Today we’d like to introduce you to Renan Santos
Hi Renan, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Most people see myself as a competitor because of my victories as a bodybuilder, but the reality is that I had to be competitive and fight my entire life to be where I am today. Born in Brazil, I’ve always felt like I didn’t connect with my home country in a lot of different ways, especially regarding its work mentality.
After I graduated from college (I hold a Bachelor and Masters in Architecture besides being a Trainer), I found myself unemployed for nearly 4 years because of the biggest corruption scandal of the history of Brazil (that involved all the major construction firms – thus directly impacting my industry) that left the country in a terrible crisis.
I was constantly told by my father that I dreamed way too much and that I should just get a 9-5 government job that would bring me stability… But I didn’t want to spend my entire life working in some tedious office job. I’ve been always passionate about fitness – and started weightlifting when I was only 15 years old – so I knew that I needed to follow my dream of becoming a bodybuilder and changing people’s lives through fitness. At that moment, I realized that I had to leave Brazil.
When I arrived in the USA, I could tell the difference right away: people who didn’t even know who I was gave me job opportunities. I felt seen and trusted as a professional for the first time in many, many years. Back in Brazil, nepotism was a massive thing and it was really hard to get anywhere without connections. Job interviews were a joke and staged.
Two years after living in the US, I decided to compete for the first time in the country and won my division at the California State Championships. I was finally living my dream as an athlete. At that point, I still worked with architecture, but my job wasn’t what I dreamed of and I found myself sitting at a cubicle, working for someone else, not receiving any credit and getting underpaid. I would constantly hear my father’s words in my mind and that fear of ending up the way he had thought my life should’ve been was haunting me. I needed to make a really tough call: abandon my industry and completely change direction to follow my passion.
And that’s when I envisioned Coached by Renan. I’ve always had this itch to help others and change their lives through fitness, just like Bodybuilding had changed mine. I went from bullied LBGTQ+ kid in school to a bodybuilding champion thanks to the sport. And I remember that my journey was extremely tough: after all, finding the right information about weighting, dieting and so on can be extremely overwhelming. I wish I had someone with my knowledge to help me back when I started…. It would’ve saved me so much time and headaches and failure!
Coached by Renan is a fitness and bodybuilding consulting service where I provide 1:1 coaching on nutrition, training and supplementation to take anyone, from any level or experience, to training like a real athlete and completely change their lives.
In 2 years, my company has grown tremendously and it keeps growing. I have clients around the world and I couldn’t be happier to see how many lives I’ve been able to transform.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Not at all! First of all, I was born in Brazil and always felt like I didn’t connect with my home country in a lot of different ways, especially regarding its work mentality. Then, after I graduated from college, I found myself unemployed for nearly 4 years, which led to me moving my entire life to the US.
When I thought that I had everything figured out, I decided to change industries and restart from scratch. I have absolutely no regrets about that, though.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Coached by Renan is a fitness and bodybuilding consulting service where I provide 1:1 coaching on nutrition, training and supplementation to take anyone, from any level or experience, to training like a real athlete and completely change their lives. I provide meal plans, training programs, full advice on supplements and clients have check-ins with me every 2 weeks plus unlimited communication with me throughout the entire month in case they have questions or concerns.
Being a bodybuilder myself, I’ve had numerous coaches during my competitive career so I experienced what I was like to be a client of a fitness consulting service. That allowed me to experience all the pain points that I did not want my clients to go through, and learned and took notes of what was great and could be applied from a professional and behavioral standpoint.
I’ve been extremely hands-on from the very start and I couldn’t be prouder of that: from designing my own website and developing an unique online coaching system that no one else has (I tested several fitness apps and none was comprehensive enough for my services/needs), every little detail in my company and brand identity was carefully crafted and curated with my constant supervision. I can be a bit of a control freak, trust me (lol).
This year I launched Fit by Renan, my fitness app for those who are not ready to have a fitness coach just yet but still need help with training and nutrition, or just want to get started. Users have access to several workout programs divided my level and the most detailed exercise instruction videos you’ll ever watch, plus a vast amount of meal plans to help them achieve their dream bodies. I really dug deep into my own life and my struggles back when I was starting out to develop this product.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Be patient, be passionate and be ready to work HARD. Forget what you have in mind about working a lot… You will have to work 3, 4, 5x more than that. At least at the beginning. It will feel overwhelming, discouraging, but it will pay off. I had moments that I questioned my choice and whether I could succeed, but then I quickly reminded myself of why I was doing all this crazy amount of work. And in fact, if you are doing something that you truly love, it won’t feel like work. I wake up excited to do my job, counting the minutes to sit on my desk and continue to develop my businesses further.
Pricing:
- $299 for 1:1 VIP Coaching
- $14.99 for Fit by Renan (monthly subscription)
- $39.99 for Fit by Renan (quarterly subscription)
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.coachedbyrenan.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ifbbrenan
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ifbbrenan
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@coachedbyrenan
