One social media content creator is using her platform to connect to her peers and share her knowledge on health and wellbeing, but also to push the importance of discipline in the lives of her fellow Army National Guard members.
Fitness trainer Spc. T’Essence Phelps serves as a 31B – military police officer – with the 269th Military Police Company, Tennessee Army National Guard from Murfreesboro, after having enlisted in 2024.
Phelps, who was the only girl in a family of four children, grew up staying active, playing basketball for Kentucky Wesleyan College and sought to maintain a healthy lifestyle. She said she wanted to avoid being known for having some transformation.
“I never wanted my health to portray my life,” she told Reserve + National Guard Magazine. “In a way, I always wanted to be healthy.”
Now, she has more than 26K followers on Instagram and mentors clients through her own fitness app.
That’s why she felt qualified to advise the other females training with her at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, but she said it also helped that she was as much as 14 years senior to some of the youngest trainees.
“They called me ‘Auntie,’” the 34-year old Manhattan, Kansas, native told National Guard + Reserve Magazine.
Other qualifications include her bachelor’s degree in psychology and her master’s in sports psychology. She is currently working toward earning her PhD in general psychology from Capella University and hopes to become Dr. T by 2028.
Phelps used her platform as a social media influencer who carries military status to address issues of adapting to life during military training versus outside of military training.
“It just allowed me to use time management differently and just be receptive of what I need to do on my end to help others,” she said.
Through her posts, Phelps shares everything from mini workouts to personal stories for her viewers who struggle to find the time to focus on fitness. She admits that even she can’t find the time sometimes.
“We all have 24 hours in the day, but they go by real fast,” she said. “Just feeling good about yourself inside and out, because, it goes a long way, and that goes with mental health and me knowing psychology and everything.”
When she’s not focused on how to best guide her followers on a successful path, she’s setting goals of her own. Phelps is looking forward to being sent to the Army’s Basic Leader Course to earn her promotion to sergeant and is working to improve her run time by putting in extra miles before her next PT test. Through it all, she continues to put health as the fundamental element to her success.
“Health is wealth … when you take care of yourself, you kind of know they’re going to get the job done,” Phelps said. “Your gut is your brain, pretty much so knowing all the background with nutrition and how working out can make you feel and just being an athlete my whole life, too, I just had to change some things where I can’t work out like I’m training for basketball again, but I work out to my new lifestyle.”
Phelps’ six tips to live by:
- Discipline is everything
- Time management
- Physical fitness is non-negotiable
- Mental strength matters
- Communication is key
- Keep learning
