From Living Paycheck To Paycheck To Becoming A Renowned Trainer: Autumn Calabrese Turns Her Failures Into Redirects

The 41-year-old BODi Super Trainer from Calabasas, California shares more on the mindset that helped her go from a personal trainer living paycheck to paycheck to a renowned fitness trainer with fans all over the world.

In today’s society, one is deemed either a winner or a failure; successful or unsuccessful. But the journey of Autumn Calabrese, a renowned fitness trainer and author, proves that failure and success are two sides of the same coin. Her story is a testament to the power of never giving up.

“Something that might feel like a failure might actually be sending you down a different, better direction,” she says, adding that there were many points in her life where she felt like she was failing.

While pursuing a dance degree as a young adult, having a bulging disc in her spine was one of those times. “Leaving college a semester early made me feel like a failure because I didn’t finish my degree,” she shares. “But I was in such excruciating pain at that point that I really had no choice.”

Reflecting back on this time, Calabrese shares that it took her many years to realize that this “wasn’t a failure, but [her] first big redirect.” After her injury, Calabrese left school and moved to California where she pursued a career in acting.

This was around the time when Calabrese got her first personal training certificate through the National Academy of Sports Medicine and began working with clients one-on-one, setting the foundation for a successful career that would take off just a mere few years later.

Not finishing her dance degree felt like a failure to Calabrese at the time, but she recognizes that it actually led her to where she was meant to be. “You might not always see it in the moment, but if you’re open to the fact something isn’t meant for you, and what is meant for you is still coming, then you can release it. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt. It just means you can move forward a little bit easier,” she says.

Today, Calabrese is a BODi Super Trainer, and author of Lose Weight Like Crazy Even If You Have a Crazy Life!: Life Lessons and a Breakthrough 30-Day Nutrition and Fitness. She is the creator of hits like the 21 Day Fix program and 80 Day Obsession, and has helped millions of people reach their health and fitness goals.

Having reached such high levels of success in her career so far, Calabrese highlights the importance of embracing the journey, including all of its ups and downs. Getting to this point was by no means easy, and she emphasizes the importance of turning one’s failures into opportunities for redirection.

After obtaining her personal training certification, Calabrese shares that she worked long, 14-hour days while being a single mom to a toddler. It was a difficult time for her and her son, yet she powered through and her hard work eventually paid off.

Calabrese is known today as embodying a unique approach to fitness that has garnered her BODi fitness programs a dedicated fan following. But, she still remembers the night before her first on-set taping more than 10 years ago.

“I remember the night before going to the set, I was so scared. I was laying in bed, and thinking, what if I suck on camera, and what if talking to cameras is hard and all of these things? And then I just remember laying there, taking a deep breath, and thinking to myself, you’re not going to leave until you get what you need, so just go to sleep, Autumn. It’s going to be fine,” she shares.

“Then when I got there the next day and the cameras went up, I was just so excited and I was so prepared because we spent a year creating that program. I just had the most fun up there,” she continues.

Many people, despite circumstances or backgrounds, deal with a little voice in their heads that tells them they can’t do something or that they’re not good enough. But according to Calabrese, the key is to rewire those thoughts and turn them into fuel for reaching your goals.

“It’s about recognizing that there are no specific steps that will get you to where you want to be. I never in a million years dreamed that I would get to do work here on this stage and with this platform, but it’s all of those redirects and getting back up every time I fell down that got me here,” she says.

Drawing an analogy to train tracks, Calabrese says failures are like pulling the lever and changing the track. “You pull the lever, the track changes, and you don’t really recognize that it’s getting you to the exact destination you want to be at. But then there you are, and you realize that you couldn’t have done it had all of those other things not happened exactly as they did.”

Calabrese reminds each person to look back at everything they’ve been through to get to the point where they currently are and to be grateful for it. “Look back at every failure, every knockdown, every opportunity, every chance to grow, and celebrate it because that’s what makes up life,” she concludes.

To learn more about Autumn Calabrese, visit her on Instagram, check out her programs on BODi, or purchase a copy of her book, Lose Weight Like Crazy Even If You Have a Crazy Life!: Life Lessons and a Breakthrough 30-Day Nutrition and Fitness Solution! today.