“Immediately, the class ended and I bombarded her with questions about becoming a fitness  instructor, and within the next week, I was signed up and getting ready to go to my first session of training,” Kiliddjian said. “From that moment on, I knew that it was something that I had to be a part of.”

After just a semester of instructing, Kiliddjian knew she wanted to be more involved and applied to be a student assistant. This meant 20-hour workweeks, coordinating events and fitness outreach, payroll and other new responsibilities — all on top of teaching classes. 

“The jump from being a fitness instructor to a fitness instructor and a student assistant was a transition,” she said. “But it was amazing and so worth it. It was a whole new level of responsibility within Fitness & Wellness.”

Starting in the fall, Kiliddjian will study to earn her master’s degree in public health at Texas A&M with a concentration in health, promotion, and community health sciences.

“I’ll be learning about health behavior, how to promote health, and stuff like that, and hopefully be able to make a career out of Fitness & Wellness,” Kiliddjian said.

A psychology undergrad, Kiliddjian decided to pursue an education in public health after falling in love with the fitness industry during her two years with Rec Sports.

“Psychology is still important to me and I think it’s going to be beneficial in my master’s program and in life,” she said. “But my love for Fitness & Wellness grew through this job and I knew that it had to be in my future.”

While her job at Rec Sports has helped mold her long-term goals, it’s also continuously shaping her day-to-day routine. She usually starts in the office, working on behind-the-scenes projects — from events to outreach.

“A day at work for me looks really fun,” Kiliddjian said. “I organize a lot of the ins and outs, and then I go and teach a class, and then I walk right back up to the office and I do more work.”

Kiliddjian teaches HIIT, Pilates, Pilates reformer, cycle, and cycle strength intervals throughout the week. Her most recent addition is a Pilates reformer class, which brought unique challenges to coaching and new equipment to work with.

“I started teaching my first pilates reformer class this past January and that has been so much fun,” she said. “Using this gigantic, intricate machine to teach my classes has taken instructing to a whole other level for me.”

But as much as she’s learning from the newer classes, the first one she ever instructed, Fri-YAY HIIT, still stands out as a favorite.

“The connection that I have with my participants in that Friday HIIT class is unlike any other,” she said. “I have a lot of regulars, so I’ve gotten to really develop a good friendship with all of my participants.”

And the relationship goes both ways — Kiliddjian guides participants through their fitness journey, and their commitment motivates her to be the best instructor she can be. 

“I’m helping them, but more importantly, they’re helping me,” Kiliddjian said. “When you have to walk in at 7:30 in the morning to teach a HIIT class, it can feel daunting. But, the second that I see my participants, I am filled with all of this energy from them. My favorite part about being a fitness instructor is showing up for them because they show up for themselves and for me.”

Feedback also goes both ways during group fitness classes, and Kiliddjian strives to create an environment where both praise and critiques are welcome and productive. 

“I take a lot of pride in making sure that I’m providing an effective and safe class, all while just being a whole lot of fun,” she said.

Kiliddjian has had to learn how to make corrections in a group setting with a microphone — making sure participants still feel comfortable and respected — and get comfortable herself with feedback from participants about the class.

“I’ve learned so many little different tips and tricks on how to make sure I’m giving each participant the attention and feedback that they need as they’re going through the workout,” she said. “And vice versa, I need the feedback so that I can grow as an instructor.”

That direct interaction with participants is part of what makes instructing so special to Kiliddjian. As a student assistant, she also gets to build those connections with the other student instructors — peers she normally wouldn’t get to work with when she was only teaching classes. 

“Being a fitness instructor can be a pretty flying-solo job,” Kiliddjian said. “My job [as] a student assistant is to communicate with the other staff. Whether it’s just about how they have to submit their payroll or RSVP to an event, every email back and forth counts. We’re building toward something.”

Similarly, Kiliddjian communicates daily with her professional staff supervisors. This, along with developing as an instructor, has helped her enhance a wide range of skills.

“I come to work and I learn so much and go home with so much more knowledge than when I walked into the Rec that day,” she said. “My directors are so informative and they pour into me so well. I definitely have learned problem-solving, conflict resolution, and how communication plays into that.”

At the end of the day, Fitness & Wellness is an industry she fell in love with — so much so that it drove her to alter her academic goals. It’s a network of connections, from participants to student and professional staff. As she puts it, it was fate.

“It’s really the greatest thing,” Kiliddjian said. “Regardless of how hard of a day at work it is, how busy we are, I walk out of the Rec always feeling so blessed to have this job because it really is like no other.”

Written by: Claire Frazier