Meet Riza Ayson | 9Round Kickboxing Owner/Trainer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Riza Ayson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Riza, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I have been in fitness all my life… starting in college teaching aerobics for Loyola and Tulane Rec Centers. I have every certification from step aerobics, spin, personal training, aqua aerobics, etc.. At first it was just a hobby and after college entered the corporate world using my marketing and communications degree working for big advertising agencies– which lead me to media sales. After about 15 years, I began to feel tired of the rat race, flying every week, wearing suits and going to meeting after meeting.

In 2013, I had my first baby and had gained 50 pounds with her. I was a fitness instructor, ran multiple marathons and I thought it was going to be easy to lose the weight. Well being 39 with my first child- that was NOT the case. That’s when I was introduced to kickboxing and fell in love! I was able to lose my last 20 pounds in 3 short months doing this HIIT, kickboxing circuit… and it was only 30 minutes! After the 3 months… I began looking at opening my own franchise studio and 5 months later– I opened up my studio in Fountain Valley California!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I grew up in a small town called Pensacola, Florida. I was 1 of 5 kids growing up in a military, catholic household and in high school- I was determined to break out and move to a bigger city. We didn’t have much money so I got a scholarship to Loyola University in New Orleans, where I lived for 15 years– until Hurricane Katrina hit- not the biggest hurricane to hit but definitely one that caused the most damage because the levees broke and put much of the city underwater.

At the time, I was going through a divorce and lost 2 homes- one that my ex-husband and I owned together and one that I just bought 3 weeks before the storm. It took my 8 months after I was able to get back in the city (I was displaced for 2 months) to sell my houses and take care of everything and then I headed out West to California- this is the only other place I had family and I was done with New Orleans. I didn’t have anything left so I thought… why not give it shot!

So I packed up everything I had in my Subaru and drove out to Los Angeles. After couch surfing for a couple of months and starting my life over– I finally landed a job back in media sales. I did this for about 4 years until I met someone and decided to settle down in Orange County where he was from. At the age of 39, I had my first baby – Layla Rose Lovin.

Up until this time, I still made fitness a priority and continued to get different certifications. But after having my child and turning 40… it was definitely harder to stay in shape. After I was introduced to kickboxing and opened up my studio- I wanted to advance in kickboxing so went up to Los Angeles and trained under Cary Williams- a professional boxer- and received my boxing Level 1 and Level 2 Boxing Coach Certification. Most recently, I completed a 200 hour Hot Yoga certification and now teach a hot yoga class once a week, which has helped my performance at my kickboxing studio and has been great to help prevent injuries.

I never thought that my career would have evolved the way it has. I can say with confidence that you are never too old to learn new things or start a new career. My college degree has helped me with my business but I took a passion that I had and turned it into a career. My studio has been opened now for 8 years and it has been the one thing that I have done that has fulfilled me in so many ways- especially in helping people get healthy and to be a better version of themselves. It has been an incredible journey and I would never trade the relationships I have made, the community I have built and the numerous transformation stories for anything!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I live in Costa Mesa so the first thing I would do is grab bikes and take them on a long bike ride to check out Huntington beach! We would take the river trail all the way down to where it dumps you out to PCH near the Brookhurst entrance of the beach and we would ride North all the way up to the Huntington Beach Pier.

Next we would check out some of the best places to hike– my favorite would be the Top of the World in Laguna followed by the hikes near Crescent Cove in El Morro Canyon.

Then we would go to Pacific City in Huntington Beach and check out the cute shops and eateries inside and then have a drink at Ola Mexican Restaurant on the 2nd floor while we watched the sunset.

I would take her to the Korean I-Spa– my favorite spa in Orange County! Inside we would get a scrub/facial/massage (the best ever!) and then soak in all the tubs, do a cold plunge, sweat it out in the different spa rooms (fire room, salt room, clay room) and then dine in their amazing cafe with the heated floors!

I am a theater lover and I enjoy going to watch shows or listen to music at the Segrestrom Theater! Its such a lovely venue and they have amazing shows/acts/musical events here!

Downtown Santa Ana is also one of my favorite hang out places because I love the diversity there and all the LIVE music you can listen to just walking around the area. There are so many great places to eat and I love looking at all the graffiti art and going into the cute little shops sprinkled between the restaurants!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My shoutout goes to my daughter, Layla Rose Lovin. She was my inspiration to jump into the world of entrepreneurship… to make a living do what I love and to help other mothers out there realize they can get back into shape with this concept of no class times (the class starts when you get there) and that you only need 30 minutes of training– not 2 hours like I I used to do with my running and other activities. Running a gym is hard and its in a male dominated world– but as long as you put your mind to it, eliminate all the noise and believe in yourself- you can do anything!

Website: https://www.9round.com/locations/ca/fountain-valley/brookhurst-st

Instagram: @9roundbrookhurst

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rizaayson/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/9round18595BrookhurstStreetFountainValleyCA

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/9round-fitness-fountain-valley

Other: https://g.page/gym-fountain-valley?share