Hungry Dog Barbell Podcast
Patrick Bryan
Ever wondered how to transition from bodybuilding to CrossFit and build a thriving fitness franchise? Join us on this episode of the Hungry Dog Barbell Podcast as we sit down with Patrick Bryan, the energetic general manager of FitStop Northern Liberties and soon-to-be FitStop Cherry Hill. Patrick's journey from a focus on aesthetics in bodybuilding to the community-driven world of CrossFit is nothing short of inspirational. He reveals the discipline and determination behind his fitness evolution and offers a sneak peek into the buzz surrounding the rapid expansion of FitStop, including exciting opening day festivities with vendors and free raffles.
Ever wondered how to transition from bodybuilding to CrossFit and build a thriving fitness franchise? Join us on this episode of the Hungry Dog Barbell Podcast as we sit down with Patrick Bryan, the energetic general manager of FitStop Northern Liberties and soon-to-be FitStop Cherry Hill. Patrick's journey from a focus on aesthetics in bodybuilding to the community-driven world of CrossFit is nothing short of inspirational. He reveals the discipline and determination behind his fitness evolution and offers a sneak peek into the buzz surrounding the rapid expansion of FitStop, including exciting opening day festivities with vendors and free raffles.
What up dogs? Welcome back to another episode of the Hungry Dog Barbell Podcast. This week I'm joined by Patrick Bryan. Patrick is the general manager of FitStop Northern Liberties and soon-to-be FitStop Cherry Hill. Pat and I sit down and talk about his early days in the fitness industry, starting off with bodybuildings and purely aesthetic goals. After developing the discipline necessary for the bodybuilding lifestyle, Patrick grew bored with his daily gym routine and decided to switch it up to see how hard he could push himself. This led him to OCR and eventually to CrossFit. We talk about his early days in CrossFit, finding new meaning and new motivation and some of the differences and similarities to big fitness brands like orange theory, fit stop and crossfit. Tune in for another great episode. Fit stop northern liberties how many months in are you now? Like two, three months?
Speaker 2:yeah, we we got up and running may, end of may, may. Jerry fairbairn. Yep, yeah, at the no, I'm lying March, at the end of March. Yeah, it's been the end of March. We opened that location. So it's been about three months actually, cause we work in 12 week programs. We just finished our third first 12 week program over there, so that makes sense. Yeah, so it was March, the end of March, we actually opened that location.
Speaker 1:And now we're four days out from Cherry Hill. Yep, yep, yep, we went back to back pretty quick. I saw that you know, like following you for a little bit, I saw that you guys had that plan. Like, all right, we're gonna go back to back. But like, tell me a little bit more about that. Why did you want to open two locations like in this, like close to the time frame?
Speaker 2:yeah, I think, with um, with a new product, um, new brand, because fitstopStop is a franchise and us just believing in it so much that we know it's going to do well we thought it was really important to get a couple of locations and we plan on opening more locations soon. But getting them open and just kind of hitting the market hard, we think there's definitely a need for what we're offering, so we're definitely all steam ahead. I guess we can say.
Speaker 1:Full steam ahead. Oh yeah, I love that. I love going all in on something, believing in it so much you know and then just like being consumed by it, you know. Yep, since we're so close to like opening day, what do you have planned for like this weekend? What's opening day going to look like for people that are showing up?
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, opening day is fun. Opening day is full of vendors. It's full of free raffle events. We usually bring in all of our coaches to maybe manage a little station that we run. Usually our classes have one coach, but we usually bring in all of our coaches. We have some people flying out from LA where our kind of American headquarters are, so that team's coming out here. There'll be photographers, videographers. It's just like credible energy. I mean just thinking back to what we did in Northern Liberties. It's going to be a fun day for sure, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:That sounds super hype dude. So how'd you get into FitStop as the brand Like? How did you become general manager running these two different gyms?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So background is I started working first. My first fitness job was with Orange Theory. So I worked for Orange Theory for 10 years and I started with that brand, kind of like this brand. I started with that brand when there was only 21 locations in the US, so I started in the Willow Grove location. So if you look at that brand now, there's, I think, 1,500 or 1,600 worldwide. So I started very early with them and I kind of did the same thing.
Speaker 1:What year was that for the Orange?
Speaker 2:Theory. That was 2013. Right when I got out of college I started working for them yeah, 2013. But their company the company itself, I think, orange Theory started in 2010 out in Florida.
Speaker 2:So I was working with the first to market in Pennsylvania, or really in Pennsylvania, new Jersey, and kind of did the same thing where, like, no one knows who you are. People would walk in there and be like, are you Orange Therapy, are you selling orange juice, are you selling smoothies? And it's kind of the same thing for here. It's like just creating a brand and creating that and spreading that brand awareness, really trying to educate people on what we do, which is way easier now I shouldn't say way easier, but it's easier now, especially with the impact of social media. Even now, versus 11 years ago, it's been a little bit easier just to kind of get our name out and just because I've had the pleasure of meeting so many people, you know, through my fitness journey over the last 10 years, it's been a little bit easier to network with people and get some people on board with me.
Speaker 1:So what was the first like FitStop location you walked into, or your first introduction to FitStop?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so before I really took on the job, we went out to la. So there's only five in america, there's uh three in the west coast and then this will be the second, cherry hills, the second uh on the east coast wow.
Speaker 1:So these are the first two east coast locations yes, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So, um, just to give you backgrounds, an australian franchise, um, the people that I wound up partnering with are from Australia, so they did Fitstop forever. They're like this product is amazing. They knew they were moving back to America and they were like we want to bring this product with us, so they brought the franchise from Australia over to America. Right now, yep, we have the first two on the East Coast and there's three out there. Right now, I think we're the fourth on the way on the West Coast.
Speaker 1:Damn, that's dope dude. So literally like at the ground level right now, with this growing franchise, you know, where did you get these skills from? Like you did this already with Orange Theory. Like were you always kind of on this track, like coming out of college Like what did you go to college for? Like how were you always kind of on this track, like coming out of college, like what'd you go to college for? Like how did, how did you get this kind of business mindset?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so no, I actually went to college and studied at Austin for actuarial science, which is math and statistics. So that's how Austin and I met. We were in the same program, but but at a, at a, at a young age I got really into fitness, mostly for confidence, self-confidence. So I played sports growing up and between the age of like I don't know, 16 to 19, I was one of those kids who was like depressed all the time, walked around my head down, didn't love the life I was living and thankfully I found fitness, love the life I was living and thankfully I found fitness. Um, and fitness fitness changed my life so much at that point that I was like this is what I want to do and this is what I want to help other people do, cause I found that impact that it had on me.
Speaker 2:So at a very young age I got into, I got into fitness and it really started with bodybuilding. Um competed in bodybuilding men's physique for like seven years, six years, and that was really like my baseline was like learning that lifestyle, a lot of working out either by myself, with one other training partner, becoming very disciplined at a very young age. You know, in college, my senior junior year, I think junior, junior and senior year I kind of I kind of changed who I was. Um, you know, I was freshman. Sophomore year I was the normal party party guy, college guy, um, living my best life type of guy, uh, at college. And um, junior and senior year when I got so into fitness and I became so disciplined and learned a lot about bodybuilding and um, just fitness, just fitness in general, got away from all of it, stopped partying, stopped doing all that, lost a lot of friends, but I knew that I was going to be happier with the way I was living at that time.
Speaker 1:I love that dude. Do you know what made you fall in love with it when you were first getting into especially the bodybuilding world? Because that could be developing, that discipline could be super tough. Do you remember what made you like dude? I like this, I want to way I looked.
Speaker 2:And as I got more fit, people noticed and it was like I'm becoming happier, I felt better, I developed a confidence in myself that I never had, and other people, I think, noticing too. It just made me feel good about myself, I think, for the first time in a while, and I was like this is addicting, this is what I want to do. So I kind of just stayed with it. Yeah, I mean. So I met Austin in college and when I started to fall in love with bodybuilding, I did a couple of shows I showed Austin. I'm like yo, man, I see you in the gym, I need someone to work out at the college. Why don't we start working out together? And from there, man, me and Austin became good friends. I started coaching him a little bit, just on bodybuilding and posing.
Speaker 2:After that I started working for Orange Theory. I moved up to a management position. He graduated the year after me. He wanted to come do what I was doing. We just kept staying together. I love that. Yeah, I tried to coach him with bodybuilding. Then, when he became a coach at Orange Theory, I just tried to teach him what I, what I was learning, um, I guess kind of paying it forward. Uh, a little bit, but yeah, he's been a great friend and it was it's been great just watching him grow with me, uh, through the year, for sure I love that.
Speaker 1:You know, one of the big debates I have with some of my like crossfit friends is uh, they think that it's impossible to make friends at like regular gyms because CrossFit is like build, is like the community based thing. Right.
Speaker 2:It's hard, it's funny.
Speaker 1:We have the same story, though Like my best friend, I was the best man at his wedding. Also, I also met him in a gym. I played a fitness like 10 years ago before I even did CrossFit, Eleven years ago actually, before that you know.
Speaker 2:So like we kind of both debunked that, you know yeah, yeah, yeah, no for sure, but it but it is like it's harder to everyone's got their headphones and everyone's got their head down um, it is harder just to. And that's ultimately why I stopped bodybuilding. Man, my, the discipline was there, um, I was confident I had a good path. But at the end of the day too, I was like I don't know if this is the best just for, like, my social life in general and um, you get to a level of bodybuilding too where, like, you got to either like take drugs to do really really well, um, or just kind of be happy with where you're at. And I was like you know what I'm gonna try to. That's why I made the switch from I'm gonna go from kind of like using my physique to, okay, I know I'm going to.
Speaker 2:I played at sports in high school, like played for my life. I can use my body, I know I can run, I know I can do these things. And I transferred out of kind of out of like just showcasing my physique to let me see how you know I can actually perform, let me see if I can run. Let me see how you know I can actually perform. Let me see if I can run, let me see if I can do crossfit, let me see if I can do these other things. So, uh, I think what got me out of that style and the other style is what you said of the community, like when I got into the group fitness and the crossfit, or whether it was like spartan races. I started to meet all these people in the community that was like, okay, I don't have to do this by myself anymore. Um, yeah, and I was able to take the discipline that I had from that, from bodybuilding, bring it with me, uh, and just use that in a different way for sure.
Speaker 1:So what was like your last bodybuilding show? Like, were you going into the prep for it and leading up to it thinking this is gonna be the last show and I'm going to move on? Like, or were you just like still liking it?
Speaker 2:No, I was still loving it. There was never a time where I was like, yeah, I don't think there was ever a time where, like I'm not doing this anymore. After my last show, I don't know I just for some reason was like I can tell you why I started running and I think that's why. So, when I was working for Orange Theory and I was bodybuilding, there were two people that were big marathon runners, amazing, incredible runners, and they're just challenging me Like I don't think you can run a 5k, I don't think you can do this. I don't think that I'm like okay, I'll go out and do it.
Speaker 2:And I started primarily going from bodybuilding into running. So I went from like bodybuilding to running, ran five Ks, 10 Ks, uh, got really big into OCR racing, so Spartans, savage races, I did all that. Um, but they were really like. The two people that like it was just to kind of prove them wrong. Um, but also prove that also proves myself. Like maybe they're like, cause I was only bodybuilding, I was like maybe they're right, maybe I still can't perform the way I was good physique, but I don't think I could probably run that fast. Um, so that kind of came addicted to that, like, how hard can I push my body? How, like, what can I, what can I do? Um, and then from there it kind of got me into CrossFit, like, okay, can I go do that too? Can I? Can I still not just be a runner and like a bodybuilder, but can now I go learn Olympic lifting gymnastics, like I don't know, can I? So I just kind of dove into it.
Speaker 1:That's sick, dude. Have you always been like a person that's, or are you mostly motivated by challenges from other people? Like, we'll talk about this a little bit more, but do you like? What do you think motivates you the most?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's interesting because, like the running thing like definitely started from from other people challenging me, but then I had to sign up for things. I challenged myself a lot, like that's how it was. Like they challenged me to run next thing I know I signed up. I'm like, okay, not only am I going to do that, I'm going to sign up for a half marathon, I'm going to sign up for these races, I'm going to commit myself to it and then I'm going to motivate myself to train for it, um.
Speaker 2:So self-motivation for me has been, I guess, something I've been very, very good at since I started doing the bodybuilding in college and all like, yeah, I've learned to rely a lot on myself, um, and then when I got into crossfit and group fitness, it was like I could still rely on myself. I know I'm still there to do that, but I also have this extra kind of power now of other people pushing me um and training. So yeah, I think I'm pretty self-motivated, but I definitely do love a challenge from other people. I love proving people people wrong for sure that's.
Speaker 1:That's so hilarious. That's such like a fit bro thing to do. Like someone challenges you to a 5k and you end up doing a half marathon yeah, exactly, exactly, yeah so how did you get to like group fitness, crossfit, like? What's the first time you ever saw a crossfit class, what's the first crossfit competition you ever saw?
Speaker 2:tell us about all that yeah, um, how did I get into crossfit? Uh, first crossfit class? I'm trying to think now. I think because OCR has a lot of obstacles. So OCR racing there's a lot of pull-up strength, grip strength, and I knew that they did that kind of stuff, climbing ropes. I knew that they did that kind of stuff at CrossFit and I wasn't very good at that part, but I had a lot of strength and I was fast and I knew CrossFit gyms did stuff like that Gymnastics, climbing ropes. I'm like if I go do that stuff, I think it'll help me becoming better OCR racer, right, spartan racer, whatever I was doing at that time. So I think that's ultimately true, like I need to get better at these things. I don't have a gym that does these kinds of things, so I think CrossFit would be the perfect blend to get me better at OCR racing.
Speaker 1:So where were you working out at that like OCR time, like before you got into?
Speaker 2:fitness, yeah, just like retro fitness a big box gym and I would run, right. So I would just go, I would do my bodybuilding like split, normal bro split kind of time, and then after that I would go out for a run when I was tired and just try to push myself. And then I've kind of found CrossFit just by like dropping into a couple places. So I dropped into some places at the time I was managing an orange theory in collegeville. I dropped in places up there just buy class packages. Um, I dropped into 267, a lot over in feasterville. And then, of course, like the biggest one for me that I guess really got me into it was, you know, raid with Justin drop dropping in over there a lot. And for me raid was great because they had as a coach. I could recognize good coaches and when I, when I found Justin and the team, I was like these people can actually make me really good and they're really good.
Speaker 2:So, I think I was really drawn to him and his coaching and the team over there, because I think they too like wow, this guy has a lot of potential but he's not mobile. He can't do anything gymnastics but he's athletic, and I remember a time Andrea was one of the coaches. She's like you have a ton of body awareness, I don't think you're mobile enough or don't know how to move, and that's exactly what it was. I had a lot of strength, I was fast, I had a good cardio system, but I wasn't mobile at all or uh, really like just couldn't move my body.
Speaker 1:The way you need to in CrossFit, which was, which was funny. Yeah, that's great dude. So like around what time was that? Like? How many years ago?
Speaker 2:That was 2018, 2018. So, yeah, I think 2017 was like my last bodybuilding show, 2018. About six years ago, seven years ago, when I first actually dove into it a little bit.
Speaker 1:You started doing CrossFit, right? What about the other question? What's the first CrossFit competition you saw?
Speaker 2:Festivus. Festivus was the intermediate competition where I looked at it because they released the workouts. I was like I think I can do these. I knew I couldn't do a lot of things, yet I saw the workouts and I was like I think I can do these. It was a partner workout at the time, a partner competition. I had a guy that I worked at with Orange Theory who was an insane athlete Not a CrossFitter, but I'm like he can also do these. They're not too out of our league. Not a CrossFitter, but I'm like he can also do these. They're not too out of our league. So him and I just paired up and the competition was at Fearless Athletics in South Philly. It was at Fearless in South Philly, so him and I went there and we won the competition that day, which was awesome. But also I made a ton of friends in Fearless that day too.
Speaker 2:That also I think this saw my potential. Like dude, you probably like can do other competitions you have. Like you're pretty good and like, okay, this is cool. Uh, making friends now. And at the same exact time I bought my first house in uh fish town. So I've been down fish town for six, seven years now. Um bought my first house in fish town. So then when I moved down there, I'm like now I'm close to this Fearless Athletics place, which the guys seemed awesome, the coaches seemed cool, I met a lot of people through the competition. Let me start going over there and training over there. I started working out over at Fearless. That became where I first got my first full membership. I'm like all right, right, I'm getting into this like taking this thing like head on that's funny.
Speaker 1:Yeah, first, first crossing membership. Hell yeah, I'm one of the people now. Yeah, that's right yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2:And then, uh, yeah, I was thankful for a lot of the guys that gym that took me in under the wing and helped me become a better athlete at the time. Um, gary samson he's, he owns a gym now, philly personal fitness uh, in Fishtown personal training gym. He was one of the guys. John Smecko um, guys still good friends with um, he works out with me at Novum, he's in Fishtown also. But yeah, a lot of guys kind of took me under their wing and uh, just felt like a good part of the community, like I had people like, okay, this is cool, I got guys that that can, that can help me get better.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's dope, that's what you know like keeps you coming back. So, over this time period, you're you're just getting a CrossFit, you're spreading your wings with like just the other parts of fitness that aren't just like physique, wise right Like, where are you working and where's your head at as far as like your future goals for your your job life? As far as like your future goals for your job life?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I was still with Orange Theory at the time. I bounced around a little with Orange Theory. I worked for one guy who had four locations and he was amazing to me, very thankful for him. He helped me become not just a coach but a manager. I started to learn the business side a little bit and then I branched off with one location and partnered a little bit with two owners out there, wound up not working out for whatever reason, still thankful that I had the opportunity just to get my feet wet with it.
Speaker 2:After that I kind of went back to the original guy I was working for, who had four locations, and just he brought me back as a higher position, more of like a regional manager than just a like head coach. So at that point I learned and I was very curious about learning how to manage people, because that's just a skill in itself and, uh, not an easy skill to learn. So at that point, like, okay, now I'm this manager, now I have to really be able to educate people and help them believe in me as a leader and help them believe in the brand and a lot more just development that I needed at that point in time. But yeah, once I had that position, I guess I wasn't really thinking of the future. I was like, okay, I'm in this high level leadership position, I just need to learn how to get good at leading people and managing people.
Speaker 1:At that time, Did you have experience with leadership before you got to Orange Theory In college and high school? Were you leader of teams or anything like that? No man.
Speaker 2:No, I always tell people like, if you told me first like when I was in the sad kind of depressed part of my life if you told me like you're gonna be doing group fitness or like you're gonna be managing people, I told you like go fuck yourself. No, I'm not, like, I'm not that person, right. And um, I got it got uncomfortable when I started teaching group fitness, kind of said I'm gonna do it like it, like I'm going to go for it, and it was uncomfortable because again, like I was a public speaker, I was not ready to get in front of people. So learning, that was step one. And then, yeah, the leadership stuff. Again like just took a lot of me getting into the position, learning how to manage different personalities, books, podcasts, youtube, a lot of just motivational videos and trying to learn as much as I could. But a lot of it also is just trial and error.
Speaker 1:at that point, yeah that you got to trial by fire. You know you got to learn by doing a whole bunch. For sure I just went off for a second, glad I stopped uh. So in that time period though, had you ever thought about like becoming a franchise owner of uh orange theory yourself?
Speaker 2:yes and no, um, I don't know. Realistically it's an expensive franchise to do. I always dreamed at that point to be more of a partner, someone to give me equity, but it's very hard to do and there wasn't many owners at that time that were looking to do that money. I knew that, hey, if we open more locations, there's more opportunity. I knew that there were other positions that were going to be available because more orange theories were opening. So they were going to need people to train coaches and develop coaches, um, and not just focus on you know one or two, but go out and actually travel a little bit. And that's what I ultimately wound up doing. Um, so it became more of like a regional educator at that point where I was training like new coaches almost every other month, um, to coach orange theory, um, and running trainings quarterly for them, uh, from corporate. So I'd work with corporate a little bit. They would give me some material and I would deliver it to different orange theories.
Speaker 1:but yeah for sure so you already kind of had that in your mind. You were like growing, like let everything happen naturally, right, like what makes you step away and do something else yeah.
Speaker 2:So when I left, I left, uh, in november. So I worked for a guy who went, for he sold them at the beginning of COVID. By the grace of God, the guy sold the business before COVID started, like a month before COVID started. Smart man, it just worked out that way. It's the greatest business decision I've seen someone make Worked out that way. It's the greatest business decision I've seen someone make it worked out that way. He sold to a private equity group who actually owns 63 Orange Theories. So the cool thing about that was at that time I went okay, this is kind of cool, because now I might have an even larger opportunity. There's going to be a lot more to do. They're going to need directors and higher level management positions. So I stuck around. I got to do a lot more to do. They're going to need directors and higher level management positions. So I stuck around.
Speaker 2:I got to do a lot of cool things when COVID happened helped them, develop an online program and then eventually, when I left, I became a director where I was not just working in Pennsylvania, but we owned a lot of Orange Theories in Austin. I was not just working in Pennsylvania, but we owned a lot of Orange Theories in Austin, texas. So I was traveling back and forth a lot, not just helping people in PA or New Jersey, but actually traveling down to Austin, also traveling to Kansas because we had somewhere in Kansas, missouri. So I got to travel a lot and do that, which was cool, which was awesome, just to be able to have a really large outreach, not just in my local market, but to meet all these people from all over the country. Um, ultimately, though, it became a lot.
Speaker 2:Um, I'm a homebody, uh, I'm a routine person, um, and I still ultimately want to own a gym one day or have equity. Like at this point in my life. I was like, okay, I need to get to that point soon. I've done this for 10 years. I have a really good skill set that I know someone could use, and somehow, someway at the perfect time, a friend of mine who works with a realtor said hey look, these people are looking to open a gym called FitStop. They said they need someone that knows the Philadelphia market, that knows the fitness industry. They it sounds exactly like what they're looking for is you. And I was like, okay, let me just see what it's about. Check out their website. I'm like. This is cool as functional fitness. This is kind of how I train and reached out to them and ever since that day it's been so far, so good. Yeah, hell, yeah, dude.
Speaker 1:Life comes together at the right times, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yep, yep. So I want to talk a little bit about kind of all those different things, but let's talk about more about your location first. Like so what is the day-to-day workouts and classes? You offer group fitness over there, right, yeah, so so tell us about the different offers. You have different classes, like the programming, what people can expect when they come to your gyms yeah for sure.
Speaker 2:So basically we have four styles of workouts and they're always the same throughout the week. So any monday or any thursday you come into fit, stop, you're going to do a workout called Perform. Perform is a mix of our lift workout and our condition workout, so I guess it's easier to explain lift and condition first. Tuesday and Friday are lift, and lift is exactly what it sounds like. We're going to do at least one compound movement, if not two, and then we're going to do accessory work on the outside of our compound movements. So it really is just strength training and focusing on some good barbell compound movements. That's our lift days, our condition days.
Speaker 2:We don't use barbells. We might use skier salt, bike box jumps, kettlebells, all of our other equipment, but definitely more focused on getting the heart rate up, teaching people how to pace, get them real sweaty. So they're the workouts that everybody needs but no one wants to do. You know they're the tough ones, they're the tough ones. And then perform just takes condition and lift, blends it together. So you're going to get a compound lift, but our other stations for accessory work might involve a little bit more of conditioning to it. Saturdays are also. We call them sweat. They really are perform workouts, but more of a team goal in mind. So we might be like all right, let's see what team can put up the most calories on a ski yard. Let's see what team can do I don't know the most reps of a shoulder to overhead in five minutes. Some add a goal to it on Saturday.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what about Sundays? You guys open or you get closed that day?
Speaker 2:Traditionally, sundays were closed, but Sundays are also an opportunity for us. We just had an amazing boot camp at the art museum. We can run barbell technique classes. It gives us an opportunity to do something different, but also just give people a break from our workout. Not to say we're always going to be that way. We have experimented a little bit on Sundays just to see like, look, do people really need to work on Sundays? Is there something that we need to offer for our market? Right, because Australian market might be different than the US market. They're all closed on Sundays in Australia but again, like just market to market, it could be different where people really need Sundays or they won't buy memberships. So we're trying to figure that out right now.
Speaker 1:Right, because still in the early days, like just opening up, yeah, yeah, so you've worked for. Have you ever coached crossfit before? Did you coach at novum or over at raid?
Speaker 2:no, I never coached. I never coached crossfit um, but I don't know, five years ago I got my cscs, so certified strength and conditioning coach um, and that was kind of my next level of like I want to learn how to coach this stuff. So I never coached it. I knew I could coach it um, and I coached myself and I also would break down like a lot of technique um big on videoing. So I got people at the gym I'd be like, hey, I can help you with your snatch, I can help you with your clean um. I knew for sure I could help them with their deadlift, squat and um bench because they are things I knew like the back of my hand from all the years bodybuilding and moving forward. But once I got my cscs it was really like okay, now I can learn how to really coach these things um, and try to become more knowledgeable, matt teaching, uh, biomechanics of like lifted and all that stuff.
Speaker 1:But my next question is even outside of just coaching it, you've been around the brand of crossfit. You've worked in two other big fitness brands, right, like cause. At the end of the day, these things are businesses and I think people forget about that often when talking about growing CrossFit. You need to grow the business of it Like. Can you tell us some of the similarities and differences you see and like how all three of these different brands just operate?
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, I think Orange Theory is kind of the king. They make a great amount of money, they have a huge brand, they have a great team, they have a great product, especially for people looking to lose weight, because ultimately they're seeing cardio and the brain of the average person still thinks HIIT training is the way to go. It does work. I'm not going to say it doesn't, but I feel like that's what they do really well. They do a lot of really good collecting data. Everything in there is technology. You're wearing a heart rate monitor. They do a lot of performance tracking. They do a lot of body composition measuring, so a lot of it. They've kind of figured out and it's an amazing brand. I'm grateful, definitely have worked for them. But from a business standpoint, you have the opportunity to make a lot of money with Orange Theory, for sure.
Speaker 2:Crossfit I think there's potential and CrossFit and Fit stop are kind of similar. I would say fit stop we try to do is we try to be a little bit more boutique, um than a crossfit gym. Most crossfit gyms you go into, uh, or at least that I've been into are all kind of in the box, usually with no air conditioning. Um, it's a little bit more gritty, right, it's kind of it's a little bit more gritty. I think people like that you know it's a little bit more gritty, and I think people like that you know that's what it's kind of gives the.
Speaker 1:I did for a long time and then, like one day, I woke up and I was like, why are we like this? Like for everyone out there. You could kill me for that comment if you want to, but I'm not going to lie.
Speaker 2:I woke up one day and I was like we could definitely be cleaner you know, right, right, and I I think that's what we're and that's ultimately what I'm trying to do at fit. Stop is like just keep, keep it a little cleaner, try to again. We have air conditioning, little things, um, it's just small things, but not to say every crossfit gym like that in the world is like that, um, but I think traditionally, like that's usually what it is, but that's like the crossfit vibe too is like it's a hard workout, mental toughness, um, grit, and it kind of goes hand in hand like it works, like I still pay that money to go there, like yeah, yeah and not to say there's anything wrong with that or there's anything negative about it.
Speaker 1:Right, because, like, I coach and go and love my gym. That is exactly like that that I go to right now, just like you just said. But we're speaking to the terms of the brand at large, that you can't be saying that you are trying to grow if, like, the vibe of most of your gyms is the same from when you started. You know, like that's just the, that's all we're saying. You know, because we love, no, no, no, I think that's what I mean, I think the average person.
Speaker 2:I think of crossfit, they think of barbell slamming the grittiness, the chalk everywhere, like I think that's what the average person thinks, um, right, like that's what comes to their mind. I think that's ultimately what scares some people away too, though. Um is those thoughts of like it's a a little it could be a little intimidating, not to say it isn't intimidating, but I think the average person sees it that way when they look at CrossFit, like you know, the beginning of CrossFit was all about forging elite fitness, right. I was like seeing the barbells flying, people swinging muscle ups, and like I think the average person got a little intimidated or gets a little intimidated or gets a little intimidated, uh, from crossfit for sure for sure, and like the most usually the 90 of the people you see walking in over the past like eight years of crossfit is like the person that made it to the muscle upside of instagram.
Speaker 1:You know, just to put it in a way, like they saw that they're like oh, that's, that's what I envisioned myself wanting to do someday. Instead of them like going to their doctor, their doctor, giving them a bad report on their health and then being like I need to change that, so I'm going to go to a crossfit gym. That's what the brand envisions. They want the people to walk into the gyms and get, but usually it's the people that are on the side of instagram that saw the muscle ups. I want to do that. You know, like, so we can start to merge those two things together. If, like, the ethos is what the ethos is, you know, just to get a little dirty there. But, um, keep going, man. So the there, what about? You talked about orange theory and crossfit. Now, fit stop is more of the boutique brand style yeah, I would say like for me.
Speaker 2:And then what draws me to it? It kind of blends the two right orange theory, very boutique brand style. Yeah, I would say like for me. And what draws me to it? It kind of blends the two right orange theory, very boutique. Um, but a different workout.
Speaker 2:Crossfit is functional fitness and I think that's again like I said this in another interview I did. But like if someone said that you're going to go open a gym, draw me a blueprint, it would be fit stop because it combined. It combines the two of my worlds together. It combines what I know with the boutique fitness industry. It combines the way I know how to work out, I love working out. It puts them into one. That's really, ultimately, what drew me to FitStop. I think the model is very well. I think it's going to do great. Um, as any brand new business is going to be hard to get it off the ground and I knew that. I knew that going into this, but I think it has extreme potential to blend those two worlds together and I don't think there's many gyms that do that oh yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1:Try to have your cake and eat it too. They're saying that I hate the most because you're supposed to eat cake if you have it. So what do you got going on this summer, dude? Like I know, you guys are going to be back out at the brawl this year at crossfit raid, uh, with team nova. Are you doing summer slam? You got any other comps on the schedule?
Speaker 2:yeah, it's just summer. I have summer slam brawl the burbs. Um, so summer slam, uh will be there. We have, uh, myself, my friend dan and sarah, so brawl in the burbs. Last year was me, dan, sarah and our friend diana diana's pregnant now, so, uh, we got, we have a different teammate for both of those uh. So summer slam, we're getting our friend laura to join us. Um, she also trains at novum. And then, uh, brawl in the burbs. Get my friend meg, uh, who also trains at novum. Uh, just moved to jersey so she trains over here too. Uh, but she's gonna do brawl in the Burbs. Get my friend Meg, who also trains at Novum, just moved to Jersey so she trains over here too, but she's going to do Brawl in the Burbs with us. So I'm excited for both.
Speaker 1:Drafting those teams up. Dudes Out there for everyone's SummerSlam. They might be sold out. They're just a month out and Brawl in the Burbs. We've got two months to that, so time to get your team registrations in there, man yeah yeah, I'm excited for those excited for both.
Speaker 2:They're both really well run events. For me that's like a big part of it. It's like smooth, the people, the energy. Um, they're two events that I will always kind of look at first on my calendar for competing for sure hell yeah.
Speaker 1:So speaking of like this stuff, man, like what are you hungry for next? Like what are you looking in like to get out of the summer? What are you looking to get out of fit stop? What are your goals? What's motivating you?
Speaker 2:yeah, uh, fit stop man. This is number one in my life right now, um, outside of my girlfriend and the dogs and all that other good stuff. Good save, good save. I'm focused on FitStop right now. I'm just focused on trying to grow the brand, as always.
Speaker 2:The reason I guess ultimately behind why I do this too is because I want to help people. I know it's cliche as it sounds, but I want to help people. I want to help good coaches become better coaches, and coaches I know that have potential become better and grow with us too. It's a cool thing about starting. Something new is there is a lot of potential, not just for the brand, but there's going to be positions that are going to open up. So, just like orange theory and someone kind of gave me that opportunity I hope to give other people that opportunity too, and so far we've we've hired some amazing people.
Speaker 2:I'm really happy with the team I have. It takes a lot of stress off of me because, like you said, it can be stressful for sure. Opening businesses and putting together Ikea equipment, I'm like like things like that. You know, but when you have, when you have good talented coaches and just ultimately, good human beings working for you. It takes takes a lot of the drama out. There is none of that, it's just good vibes. So far, good vibes.
Speaker 1:Hell yeah, dude, and I hope that continues for the weekend and the rest of the year for you, man, pat, it's been a great conversation, bro. I think this is a perfect time to wrap it up here. Dogs out there, thanks for listening and wish pat good luck this weekend. Man, thank you I appreciate it, man.
Speaker 2:It's been great talking to you.