Our Story
Partners in biz & life
Podcasts/ interviews / articles
Traveling the World, Movement Practices, and Business - Holly & Christina Montalvo on The Confidence Project Podcast (2024)
What Makes A Workout & Training While Traveling - Holly & Tiffany Longcor on the Tiffness Fitness Podcast (2024)
You Think You Know But You Have NO Idea: Travel, Training, and Typhoid Fever - Holly & Jenna J (2024)
A Thoughtful But Fun Talk About Lifting Weights - Garage Gym Life (2023)
When You’re Badass But You’re Tired: The Convo We Almost Cancelled - Holly & Jenna J (2023)
Watch Our Back Patio Gym Tour - Garage Gym Life (2023)
Balancing Strength, Softness, & Silliness - Holly & Jenna Jozefowski on Tough Cookie Talks - (2022)
Watch our interview on Deadlifts, Dogs, & Dad Jokes (2021)
Holly chats Kettlebells, Coaching, & The Greater Good on The Essential Strength Podcast (2020)
Dr. Emily Kiberd chats with us about Creating a Challenging and Sustainable Workout Routine on Thyroid Strong (2020)
Cover Story Interview for Home Gym Quarterly Magazine - Garage Gym Life (2020)
Our podcast interview on The Tools For Building Our Online Coaching Business on What Works with Tara McMullin (2019)
Read Arryn’s article, Simplify your Strength Programming Using Die-Rolled Variability. (2018)
We met at a kettlebell certification in 2016, and coached at the same gym for 1.5 years before starting our online strength coaching business in the Summer of 2018.
Back in our salad days, we specialized in preparing fellow trainers for kettlebell, barbell, and bodyweight instructor certifications. In 2020, we announced our de-affiliation with that certifying organization due to stark differences in our values and vision for the fitness industry and theirs.
Since then, we have continued to coach fellow coaches and other intermediate to advanced lifters who love to lift, but want to do it in a playful, balanced way that honors their humanity, first and foremost.
We coach folks who are serious about lifting but don’t take themselves too seriously.
Training is important AND it’s just training. Make it work for YOU, and find ways to enjoy the process!
We offer online group training via Buff Brekky Club, DIY programs/ebooks, 1:1 Online Personal Training, & in-person coaching in Richmond, VA.
As a couple, we’re each other’s best training buddies, food-enjoying companions, and comfort-zone expanders. Our goals together are to travel often, share honestly, and help one another continually expand. We got married in Astoria, OR in August of 2022 where we did a Kali stick + knife fight instead of a first dance ;)
Holly
(she/her) is an ambitious, creative, multifaceted person. Aside from heavy kettlebell ballistics, she enjoys writing, photographing on film, and being genuinely curious. Holly never planned to be a coach, beginning life as an artsy, yet painfully shy, 2nd generation mixed-Filipino kid in woodsy Northern California. She is notably obsessed with pastries and used to make ice cream for a living (for real). The practice of becoming stronger has empowered her to keep questioning her own limits, and in turn, the narrow societal limitations imposed upon us all. Building strength helps her show up more authentically herself every day. Each time someone she is coaching breaks through a perceived limitation, she is deeply moved.
Experience:
Conscious Marketing by Tristan Katz (2023)
Advanced Self-Awareness For Social Justice by Dr. Tee Williams (2022)
Self-Awareness For Social Justice by Dr. Tee Williams (2021)
Fundamentals of Trauma-informed Weight Lifting by Trauma-Informed Weight Lifting & The Center for Trauma and Embodiment at JRI (2021)
Reconciling Biomechanics With Pain Science by Dr. Greg Lehman (2021)
Action & Allyship by Dr. Tee Williams (2020)
Anti-Racism for Wellness Professionals (2020) &
Diversity, Inclusion, & Equity 101 by Chrissy King (2020)
DV8 Fitness Kettlebell Instructor (2020 & 2021)
Foundations of Social Justice by Dr. Tee Williams (2019)
StrongFirst Bodyweight Instructor (2018)
StrongFirst Barbell Instructor (2017)
Strong Endurance by StrongFirst (2017)
StrongFirst Level 1 (2016) & Level 2 Kettlebell Instructor (2017)
FMS Level 1 Certification (2016, 2018)
Agatsu Kettlebell Instructor Level 1 (2015)
NASM Certified Personal Trainer (2014 - Present)
CPR / AED Certified (2014 - Present)
Assistant at StrongFirst Certifications / Courses:
SFG1 (2017) & SFG2 (2018) in Philadelphia, PA
SFL in Seattle, WA (2018), Oakland, CA (2019), & Costa Rica (2019)
SFG2 in San Diego, CA (2018)
Kettlebell User Course, Portland, OR (2018)
Accolades:
2nd Place (light class) at Fear Her Fight United Powerlifting Meet (2020)
Sinister (2018)
Iron Maiden Challenge (2018)
BA Visual Art, Bennington College, Bennington, VT (2012)
Arryn
(he/him) hopes to be as strong as Holly one day ;) A few of his favorite things are dunking chocolate chip cookies in milk (and eating them too!), training in some sort of martial art, cooking with music blasting, using his handyperson skills, and drinking fancy coffee with his pinky out whilst reading a book. He also loves to nerd out on strength training stuff!
He grew up a scrawny, video-gaming boy in Central Florida. He wasn’t athletic and only played sports his parents forced him to. In 2011, in his early 20s, he started training in martial arts (Jeet Kune Do & Filipino Martial Arts), and it was through that that he developed a strength training practice a year later. He started lifting weights in his garage with just a 16-kilo kettlebell and an instructional book. In 2015, after taking a kettlebell instructor certification, he began to coach others, working at a gym with folks in a 1:1 and (large) group-class setting.
In addition, he’s currently coaching in person at Richmond, VA’s Moore Than Fitness.
Experience:
NCSF Certified Personal Trainer (2024)
ISSA Tactical Conditioning Specialist (2023)
Landmine University Certified Instructor (2022)
Advanced Self-Awareness For Social Justice by Dr. Tee Williams (2022)
Self-Awareness For Social Justice by Dr. Tee Williams (2021)
Reconciling Biomechanics With Pain Science by Dr. Greg Lehman (2021)
Re-framing Masculinity & Gym Culture by Fitness For All Bodies (2021)
Foundations of Social Justice by Dr. Tee Williams (2020)
DV8 Fitness Kettlebell Instructor (2020 & 2021)
Second Wind by StrongFirst (2019)
Functional Movement Screen Level 1 (2018)
StrongFirst Bodyweight Instructor (2018)
Strong Endurance by StrongFirst (2017)
Movement Restoration by Brandon Hetzler (2017)
Prehab / Rehab by Dr. Mark Cheng (2016)
Clinical Athlete by Quinn Henoch (2016)
StrongFirst Kettlebell Level 2 Instructor (2016)
StrongFirst Barbell Instructor (2015, 2016, 2017)
Building the Ultimate Back by Dr. Stuart McGill (2015)
Plan Strong by StrongFirst (2015)
StrongFirst Kettlebell Level 1 Instructor (2015)
Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do Black Belt by Sifu Vito Gili - Inosanto Instructor (2014)
Boxing Francaise (Savate) 2nd Blue Glove by Prof. Salem Assli (2013)
Assistant at StrongFirst Certifications / Courses:
SFG1 in Portland, OR (2016) & San Francisco, CA (2016)
SFG2 in Orlando, FL (2016), San Diego, CA (2018), & Philadelphia, PA (2018)
SFL in Seattle, WA (2018), Oakland, CA (2019), & Costa Rica (2019)
Kettlebell User Course, Portland, OR (2018)
Accolades:
Sinister (2018)