ABOUT ME
Hello friends, if you don't know me, my name is Chelse O'Neill. I am a mom of four sons and a wife of nearly seven years to my husband. I'd love to give you a little background about myself and how I got here.
I grew up a 3-sport athlete all throughout highschool. I was introduced to weight lifting at 14. Between playing highschool sports and club sports, I was incredibly active. At 18, I went to college to play softball and decided after my freshman year I wanted to get out of sports and just work in a gym. I started working in the gym at 19 and have never looked back. Being an athlete required me to put in long, rigorous hours of training, lifting, and practice. When I stopped playing sports, I took a break from being active and severely paid for it.
Soon after I started my job at the gym and fell in love with lifting even though I had been doing it the previous 5 years. It was never optional before. Now that I had a new found freedom with no practice or scheduled conditioning, I actually enjoyed lifting weights and challenging my body in new ways, not because I HAD to, but because I wanted to.
I earned my B.S. in Exercise Science in 2013 and my M.A in Teaching in 2017. I began personal training in 2012 and eventually met my husband, a fellow personal trainer a few years later. I held multiple certifications from ACSM, NESTA, and others as a functional training specialist. In my prime, I was an intense trainer, often training for vanity and pride instead of health and wellness. I was young, inexperienced in life, and was single without children. I worked and lived in the gym. I didn't know the obstacles that most adults faced when it comes to their health.
I got married in 2018 and soon gave birth to my first son in 2019. God has a way of using marriage and children to sanctify us and conform our hearts and desires to align with His will. I now have 4 sons ages 6 months to nearly 6. I have continued my active lifestyle throughout each pregnancy and postpartum period.
God has been gracious to reveal to me that exercise used to be an idol and form of self-worship. He is good and has aligned my desires for health with his desires for my health. Our bodies are not our own, they belong to the Creator God. Because my body isn't my own, I don't have the right to treat it however I please. I am to steward my body for the glory of God because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Grace & Grit Fitness was laid on my heart by God a few years ago when I became a stay at home mom. I had skills and gifts with helping people get healthy and would write a program here and there for friends. Over time, I felt led to actually create a business to help Christian women exercise their faith through fitness. Prioritizing health can be difficult when you're homeschooling children (or not), keeping your home (or working outside the home), and all the responsibilities that come with adulthood. I noticed many women put their health on the back burner, but we need to be healthy to do all that God has called us to do. If we're held back by health limitations, we can't necessarily do or go where God calls us because of our own choices. My prayer is that I can encourage women to honor their bodies as the temple of the Holy Spirit. When we center our health on Christ, with the Holy Spirit and discipline, we can glorify Him in our bodies.
Sample of Calendar and Program
