Hidden Gems: Meet Kristina Ravenscroft of The St.Clair Weight Room

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristina Ravenscroft.  

Hi Kristina, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I became a Personal Trainer in 2013. What lead me there was the drive to share my love for fitness and healthy eating with others. I became extremely passionate about the preventative side of this industry, along with how empowering it can be to achieve fitness goals! 

After I became Certified, I came up with the idea to do boot camps in a local park. I utilized old tires, ropes, and anything I found at low or no cost to help gain awareness of who I was and keep costs low to do so. I was a single parent at the time and working very hard to provide my daughter and myself with the life I knew we could have!! I spent the entire Spring-Fall in 2014 providing Bootcamp workouts and gained the attention of a local gym. This gym asked me if I’d like to bring my class to their space, and I agreed! This allowed me to continue through the winter, at that time I had 15-20 committed participants. This transition also allowed me to widen my scope and offer more 1:1 Personal Training. My business started to flourish in the new environment! 

In 2017, I decided to open my own studio! I was ready to become a full-time entrepreneur! I found a great space in downtown St. Clair within the Plaza and knew it would be the future home to The St. Clair Weight Room. What started as Bootcamps in a park with car tires, would now be a private studio, I set out to create the brand of empowering women through strength training. Maintaining my Bootcamp classes between Richmond, Mi, and St. Clair, Mi, awareness grew around the Weight Room. I slowly phased out Bootcamp classes and focused mainly on providing an individual approach to personal training you could not find in a public gym. 

I worked on creating a comfortable, safe place for women to work on their goals! Free from a crowded gym floor. After 5 years in business, The Weight Room has now expanded to offer classes once again, along with Personal Training, Online Training, and Powerlifting. 

I’m proud of the culture The Weight Room has and the sky’s the limit with the future of helping more and more people achieve their lifestyle goals!!! 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Some of the struggles have been creating a business while being a single parent. Many times, I could not be very flexible. I found it made it more rewarding though once making it through some of those scheduling struggles. 

Making it through business closures in 2020 was not an easy feat and I had to get real creative, real fast! I hopped on ZOOM and started offering my Personal Training clients online sessions, I started offering Online group Classes and utilized Facebook Groups to keep my community engaged. Once some restrictions were lifted, I offered outdoor sessions to anyone interested to keep the business going and my clients motivated!! 

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about The St. Clair Weight Room?
The St. Clair Weight Room is a Personal Training and Group Fitness Studio located in downtown St. Clair, Mi 

We are known for our awesome Bootcamp classes on The St. Clair Boardwalk during the summer! Along with, being a place for women to learn all things strength training! 

What sets us apart from others is our ability to create a community, we have some of the best clients who have not only created friendships outside of the weight room, but continue to support each other through our group texts, and we want everyone to succeed! You become family once you are a part of the Weight Room. 

I’d love for people to know that The Weight Room offers Personal Training, Group Fitness, and Online coaching in Nutrition, Lifestyle, and Exercise. That The Weight Room was created to offer a truly individual approach that a crowded gym floor cannot. 

Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
I put myself out there in the community and introduced myself to all the other business owners in town when I first opened. I tried different networking groups, sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. 

My advice would be to try as much as possible, and not worry about the outcome. Getting exposure and meeting new people is the best way to know what your market is like, what the community is like, and who the people of that community are, along with their values. 

Failure isn’t that scary after all. 

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: weightroom_sc

Image Credits
Brooke Chapman