Sarah Burbey: Founder

Hi! My name is Sarah, but in the fitness world, people just call me Burbey (my last name). I’m the Founder of Relentless Fitness!

I was an athlete through school, so health and fitness has always been important to me, but it wasn’t until 2013 that I began a career in it.

In July of 2012, my son auditioned for and was invited to attend a rad school here in Vegas. We packed up our Florida home and made the trek across the country with 4 of us in tow, and our chocolate lab, Timon. The kids settled quickly into their new lives and were both thriving, but at home, the family I had worked so hard to nurture for 13 years was crumbling around me.

Shortly after arriving in Vegas, I learned about my husband’s long-time infidelity. I quickly needed to figure out how to navigate a new town with two kids, no income, a single friend, very little support and no recent work history (I had been a stay-at-home Mom in Florida).

During those first several months, I spent a lot of time on my closet floor, hiding from my kids while trying to purge the pain of betrayal and loss with gut wrenching sobs. I didn’t understand how any of this could happen and I had no idea how I was going to take care of Caleb (14) and Rory (7).

I decided to go back to school. I figured getting an education would be the best way to financially take care of things, but after only 2 semesters and a Nursing Assistant Certification, I had to pull out and find a better job.

Meanwhile, I got sick and tired of that closet floor. Hiding in there mourning wasn’t helping anything. I saw an ad for EōS offering a couple sessions of personal training at a discounted price. I figured a couple days with a trainer would get me reacquainted with a gym enough for me to find my way around okay and use it as an outlet to release some of my anger and feelings of hopelessness.

I arrived at my scheduled time and shook hands with the trainer assigned to me. He quickly said, “wait right here” and walked away. A few minutes later, he came back, threw boxing gloves at my face, and said, “it looks like you need to hit something”.

That was the day I fell in love with boxing.

I didn’t know what I was doing and I’m sure I looked ridiculous wailing on my trainer’s mitts, but it felt so good! I left that first session and went searching for a gym that specialized in hitting shit…and I found my future.

I was a TERRIBLE kickboxer at first, but I was passionate and energetic. Hitting a bag got me off my closet floor for good. No more tears for me. It was time to FIGHT!

Within a year, I was running that kickboxing studio as their manager. I chose an amazing Team to work alongside me, and we made that place SHINE! The Team became my family, and the members became my friends. No one really knew what was going on in my personal life, but I had my support system now. I knew my kids and I would be okay. We were finding our way.

I was there for several years and loved every single teammate and member, but my soul started to feel heavy and gross. I left in 2017 due to a difference in core values and beliefs.

I landed at another gym and was the GM of their Southwest location. This time, there was no kickboxing (which I missed horribly) but I was able to expand my expertise and learn all kinds of new things in a bootcamp structured atmosphere. The leaders around me were the best in the Valley. I learned so much from them! And once again, the members became my friends.

I was there for a couple years and then had to resign my position due to an awful back injury that had made it impossible for me to teach the way that I wanted to. I took a couple years off from teaching group classes to handle my physical therapy and get my back ready to grind again. During that time, I focused more on personal training, and I got certified in Life Coaching. It has been great to have that unique education and be able to help people in a new capacity. There’s so much more to maintaining health than eating the right foods and going to the gym. Your mental health and self-care regime also need to be on point to really reach your fullest potential. Due to my back injury, I was able to learn that and fine tune my ability to help others blow right past their goals, both mentally and physically.

I was given the opportunity to start teaching kickboxing again in 2021 and that relit my fire, my passion for teaching group classes. In 2022, I added a second kickboxing gym to my schedule and was flip-flopping between the two.

You know that feeling you get when you are CERTAIN beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are in the space that was meant for you? That’s how I feel when I’m doing my thing in the fitness world, like I was born to help people in this way and at this time in my life. Even when my world is filled with chaos, if I’m out there helping people, showing them how strong and capable they are, I sit in a peaceful space, KNOWING I am exactly where I belong.

In early 2023, nearly a decade after my personal trainer from EōS threw boxing gloves at me, I was given the opportunity to open my own gym and on April 17th, 2023, Relentless Fitness opened its doors for the first time.

I am still very much a baby gym owner. Every single day is busy and exhausting and confusing, and my brain is fried ALL the time, but it’s also insanely rewarding and creatively challenging in ways I’ve never experienced, and I love it. Being a gym owner demands more of me than I ever imagined, but every day I wake up knowing with 100% certainty that I am in exactly the right place. I am doing what I truly believe I was put on this earth to do.

I am so thankful for my closet floor and the overwhelming need to escape from it. I’m thankful for my kids, Caleb, and Rory. They had to learn to live with a LOT less than what they had been accustomed to and they never once complained about it. They were so patient with me as I tried to create a new life for us. Despite the craziness, they both turned out to be extraordinary humans and I couldn’t be prouder of them.

I am thankful to my EōS trainer who quickly became my friend. He really started it all, simply by noticing how emotionally wrecked I was and introducing me to boxing. I’m thankful to the fitness leaders that I’ve been fortunate enough to share a space with. I am the trainer I am today because of all of YOU. And to all the amazing humans I’ve been given the extraordinary pleasure of teaching over the years, THANK YOU for trusting me and for giving me the honor of being part of your fitness journeys.

xoxo,
Burbey

People always ask why I chose the ELEPHANT as the image of Relentless…

In the wild, when a mama elephant is giving birth, all the other females in the herd back around her in formation. They close ranks so that the delivering mama cannot even be seen in the middle. They stomp and kick up soil to throw attackers off the scent. Basically, they act like a pack of badasses.

They surround the mama and incoming baby with protection, sending a clear signal to predators that if they want to attack their friend while she is vulnerable, they’ll have to get through 40 tons of female aggression first.

When the baby elephant is delivered, the sister elephants all start trumpeting, a celebration of new life, of sisterhood, of something beautiful being born in a harsh world despite enemies and predators and odds.

Elephants take this formation in only two cases – under attack by predators like lions, or during the birth of a new elephant.

This is what we do at Relentless. When anyone in our crew is vulnerable, when they are giving birth to new life, new ideas, or new spaces; when they are under attack, or need support while they create, deliver, heal, or recover…WE GET IN FORMATION! We close ranks and have each other’s backs. You want to mess with our family? You’ll have to get through the rest of us first!

When delivery comes, when new life makes its entrance, when healing finally begins, when the night has passed and our Relentless family member is ready to rise back up, we sound our trumpets because we saw it through TOGETHER.

This is how we fight best – by telling our stories and allowing ourselves to connect and accept support from those around us…RELENTLESSLY.