Long before fitness became her profession, movement was how Catherine Reisen, also known as Coach Cat, had fun. Tennis, running and swimming were part of family life from around age seven. Cross country, track, soccer and swimming followed through high school and college, before running and triathlons carried that athletic thread into adulthood.
Her coaching career began in her early thirties, when a personal passion found a different purpose. Helping others become fitter and healthier, she recalls, was “beyond rewarding”. The satisfaction came not just from participating in sport herself, but from helping someone else discover what they could do.
Today, Reisen works as a performance and lifestyle coach at DBC FITNESS in Miami. She is also a certified menopause specialist, with a practice that considers the demands and changes of a client’s life alongside their training goals.
The hour is only part of the picture
About three years into her career, Reisen began to rethink what it took to make progress sustainable. Training mattered, but it could not be separated from everything surrounding it. “If you wanted to get true results you needed to have a healthy lifestyle”, she explains.
That realization still informs her work. Training and nutrition sit alongside stress management, sleep and recovery, rather than operating as separate conversations. Her approach is less about adding more demands than helping clients find a balance they can maintain.
Her programs include personalized training, postural alignment assessments, online coaching and support around perimenopause and menopause. The common thread is attention to the individual, with a plan that accounts for more than what happens during a workout.
For Reisen, that broader perspective is also a business principle. Coaches need to “build more than a 1-hr training session”, she argues. The value lies in the detail of the service, the ability to listen and the investment in a person’s wellbeing. “Be vested in your clients and care for their wellbeing”, she advises.
Staying curious without chasing every trend
Two decades in the industry have taught Reisen that experience does not give a coach permission to stop learning. “As a fitness professional you can’t get too comfortable”, she says. Staying useful means continuing to develop ways to work with clients while navigating changing diet trends and expectations.
What encourages her now is the attention people are giving their health. She sees clients asking more questions about what they consume, where their food comes from and how it is prepared. In her view, wellness is becoming a more considered investment, rather than a conversation limited to exercise.
But she is wary of the promises competing for that attention. Fad supplements, products marketed around sweeping results and AI-generated people selling an appearance all give her pause. Her concern is the distance between what is being presented and what is realistic for the people watching.
That tension makes the role of an attentive, informed coach more relevant to her, not less. Keeping skills current matters, but so does knowing how to help someone assess the noise.
A practice with a wider circle
Looking ahead, Reisen sees coaching becoming more connected to other health disciplines. She already works with holistic doctors, physical therapists, chiropractors, soft tissue specialists and fellow fitness professionals, drawing on those resources when clients need them.
“I would like to be a part of that as things evolve and science changes”, she says of a more comprehensive, collaborative future. For her, expanding the scope of coaching does not mean doing everything herself. It means building a practice with the knowledge, relationships and care to support the person beyond the session.
Meet the coach: @coachedbycat | Coached by Cat
