Why I started my Gym

I get asked this question all the time. The short answer..."I didn't! My wife did." I've never had an itch to be an entrepreneur or own my own company. I had one plan; race dirt bikes professionally. Obviously God had better plans for me. Nina, however, went to college for Exercise Science, had like 4 gym classes a day in high school where she would just go to the weight room or do some yoga/fitness something. She had the ambition and drive to own her own business and knew from a young age she was going to be in the fitness industry. So I can't take credit for opening a gym. I'll let her finish that story another day, but for now I'll explain why I KEEP running a gym.

You see my coaching journey started out even before any gym plans or even knowing Nina. I was coaching kids on dirt bikes long before the fitness thing. I just loved to coach and dirt bikes were my passion. The first time I was asked to coach at a gym, I selfishly accepted the job because I was a broke dirt bike racer, doing construction to get enough money to race and knew I could have a free membership if I coached a few classes...I mean how hard could it actually be?!?! (that's another story too)

My first coaching success story came from Mrs. Mary Edwards, a mid 50's elementary school principal. She would workout in the classes that I would coach and I was able to help her learn to do a pull up. That was the first time I seen coaching, not for my benefit, but as an opportunity to help others achieve their goals and play a small part in someone's happiness, joy, and health. Since then I have had the opportunity to work with so many people of all walks of life all over the country.

Marianne went from "who does this young prick in his backwards hat think he is? I ain't never going to take fitness advice from him!" to now being our longest member of over 8 years, even though we moved 14 hours south of her. She told me one time that she was at risk of losing her business because she couldn't stand in a meeting and deliver her speech to potential clients because she would get too out of breath and that because of what we've done for her she will never find another trainer no matter how far away we move. She's lost over 70# and now does burpees in every state she visits just for fun! She'll tell you we saved her life, but as Psalm 115 says "not to us, oh Lord, not to us, but to your name be all the glory." (check out her story on our instagram page).

Cameron and I worked together years ago, back when we still lived in NY. She was a college kid at Ithaca college, miles from home. She had no confidence. She was alone, along ways from home for the first time ever. She found us through social media and stopped by one day. She decided to take me up on my offer for personal training. She really didn't want to do classes with other people. We did personal training twice a week for a long time. She then decided to join our nutrition program. Cameron went back to her home for break and I got a call from her mom one day to pay for her training session and nutrition membership. She brought me to tears when she told me she has never seen Cameron so happy, and she proceeded to tell me that Cameron has been dealing with some deep depression and she was very scared for her safety being so far from home and was contemplating pulling her from school. She shared how extremely grateful she was that Cameron had found a place that cared about her and made her feel included. She said Cameron never wanted to leave to go back to school before, but this time she "had to rush back to get back to training."

Hanna came to Righteous extremely overweight and lost. She didn't know what to do. She had weight reduction surgery, but still hated the way she looked and felt. She felt all hope was lost. We cried for over an hour in my office the day she came in. She originally came to become a nutrition client, but I was sly enough to get her started on a fitness program as well. Hanna was all in from day one. It was a journey, a journey that took her from 356 lbs to under 200 lbs! Hanna and I made lots of goals along the way. One of them I remember so vividly; she didn't want to use the seatbelt extender on the airplane anymore, it embarrassed her. I remember her face trying to explain that to me, what she must have been thinking talking to a 5'9" 175# dude about how a seatbelt extender made her feel, but I could see the pain in her face, I felt it. We crushed that goal, then Hanna decided she wanted to go skydiving, but if you're over a certain weight you have to pay an additional fee, she said "NOT THIS GIRL!" It was one of those "hold my beer and watch this moments." So me being me, doo-doo bird, said "when we get you under 200 lbs, I'm going with you!" Guess what...SHE DID IT! And so did I. Now I'm all for excitement and adventure, but why anyone would jump out of a perfectly good plane is just foolish!

Miss Jeannie has a very special place in my heart. Let me set the stage for you...Miss Jeannie is 5 foot nuthin I think. Weighs 90 lbs soaking wet MAYBE, and has taken almost 70 trips around the sun. Now I'm exaggerating a little, but you get the picture. For 15 years I've had this expression for helping folks scale workouts appropriately, I'll scale someone's reps or time back and say "if at the end you don't feel like you've gotten enough come let me know and I will give you more!" No one EVER has taken me up on that offer except Miss Jeannie (insert shake my head emoji). I cut her reps in a tough workout from 50's to 30's and she got done and said "I'm going to go finish the rest!" It's very hard to get me speechless, just ask my wife, but that day Miss Jeannie did just that. I think I stuttered and said "y-yes m-ma'am." That's all well and fun, but the real win is that Miss Jeannie was dealing with osteoporosis and low bone density for multiple years before finding Righteous. Her doctors told her "there's no cure for this, you'll just take these pills for the rest of your life and hope they slow it down." I can picture that conversation, that doctor is lucky he didn't get kicked in the you know what. Another "hold my beer and watch this" moment. I will never forget the day Miss Jeannie came in last year with her bone density scan results. Not only did her decline stop, but her bone density actually INCREASED! The doctors tell her the pills are working and she should keep taking them, but she says "the pills weren't working for 2 years, so I began a fitness program and now all of the sudden they work...give me a break!" She isn't taking the meds no more.

I have plenty of these stories and could write for weeks about how members journeys have impacted my career. The truth is...this is why I do what I do. I keep going because someone once believed in me and gave me a chance. The greatest way to ever pay that back is to pay it forward. I believe in my members, my staff, and my purpose. Owning Righteous was never about entrepreneurship or "the American Dream" for me. It's just the vessel I've been charged to lead. It's a platform for more incredible stories just like the ones above. I take no credit. Nina started it all. God called me to lead it.

If you made it this far, thank you. If you're a Righteous family member, I have a story for you too. If you're not yet, I hope to meet you soon!

God Bless,

Jared