Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in Balance, the 2015 Sound Fitness & Health Guide.

BY LESLIE KELLY

She’s been working out since seventh grade, at about the time Jazzercise came out.

But through a calling from God, Rebecca Diehl has made her passion for exercise and her passion for people into a business.

Diehl, who says she’s “over 40,” became certified as a personal trainer almost five years ago by the National Federation of Professional Trainers.

She instructs clients at Westcoast Fitness in Port Orchard and in clients’ homes.

It all started very innocently, she said.

“There was one of those local ‘Biggest Loser’ contests and a woman I know asked me to help her,” Diehl said. “She was a teacher and knew that I worked out a lot.

“After that, the owner of the gym where I worked out said they needed trainers and asked me if was I certified. I wasn’t but I thought ‘I’ve always done it and I’ve always been into it but I never said it out loud.’ So I prayed about it and I figured out that this was my calling.”

Her work isn’t just helping clients learn about physical exercise. It’s a combination of emotional, spiritual and physical work.

“Everybody knows that there’s more to it just working out,” she said. “You have to look at what’s making the person want to improve themselves and their goals are.”

She refers to that as her Cheez-It lesson.

“I tell my clients that they are too valuable to eat Cheez-Its over and over,” she said. “If they truly understand how valuable they are, then they’ll make time for exercise and they’ll begin to treat themselves better.”

She also knows that when life gets busy, exercise is one of the things that falls by the wayside.

“The first thing to go is exercise,” she said. “The second thing is quiet time and the third is our diet.”

Even she faces that sometimes.

“When that happens, I make my husband drag me to the gym,” she said. “It’s especially hard in January when it’s dark and gray.”

Diehl has lived in Port Orchard for 17 years and is originally from San Diego. She and her family relocated to Port Orchard for her husband’s construction job. They have four sons, ages 20, 18, 16, and 12. When her boys were young, she had an in-home gym, but as soon as they were old enough to be left alone, she’d head to the gym for a hour.

Now, in addition to working with clients from 10 to 16 sessions a week, she personally works out from five to six hours a week. She runs and walks and does strength training.

Clients can sign up for an hour a week, three hours a week, or even just once a month. Programs are based on the person’s individual needs and goals. Each session is $45 an hour.

She also has a physical therapist she consults when she’s working with clients with special needs, such as recovering from injury. She studies the most recent scientific findings regarding exercise and tells her clients to “work smarter, not harder.”

Diehl considers her job an opportunity to help others.

“It’s who I am, not what I do,” she said. “It’s my passion.”