Today we’d like to introduce you to R.J. Slade.
R.J., we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Absolutely. My journey really began in the U.S. Army. I served as an elite Army Ranger, and like many who’ve worn the uniform, I came home carrying a lot—physically, mentally, and spiritually. In 2005 I was injured in combat, and that moment changed the entire trajectory of my life. I went from being in peak condition and leading from the front, to feeling like I had to rebuild from the inside out.
For years, I pushed the pain down and tried to just “drive on,” the way we’re trained. But eventually, I had to face the truth: healing doesn’t come through avoidance. It comes through courage. Through looking inward. Through being willing to rebuild—mind, body, and spirit.
That’s where my journey into holistic health and wellness began. I became a nationally certified health and wellness consultant, earned my Master of Public Administration from Purdue, and continued into clinical nutrition. But beyond the degrees and credentials, it was the personal work—learning to feel, to forgive myself, to understand my own worth—that changed everything.
Those lessons — the struggle, the breakdowns, the slow rebuilding — they led me to the work I do today. Supporting others in reclaiming their health, their identity, and their sense of “enoughness.” Helping people find strength from the inside out, not just in their physique or their accomplishments.
That’s also what inspired my book, Unbreakable: The Journey to Becoming Enough. It’s a story of walking through the fire, not avoiding it. Of realizing that our battles don’t define us — how we rise from them does.
Today, I coach, I teach, and I speak, not from theory, but from experience. My mission is simple: to remind people that they were never broken to begin with — just in the process of becoming who they were always meant to be.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Not at all. I don’t know if any meaningful journey is supposed to be smooth. Mine certainly wasn’t. There were seasons where I was fighting battles no one could see. After my combat injury, I struggled with the identity shift — going from being the guy everyone relied on, to not even knowing who I was anymore. The physical recovery was one thing, but the emotional and spiritual recovery took much longer.
There were days where the weight of trauma, responsibility, and self-expectation felt overwhelming. I isolated myself a lot. I tried to white-knuckle my way through life the same way I handled combat — stay tough, stay quiet, keep moving. But that approach only gets you so far. Eventually, I had to learn how to ask for help. How to let myself feel. How to rebuild from the foundation up.
There were financial struggles, relationship struggles, and personal battles with my own sense of worth. I had to face the belief that I wasn’t “enough” — and that’s not a quick or easy process.
But every challenge became part of the transformation.
And honestly, that’s the heart of my book, Unbreakable: The Journey to Becoming Enough — it’s about walking through the struggle, not pretending it isn’t there.
The road wasn’t smooth. But it was necessary. And it shaped the man I am today — one who can genuinely walk with others through their own battles because I’ve lived mine.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Absolutely. Everything I do—whether it’s through Always Forward Health & Wellness, Slade Defense, or W.O.L.F. Fitness—comes back to one mission: to help people become strong from the inside out.
Always Forward Health & Wellness is where I support clients through personalized health, nutrition, and performance coaching. I specialize in holistic, root-cause-based wellness—meaning we don’t just address symptoms. We look at the full picture: stress, sleep, trauma, mindset, nutrition, movement, community, purpose. My clients come to me for physical change, but what they gain is identity, confidence, and self-trust. And will soon be doing business as W.O.L.F. Fitness.
Slade Defense was born from a calling to protect and empower women. It’s tactical firearms training taught by women, for women, led by my wife, Tina, who has over 14 years of experience. It’s more than firearms—it’s situational awareness, confidence building, and helping women own their personal power. There is something incredibly meaningful about watching a woman step into strength she didn’t know she had.
W.O.L.F. Fitness in Davis County, Utah—your community, honor, integrity, and commitment gym.
W.O.L.F. stands for Work Out Live Fierce
It’s not your typical gym culture.
No egos. No intimidation. No superficial “grind” mentality.
It’s a family. It’s real people doing real work to better themselves.
What sets us apart is that everything we do is heart-centered and experience-driven. I’m not teaching from textbooks—I’m teaching from life. I’ve been broken down and I’ve rebuilt myself more than once. And I carry that understanding into every conversation, class, and coaching relationship.
What I’m most proud of is our culture.
People walk into our world and feel seen, safe, and supported.
They leave knowing they are capable of more than they believed.
If there’s one thing I want your readers to know, it’s this:
You don’t have to have it all figured out to start.
You just have to take one step—always forward.
My book, Unbreakable: The Journey to Becoming Enough, is a reflection of that truth. It’s about the inner work that makes outer strength sustainable. And that’s the foundation of our brand across all platforms:
Strength that lasts. Strength that’s real. Strength that begins within.
Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
One of my favorite childhood memories is being out in the mountains with my family. We didn’t have to be doing anything special—just being outside, hiking, camping, fishing, being in nature. There was something about those moments where everything felt simple and connected. No noise. No pressure. Just the sound of the wind, a fire cracking, and people you love close by.
Looking back, those were some of the first times I felt a sense of peace in my spirit. A sense of belonging. I didn’t have the language for it then, but that connection to nature and to something bigger than myself shaped so much of who I became later in life.
Even now, the mountains are where I go to reset, to reflect, to remember who I am and what actually matters. It’s interesting how the things that root us when we’re young have a way of calling us back home when we’re older.
Those moments taught me presence… and presence is something I try to carry into everything I do today.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.alwaysforwardfitandnutrition.com/ and www.womentacticaldefense.com
- Instagram: @Alwaysforwardfit.nutrition
