Access and Barriers to True Wellness in the Fitness Industry with Bianca Russo

Nov 22, 2021

In this episode, Anna Mackay and Elizabeth Davenport are joined by Bianca Russo, the owner of Bianca Russo Fitness which is a fitness community where you can be physically active in the absence of unsolicited diet-talk and weight-loss talk. She also implements Health at Every Size® principles. Her marginalized queer identity is the voice behind all of her training. We highlight access and barriers to wellness in the fitness industry. We also discuss: 

• Fatphobia and ableism as barriers to accessing health through fitness 
• Ways to push back on the fitness culture narrative that is primarily centered around weight loss
• Weight stigma in the fitness world
• How we can move toward a world where someone in a marginalized body can access mainstream fitness and there isn’t an automatic assumption that the person is there to pursue weight loss
• What would happen if the fitness industry transitioned into the world of HAES®? What would happen to industry profits? 
• Thoughts on body positivity

HAES pledge-signer, Bianca Russo, is a NASM certified personal trainer. She's based in Washington, D.C. but works exclusively online for a specific community: plus-sized LGBTQIA2S+ humans. Bianca's delivery of fitness coaching is filtered with an awareness of trauma and eating disorders with the intention of empowering survivors to focus on changing their approach to fitness instead of changing their bodies. This holistic space promises that accommodations are always available and that sliding scale is an option for those who request it. Follow @biancarussofitness on Instagram or reach out through the website: www.biancarussofitness.com 

Links: 

• Bianca Russo Fitness
• Justice Roe’s Instagram account
• Ilya Parker’s Instagram account
• Jesamyn Stanley
• Bodies are Cool 
• Sunny Side Up Nutrition Podcast 
• Lutz, Alexander & Associates Nutrition Therapy
• Pinney Davenport Nutrition