The Endurance of an Elite Athlete Turned Entrepreneur with Kelly Burger

In this episode of Behind the Frame, hosts Jay Duffy and Annette Quigley sit down with two-time All-American, Team USA World Champion, and JMU Hall of Famer Kelly Berger. Kelly shares her journey from the high-stakes world of international athletics to the "messy middle" of fitness entrepreneurship, revealing what it takes to build a thriving community around a simple ethos: keep showing up.

The Athlete’s Mindset: Kelly discusses her roots as an unrecruited walk-on who used a "prove them wrong" mentality to fuel an 11-year career with Team USA. She reflects on the emotional transition of hanging up her lacrosse stick at the peak of her career and finding a new purpose in coaching others.

The COVID Pivot: When her initial loan approval for a spin studio was frozen during the 2020 lockdowns, Kelly adapted overnight. She launched virtual workouts in her kitchen, built an online presence on Instagram, and scaled Resistance Fitness into an on-demand platform before opening her flagship brick-and-mortar location, Resistance Cycle, in Baltimore's Harbor Point.

Scaling Beyond a Single Specialty: Facing shifting fitness trends, Kelly outlines her business strategy for expanding her studio’s offerings beyond cycle classes. She details how rearranging floor plans and adding strength and bar programming allowed her to maximize customer retention and adapt to the post-pandemic market.

Overcoming Perfectionism and Burnout: Kelly offers a candid look at the daily realities of balancing motherhood with scaling a business. She explains why perfectionism is an early-stage trap that wastes valuable time, advocating instead for delegating tasks, stepping back to lead, and embracing the valuable lessons found in every "failed effort."