Interview with Beth Lehr: “Kickboxing — It’s My Favorite Thing in the Whole Wide World”
Name: Beth Lehr
Sports: Kickboxing
Age: 45
Occupation: Franchise Manager at KickHouse, Personal Trainer, TRX, ISCA Master Trainer
Location: York, PA
Beth Lehr was my first TRX trainer and got me hooked on suspension training, a strength-training activity that I was able to do while training for national top 10 times in Masters Swimming and throughout both of my pregnancies. Since Beth and I first met nearly a decade ago, she has added so many more certifications and accomplishments to her fitness toolbelt, including managing a successful kickboxing gym, where members not only get a great workout but have formed a family-like community. Here’s more about her fitness and management journey.
Beth Lehr, KickHouse York Manager
“I've done it all: I have certifications and TRX, Barre, personal training…but kickboxing is definitely my favorite.”
The last several years you have been managing a kickboxing gym. I would love to hear more about that and how you got started.
Beth: About five years ago, I was teaching at three gyms a day. I was personal training at one gym, and then I’d go to another gym in the afternoon to teach classes. And then I ended the day in another gym, personal training. Then I managed TITLE Boxing Club in Camp Hill. I was busy, but it was great. But my youngest child was 10 years old and he didn't need me as much anymore. Not in a bad way. It seemed like a good time to start looking for something full time. I mentioned it at TITLE, that I would really like to be full time, but a lot of the gyms can't pay a full-time person and offer insurance and benefits. They just weren’t capable of doing that at the time, and that's fine. So, I started looking around. ILoveKickboxing, a franchise, was opening up in York. I reached out to them, I had an interview with the owner, who is also a woman, I got the position, and it has just been absolutely amazing. I got to open this studio from the ground up. I was there when we were building it. About a year-and-a-half later, another franchise, KickHouse, offered some better deals and they opened up in the middle of a pandemic. And we were like, well, what the heck, let's give it a try. And we couldn't have made a better decision. Everything is going absolutely amazing. We have 250 members now. I just can’t talk any higher about this place. It's amazing.
I've seen your social media photos. Everyone looks like they're so happy and getting an awesome workout.
Beth: Clearly, it's a good workout. Kickboxing – it's my favorite thing in the whole wide world, so I'm a little biased on it. It's the best workout. What this place has turned into is a community. We get people to come in for their first class and they're just like, sign me up. The vibe in here motivating. It's a happy place to be. And that's exactly what I wanted. People are there for the workout. It's a hell of a workout, you're gonna lose weight, you're gonna tone at the end of the day, you get to hit something. And you get to hang out with really cool people.
So why kickboxing? How did you go in that direction with your career?
Beth: At the YMCA, after I had my youngest son, I was walking past a kickboxing class and someone I knew was standing outside and asked, do you want to go in and try this? That's when I was going into the gym and getting on the treadmill, not really knowing what I was doing, and didn't do any classes. So, I was like, oh, okay, I'll give this a try. Oh my god, I was sold immediately. Stress relief. It can be very emotional because you're releasing so much. I mean, in my studio, I have criers all the time, and I don't mean that in a bad way. People cry a lot in my studio. You can see them just letting it all out. After class, they're like, I don't know what happened. But there's no judgment or anything. And I think that might have happened to me when I went in there that first time. Next thing I knew, two months later, there was a certification class to be an instructor. So that that was it. And I've done it all, you know: I have certifications and TRX, Barre, personal training…but kickboxing is definitely my favorite.
Beth Lehr:
“Kickboxing – it's my favorite thing in the whole wide world, so I'm a little biased on it. It's the best workout.”
Do you still teach those other types of trainings? Or are you totally focused on kickboxing now?
Beth: We actually do it all. At the studio, we're trying to be a one-stop shop for everybody. Kickboxing is a lot of cardio. It’s definitely a full-body workout. But we now are offering yoga, we have personal training. I love TRX, so we have those hooked up in the studio for personal training. I'm definitely a firm believer that you need to do more than one thing.
What do you think has been most challenging about any part of your athletic journey?
Beth: As I get older, I'm tired. That’s very frustrating for me. The last few years, I definitely had to start hiring more staff. I should not be teaching five classes a day. Kickboxing is the most high-intensity workout there is. I clearly can do it; I was doing it. But I was coming home and dying. I was starting to just hit a wall. I was like, you need to step back. You can't control everything. You have to let other people do this stuff.
If you had to choose, is there one moment within your athletic journey that really stands out to you?
Beth: When I was first asked if I wanted to get certified in kickboxing. I remember saying to her, yeah, that’s awesome. I get a free membership to this gym and I get to work out all the time and I get paid. She looked right at me and she said, “This isn't your workout.” It took me a minute. I was like, what is she talking about? And now, when I hire trainers, it's the first thing I say to them: “This isn't your workout. I'm not hiring you to workout with these people. You have to be an instructor, you have to be a trainer.” It's a sales position, to be honest with you. We have to sell memberships. We won't be open if you don't sell a membership. When a first-time person comes in, you can't just be working out there. You have to teach it to them and instruct them so they leave feeling like they kind of know what they're doing the first day and sell a membership. So, that is definitely something that has stuck with me, for years and years and years. I'll never forget her saying that to me.
What goals do you have for the future? Is there anything that you're working on or thinking about?
Beth: We’re trying to open up a second studio right now. We took a really, really hard hit during the pandemic. It shut down most gyms and facilities. For three months, we didn't make any money. We had to turn off memberships but we still had to pay all of our bills. We're starting to break even now and doing very well. A lot of small studios and boutique fitness couldn't open back up, couldn't survive those three months. So, my goal right now is just to keep the members coming in, sign more members. We have new people coming in every day. I'm hoping in the next year or two to open studio number two.
Do you have any of your own personal athletic goals? Or are you mostly focused on the business right now?
Beth: I'm focused on the business. Right before the world shut down [from the pandemic], I was training for a physique show. It was going really great. I had a personal trainer and I got my food under control. I was in the best shape of my life. And then, unfortunately, because of the pandemic, my goal show got canceled. That crushed me. Yeah, it really, really crushed me. I might be able to do it again. Now talking to you, I think I want to do it. You're making me set goals now!
You should go for it, if it's something I still want to do.
Beth: I'm enjoying the occasional cupcake right now.
Beth Lehr with KickHouse York Members
“What I have going on in this studio is something I've never seen before. These people have become a family. We have every type of person in this place. And they have become friends like no other.”
That's good, too! Is there anything else that is important to you that we didn't get to talk about?
Beth: I want people to know that women need to do this together. Clearly there are people that can get on that treadmill and then hit a machine or two on their own. But what I have going on in this studio is something I've never seen before. These people have become a family. We have every type of person in this place. And they have become friends like no other. It's it is just the most unbelievable thing. They're like, I didn't want to get up at 5:30 to come in here this morning, but I knew who was going to be in here and I didn't want to miss starting my day with these people.
We also do fitness challenges. I have a really great trainer and nutrition coach that runs these challenges. She's amazing. The results were amazing because they stuck with it. There were 24 challenge members, a total of 143 inches and 111 pounds lost between all of those people in eight weeks. We made it simple. They stuck together and we teamed them up as partners, and we had the best results ever.
