Monica Lewis stumbled across OPEX almost by accident.

The mother of four had dabbled with personal training and coaching group exercise classes, and had done some CrossFit, as well.

Then just before the pandemic, Lewis and her family relocated from New Mexico to Morgantown, West Virginia.

“I wasn’t even really looking for a gym. We had some equipment at home and my husband and I were kind of doing our own programming and online workouts at home, but we weren’t really following a (formal) program,” Lewis said. 

Then she came across OPEX Morgantown and started working with Coach Kayla Smith and quickly realized the value of the OPEX method. 

Before she knew it, she was helping relieve coaches at OPEX Morgantown and decided she wanted to take her coaching to the next level. And when Smith told her that the OPEX Coaching Certificate Program (CCP) was “more informative, educational and beneficial” than her exercise science college degree, Lewis had no doubt the CCP was the course for her. 

Lewis and CCP

Lewis joined the July 2022 CCP cohort and is now working her way through her final project. 

Though she said the course taught her a lot about individual design and how to build an effective program that meets a client where they’re at, she said even more valuable for her were the weekly mentorship calls led by OPEX CEO Carl Hardwick, and how they dug deep into the simplicity of the BLGs (basic lifestyle guidelines).

“We talked a lot about how to help others see the value in those basic lifestyle guidelines,” she said, adding that she also loved how the calls provided practical learning through the use of avatars. 

“It was great talking to other coaches and looking at avatars and planning and prioritizing programming based on the lowest hanging fruit for that person. It was beneficial working together and seeing different points of view…just getting to see everyone else’s ideas was extremely valuable,” she said.  “And Carl (Hardwick) just does a really great job at validating everyone’s point of views and reconnecting ideas to the content.”

She added: “It has just been really great connecting with other like minded people…to see that there’s this community of people out there dedicated to helping others to become healthy and fit, and it’s more about a lifestyle. (It’s about) longevity and vitality and to live a larger life."

Ultimately, though, the CCP was most useful in building Lewis’ confidence to work with real people in the OPEX model in a way that will bring them long-lasting results that will make a big difference in their lives. 

“I feel so much more confident,” she said. 

Today, even though she’s still working on her final project, Lewis already has six of her own individual design clients, each of whom pay an average of $300 a month.

She credits the CoachRx app with making the process of working with her individual design clients seamless and efficient. 

“I’m responsible for maintaining touch points throughout the week, and CoachRx makes it easy to stay connected with clients and see their progress and communicate with them,” she said. “There’s a lot of opportunity for feedback from clients.”

She also appreciates that the app is easy for clients to use, as well, and because they’re able to see their program well in advance, and watch associated movement videos, it’s also useful for helping them become more autonomous.

Because she’s a mother of four children, Lewis intends to coach part-time for now. Her goal is to get to 15 to 20 clients this year, and when her youngest child is more grown up, she hopes to transition into being a full-time coach.

But even as a part-time coach, Lewis said the OPEX CCP has already paid itself off financially. 

“I have already, just working part-time, made back the money that I put into CCP, so now it’s just extra at this point, so it’s a great investment,” Lewis said.

“This is just the beginning for me.”