A Hole-Istic Perspective

A pointed focus on fitness, strength and resilience is certainly at the forefront of Jackson Hole living. We invest a significant amount of energy into preparing for grandiose outdoor adventures, but a less frequent conversation is what happens when we are physically or mentally incapable of pursuing your backcountry endeavors. In a town where health and vitality are as much about the spirit as they are about the body, Maggie Nelsen is a personal trainer who is redefining what it means to achieve holistic wellness.

Maggie, originally from Philadelphia, is well-acquainted with the devastating feeling of what it’s like to suffer from injuries in a town as active and adventurous as Jackson Hole. She was an All-American rugby athlete in college, and was on the verge of playing in the Women’s Premier League in New York when “I tore my ACL in the last seven seconds of my last game senior year,” she reminisces. “Definitely poor timing. And then I had to face not feeling like I had my identity as a really talented athlete anymore.”

With a background in sports science and a passion for integrative wellness, that injury kickstarted her journey to where she is now: running her own business called Valence Training and focusing on helping others as the personal trainer and rehab assistant she wish she had back then. “It was one of the most isolating experiences of my life,” she explains, sympathizing with athletes who are muddling through injured strife in a town where many feel that their worth is directly related to their ‘sendiness’ in their particular sports.

“A lot of athletes don’t really know where to start when they get injured; they just fall into this dark hole of hopelessness when they can’t have the one sport they know.” She opines that the best thing in those moments is to maintain your ability to play. “I think it’s really unique to Jackson that so many adults pursue such fun hobbies,” she says, expounding that in times of injury and set-back, it is most important to find other modalities and move your body in new ways that can help your brain manage and emerge unmarred, and your body to emerge healed and stronger than it was before.

“Find a resource that helps you become comfortable in a gym setting or strength train on your own. There are so many books, podcasts, videos out there with really great information, and even a few sessions with a trainer can help get you started.” Maggie describes countless instances of athletes coming to her out of hopelessness and despair when they felt at a loss for how to progress. “I love watching their progress in the gym and watching the mental shift between gloom and hopelessness and deep dark frustration to, wow! This is something that’s going to help me move past this injury and not get injured in the future.”

For Maggie, wellness transcends the physical, and this is clear in her clientele and the folks she enjoys working with the most: women, postpartum women, high school athletes (especially young girls) and adaptive athletes. “For example, I have a high school athlete who just graduated,” she says. “She went from learning how to do basic movements to being able to clean (a technical weightlifting movement) more than 120% of her body weight within two years, which is huge! I love seeing the confidence in these women that I work with.”

Many who have never stepped into a gym space before may to relate to the sensation of overwhelm that hits you when you walk in; it’s one she relishes in demolishing for her athletes. “Strength training has given me such confidence and autonomy, and being able to pass that along in a traditionally male-dominated space is one of my favorite aspects of my job.”

Her approach is rooted in the belief that, in order to progress, you must treat your body and yourself gently, intentionally and as a holistic being. When asked to dispel one major misconception in the gym space, Maggie says: “It would be that weight and body fat are inherently related to health. There is so much pressure in our society to be a certain level of leanness, especially as an athlete, and I think one of the common misconceptions is that lower body fat percentage is inherently linked to higher metrics of health. That’s just not true.” She instead focuses on other critical metrics: sleep, diet, mental health, cardiovascular health, social life, family and friendships. “All of these are so much more important than body weight!”

As Maggie looks towards the future, her vision remains steadfast: to continue breaking down the barriers between physical and mental health and to cultivate a culture of holistic wellness. Her work is a testament to the power of integrating fitness with mindfulness, proving that true wellness is a journey — one that she is dedicated to guiding others through, one strength training session at a time.