E312: Ford Wilson: From Structural Plans to Fitness Empowerment

E312: Anytime Fitness

What happens when an engineer trades blueprints for barbells? Join us as Ford Wilson, the inspiring force behind Anytime Fitness in Port St. Lucie, shares his incredible journey from the world of engineering to owning a 24/7 community-focused gym. Ford opens up about his passion for creating a supportive and welcoming environment, where members not only work on their physical fitness but also find a place of camaraderie and motivation. This episode is packed with stories of personal transformation and the pivotal role that Anytime Fitness plays in helping individuals overcome challenges and achieve their goals.

Tune in to hear about the uplifting story of a member whose dedication and strength have become a source of inspiration for many. Ford's insights into the power of fitness and discipline offer a compelling argument for why community spirit is the heart of success at Anytime Fitness. We also discuss the importance of embracing change and the fulfillment that comes with empowering others. Don't forget to check out the gym's social media for more, and get involved by nominating your favorite local businesses for a future episode as we continue to highlight community-driven success stories.

To learn more about Anytime Fitness go to:
https://www.anytimefitness.com/gyms/1932/port-saint-lucie-fl-34984/

Anytime Fitness
772-530-2231

Transcript

Anytime Fitness

Speaker 1 0:00

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Benjamin John.

Speaker 2 0:11

Welcome back to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Hey, are you in search of a good workout gym, a place to get a good stretch and a workout in cardio in? Perhaps? Well, there might be a really good place closer than you think. Today I have the pleasure of introducing Ford Wilson from Anytime Fitness. How you doing Ford.

Speaker 3 0:35

My apologies, ben. I don't know what just happened there, but good morning brother. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 2 0:40

Yeah, yeah, absolutely no sweat. I see you, I hear you. That's what matters. Perfect, yes, sir, yeah, so I'm excited to learn more about Anytime Fitness. Like I was saying when we were briefly chatting a minute ago, there's a lot of gyms out there, so I'm actually curious to know what kind of sets you guys apart. So why don't you fill me in and tell me more about your location?

Speaker 3 1:06

you guys apart. So why don't you fill me in, uh tell me more about your location? Yeah, absolutely, thank you, man. Uh, so this gym? Uh, so we're located on port st lucie boulevard, just right by the turnpike there. Um, so we're a 24 7 gym, the only true 24 7 access facility in st lucie county, and that means the gym is always open. Holidays, holidays, weekends this gym is full access. Once you become a member, you get a little key card and that key card works for you every minute of every day. Showers in the facility. It's a great workout environment, you know free weights, plate loaded equipment, pension equipment, cardio. There's a functional training studio, but, you know, whatever your know fitness needs might be, we've got them here. It's, uh, it's also a coaching gym, so we have personal trainers on site that work with a bunch of our clients and, uh, you know, everybody's just here for the same reason. You know, people want to get in, get healthy, get in shape, and, uh, you know that's what we're here to help do very cool.

Speaker 2 2:00

Yeah, it sounds like a fantastic facility and a good environment too, so I can appreciate that. Why don't?

Speaker 3 2:05

you tell us how you?

Speaker 2 2:06

got into this business.

Speaker 3 2:08

Yeah, absolutely so, believe it or not, I started as an engineer, so went to school for engineering, was working in that field for quite a while and financially rewarding no complaints there. But there's just something about not having that personal aspect, so you're behind a computer screen all day. Not too much of an opportunity to contribute in a major way on a individual level. So I was working with another group in bodybuilding and fitness culture in Stewart and I had moved back up to the Port St Lucie area and I got lucky enough to find this facility. I started lifting weights here and, lucky enough, there was an opportunity for me to take over this facility and it couldn't have worked out better.

Speaker 2 2:59

Very cool. Yeah, it's definitely two very different type of industries and so you went from and I can see actually, now that I think about it, how engineering could you know the analytical side of it can apply to to weightlifting, depending on how serious you can take it, I imagine.

Speaker 3 3:13

Absolutely.

Speaker 2 3:15

Uh, so tell me what are some myths or misconceptions about that industry.

Speaker 3 3:22

Um, that's a great question. So a lot of people are hesitant to get into the gym. A lot of people are self-conscious, and I think that's a universal feeling. People are always wrapped up in themselves. So when I walk into the gym, sometimes I might think everybody's looking at me.

Speaker 3 3:43

Know what if I make a mistake? Um, the great part about being in a gym environment, especially this one? Um, everybody's focused on just bettering themselves. Um, you know, if you make a mistake, nine out of ten times if somebody's looking at you, they just want to help you. Um, nobody's too concerned with you. Know, want to help you. Um, nobody's too concerned with you. Know, your look how you're doing in the gym. They just want to see you do better.

Speaker 3 4:11

So you know, my first instincts when I come into the gym now is you know how can I help somebody out today? So you can ask anybody in this gym. You can come right into the office if you need a spot. I'm here to help you. If you have questions about the stuff, don't be embarrassed, just ask questions. There's no dumb questions. It's, uh, this is an environment to grow, to learn. Um, you know whether it's discipline, focus, nutrition. Um, it could be as simple as how do I use this machine. You know not only myself, but but every member in this facility is more than willing to help everybody else out, so so I think that's probably one of the biggest misconceptions is that when you come into the gym, you're alone and nobody's going to help you. Nobody cares, people are here to help.

Speaker 2 4:55

Nice, very nice. Well, that's I mean. You made it sound very attractive and very welcoming, so I'm glad to hear that your facility is ran in that way, right? So how do you guys target your customers?

Speaker 3 5:08

Yeah, I think.

Speaker 2 5:10

Oh, you're breaking up there. What were you saying, Ford?

Speaker 3 5:13

How do we? No, my apologies, I was going to say truthfully I think that's what separates this facility from a number of other facilities, and I'm not one to speak poorly on another facility, I would never do that. But one of the major things about this facility is the environment and the members of the facility. So you know, I can do my part, I can be here and I can do my best to make sure that the place is clean, safe, comfortable. But it's the people inside of this facility that that really make it what it is, and I think that's why people really come to this facility is for the environment.

Speaker 2 5:52

Very cool, I love it. And so, yeah, going back to that previous question, yeah, how do you target your customers, and or who are your target customers, rather, and how do you attract them?

Speaker 3 6:01

Yeah. So I would say you know anybody over the age of 18. So you know, just because it's an unsupervised facility at you know, being 24 hours, you know whether you're 18 years old, 80 years old, 40 years old, the gym is for you, men, women alike. You know everybody is welcome in this facility and you know I've seen 19-year-olds go from you know 145 pounds to you know 165 pounds lifting weights. I've seen, you know middle-aged folks go from 215 pounds down to 160 pounds. And then I've seen, you know people between 65 and 80 that come in here every day and you know they look healthier than you know, some of the folks that I know who are in their fifties, who don't work out.

Speaker 3 6:52

Yeah that's huge. It is, I would say, you know, the target audience is people who want to better themselves. You know, and I'll harp on that all day long, but the target audience is always, you know, people who want to do better for themselves.

Speaker 2 7:07

Very cool. I like that there's a broad, a wide range, all right. Well, I'm interested to know, outside of work, what do you like to do?

Speaker 3 7:20

outside of work. What do you like to do? Absolutely. So you know, as cliche as this is going to sound, I really like exercising. So you know I'm here pretty frequently. I get here about 930. I'm here until seven on the clock and then I stick around here until probably 830 or nine o'clock just working out, socializing with the people in the facility. But other than that it's a lot of family time between myself, my spouse, my father, my brothers. I spend a lot of time just making sure that everybody's good, trying to spread love in the best way I can.

Speaker 2 7:53

Very cool. Yeah, that's a very common answer, believe it or not, that people do the thing outside of work that they do at work, and to me that's an indication that you're actually passionate about what you're doing and you're in the right industry.

Speaker 3 8:06

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, if we were to go back to when I was doing engineering work, I would probably not be saying you know, I'm crunching numbers outside of my spare time. But yeah, now that I'm doing this, I find that I'm doing this more often than not Now that I'm doing this.

Overcoming Life Challenges Through Fitness

Speaker 2 8:20

I find that I'm doing this more often than not Very nice, All right, so let's switch gears a little bit here. Can you describe a hardship or a life challenge that you've been through and that made you stronger?

Speaker 3 8:29

Absolutely, man. That's a phenomenal question, super unanticipated. So give me a second while I think about this one, because I want to make sure that I give you an you know an adequate answer here. Yeah, absolutely. So. Yeah, I'll be super straightforward with you here.

Speaker 3 8:53

There was a point in time where I was probably 155 pounds, soaking wet, uncomfortable with myself. I had very low self-confidence. This wasn't too long ago either. I'm 31 years old, this is probably 26, maybe 27.

Speaker 3 9:28

But unhappy with myself, unhappy with the way I presented myself, unhappy with the metrics that I used.

Speaker 3 9:30

Able to turn that all around. So, from from the point of inception where I had that seed planted in my head from all of the people around me um, that, you know, that got into this state focus, state disciplined went from you know skinny young guys to you know strong, independent, focused, disciplined, grown men. That was really the turning point. So getting into that field, changing my mindset and changing my daily habits to build myself up to the point where I'm at now, probably one of the most difficult things I've had to do. And there's a lot inside of that answer that I'm not going to go into depth about, but you know, inside of that were a lot more, excuse me, a lot of finer intricacies that I could, that I could dive in depth about, probably not necessary, but the severity of it was was palpable. And uh, and to be able to say that through fitness diet, um, you know focus, and then you know the camaraderie of this environment, um, you know, I can say that my life has probably changed tenfold.

Speaker 2 10:47

That's awesome. Well, I mean, that's a powerful story and a strong message for people that maybe can resonate with that, so I appreciate your vulnerability and your transparency on that.

Speaker 3 10:57

Yeah, thank you for giving me opportunity to share it. I don't do it often.

Speaker 2 11:02

Yeah, no, I mean, it screams volumes and the kind of person you are, like I said, I'm sure somebody might hear that and it might hit them in a way that might uplift them in a positive way and give them hope if they may be struggling with something similar, you know.

Speaker 3 11:15

Yeah, I certainly hope so.

Speaker 2 11:18

All right. Well, Ford, tell our listeners one thing they should remember about Anytime Fitness.

Speaker 3 11:24

Absolutely. I would say. The biggest thing to remember about Anytime Fitness is that we are here for you. So I actually I just did something this morning. So we have a social media page. It's Port St Lucie or Anytime Fitness Port St Lucie, fl.

Speaker 3 11:42

I do a. Every once in a while I'll do like a member spotlight. So you know, there's a few kids in here that I've seen grow a lot over the last, you know, six months to a year. So I just highlighted somebody this morning.

Speaker 3 11:57

This kid pushes himself in a way that I've, truthfully, I've never seen. You know, not the biggest guy in the world, maybe 170 pounds, but this gentleman's moving weight that you know, truthfully, I couldn't push and I'm over, you know 200 and change weight that you know, truthfully, I couldn't push and I'm over, you know 200 and change. This guy comes in here, challenges himself, you know, pushes himself beyond his mental limits and you know and I highlight that because independently I don't think that those things are truthfully possible. I think that you can do a lot on your own, but I think that with the help of others you can do a lot more. And it's very apparent inside of this facility. You know just the amount of close friends that I've made in this place in the last year, you know, have helped me improve so much, and I can see it in this young man too. So I would say, you know, the one thing to remember about this facility is that you know we're here to help you grow.

Speaker 2 12:52

Very cool. I love this. And lastly, I think you mentioned one way already, but if there's any other ways, can you tell our listeners how they can learn more about Anytime Fitness?

Local Business on Neighbor Podcast

Speaker 3 13:04

Absolutely. You know you can Google Anytime Fitness Port St Lucie. There's two locations. There's actually there's one, you know, a little bit south of us, but the one that you should be looking for is Anytime Fitness Port St Lucie on Port St Lucie Boulevard. You can find us on Instagram. The Facebook page might be a little bit outdated, but you can probably find us on Facebook. But the best way to find us is to stop in and say what's up. You can come in here Monday through Thursday, 10 to 7,. Fridays from 10 to 5. Saturdays I come in for a few hours on my day off, from 10 to 2. And you know, just come in, check the place out, take a look around. I'll give you a tour of the facility. You can get a test workout in, see how you like it, check out the environment. But you know, the best way to look into us is to come in and see it for yourself.

Speaker 2 13:53

All right. Well, there you guys have it. Well, ford, I really appreciate you coming on the show sharing a bit of your story and talking about what you guys embody and how they can get ahold of you. We wish you the best and the company moving forward. Okay.

Speaker 3 14:04

Benjamin, thank you very much for having me. I really do appreciate it and and thanks again for what you do for the community. You bet.

Speaker 1 14:12

Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNPPortStLucycom. That's GNPPortStLucycom, or call 772-303-1036.