Behind One Austin Woman’s Transformation In And Out Of The Gym

Chelsea Reyes is in her best era.

Three years ago, the 33-year-old Austin native gave up a comfortable office job with the City of Austin to build an online coaching and fitness platform alongside business partner Cedric Zachary, who heads Barbell Baddies.

Today, she works with clients to transform their bodies, coach them 1-on-1, and bring a dash of wellness and holistic health to their lives.

But, of course, Reyes doesn’t turn a blind eye to her fitness, either.

In July, she scored a win in the Novice B category for the women’s wellness division at the NPC Republic of Texas Championships, a bodybuilding competition held at the Fairmont Hotel in Austin. “I use the gym as a healthy outlet to improve myself,” said Reyes, who’s built robust social media followings on Instagram and TikTok under the account @ibuildbaddies. “It makes me believe that I can do anything that I put my mind to.”

Most days, you can find Reyes inside House of Gainz, the independently owned Central Texas gym with two locations in Austin and another in Georgetown. If she’s not working with a client, she’s working on herself.

And if she’s doing neither, she’s shooting content.

By September, she’s working toward hosting her first master class with Barbell Baddies. The goal is to deliver tips, guidance, and tools to help her clients become 1-percent better in all ways of life.

Reyes is one of the many emerging voices on the Central Texas fitness scene.

“I’ve invested a lot of my time, energy and effort into this,” she says.

But this isn’t just a story about success. It’s a story about redemption, too.

Facing Life’s Biggest Challenge

Reyes talks openly about her past struggles, and about her sobriety.

What she’s learned over the last three years is that there are levels to this—that true healing is a journey and not a destination.

What helps her stay disciplined, she says, is acceptance.

She needs to remember the bad times to understand how they will educate her future.

So, that moment 11 years ago when the court made her check into a year-long mandated drug program to face her problem head-on?

That was the reality check Reyes needed.

After getting through that period, though, she faced more deep-rooted issues.

“I used alcohol as a numbing and coping mechanism,” she said. “There was a lot of anger inside, and alcohol doesn’t tell you no. It can be your best friend.”

So next, she vowed to give up the bottle. She was a year sober when she learned how addiction cares for no one. That it sometimes begs to come back in your life.

It was Easter Sunday when she was forced to restart.

But the worst part? She let her daughter down.

Finding a Way Forward

That next moment taught her two things: that addiction can hit you at any time, regardless of promises made or kept; and secondly, that she would do everything in her power to make her daughter proud.

“I got so stuck and wanted to get out so bad,” she said.

Reyes took a leap forward and joined Alcoholics Anonymous. There, she took steps to work on herself and found a sponsor. “I’m really trying my hardest to defeat this internal demon I’m battling,” she says.

Maybe that decision is why she turned to fitness. It was the one good thing in her life that never let her down.

Her first bodybuilding competition was in 2020. While it was during a period in her life when she was still broken, there were net positives from it. A coach helped her lose weight and get healthier. Then, after finding hope through fitness, she began to realize how much it inspired her.

Soon enough, her body transformed, and she became more of a staple in bodybuilding competitions—competing in National Physique Committee (NPC) events.

Then she partnered with Zachary, became a coach, and started working with clients to transform their bodies.

Sometimes, her testimony became a resource to motivate them. Other times, it became the background music in her own life.

“There’s a lot of mental work that happens when you start doing bodybuilding and working toward a specific aesthetic,” Reyes said. “These past six years, I’ve been able to put on muscle, I’ve been able to master my diet and condition …and I’ll tell you what, one thing I’ve learned is that you cannot believe everything your mind tells you.”

Chelsea Reyes is a fitness and wellness coach in Austin, Texas. Photo Credit: Cory Mull/Austin Fit Magazine

Chelsea Reyes’ Plans for the Future

It’s fair to say now that Reyes is a different person.

Healthier, sure. But in more ways than one.

Her daughter, who’s 13, hasn’t missed a single bodybuilding competition her mom has been a part of. Reyes has photos from each of her shows to prove it.

“My No. 1 power is being a role model for my daughter,” Reyes said. “That’s the driving force of like why I started this in the first place. When I was down at my rock bottom, I was not being a good role model for my daughter.

“As she got older, I woke up every single day, and I questioned myself, ‘What can I do today to show her that, if she can put her mind through something, she can do anything. How am I going to represent what I want my daughter to be when she grows up?”

Three years after her last drink, Reyes has stood by that promise.

When she’s in the gym, whether by herself or with a client, there’s an ownership of her fate.

She’s building @ibuildbaddies into a platform she feels she would have wanted during her darkest days. Along with Zachary, Reyes provides in-depth coaching, weekly check-ins, and structured outlines for her clients. There are community support groups, and ways to stay connected.

Sometimes, she lets a part of her past life inform her present. Like in July, when she posted a side-by-side of herself: one when she was fighting those demons, and another more current version.

“I celebrate every single adversity it took to get here,” she wrote, “and I celebrate every single person that saw every version of me and still gave me grace and loved me unconditionally.”

In September, the next road ahead for Reyes is her master class. Like a true boss.

“I’m going to act on it,” she says. “I act on the opportunity now. If somebody tells you, ‘Hey, I think you should do this,’ I jump at it. I bring it to life. We’re going to make it happen.”