Bryce Henson, CEO Fit Body Bootcamp, Overcoming Adversity, Leading with Purpose, and Transforming Through Fitness

This week on The Burn Podcast, I'm fired up to be chatting with Bryce Henson, the CEO of Fit Body Boot Camp. Bryce has an incredible story of turning personal challenges into fuel for success. From growing up in a tough environment to leading a major fitness franchise, Bryce really lays it all out.

In this episode, we talk about how fitness changed Bryce's life, his leadership principles, and why discipline means everything. Bryce opens up about his rough childhood, the struggles he faced, and how those experiences became his strength. For anyone aiming to push the boundaries and achieve big things, this conversation will hit home.

I believe that discipline and a strong mindset are CRITICAL to reaching your goals. Bryce is a perfect example of these qualities in action. His journey is a powerful reminder of what YOU can accomplish when you utilize INTENTIONAL focus and stack days. 

This episode isn't just about finding your why and purpose—it's about stoking that inner fire to keep showing up, even when it's tough!

Chapters:

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:00:35 - Bryce's Early Life and Overcoming Adversity

00:01:46 - Building Fit Body Boot Camp with Bedros Keuilian

00:03:16 - The Burn Concept and Personal Transformation

00:04:29 - Family Challenges and Key Lessons

00:05:37 - Using Challenges as Strength

00:07:17 - Embracing Your Past and Turning Pain into Purpose

00:08:20 - Leadership, Adversity, and Being a Role Model

00:10:00 - Investing in Fit Body Boot Camp and Bryce's Journey

00:14:11 - From Personal Trainer to Meeting Bedros Keuilian

00:19:27 - Becoming CEO of Fit Body Boot Camp

00:21:07 - Leadership Pillars and the Power of Self-Discipline

00:24:10 - Closing Thoughts and Key Takeaways

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

There's many years where I wasn't comfortable talking about it. There was many years I was ashamed and embarrassed and just try to kind of tuck it underneath the rug, if you will. At the end of the day, there's a lot of learning lessons that came from that and I can look at the situation. I can say, hey, poor me, and cry about it. Or I can say life didn't happen to me, it happened for me. This is actually a superpower.

Speaker 2: 0:35

Welcome back to another episode of the Burn. I am Ben Newman and you know how we do this. Every single week we're going to bring you the story of an athlete, an entertainer, a celebrity, a CEO, a business professional, somebody who has recognized that why and purpose is not enough. It's that underlying burn that ignites your why and purpose and causes you to show up on the days that you don't feel like it, and especially after you win. One of the things I love doing is having the opportunity to bring you fellow Spartan dogs. If you go to Michigan State University, then you are a Spartan dog, and today's guest is an individual who shows up with passion, he shows up with fire, he shows up with conviction and he shows up with a consistency of success, and there's some amazing connections that we share, in common with how we grew up. The way he battled challenge and adversity I'm going to let you hear about.

Speaker 2: 1:36

His burn has caused Bryce Henson to be the CEO of Fit Body Boot Camp. Everybody knows Fit Body Boot Camp. Everybody knows Fit Body Boot Camp. His partner, bedros Koulian, and him have built an absolute powerhouse across this country of making a difference in people's lives. That has not only driven success for Bryce as a CEO of that unbelievable organization, but now a sought-after speaker and coach, using his words and his history of discipline to make a difference in people's lives. So, my friend, my fellow Spartan dog and a powerful business leader today, bryce Henson, welcome to the burn.

Speaker 1: 2:19

Oh, my man Ben, I am so fired up to be here. Appreciate you, my brother, Looking forward to our chat.

Speaker 2: 2:26

Bryce man, I you know, ever since I got the first DM from you, there's like, there's like. Sometimes you get a DM from somebody, you get a video or a voice note. You're like this guy's got energy. This is the real deal. This is not fake. He's not. He's not trying to formulate something. He's not. He's not trying to formulate something. You're getting the real guy and I absolutely admire that about you. Where does that natural passion and fire for life come from?

Speaker 1: 2:52

Oh, I love it, man. Well, kindred spirits for sure. I felt the exact same thing. You know, I think, one hand factory installed. I've just always had this appetite to learn, to grow, having a white belt mentality. That's just been factory installed ever since I've been young and that's part of the equation. But, interestingly enough, until I heard your message at Amberley Lago's event, when we first got a chance to meet in person about the burn, and for me that connected with me so much because I gave a keynote. I created a keynote a handful of years ago talking about pain, passion and purpose, finding what pain you went through in your life, developing that to a passion and then developing that ultimately into your purpose and a similar story. I mean, we are kindred spirits.

Speaker 1: 3:36

I grew up in the Midwest, great place, amazing salt of the earth. People, not the fitness capital of the world, and going through my later part of childhood come from humble capital of the world and going through, you know, my later part of childhood come from humble beginnings for first world standards. I say that because we used to run out of money before he's run out a month and it wasn't because of my mother. Who's this salt of the earth, amazing lady from the Midwest who all she wanted was a good life for her family and her kids. Unfortunately, she just picked the wrong guy who my father very similar story to you, which is really where the burn started who was addicted to drugs, gambling and alcohol not the trifecta for a good family upbringing. So the first 10 years of my life was spent a majority of time in a trailer park in the southeast or in the southeast part of our country, in Georgia, east part of our country, in Georgia, and it was very volatile, just because you know, when you're in that particular environment, you don't know how your dad is going to show up and a lot of times he wasn't overly aggressive, but he was very sloppy. And when you're a young child and you're unsupervised and your parents are fighting and ultimately you're looking for a leader that you don't know how it's going to show up, it caused fear and pain and worry and that's really, if I look back at the first 10 years of my life, that's what I experienced and many of you can probably relate, whether it's the exact analogy or something similar, and that's why I love Ben, the message behind the burn.

Speaker 1: 4:57

But, all this to say, a fortuitous situation happened and, by the grace of God, after verbal you know, verbal arguments end up becoming physical. My mother almost lost her life and that was the straw that broke the camel's back. She got us out of that particular situation. We got out of Dodge and that's where I spent the latter part of my childhood in the Midwest, and while it was one, it was very good to be in a better situation, a better environment. Thankfully, our grandma my grandma took us in. On the other hand, it was challenging and that was really the fabric of my first 20 years in the planet struggling, grinding and growing. But that really has shaped who I am today. So that's really the story, my story, if you will, of the burn.

Speaker 2: 5:37

So, bryce, how does that? You know, you see, and obviously I saw my mother experience pain, losing her life. Completely different pain Now. My dad, our similarities drug addict, alcoholic, bipolar, manic, depressive, everything under the sun it's the reasons why my mother divorced him. But I never saw my father and I don't believe, it's not to my knowledge, that he ever put a hand on my mother. Seeing something like that, seeing something like that, what type of framework does that provide and perspective in your life for a bad day? Because I I want to go even deeper here, because sometimes I think people they almost, they almost run from their challenge and adversity. They don't want to talk it, they talk about it, they, they tuck it away into a black box. And I think one thing that you and I have in common, and it's probably why we connected so deeply before we even knew all of these commonalities how are you able to use it for strength, even though it was so painful, and how are you able to talk about it when most people resist that?

Speaker 1: 6:43

Well, it's an incredible question and, being very candid with you, Ben, there was many years where I wasn't comfortable talking about it. There was many years I was ashamed and embarrassed and just try to kind of tuck it underneath the rug if you will. But you know growing up and you know just developing and maturing and finally coming to the realization that you know what my past doesn't define me. At the end of the day, there's a lot of learning lessons that came from that and I can look at the situation. I can say, hey, poor me and cry about it. Or I can say life didn't happen to me, it happened for me. This is actually a superpower. What it gave me is it gave me awareness. It gave me presence.

Speaker 1: 7:22

When we were stripped out of our father's house in a very good way, because the situation is very volatile we landed in a burn and that created a lot of awareness at a very young age to realize that being a man of means, being a man of resources, being a man that I'm proud of, is the way, better path than going and following the path of my father.

Speaker 1: 7:44

So, no, I didn't have a strong role model in my father in terms of what to look up to. But I realized I took a step back and I realized you know what I actually was given a gift. I was given a gift of what not to be, so I can reverse engineer my life and to be the man I want to become. So that would be the way I've processed it and it didn't happen overnight. It was a process, just like you know, winning as a process, as I've learned from one of the the greatest of all times that you've had a chance to work with the goat, nick saban. But that really struck with me, because the process is how you become successful and for me, the growth, maturity, that perspective has been a process.

Speaker 2: 8:20

And I think you provide such an amazing example for all of our listeners because when I learn more about you and I learn more about your story, you're an action taker, you're a doer. You don't allow the adversity or challenge to hold you back. You want to try new things. I remember a phone call after we met at Amberley Lagos event. We got to have a huge shout out to Amberley just an amazing woman, leader, human being, just a wonderful, wonderful person. That's where we had the opportunity to meet in person for the first time. And after you reached out, we have a phone call and you asked me a bunch of questions and a lot of what I shared were just making sure that you didn't make the mistakes that I've made on my journey and hoping that some of the things that I've learned from some great mentors in my life were things that would resonate and help you. And you know, over the years I've gotten calls like this all the time, bryce, but what was so meaningful for me was it was probably less than 10 days later you went, you gave a speech and you send me this text message and it was that same fire and energy. I could feel the fire and energy through the text message of how excited you were.

Speaker 2: 9:25

You're like I ditched the slides. I didn't do this. I allowed my words to paint my and it just it like it made my day. Because, you know, for us as coaches, you're a coach just like I am. You know, as coaches, we want to share things that make a difference, but the student has to be ready to listen and to implement, and you've done that, and it was. I just wanted to share that moment because it's rare, before I talk about the leader that you are, it's rare that somebody who's had the success that you have had as a leader would even reach out and say hey, let me ask you a few questions, ben, maybe you can help me. And that said a lot about you as well.

Speaker 1: 10:04

Oh, man, well, I appreciate that. I thank you for that. And, man, I'm attracted to success and while I've been fortunate to have a storied career and have awesome business partners, I also know that leadership is about having a white belt mentality. It's a skillset and the journey's never done. We talked about this you were just on my show about winning. It's a process and it's always about looking forward and you can never less rest on your morals. So you know, I'm smart enough to know that, hey, there's a lot of things I don't know.

Speaker 1: 10:32

And when we first met, you know, seeing you speak, our stories are so similar. They're not the same but they, they, they rhyme, they have, you know, strong analogy to them. The way you commanded the room, I could just tell a leader, I'm a leader. And when I see a very strong leader who has presence and who has care and compassion, it just really spoke to me and I was just extremely impressed and blown away with your presentation.

Speaker 1: 10:56

And I've come a long way in my speaking career. I still have a long way to go, but there were some things that I just really noticed that I wanted to lean in and get some feedback and you know, I know what it's like to be on the giving end of coaching, and it's very frustrating when you give the knowledge and expertise and then the coaching is enacted on it. So, when you gave me some pointers, a couple of different adjustments that I just took and implemented in terms of my franchise system, in terms of presentation, and I saw immediate response, I just felt I had a duty, obligation, responsibility to do you a solid, acknowledge you. So that's the foundation of that.

Speaker 3: 11:28

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Speaker 2: 12:01

Now back to the show. I love it and I'm grateful for those words and grateful for the example that you set. Now let's talk about. Let's talk about something else about you that I noticed that I find to be incredible when people learn Bryce's story and for those of you that listen to his show the CEO show and it was awesome being able to cut up and be on your show as well and be direct. We had some great direct conversations.

Speaker 2: 12:22

I'd encourage you to go listen to that episode because we really get deep and real, which is what it takes. A lot of coaches aren't willing to go there. But one of the things I love and admire about your story is that you invested in Fit Body Bootcamp. You know, bedros didn't just come and recruit you and say, like you're going to be the CEO of my organization and you know, I've read man up, I've gotten to meet Bedros. That's not the kind of guy that Bedros is like.

Speaker 2: 12:47

Bedros is going to make you earn it and I think it's so unique to your story that you invested in something that you believed in, which became such a significant belief that you're now the leader of and the CEO of Fit Body Boot Camp. So tell us your belief system on if you believe in something. Sometimes you may have to take risk and you have to have faith that it's going to work out. But how did that risk and faith and belief and action that you take, how did it lead to you becoming the CEO of Fit Body Boot Camp, which is really and I don't want you to hold back, I mean, it is a powerhouse organization across this country when it comes to the vision Bedros once had and what you've all built it to become.

Speaker 1: 13:36

Oh well, thank you, and I appreciate the nice words and I look back at the career and I'll kind of, you know, jump into the story. But I've been a salesperson, I've been a leader, a marketer, and the things that I've done in a coach are really just things that have worked for me, that have I've had success with and I have passion for, and then I want to give that gift to others and that's really the fabric of you know my career in general, specifically how I landed on Fit Body. I talked a little bit about my story, my background, you know, raising or being grown up in the rest of my life in the Midwest. I had 17 jobs by the time I graduated college. I was 11 years old when I started the workforce. I used to donate blood plasma to put myself through school and you know I share that with you. There's you know probably you there's many listeners out here that have had it worse than me. So I'm not, you know, not saying a boo-hoo story. I'm just giving you my particular background and burn, if you will. But when I was 21 years young, when I put myself through Michigan State the summer before I graduated, I got a job or internship, initially in Los Angeles, california. The blue skies, the beaches, the sunshine all that California, specifically LA, has to offer. The problem is they don't tell you when you're 21 years young, you're 3,000 miles from home, you don't have professional skills, you don't have the leadership, the energy, the enthusiasm, you don't have fitness in your life, it can be the plastic capital of the world. So, ben, be very candid with you and your audience. I had more dark days than good for the first couple of years but fortuitously that changed and this is why I love coaching and mentorship. I believe in it. I take action against it to this day.

Speaker 1: 15:07

But one of my dear friends from the Midwest came from the west part of Michigan. We went to college together. He moved out west with me and we decided to live together for two years and his name was Adam and he was my first fitness mentor. And what Adam did was he introduced me to fitness, to lifting weights, circuit training, clean nutrition, because up until that point I was not in shape. Fast food was a staple of my diet. To that point I was not in shape. Fast food is a staple of my diet. I used to joke around that, looking back, that I was allergic to lifting weight. So that was the fabric of where I came from.

Speaker 1: 15:35

So when he introduced me to all these things, the biggest thing he did is he introduced me to coaching and accountability. And that coaching accountability really locked on for me at work, because I would love to look you in the eye, ben, and say, hey, I would have done this by myself, but I can't do that. And really, what happened? Over a period of two years, but hyper-focused, you know, I followed hyper-focused for six months, I should say. I followed along his program. I lifted the weights that he wanted me to lift. I ate what he wanted me to eat and ultimately I followed the program and I dropped 20 pounds of body fat, I put 20 pounds of lean muscle on.

Speaker 1: 16:06

But, way more important that, ben, I changed my life. And that was really the fitness transformation that gave me the belief at that point that, hey, I want to do something more of my life. And at that point it didn't even occur to me that I wanted to get the fitness industry. In fact, my sales career, my life in general, but my sales career. I went from the least performing sales rep in the company all the way to the highest performing sales rep of the company. And then one thing changed. It wasn't the sales script, it wasn't the follow-up, it was the way I showed up, the energy, the enthusiasm. It just lit me up.

Speaker 1: 16:37

And that was the foundation and how, I guess to segue, how I got exposed to the fitness industry, because at that point in time it rocked my world, it changed my life. Things were firing up all cylinders for me, but I never actually imagined that I would go into the fitness industry until one day some guy walks up to me at the gym and he said, hey, I've been following you, I was curious how you eat, how you lift weights. And, ben, this light bulb went on. Like me, like me, I could give this back to other people, the gift of fitness which has been blessed in my life. That was the aha that I had then, really to kind of take that step, of that next step, if you will, to become a personal trainer.

Speaker 1: 17:17

And then, once I did that, speaking of Bedros and Fit Body Bootcamp, this is where it comes in. So I think I updated my Facebook profile a certified personal trainer after I went through my accreditation through National Academy of Sports Medicine and I started receiving ads from this guy named Bedros Kulin, who now is my business partner. My mentor had been, you know, in the trenches with him for over 12 years and he started talking about how to run a fitness business, how to launch a fitness business, how to get better results for your clients, and I was interested in that, so I opted in his email list. I paid attention and I followed on for a little while and in early 2012 is when Bedros was shifting the Fit Body Bootcamp brand from a licensee program all the way to a proper brick and mortar franchise system and I certainly was interested. So I started paying attention and following along. I put in an expression of interest, which is an application, and I reached out to probably about a handful of franchise partners or other owners in the brand. It was a very small brand at the time and I did all the diligence in the world and, speaking of investment, kind of coming full circle.

Speaker 1: 18:23

After a few months of diligence and researching and reaching out, I decided to do the most exciting but also the most terrifying and scaring decision in my life and I invested my life savings in this little dream of business ownership called Fit Body Boot Camp and I launched my first location November 5th on a very cold, dark, damp morning in Southern California, about 15 miles from Disneyland, and I'll give you the highlights. But, ben, there was a lot of lowlights and learning lessons and entrepreneurial battle scars in the process and we can talk about those. But really from the years of 2012 to 2018, I scaled to five locations. I brought my wife on board, my brother on board, my mom, my sister being at a family affair, and the crescendo moment, if you will, in 2018, when our brand was really starting to grow in terms of exponential growth.

Speaker 1: 19:11

At that point, you know, believing in mentorship and relationships and being an action taker was one of the most successful franchise partners of the brand and I developed a strong relationship with Bedros and he knew that he wanted a bit more owner influence in the brand. So he reached out to me and eventually, or initially, it was the vice president role and eventually, or initially, it was the vice president role. But then, you know, after joining our headquarters system in 2018 and with a lot of success in action taking, ended up being awarded the CEO position in 2021. So I guess, big picture. That's how a guy from the Midwest who used to be allergic to lifting weights and fast food the staple of his diet, became a certified personal trainer and then, eventually, the fitness CEO or the CEO of International Fitness Brand.

Speaker 2: 19:52

I love it and you know. It leads me to a final question for you, and the question is something that's very, very important to me, and I said this I think you made me repeat it a handful of times when we were on your show. I always like to say that you can only lead somebody to the level of discipline in which you live, and it's one of the things before we met, when you first reached out, I like to see, ok, the person who they say they are, is that who they are? And for you, being in the world, you're in the fitness space You're either disciplined or you're not.

Speaker 2: 20:27

There's plenty of people who own gyms who are 50 pounds overweight and they just love the business model of owning a gym, and I just I respected the voice of discipline that you spoke with and how you led, and then, when I met you, I'm like this guy's in shape, he's got it together. Why is that so important to you as a leader, to be disciplined, to remain fit, because you've had enough success. You could put weight on, stop working out, you'd still have a business, you'd still be growing.

Speaker 1: 20:57

That would be the day the business starts to die, ben. That would be the day that's my mindset at least. As the leader, you need to be able to lead by example. Moral authority by John Maxwell, who is a mentor to leadership from afar, and I learned these principles, I guess you know, in my youth, and I made many poor decisions in terms of leaderships and learning lessons. So I'm not saying I'm perfect, far from it. In fact the opposite. A lot of the leadership qualities and characteristics I've been able to take with me is because of my learning lessons and my failures. But what I've learned is that leadership is always the problem, it's always the solution, it's the most important thing in someone's life and success.

Speaker 1: 21:36

And I have a leadership framework. My philosophy on leadership is adversity is your advantage. Take whatever happens to you Life happens for you, not to you, okay and take whatever it is and then make it better. There's some sort of gift that you can reframe, that you can take action, you can make a better situation. So that's my philosophy, but really been going back to your question to put a bow on it.

Speaker 1: 21:58

There's three pillars of leadership that I follow, and the first is you need to be able to lead yourself self-leadership you can't lead anyone else unless you can lead yourself. Then, when you lead yourself, you can lead your family. And then, when you lead your family, you can lead your empire. And when you break down self-leadership for me it first starts with fitness. If I'm the CEO of an international fitness franchise and I'm coaching and mentoring my franchise partners, my coaches and my clients and I don't look and act the part I'm inauthentic and I'm not real and Ben humbling myself, the best way that I've learned to lead is through moral authority, walking my own talk. And when you walk your own talk, then ultimately people follow and that's been a secret to my success.

Speaker 2: 22:41

It's, it's, it's incredible. It shows, and the belief system shows and the energy that you show up with. I want people to be able to stay connected to that energy, that vulnerability, that honesty, that example that you set as a leader. What's the best way for people to do that, bryce?

Speaker 1: 22:57

Well, thank you, my friend. You can follow me on all my social media handles Real Bryce Henson, not to be confused with Fake Bryce Henson. There you can also find my YouTube show, which is again on the handle the real Bryce Henson, but the show is the CEO show with yours truly, bryce Henson. In fact we just talked about earlier, but our episode, your episode, is going to drop in July, so highly encourage you to follow along. You're going to get a lot of gold.

Speaker 2: 23:22

Bryce, I appreciate you so much. From one Spartan dog to another Go green.

Speaker 1: 23:28

Go white. My friend, it's been a pleasure. I appreciate you, my friend.

Speaker 2: 23:31

I appreciate you. Thank you for coming on the show. Thank you for being an example of what leadership means. I often like to say that we can have a conversation with somebody and they tell you how great they want to be, but then, when we have a conversation with their action, you find out how bad they really want it, and I love the action that you show up with in this world. It's why we do this show every week. It's why I'm going to ask you to share this episode with somebody who's maybe struggling with their discipline. They're maybe struggling with the example that they're setting. They're struggling with the example of knowing that they must be able to lead themselves before they can lead anybody. And you got to stay connected to that burn which will ignite your why and purpose and cause you to show up on the days you don't feel like it, and especially after you win. This has been the Burn and we look forward to seeing you next week.