About ViviFire Wellness

My name is Mary Smollack and I recently had the opportunity to re-evaluate my purpose.

I was working in a job that I loved, coaching people to be better versions of themselves through the lens of Lean Management  and Lean Six Sigma (LSS).

I believe that everyone has the ability to achieve their potential and reach their goals.

Is it possible to have more than one passion? I think so. Because I have a passion for health and fitness, and a passion for helping people. It is through the LSS coaching that I realized the latter. I was more interested in helping the people I was coaching learn and grow.

My desire with ViviFire Wellness LLC is to provide people an opportunity to have a personal coach to help them navigate the world of health and fitness so that they can have a healthy more vigorous life.

I traveled a lot for work and faced the challenges that the disruptive schedule and routine put on maintaining a fitness or diet routine (or starting one). I also know how working on the road or long hours in the office can take its toll on one’s overall energy levels leaving very little left to spend on family or friends on evenings or weekends. I lived it.

While I can’t change your job for you, I can help you find a set of healthy strategies that work for YOU in your life with your own unique challenges.

My Background:

I have been interested in fitness, mostly exercise, since the mid 1990s when I was getting in shape in college. I wasn’t particularly athletic, but I was interested in being fit. I developed a bit of an obsession with Linda Hamilton’s character in Terminator 2, specifically the scene in the beginning where you meet her in her cell doing pull-ups on her bed frame. That taught me that women can be strong, fit and badass.

I started belly dancing in 2002 wanting to do something cardio that wasn’t a treadmill. Also I needed to let my artistic side show. Since then I’ve taught many dance classes and workshops.

I’ve been ACE (American Council on Exercise) certified since 2005. And I’ve taught aerial pole, boot camp, and strength training circuit classes.

I finished my Precision Nutrition L1 certification in 2019. I realized that exercise is only part of the equation when getting fit. The food we eat plays a huge part. I was not reaching my goals without it. And Precision Nutrition’s philosophy rings totally true with me.

My Beliefs:

“Diets” work for weight loss (the safe ones anyway). But not every “diet” works for every body. What worked for your neighbor might not work for you.

I believe that we can change the way we eat habitually to be healthier, and not engage in temporary “dieting” to reach goals.

I use the term “diet” Often to represent the way we habitually eat. For example, a panda may have a diet of shoots and leaves. 🙂

When it comes to exercise, I think Covert Bailey said it best in his PBS Series “Fit or Fat”. He said that the “best exercise is the one that you will do”. Maybe running is great for cardio benefit. But it’s not going to help you if you don’t do it. It doesn’t help me. I don’t run.

I want to find fun things to do that are physically active for my “exercise”.

There’s more to health and fitness than just diet and exercise. There are mental and emotional components at play. Rest and recovery is a factor. And the scientists out there are still making significant discoveries in health and fitness that change the way all health professionals need to approach wellness. Fitness is a surprisingly new field of study and has many more components than diet and exercise alone.

I believe that we need to continue to learn and grow and change so that we can become the best versions of ourselves. What we learn today might change the way we need to do things tomorrow. And that’s beautiful.