Everyone is stuck inside these days, but that’s not a reason to not stay in shape and keep your body looking its best!
Enter into the picture Chania Ray, a former Division I basketball player at West Virginia who is now taking her talents to teaching everyone via social media and online how to look their very best from her current home in New Jersey.
Through her partnership with HeatXtreme and their HEAT Challenges, Chania has been taking social media by storm with her booty programs and hot workouts.
The Levity Ball spoke with Chania about her workouts, HeatXtreme and her love of New York!
We need to start off and ask: Why do you feel 2020 is the “Year of The Rear”?!
2020 has been a year of memories to say they least. I think this year has been interesting for a lot of people but I’ve been blessed enough to find a way at making the most of it. A lot of people have been slapped by reality which is much needed every now and then. I feel like this years purpose unintentionally or intentionally, who knows anymore…was to simply prepare us for the worse. We have to stay ready for anything that comes our way because some things are out of our control.
What exercises have you found truly help people – both males and females – to shape their back ends better?
My favorite exercises to work glutes for men and women are squats, hip thrusts, donkey kick pulses, cable kick backs, lunges, and deadlifts. I genuinely love working glutes and lower body and I wish it was healthy to work those muscles everyday because I would. Since we’re on the topic, fellas, its okay to work your gluts as well and it’s not only unique to women. To anyone looking to enhance they’re glutes I have an amazing booty program that you can find at heatxtreme.com in the heat challenge that offers a $5,000 cash prize or sold by itself.
How did you first realize you could help people train and why have you become so passionate about it?
As a former Division 1 athlete, I accumulated a lot of knowledge over the years when it comes to training and finding out what works for me and my body. My mom was always considered “obese” and the doctors also told her that she would never be able to lose weight due to her underlying health issues. I took it upon myself to help her make changes to her lifestyle and we started her transformation journey February 24th, 2018 and by September 9th, 2018 she was down 92.8 pounds. The next time she went to the doctor they told her that she added a few more years onto her life by simply dropping weight and changing her eating habits. This moment alone made me realize that training and helping people was my passion because it came so easy to me and there was never a dull moment throughout her journey.
You are the female face behind the HeatXtreme brand. How did you get involved with this company?
Darrel Patterson AKA DP reached out to me via IG asking if I wanted to be a sponsored athlete back in April or May of 2020 and I picked his brain a little to see what all it entailed. It just so happened that a couple days later he had an event in Dallas (where I was at the time) and my boyfriend and I were able to make it out to his pop up class to kind of meet him physically which was hard to do with cover going on. HeatXtreme happened to be filming the booty program for the upcoming heat challenge that following week and my schedule coincidentally was open for the dates they were shooting. During the shoot I met the team and pretty much kicked it off from there.
What HeatXtreme Challenges have you been doing and which of their HeatPerformance supplements have you been using?
I do exercises from all of the challenges but I always incorporate my booty program that’s within the heat challenge. As far as supplements I love all of them but my favorites that are used on a daily basis are Collagen, Greens, MAXX and on lifting days I take BCAAs. Sometimes when I need an extra push I’ll take our pre workout but energy is rarely a problem for me especially with take max every morning.
You are living now here in New Jersey. What about NJ do you love so much about?
I love Jersey because my family is near by and I’m a huge family person. They’re only an hour and a half away so they’re able to come up every weekend if they wanted to. Outside of having my family close, Jersey is an overall good area that is full of opportunity.
What is your advice to others who want to get into personal training and growing their social media accounts like you have?
The best advice I can give to anybody looking to get into personal training is to believe in your self, become as knowledgeable as you can, and most importantly, be your own walking billboard. Personal training is a hard industry because everyone is in shape, healthy, and has the same goals but find out what’s going to separate you as an individual and know that the sky is the limit. Honestly the same applies when trying to grow your social media. Having an influence is simply about that. What is going to make somebody want to follow you? Show your followers the real and not just what they want to see. People don’t want to see perfect pictures, perfect lifestyles, and people that have it all figured out. Just be you all the time and the right people will come along.
What is the best advice anyone ever gave you?
The best advice I’ve ever received is be your biggest fan. Theres going to be so many obstacles in the way (people, life, etc) but at the end of the day, you have to stay true to who you are. Without you, you are nothing.
What are you most looking forward to after COVID-19 calms down?
Getting back to personal training. Ive been trying to get into virtual training but scheduling gets complicated with people all over the country. I just can’t wait to physically help people and not only tech them what they have to do but show them as well. I enjoy working out with some of my clients so they are a little more comfortable during their sessions.
And final question: What do you want to be remembered for overall when people look back at who you are as a person?
I want to be remembered as someone that’s genuine and transparent. I don’t sugar coat anything and most importantly I allow people to see my flaws because we all have them. Nobody is perfect and sometimes the media portrays things one way when they’re really another. If you take anything from me let it be, stay true to you.
