Today we’d like to introduce you to Alyson Sheppard.
Hi Alyson, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Throughout my Undergrad, I never anticipated going to graduate school. I was fine getting my 4-year degree and moving to start my career. I took a risk on a networking opportunity, and was provided Graduate Assistantship which paid for my Graduate Degree in full. I’m thankful for taking the opportunity to growth and learning! Starting in Graduate School at Kent State University, I was working as a Graduate Assistant in the Weightroom working with our Strength & Conditioning Department, and in our Exercise Physiology lab assisting in research on exercise and Parkinson’s Disease. I loved working with athletes, but also utilizing the lab equipment on research and learning more about exercise physiology. I wanted to merge the two, so I searched for a location I could do both!
I received a position as an intern at the IRONMAN Sports Medicine Institute in Houston, Texas. I did not know anyone in Texas (coming from Ohio), and took a leap to move south for an opportunity that could propel my career forward. Upon completing the internship, I was offered a full-time position to run the Human Performance team at another location in Houston. I gladly accepted! I was able to work with athletes for Return to Sport in the Physical Therapy setting, which checked the box for my Strength and Conditioning passion, and it also allowed me to do Exercise Physiology testing on endurance athletes which checked the box for my love of Human Performance/Sports Science.
About 7 years later, the Human Performance team was dissolved and we were unable to make any adjustments to newer protocols, which unfortunately was a disservice to the local athletes. This cut was absolutely sudden, but I had the opportunity to navigate what was next. Personally, I needed to shift where I was so I could refocus on what was important for my future. I spent about 1 year trying to navigate locally, and then decided to move north (Connecticut) for a position at a similar facility, designing a Return to Sport Program and merging the Metabolic Testing with that. I was able to be around close friends to help my personal mental state in refocusing as well. About 1 year into the position, it was clear that my vision was being merged and changed with others, and it was becoming less and less of what my overall goal in helping athletes and individuals was.
I was able to learn a lot through that year, not only about myself personally, but what my vision for my career was looking like. That move to Connecticut was the moment where my mindset shifted into a positive outlook and drive to be better personally and professionally. I took the leap to create Optimize Performance in 2019 and moved back to Texas to create what I truly envisioned doing.
Optimize Performance has since adjusted slightly through the COVID shutdown and many other factors. The overall goal of helping individuals find them and regain their health is one of the forefront missions, along with helping endurance athletes learn more about how their specific Physiology can propel them forward through their training and racing.
We have been able to grow to work with athletes, teams and individuals worldwide through our remote testing and virtual health coaching. We partner with Teams and Federations around the world to assist coaches in designing programs specific to their athletes. We guide individuals who do not have coaches, and can help ANYONE who is willing to make a shift in their health to regain empowerment and control in creating long-lasting healthy habits.
There’s an overflowing amount of gratitude when I look back at the hardest times in my life, and where I am now. The biggest shift in allowing me to be where I am today is taking ownership of what I was allowing to happen in my life, and realizing each moment was happing FOR my growth, I just had to lean into the resistance to create the strength to grow and learn.
Personal development is the foundation of what allows my professional development to continue growing daily.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The best way to answer this question/to discuss obstacles and challenges, is to have you visualize a path that has 2 roads branching from it: one leading left and one leading right. The path to the left is not paved, has hills, trees, bushes and a lack of visibility of what is beyond. The path to the right is wide open and paved with familiar faces and you can see what is in front of you (comfortable path).
For many years, I chose the path to the right – everything was comfortable, I was in my comfort zone, never being tested. I spent 6+ years at a job that never required me to REALLY grow. I was able to get comfortable and perform the duties required to continue leading the team and helping others. In my personal life, I was following the lead, not trying to find support in someone that wanted to help build a future personally or professionally. This did NOT allow for growth. So, when my position got cut and I was laid off, I had NO IDEA what was next. Shortly after that my father passed away and I had gone down a very dark road personally. I hadn’t planned for any of this, I didn’t know what was needed to move on, and I hadn’t put myself in positions to network for my own growth. I had many regrets about not speaking to my father or visiting more before his passing. I had many regrets about even moving to Texas and becoming involved in situations that were not for my benefit, personally or professionally. To grow, we need structural tension, and the structural tension was created by the negativity I was drawing to myself.
The moment my career and personal life took a shift for the positive, is the moment I looked at the path to the left and KNEW the best things happen when we are slightly uncomfortable, but CHOOSE to have the mindset of growth and positive resistance. I knew my comfort zone was slowly swallowing me up and suffocating me. I took that path to the left the moment I packed my things and moved to Connecticut after a year of wondering what to do. I was in a bad place mentally, and financially and was just lost. I have been fortunate enough to have such an amazing support system, that I was able to move and be close to friends that are the backbone of my support and growth. This allowed me to truly re-evaluate what I wanted out of my life and career. This move pulled me from friends and a life I was building in Texas. Although I knew I could come back, but where I was mentally, I never wanted to step foot in the state again. I was running, and building excuses.
While in Connecticut, I dove into personal development books and podcasts. I implemented things daily when I could and started my journey of personal growth. I knew this required me to take risks with the mentality of GROWTH. To evaluate what had happened as happening FOR me, not TO me. To look at the TRUTH, not the HOPE of what wasn’t a reality.
After navigating what I wanted and realizing I had a vision for helping others see their worth from a physical standpoint and mental standpoint, I knew I needed to take the leap and put my vision and mission into action.
After a year in Connecticut, I felt strong enough to build this vision, which ironically was taking me right back to Texas. I had a lot of conversations and soul-searching moments to decide if this was a healthy next step (including seeing a Therapist to discuss things prior to making decisions). I realized I was not going to let the past experiences determine my future success. So, I looked at what I feared, and used it as fuel.
I moved back to Texas right before COVID shut things down, and fully launched my business. COVID effected everyone in business, and to say that has been a struggle is an understatement. I went through savings, lost business and many other things, but what it allowed me to do is think bigger with my business to reach further! So, once again, it’s taking what is happening currently, and looking at how it is happening FOR you – how can you use your current situation to learn and propel yourself forward? What obstacles can you use as building blocks? What challenges can you use as growth?
Our brains can be excuse-making machines, or they can be used as designing strength and growth to eliminate excuses the moment they arise – only WE can decide this for ourselves.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Optimize Performance works with individuals regardless of fitness level on metabolic/physiological testing and health coaching. We have the ability to also work with individuals worldwide by providing remote testing and virtual health coaching. We partner with teams and coaches to assist in providing data for their athletes to implement into training programs, along with helping individuals who may not have a coach or team yet.
We implemented Health Coaching into our structure when we wanted to start helping individuals learn healthy habits and get to a healthier place to START training for something, or just, in general, wanting to regain their health and empowerment.
Our company doesn’t specifically work with exercising individuals through Health Coaching, but if someone wants to implement exercise, we are ready to help.
Our Performance Testing has allowed athletes to qualify for World-Wide Races including Marathons (Boston, Berlin, etc) and IRONMAN Races such as Kona and 70.3 World Championships. We also have helped beginner athletes learn more about how they can use their Physiology to train more efficiently and progress forward to see what races they might be interested in. Some don’t want to race, and that is absolutely ok!
We have the ONLY Validated tool that can measure a VITAL metric in Performance Testing: Anaerobic Capacity. This pairs with the well-known “VO2” which is Aerobic Capacity. We have the ability to put more pieces to the puzzle together for individuals to really focus on specific metrics to propel their training forward. When we exercise, we produce lactic acid (heavy feeling in the legs/arms when we do intense things) – we are able to measure how much is being produced, and how efficient you are at utilizing that as energy and fuel. This helps identify how to adjust training zones and different metrics depending on your goal. All other tests will only give you ONE aspect of this, whereas we can give you the ENTIRE picture. Our testing protocols were created in Europe with the top teams and Federations doing research with it. We have partnered with top-level software to provide all individuals the same testing that the pros get (Tour de France, Kona World IRONMAN, World Marathon, Olympic Athletes and many more).
We only have so many hours in the day, so we want to make sure individuals are not wasting time while they exercise or train. We want to help them get the best benefit possible out of each workout.
I am personally most proud of how many individuals we have been able to help so far. Individuals come to us with many different goals, from weight loss to weight gain, to performance testing and goals of qualifying or just better understanding how their physiology can work FOR them. Being able to help guide all of these individuals over the last few years is so rewarding. The mission of the company is help guide people to better health and fitness by allowing them to learn and understand how they can be empowered to utilize their mental strength and physiology to propel forward.
I definitely want people to know that we will meet you wherever you are in life. A lot of times we use the excuse “I want to, but I’m busy right now” – well, life will ALWAYS be busy, but the difference is waiting will only create a worse situation than where you currently are. We encourage you to reach out! Even if you’re looking for personal development guidance. I would love to share some monumental strategies that have helped me personally, and continue to help me personally and professionally. I also want to emphasize that the health and physiological testing we do is for ANYONE. You don’t need to be training for a race, or have an exceptional amount of fitness to benefit.
We encourage you to inquire, ask and learn. We can do remote Health Coaching and Remote Metabolic Testing. YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE LOCAL! We partner and sponsor teams and clubs worldwide.
Inquire! Ask! Learn! That is the best way you can move forward. Don’t sit behind excuses and fear, use those to propel you forward. Turn the negative “What If’s” into POSITIVE ” What If’s” ::: What if it WORKS. What if I CAN. What if I DO.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Risk used to be identified as negative. Growing up, we all heard ‘don’t risk it’. Now, it is something I strive for. I have learned through personal experience, to evaluate risk differently. “What COULD this bring? What CAN I manifest from the risk? Is there any part of this that can be a learning experience for growth? What IF this works out how I plan.”
Some major risks I’ve taken in the past included moving across the country away from family and friends for a career. Moving back across the country for my mental, personal and physical health after losing my job and being in a toxic situation. After discovering what I truly wanted, and regaining my own empowerment and self-confidence back, I took the risk to start my business and move BACK across the country to Texas. I took a risk on myself and my drive, and I challenged myself DAILY to develop more than I did the day before.
Taking a risk on yourself can be the most powerful decision you make. Your journey is there for a reason. It is happening FOR you, but YOU have to decide your outlook. You cannot put the blame on others when something doesn’t go as planned. If you look in the mirror and want to change the image, you don’t change the mirror, you find something within YOU to adjust. We can’t expect others to determine our outcome. We need to risk things to create the life we want and desire.
If you play the victim of every situation, all the risks you take will be negatively unbalanced. If you take control and find strength in learning and growing, all the risks you take (after evaluation), can be MONUMENTAL steps and building blocks to your personal and professional growth.
Some of the biggest risks I’ve taken, have led to hard growth opportunities, but the outlook DAILY has to be that you will get better with each decision, even if it is a risky or hard one to make.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.optimize-performance.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/optimizeperformance1 ; https://instagram.com/asheppardcoaching
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/optimizeperformance1
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/optimizeperform
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqVFbbNpUS_mC_9puoWnntw/videos
- Other: https://linktr.ee/Optimizeperformance
