Mona’s background and specialty is actually endurance running, particularly marathon running. She worked for Nike Running for years prior to her debut at Rumble Boxing. It was her passion for running that led her to Rumble and is what everything revolves around to this day. She told us, “Running isn’t just running. What do you do when you’re not running to improve yourself as a runner?” She says she is still a student—there is always something more for her to learn and practice. As she plunged herself into the art of running, she began to pick up Pilates, conditioning, and boxing into her routine as these were critical to growing as a runner.
As part of theNike Run Club, Mona worked as a coach for runners at all paces and all distances, from casual runners to marathon trainees. It was while she was with Nike that she first encountered Rumble—on a tripto New York, she happened across their studio and decided to take a class on a whim. She fell in love with it instantly, knowing somehow she would one day be part of their brand. But she loved DC too much to consider moving to New York, so she told herself that if they ever came to DC she would be a trainer. When something is meant to be, it is. And that is exactly the case for Mona’s journey to Rumble Boxing. Outside of fitness, Mona finds her little luxuries at home in the outdoors. She and her boyfriend raise chickens and love to garden; Mona loves always having fresh eggs and growing vegetables. She said, “One thing that gardening had taught me is that things take time. One watermelon takes 70-90 days to grow, so when you see the massive amounts at the store you think ‘someone is taking the time to grow all of this.’” Quite poetically, the same can be said about fitness.
“You have to plant a seed, water it and nurture it consistently, & then one day you will see the fruits of your labor.”
Go follow her @monalavinia. Be prepared to be inspired!
Photo Credit: @masterwilliams (photo #1) @carlnard (photo #2) @trapphotos (photo #3)
Hey bride-to-be, are you feeling worn down from all your wedding planning? Now, I know telling you that you’re not the first or only bride to feel this way won’t make you feel any better, but I hope that today’s post will.