Bowflex Barbie aims to touch the world through fitness | Loop Caribbean News

Dekel Quant started going to the gym at the age of 14 to accompany his father after the death of his mother from breast cancer.

Today, the Bahamian is a fitness guru with her own youtube platform encourage people throughout the Caribbean to take control of their health.

Known as Bowflex Barbie, Quant says she just wants to touch the world.

“I want to have a team, I want to bring other coaches under my brand not only here in the Bahamas but from all over and I want to continue to expand in the online space. I want to travel to different places, do tours and just continue to grow and have merchandise,” the 29-year-old Freeport native tells Loop News. He recently took on a new coach on his team.

It was at his brother’s urging after their mother’s death that Quant and his father began going to the gym. He says it was therapy that he didn’t know he needed.

“A couple of months after my mother passed away, my brother kept nagging my father to go to the gym and my father relented and asked me to go with him too because it would be good for me,” he recalls.

“It was a great space for my dad and I to really bond without having to talk too much. I was close to my mom, she taught at my elementary school, so when she passed it forced me to get closer to my dad, she opened up the space for us to bond and the gym was the first step towards that,” says Quant. .

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It was in college that he started getting serious about fitness.

“I was very consistent in college and my friends started asking me to coach them. Even when I was home during breaks, people were saying that I should start training them and my father encouraged me to get into the fitness space. My brother opened a supplement retail store, so my dad thought it would be a good idea to get into the training space,” she says.

In college, one of her friends nicknamed her Bowflex Barbie and the name stuck.

She says that when she decided to accept clients, she kept the name of her business.

In 2012, Quant held his first training camp and in 2014, after finishing college, he started competing.

“I did a pageant my senior year in college and tried the stage and said I could do this. He gave my training a bit more purpose and pushed me a bit more. I started competing in 2015 and have been competing ever since in the figure category,” says Quant, who took gold in his first year in the CAC.

“That was a great start. I won two national titles in the Bahamas in 2016 and 2017 and have since competed in the United States and Canada. At my last show in Toronto, I won the bronze medal.”

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As she builds her brand, Quant says the discipline and structure she’s acquired has carried over into her life as an entrepreneur.

“Fitness is the perfect metaphor for life,” he says. “You only get what you put in.”

Speaking about her YouTube channel, Quant says that when she decided to return home after college, she didn’t want the boundaries of her country to define her, so she came up with the idea of ​​extending her brand online.

“The goal is to help and reach as many people as possible,” she says.

He started doing events and recently held the Bahamas Fit Fest in Nassau, where he lives. The event brought together fitness enthusiasts from around the world for the weekend fitness retreat that featured local and international trainers.

Through her website, Bowflex Barbie Fitness, people can access nutrition information, virtual classes, personal training and more.

His YouTube channel features exercises for beginners and advanced workouts, as well as interviews and a documentary called Stage Ready that documents his preparation for bodybuilding. Her husband Ethan Quant. shot the documentary.

“He has wanted to document my journey for a while and last year I said yes. He loves documentaries and movies because he works in media. He just wanted to do it and I agreed. I followed his vision and his editor did a good job of telling the story from the point of view of someone who is not familiar with bodybuilding. He wanted to get relatable elements out of the journey, the support and the discipline,” he explains.

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Quant describes his training style as very attractive.

Just as exercising was her therapy, she acknowledges that she does the same for others.

“I always tell people that we almost became therapists because so many of my clients come to me and I clear up a lot of their problems whether they admit it or not,” he says.

“My training style is very attractive, I am not aggressive. You’ll get a good workout, but I want to hear about you, about your day, and create a space for you. You release endorphins when you exercise, so whether you know it or not, you’re helping people relieve stress. It is not something that I affirm, but I recognize that I have to create an environment for them to obtain that benefit.”

His advice to those embarking on a fitness journey is to have a clear understanding of your why.

“It would be difficult; there will be obstacles and hits. Having a strong why is the base and knowing how to block out the noise, anyone who distracts you, the haters that come, family or friends, knowing that what you do is for you and that you are on a journey. for you and no one else,” advises Quant.

“Ever since I was 14 years old, people told me not to do too much, but if I didn’t have the support system that I had as my dad, I probably would have listened to them and I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing today. . Just because you don’t see results and rewards right away doesn’t mean it’s not working. Consistency is important.”

While helping others is a huge driving factor, a big part of your motivation to stay fit is avoiding cancer.

Stating that her family has a strong history of the disease, she says that as she grew older she wanted to put herself in the best position to prevent it or fight it if she was diagnosed.

She says with a smile, “I definitely keep that in mind when I make food decisions. I work out six days a week, but I’m human, I still want to eat the delicious, greasy food.”

Follow Bowflex Barbie on YouTube at Bowflex Barbie Gym TV or visit their website at bowflexbarbie.com